Matins

Invitatory (Psalm 94 [95])

Invitatory. Come eat my bread and drink the wine which I have mixed for you. [Prov 9:5]

Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our savior. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms, etc.

Hymn

Sacris solemniis

Let joys be joined with the sacred solemnities, and let prayers sound from our hearts. Let the old depart, let all things be new, hearts, voices, and works.

• The night of Last Supper is recalled, in which Christ is believed to have given to his brethren lamb and unleavened bread, according to the rights granted to the forefathers.
• The meal completed, after the symbolic lamb, the divine body was given to his disciples, entirely to all, entirely to each, by his own hands, this we proclaim.
• He gave to the weak the meal of his body, and he gave to the sorrowful the drink of his blood, saying: take the vessel which I give; all of you drink from it.
• Thus he established this sacrifice, whose ceremony he wished to be entrusted only to those elders who were fit to consume it and give to others.
• The bread of the angels becomes the bread of mankind, the celestial bread gives an end to symbols. O wondrous thing! the poor, the slave, the humble consumes the Lord.
• We implore you, God three and one, just as you visit us, so do we honor you. Lead us on your pathway, by which we strive to the light which you inhabit. Amen.
• First Nocturn Antiphon. Is it likely that God can prepare a table in the desert? Can he give bread or prepare a table for his people? [Ps 77 (78):19–20]

Psalm 15 (16)

Preserve me, O Lord, for I have put my trust in you. * I have said to the Lord, you are my God, for you have no need of my goods, etc.

Antiphon. You have prepared a table for me in the face of those who torment me; you have anointed my head with oil and my cup brims over. [Ps 22 (23):5]

Psalm 19 (20)

May the Lord hear you in the day of tribulation: * may the name of the God of Jacob protect you, etc.

Antiphon. The earth is satiated with the fruit of your works, you bring forth bread from the earth, and wine to gladden the heart of mankind, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the heart of mankind. [Ps 103 (104):13–15]

Psalm 21 (22)

O God my God, look upon me: why have you forsaken me? * Far from my salvation are the words of my sins, etc.

Versicle

[Ps 104a (105):40]

℣. They asked, and quail came, alleluia.

℟. And he filled them with bread from heaven, alleluia.

Reading 1

[Peter Lombard, Sentences, bk. 4, dist. 9, ch. 5 (52)]

The Lord Jesus, about to pass over into the invisible realms of paternal majesty, after having celebrated the symbolic paschal feast with his disciples, and wishing to entrust to them a certain remembrance, bequeathed to them his body and blood in the form of bread and wine, so that he might show that the sacraments of the Old Law, within which the sacrifice of the pascal lamb was principal, were terminated in his death, and that the sacraments of the New Law, among which the mystery of the Eucharist is preeminent, took their place.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 54]

Clearly it is certainly apparent, when the disciples first received the body and blood of the Lord, that they did not receive it when fasting. Therefore it must never be falsely charged to the universal Church, that it is always received by those who are fasting. However, it was pleasing to the Holy Spirit, that, in honor of such a great sacrament, the divine body enter the mouth of the Christian before other foods. For thus this custom is observed universally. But because the Lord gave it after dining, it does not follow that they ought to come to receive the sacrament after having eaten, or that they ought to combine it with their own meals as those were doing whom the apostle faulted and corrected. For the Savior, so that he might convey more strongly the height of this mystery, wished to implant it last on the hearts and memory of his disciples, from whom he was departing for his Passion. And therefore he did not prescribe that they to whom he was about to entrust the church preserve the sequence by which it was taken.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 69, beginning] (Based on Ambrose, On the Mysteries, ch. 8, paras. 47ff. (in Patrologia Latina, vol. 16, pp. 404ff.).)

A precursor of this sacrament occurred earlier, when God rained manna on the fathers in the desert, who daily ate the food of heaven. Wherefore it is said: man ate the bread of angels (Ps 77:25). But yet those who ate that bread all died in the desert. However, this bread which you take, this living bread which descended from heaven, provides the substance of eternal life. And whoever shall eat this bread, will not die forever, because it is the body of Christ.

Responsory

℟. As the disciples were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them, and he said: take and eat, this is my body. And taking the cup he gave thanks and gave it to them, saying: * drink from this all of you. [Matt 26:26–27]

℣. This is my blood of the New Testament, which will be shed for many for the forgiveness of sin. [Matt 26:28] * drink from this all of you.

Reading 2

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 69, continued]

Consider which now is more precious, the bread of angels, or Christ’s flesh, which is wholly the body of life. That manna is from heaven, this above heaven. That is of heaven, this, of the Lord of the heavens. That, subject to corruption, if kept for another day, this free from all corruption. Whoever religiously eats, will not experience corruption. To them water flowed from the rock, to you the blood flows from Christ. The water satisfied them for a time, the blood cleanses you for eternity. The Jews drank and thirsted, you, when you drink, cannot thirst. That [happened] in a shadow, this in truth. If that at which you marvel is a shadow, how much more is this whose shadow you admire. Hear why this is a shadow, which was done in the time of the forefathers. They drank, indeed, from the spiritual rock which followed them. The rock, however, was Christ. But God was not well pleased with many of them. Thus they were cast down in the desert. This was done as a symbol to us (1 Cor 10:4–5). You know which is better. Light is better than shadow, truth better than a symbol, the body of the Creator better than manna from heaven.

