Second Reading
1 Cor 10:16-17

The bread is one, and we, though many, are one body.

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.

The word of the Lord.

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.

Acclamation before the Gospel
Jn 6:51

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

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

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.