Our Sunday Supplication
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Holy Mass is at the very core of our worship as a Catholic community. Nothing can ever be substituted for the celebration of the Eucharist. But in this exceptional time of difficulty for our communities, our nation, and even the whole world, this order of prayer can be offered by individuals and families and engages us in our Sunday celebration of the Word of God. We can pray this prayer in our homes—the “domestic churches” which help build up the Body of Christ on earth—and thus be connected to the entire Church at prayer.
During this time of prayer, we include the opportunity to make a Spiritual Communion, since we are presently unable to receive Holy Communion. Making a Spiritual Communion is a worthy practice, recommended by innumerable saints throughout the ages, which unites our whole selves to God and his Church. For, despite not being able to celebrate Mass together, this is certainly not a time to abandon the praise and supplication of almighty God, for he never abandons us! Now is the time to love and serve the Lord as best we can in our limited capacities.
Order of Prayer
Taken from the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours
Introduction
Leader: God, ✠ come to my assistance.
Response: Lord, make haste to help me.
Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
Response: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Hymn
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus! His the scepter, his the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph, his the victory alone.
Hark! The songs of peaceful Zion thunder like a mighty flood:
“Jesus out of ev’ry nation has redeemed us by his blood.
Alleluia! Bread of angels, here on earth our food, our stay!
Alleluia! Here the sinful flee to you from day to day.
Intercessor, friend of sinners, earth’s redeemer, plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea.
Alleluia! King eternal, you the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia! Born of Mary, earth your footstool, heav’n your throne.
You within the veil have entered, robed in flesh, our great high priest;
Here on earth both priest and victim in the Eucharistic feast.
Act of Contrition
Leader: Let us acknowledge our sins, and seek the Lord’s pardon and peace.
Together: I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.
Leader: O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament
have left us a memorial of your Passion,
grant us, we pray,
so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood
that we may always experience in ourselves
the fruits of your redemption.
Who live and reign with God the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever
Together: Amen.
The Sunday Readings
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14B-16A)
Moses said to the people: "Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God,
has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.
"Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers."
The Word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20)
Reader: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Together: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Reader: 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.
Together: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Reader: 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!
Together: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Reader: 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.
Together: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
A Reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)
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.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
The word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.
Gospel Verse (John 6:51)
Reader: I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
Together: whoever eats this bread will live forever.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 6:51-58)
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."
The Gospel of the Lord.
―Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
For Reflection:
- How have you experienced God providing for you when you were in need?
- How did God’s provision of manna for the Hebrew people prepare their hearts for what Jesus would do in giving us his Body and Blood in the Eucharist?
- How has the experience of not receiving the Eucharist during these months impacted your relationship with God?
- In the Second Reading, Paul tells us that our participation in the Eucharist is a sharing in Christ’s Body and Blood; in the Gospel, Jesus says his flesh, the Bread of Life, is given for the life of the world. When we receive the Eucharist, how are we called to share in Christ’s mission of salvation for the life of the world? Who is Jesus calling us to serve? What or who in our lives needs the healing love of Christ?
Response to the Word
Leader: You will bring forth bread from the earth, alleluia, alleluia.
Response: You will bring forth bread from the earth, alleluia, alleluia.
Leader: And wine which gives warmth to men’s hearts,
Response: alleluia, alleluia.
Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Response: You will bring forth bread from the earth, alleluia, alleluia.
Prayer of the Faithful
Leader: Brethren, let us pray to Jesus Christ, the bread of life, as we joyfully say:
Response: Happy are those who are called to your heavenly banquet.
Leader: Priest of the new and eternal covenant, you offered perfect sacrifice to the Father on the altar of the cross, teach us to offer ourselves with you.
Response: Happy are those who are called to your heavenly banquet.
Leader: King of justice and peace, you consecrated bread and wine as the sign of your offering, unite us as victims with you.
Response: Happy are those who are called to your heavenly banquet.
Leader: True worshiper of the Father, your perfect offering is celebrated by the Church from the rising to the setting of the sun, unite in your body those who partake of the one bread.
Response: Happy are those who are called to your heavenly banquet.
Leader: Manna from heaven, you nourish the Church with your body and blood, grant that we may walk strengthened by this food.
Response: Happy are those who are called to your heavenly banquet.
Leader: Unseen host of our banquet, you stand at the door and knock, come to us, stay and share the evening meal with us.
Response: Happy are those who are called to your heavenly banquet.
Leader: In your mercy, continue to sanctify all who are afflicted from the present pandemic, and draw us all closer to you, and to one another, in this time of suffering.
Response: Happy are those who are called to your heavenly banquet.
The Lord's Prayer
Leader: Let us pray together as Jesus taught us:
Together: Our Father, who art in heaven …
Spiritual Communion
Leader: You have given us bread from heaven, alleluia, alleluia.
Response: Containing in itself all delight, alleluia, alleluia.
Together: My Jesus,
I believe that you are present
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
I love you above all things,
and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there
and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you,
my Lord and my God!
Amen.
Canticle of Praise
Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79)
Together: ✠ 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 be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Conclusion
Leader: ✠ May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil,
and bring us to everlasting life.
Together: Amen.
