4 June 2015 - Commemoration of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (also known as the Feast of Corpus Christi) (Commemoration of St. Francis Caracciolo, Confessor)

THURSDAY AFTER TRINITY SUNDAY

Double of the First Class with Privileged Octave of the Second Class

White 

INTROIT Ps. 80. 17

HE fed them with the fat of wheat, alleluia; and filled them with honey out of the rock, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. 80.2. Rejoice in God our helper; sing aloud to the God of Jacob. V.: Glory be.

COLLECT

O GOD, who in a wonderful Sacrament hast left unto us the memorial of thy Passion; grant, we beseech thee, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood as to experience continually within ourselves the fruit of thy Redemption. Who livest and reignest.

Commemoration: St. Francis Caracciolo, Confessor

O God, who didst adorn blessed Francis, the founder of a new Order, with zeal for prayer and love of penance: grant that thy servants may make such progress by imitating him, that through constancy in prayer and bodily mortification they may deserve to attain heavenly glory. Through.

SEASONAL COLLECTS
Of the Saints
Collect Ad Libitum

EPISTLE I Cor. 11. 23-29

BRETHREN, I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye and eat, this is my Body which shall be delivered for you; this do for the commemoration of me. In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my Blood; this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink this chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord until he come. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink of the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself; and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord.

GRADUAL Ps. 144. 15, 16

The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord, and thou givest them meat in due season. V.: Thou openest thy hand, and fillest every living creature with thy blessing.

Alleluia, alleluia. V. John 6. 56, 57. My Flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed: he that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood, abideth in me, and I in him. Alleluia.

SEQUENCE

Sion, lift thy voice and sing:
Praise thy Savior and thy King,
Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true.

All thou canst, do thou endeavor,
Yet thy praise can equal never
Such as merits thy great King.

See today before us laid
The living and life-giving Bread!
Theme for praise and joy profound!

The same which at the sacred board
Was, by our incarnate Lord,
Giv'n to his Apostles round.

Let the praise by loud and high:
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt today in every breast,

On this festival divine
Which records the origin
Of the glorious Eucharist.

On this table of the King,
Our new Paschal offering
Brings to end the olden rite.

Here, for empty shadows fled,
Is reality instead;
Here, instead of darkness, light.

His own act, at supper seated,
Christ ordain'd to be repeated,
In his memory divine;

Wherefore now, with adoration,
We, the Host of our salvation,
Consecrate from bread and wine,

Hear what holy Church maintaineth,
That the bread its substance changeth
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.

Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending
Leaps to things not understood,

Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things, to sense forbidden
Signs, not things, are all we see.

Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine,
Yet is Christ in either sign,
All entire, confessed to be.

They, who of him here partake,
Sever not, nor rend, nor break:
But, entire, their Lord receive,

Whether one or thousands eat,
All receive the self-same meat,
Nor the less for others leave,

Both the wicked and the good
Eat of this celestial Food;
But with ends how opposite!

Here 'tis life: and there 'tis death:
The same, yet issuing to each
In a difference infinite.

Nor a single doubt retain,
When they break the Host in twain,
But that in each part remains

What was in the whole before;
Since the simple sign alone
Suffers change in state or form,

The signified remaining one
And the same for evermore.
Lo! upon the altar lies,

Hidden deep from human eyes,
Bread of Angels from the skies,
Made the food of mortal man;

Children's meat to dogs denied,
In old types presignified:
In the manna heaven-supplied

In Isaac, and the Paschal lamb.
Jesu! Shepherd of the sheep!
Thou thy flock in safety keep,

Living Bread! Thy life supply:
Strengthen us, or else we die:
Fill us with celestial grace!

Thou, who feedest us below!
Source of all we have or know!
Grant that with thy Saints above,

Sitting at the feast of love,
We may see thee face to face.
Amen. Alleluia.

¶ The above Sequence is used throughout the Octave of Corpus Christi.

+ The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John (6.56-59)

AT that time Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews: My Flesh is meat indeed, and my Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my Flesh, and drinketh my Blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth this bread shall live for ever. 

The Creed is said.

OFFERTORY Levit. 21. 6

The priests of the Lord offer incense and loaves to God, and therefore they shall be holy to their God, and shall not defile his Name. Alleluia.

SECRET

GRACIOUSLY bestow on thy Church, we beseech thee, O Lord, the gifts of unity and peace, which are mystically shown forth in the gifts now offered. Through.

Commemoration: St. Francis Caracciolo, Confessor

O most merciful Jesus, grant that as we commemorate the glorious merits of blessed Francis, on fire with love like him we may be worthy to gather around thy holy table. Who livest and reignest.

SEASONAL COLLECTS
Of the Saints
Collect Ad Libitum

COMMUNION I Cor. 11. 26, 27

As often as you shall eat this Bread, and drink the Chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until he come: therefore whosoever shall eat this Bread or drink the Chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Alleluia.

POSTCOMMUNION

MAKE us, we beseech thee, O Lord, to be filled with the eternal enjoyment of thy Divinity, which is prefigured by the reception in this life of thy precious Body and Blood. Who livest and reignest.

Commemoration: St. Francis Caracciolo, Confessor

We beseech thee, Lord, let our minds ever retain the joyous memory and fruit of this most holy Sacrifice which we have offered to thy Majesty on today's solemnity of blessed Francis. Through.

SEASONAL COLLECTS
Of the Saints
Collect Ad Libitum

CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION

¶ The procession takes place after the mass in the manner given in the Rituale Anglicanum and the Liber Processionalis.