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Editor’s note: to promote the observance of the traditional Corpus Christi Octave as a part of our Crusade of Eucharistic Reparation, we will publish each day the Patristic readings from the Octave, as contained in pre-55 breviaries. The following readings and responsories come from the Roman office as promulgated after Trent in 1570.
Nocturn II
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May God the Father Omnipotent, be to us merciful and clement. Amen.
Reading 4
From the Sermons of St. John Chrysostom Patriarch of Constantinople.
60th Homily to the people of Antioch.
His Word saith: “This is My Body.” This we confess, and believe, and, with spiritual eyes, do see. Christ hath not left unto us Himself in such form as that we can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste Him and yet hath He left Himself unto us in things which we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste, and which all men may understand. Thus also is it in baptism by means of water, which men perceive outwardly, is given unto them a gift which they can grasp only inwardly, that is, a new birth. If we had no bodies, then would these things be given us without any outward and visible signs, but since we are here made up of souls and bodies, there are given unto our souls gifts which they can grasp, in outward signs which our bodies may perceive. How many there be which say, would that I could see His comely presence, His Face, His garments, even His shoes. Behold, thou dost see and touch Him, yea, thou dost feed upon Him. And wouldest thou behold His raiment. Lo, He hath given unto thee not only to behold it, but to feed upon it, and handle it, and take it into thyself.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blest it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said:
* Take, eat this is My Body.
V. The men of my tabernacle said: O that we had of his flesh, we cannot be satisfied.
R. Take, eat this is My Body.
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May Christ to all His people give, for ever in His sight to live. Amen.
Reading 5
At this table of the Lord let none dare to draw near with squeamishness or carelessness. Let all be fiery, all hot, all roused. To the Jews it was commanded touching the Paschal lamb, “And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand and ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lord’s Passover” (Exod. xii. 11).
But thou needest to be more watchful than they. They were just about to travel from Egypt to Palestine, and therefore they bore the guise of travellers but the journey that lieth before thee is from earth to heaven. And therefore it behoveth thee in all things to be on thy guard, for the punishment of him that eateth or drinketh unworthily is no light one (1 Cor. xi. 27). Bethink thee how thou art indignant against him which betrayed, and them that crucified the Lord and look to it well that thou also be not “Guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord.” As for them, they slew His Most Holy Body but thou, after all that He hath done for thee, dost thrust Him into thy polluted soul. For His love, it was not enough to be made Man, to be buffeted, and to be crucified. He hath also mingled Himself with us, by making us His Body, and that not by faith only, but verily and indeed.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. Jesus took the cup, after supper, saying: This cup is the New Testament in My Blood.
* This do in remembrance of Me.
V. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
R. This do in remembrance of Me.
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May the Spirit’s fire Divine in our hearts enkindled shine. Amen.
Reading 6
Anything be purer than that man ought to be, who eateth of this great Sacrifice. Can a sun-beam be clearer than that hand ought to be which breaketh this Flesh? that mouth, which is filled with that spiritual fire? that tongue, which is reddened by that Blood, awful exceedingly? That whereon the Angels quail to look, neither dare to gaze steadfastly upon It, because of the blinding glory that shineth therefrom, upon This we feed, with This we become one, and are made one body of Christ, and one flesh. “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord; who can show forth all His praise?” (Ps. cv. ev. 2). Where is the shepherd which feedeth his flock with his own blood? Nay, why should I say, shepherd? Many mothers there be, who after all the pains of travail, give their own little ones to strangers to nurse. But so would not He, but feedeth us with His Own Blood, and maketh us to grow up in His Own substance.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. I am that Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
* This is the Bread Which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
V. I am the living Bread Which came down from heaven if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever.
R. This is the Bread Which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
R. This is the Bread Which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Nocturn III
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May the Gospel’s holy lection be our safety and protection. Amen.
Reading 7
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 14:16-24
At that time: Jesus spake unto the Pharisees this parable: A certain man made a great supper, and bade many. And so on.
Homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great
36th upon the Gospels
Dearly beloved brethren, between the dainties of the body and the dainties of the mind there is this difference, that the dainties of the body, when we lack them, raise up a great hunger after them, and when we devour them, straightway our fulness worketh in us niceness. But about the dainties of the mind we are nice while as yet we lack them, and when we fill ourselves with them, then are we an-hungered after them, and the more, being an-hungered, we feed thereon, the more are we an-hungered thereafter. In the bodily dainties, the hunger is keener than the fullness, but in the spiritual the fulness is keener than the hunger. In the bodily, hunger gendereth fullness, and fullness niceness in the spiritual, hunger indeed gendereth fullness, but fullness gendereth hunger.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood,
* Dwelleth in Me, and I in him.
V. What nation is there so great, who hath gods so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is to us
R. Dwelleth in Me, and I in him.
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. God’s most mighty strength alway be His people’s staff and stay. Amen.
Reading 8
Spiritual dainties, in the very eating, do stir up the keenness of hunger in the mind which they fill, for, the more we taste their sweetness, the better we know how well they deserve to be loved and, if we taste them not, we cannot love them, for we know not how sweet they be. And who can love that whereof he knoweth nothing? Hence saith the Psalmist, “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. xxxiii. 9), that is, as it were, “If ye taste not, ye shall not see His goodness but let your heart once taste the bread of life, and then indeed, having tasted and proved His sweetness, ye shall be able to love Him.” But these were the dainties which man lost when he sinned in Eden, and when he had shut his own mouth against the sweet bread whereof if any man eat he shall live for ever, he forsook paradise.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. A certain man made a great supper, and sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden: Come
* For all things are now ready.
V. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you.
R. For all things are now ready.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
R. For all things are now ready
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May He that is the Angels’ King to that high realm His people bring. Amen.
Reading 9
And we that, from the first man, are born under the afflictions of this pilgrimage, are come into the world smitten with niceness. We know not what we ought to want, and the disease of our niceness groweth the worse, as our soul draweth itself the more away from that bread of sweetness. We are no longer an-hungered after inward dainties, since we have lost the use of feeding on them. And so in our niceness we starve, and the sickness of long famishing maketh prey of our health. We will not eat of that inward sweetness which is made ready for us, and being enamoured only of things outward we sink into the wretchedness of loving starvation.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