Perhaps you say: I see something different. How many examples, therefore, do we use, to show that this is not what nature has formed, but what blessing has consecrated, and that there is greater power in blessing than in nature, because by blessing even nature itself can be changed. Hence, Moses held a rod, threw it, and it became a serpent. Again, he grasped the serpent’s tail, and it reverted into its nature as a rod. You see therefore, by prophetic will, its nature is twice changed, both of a serpent and a rod. The rivers of Egypt flowed with a pure course of waters, suddenly from the source of the waters blood began to burst forth, there was no drinkable water in the rivers. Conversely, at the prayers of the prophet, the blood of the rivers ceased, the nature of waters returned. The Hebrew nation was surrounded on all sides, on one side blocked by the Egyptians, on the other side cut off by the sea. Moses raised a rod, the water parted and solidified itself into a kind of wall, and between the waves a foot path appeared. The Jordan reversed course, and it returned, against nature, to the beginning of its source. Is it not clear that the nature of the ocean’s waves or of the river’s course was changed? The people of the forefathers thirsted, Moses touched the rock, and water flowed from the rock. Has not grace acted contrary to nature, so that a rock might spew forth water, which it did not have by nature?

Responsory

℟. Having taken the bread, Jesus gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: this is my body which will be given up for you. * Do this in my memory. [Luke 22:19]

℣. Similarly, he took a cup, after he had eaten, saying: this is the chalice of the New Testament in my blood, which will be shed for you. [Luke 22:20] * Do this in my memory.

Reading 3

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 69, conclusion]

The Marath River was very bitter, so that the thirsting people were not able to drink. Moses threw a branch into the water, and nature eliminated the bitterness of its waters, which grace, suddenly intermixed, tempered. During the time of Elias the prophet, the blade fell off the battle ax of one of the sons of the prophets and immediately sank. He who had let the iron slip sought out Elias. Elias put a stick into the water, and the blade floated. Certainly we know that this is an act beyond nature. The species of iron is heavier than the liquid of water. We perceive therefore that grace is greater than nature, but yet we still reckon grace to be of prophetic blessing. But if a human blessing has such great strength that it can change nature, what can we say of that divine consecration, in which the words themselves of the Savior act? For this sacrament you receive is accomplished by the words of Christ. If the word of Elias had such great strength that it could bring down fire from heaven, will not the word of Christ have the power to change the species of the elements?

You have read about the creation of the entire world, that he spoke, and it was made, that he commanded, and it was created (Ps 32:9). Thus speech, which was able from nothing to create what did not exist, now was able to change existing things into that which they were not. For it is not less to give, than to change new natures in things.

Why is this so? Let us use the example of the one whose argument we use, and let us add the truth of the mystery of his Incarnation. Do you doubt that he perceived clearly the custom of nature, since the Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary? If we seek order, it had been the custom to procreate by man combined with woman. It is clear, therefore that, against the order of nature, a virgin gave birth. And that which we celebrate is the body of Christ from a virgin. What order of nature do you find here in the body of Christ, since against nature the Lord Jesus himself was born of a virgin? Certainly real was the flesh of Christ which was crucified, which was buried. Truly his flesh is the sacrament. Our Lord Jesus himself proclaims: this is my body (Matt 26:26). Before the blessing of the celestial words, it is called another species; after the consecration his body is signified. He himself calls it his blood. Before the consecration it is called another thing; after the consecration it is called the blood of Christ. You say: amen, this is so, this is true. May that which speech proclaims perceive the condition.

Responsory

℟. While the disciples were eating, Jesus took bread and, blessing it, broke it and gave it to them, and he said: take this, this is my body, and having taken a cup, giving thanks, he gave it to them. * And they all drank from it. [Mark 14:22–23]

℣. And he said to them: this is my blood of the New Testament which will be poured out for many. [Mark 14:24] * And they all drank from it.

Second Nocturn

Antiphon. Making a table of acacia wood, plate it with purest gold, and you will place on it the bread of the presence always before me. [Exod 25:23–24, 30]

Psalm 22 (23)

The Lord rules me: and I shall want nothing. * He has set me in a place of pasture, etc.

Antiphon. The priests shall be consecrated to their God, and shall not profane his name; they shall offer burnt offerings of the Lord and breads to God, and they shall be holy. [Lev 21:6]

Psalm 33 (34)

I will bless the Lord at all times, * his praise shall be always in my mouth, etc.

Antiphon. The Lord will prepare for all peoples on Mount Zion a rich banquet, a banquet of rich vintage, of rich marrows, of strained wine. [Isa 25:6]

Psalm 42 (43)

Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy: * deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man, etc.

Versicle

[Ps 80 (81):17]

℣. He fed them from the finest grain, alleluia.

℟. And he filled them with honey from a rock, alleluia.

