Responsorial Psalm

℟. (12) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
   praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
   he has blessed your children within you.

℟. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

He has granted peace in your borders;
   with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
   swiftly runs his word!

℟. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
   his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
   his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.

℟. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

2nd Reading

1 Cor 10:16-17

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

Brothers and sisters:
The cup of blessing that we bless,
   is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
   is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
   we, though many, are one body,
   for we all partake of the one loaf.

SEQUENCE

The sequence Laud, O Zion (Lauda Zion) or the shorter form beginning with the verse Lo! the angel’s food is given, may be sung before the Gospel Acclamation.

Laud O Zion, your salvation,
Laud with hymns of exultation,

        Christ, your king and shepherd true:

Bring him all the praise you know,
He is more than you bestow.
   Never can you reach his due.

Special theme for glad thanksgiving   
Is the quick’ning and the living
   Bread today before you set:

From his hands of old partaken,    
As we know, by faith unshaken,     
   Where the Twelve at Supper met.

Full and clear ring out your chanting.
Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,
    From your heart let praises burst:

For today the feast is holden,
When the institution olden
   Of that supper was rehearsed.

Here the new law’s new oblation,
By the new king’s revelation,
   Ends the form of ancient rite:

Now the new the old effaces,
Truth away the shadow chases,
   Light dispels the gloom of night.

What he did at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
    His memorial ne’er to cease:

 And his rule for guidance taking,
Bread and wine we hallow, making
   Thus our sacrifice of peace.    

This the truth each Christian learns,
Bread into his flesh he turns,
   To his precious blood the wine:

Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,
But a dauntless faith believes,
   Resting on a pow’r divine.

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

Blood is poured and flesh is broken,
Yet in either wondrous token
   Christ entire we know to be.

Whoso of this food partakes,
Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;
   Christ is whole to all that tastes:

Thousands are, as one, receivers,
One, as thousands of believers,
   Eats of him who cannot waste.

Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers dooms preparing,
   Endless death, or endless life.

Life to these, to those damnation,
See how like participation
   Is with unlike issues rife.

When the sacrament is broken,
Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,
   That each sever’d outward token
      doth the very whole contain.

Nought the precious gift divides,
Breaking but the sign betides   
   Jesus still the same abides,
      Still unbroken does remain.

The shorter form of the sequence begins here:

Lo! the angel’s food is given
   To the pilgrim who has striven;
See the children’s bread from heaven,
   which on dogs may not be spent.

Truth the ancient types fulfilling,
Isaac bound, a victim willing,
   Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,
   Manna to the fathers sent.

Very bread, good shepherd, tend us,
Jesu, of your love befriend us,
   You refresh us, you defend us,
   Your eternal goodness send us
In the land of life to see.

You who all things can and know,
Who on earth such food bestow,
   Grant us with your saints, though lowest,
   Where the heav’nly feast you show,
Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

Gospel

Jn 6:51-58

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
   whoever eats this bread will live forever;
   and the bread that I will give
   is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
   “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
   “Amen, amen, I say to you,
   unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
   you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
   has eternal life,
   and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
   and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
   remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
   and I have life because of the Father,
   so also the one who feeds on me
   will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
   whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:

The Gospel of the Lord.

All reply:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Then he kisses the book, saying quietly:

Through the words of the Gospel
may our sins be wiped away.

The Creed is said.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.

Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of
the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right
hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the
Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son
is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in One, Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism
for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to
the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

Gospel Canticle

Ant. I am the living bread come down from heaven; anyone who eats this bread will live for ever, alleluia.

Canticle of Zechariah
Luke 1:68-79
The Messiah and his forerunner

Blessed + be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old †
  that he would save us from our enemies, *
  from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers *
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: *
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear, *
holy and righteous in his sight
   all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.


Ant. I am the living bread come down from heaven; anyone who eats this bread will live for ever, alleluia.