Reading 4

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 55]

There is the bread used on the altar before the words of the sacraments. When the consecration comes, from bread it becomes the body of Christ. How can what is bread be the body of Christ? Consecration by whose words, by whose speech? The Lord Jesus. Because through the rest that is said, praise is offered to God, through prayer he is petitioned for the people, for kings, and for other things. However when the sacrament is made ready, now the priest uses not his own words, but the words of Christ. Therefore Christ’s word makes this a sacrament. What word of Christ? That, of course, by which all things were created: heaven, earth, seas. You see therefore how efficacious is the word of Christ. If therefore so much power is in the word of our Lord Jesus, so that what was not might begin to be, how much more efficacious is it, so that they may be which were, and that they may be converted into something else? And thus what was bread before the consecration now is the body of Christ after the consecration, because the word of Christ changes the object, and thus from bread it becomes the body of Christ. And the wine mixed with water in the chalice, becomes blood by the consecration of the heavenly word.

But perhaps you say: I do not see the species of blood, but it is similar. Indeed, just as you took on the likeness of death, so also you drink the likeness of the blood of Christ, so that there be no horror of blood, and so that it still serve as the price of redemption. You have learned that you receive the body of Christ. Do you wish to know how, by the celestial words, it is consecrated? Learn what the words are. The priest says: make this offering for us, he says, approved, reasonable, and acceptable: that it may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Who, the day before He suffered, took bread into His holy hands, and with eyes lifted up toward heaven, unto you, O holy Father, almighty, eternal God, giving thanks to you, he blessed, broke, and gave unto His apostles, saying: take, and eat of this: for this is My Body, which is broken for many. In like manner, after supper, the day before he suffered, taking also this chalice, and with eyes lifted up toward heaven, unto you, O holy Father, almighty, eternal God, giving thanks to you, he blessed and gave unto His apostles, saying: take, and drink of it: for this is My Blood.

After that, there are all the things of the evangelist up to: take, either the body, or the blood. Then there are the words of Christ: Take and drink from this all of you. This is my blood. Look at them one at a time. Who the day before he suffered took, he said, bread into his holy hands. Before it is consecrated, it is bread. When however the words of Christ draw near, it is the body of Christ. Then hear him saying: take and eat of this all of you: this is my body. And before the words of Christ the chalice is filled with wine and water. When however the words of Christ were spoken, then it became blood, which redeems the people. Therefore see how powerful is the word of Christ to change all things. Then Jesus himself bears witness, that we receive his body and his blood, whose faith and testimony we ought not doubt.

Responsory

℟. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread and, giving thanks, broke it and said: take and eat. This is my Body which will be given up for you. * Do this in my memory. [1 Cor 11:23–24]

℣. Similarly he took the cup after he had eaten, saying: this chalice is a New Testament in my blood. [1 Cor 11:25] * Do this in my memory.

Reading 5

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 57]

Christ is the bread, of which whoever eats, lives forever. About this he himself said: and the bread which I will give him is my flesh, for the life of the world (John 6:52). He prescribes in what way it is bread for the life of the world, not only in accordance with the word, by which all things live, but in accordance with the assumed flesh. His human flesh, which was dead to sin, united to the flesh of the world, incorporated, made one with it, lives by his Spirit, just as the body lives by its spirit.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 60]

We call the body and blood of Christ that which, taken from the fruits of the earth, and blessed by sacred prayer, we properly consume for spiritual salvation, in memory of the Passion of the Lord. Since it is brought into its visible form by the hand of man, it is not sanctified to be so great a sacrament, except by the Holy Spirit working invisibly, since God makes all these things which come about from the body’s movements in that work.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 63]

This is the sacrament of piety, and a sign of unity and a bond of love. Whoever wishes to live, let him approach and believe, let him consume this food and drink. He wishes the society of the body and its members to be understood, because it is among the things predestined in/for the Church.

[Gratian, De consecratione, can. 48]

This is what we say, what we work to prove in every way, that the sacrifice of the Church is composed of two things, consists of two things: of the visible species of the elements, and of the invisible body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, both of the sacrament and of the object of the sacrament, that is, of the body of Christ, just as the person of Christ comprises and is composed of God and man, since Christ himself is truly God and truly man, because each thing contains in itself the nature and truth of those things of which it is composed. Thus the sacrifice of the Church is composed of two things, the sacrament and the object of the sacrament, that is, the body of Christ. There is therefore the sacrament and the object of the sacrament, that is, the body of Christ. His flesh is what, hidden in the form of bread, we receive in the sacrament, and his blood what we drink under the appearance and taste of wine. His flesh is the sacrament of his flesh, and his blood the sacrament of his blood. By his flesh and blood, both invisible, understandable, spiritual, is symbolized the visible body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is touchable, full of the grace of all virtues and of divine majesty.

Therefore, just as the celestial bread, which is truly the flesh of Christ, is called in its own way the body of Christ, although actually it is the sacrament of the body of Christ, that which visibly, which palpably, subject to death, was placed on the cross, and just as it is called that sacrifice of the flesh, which is the suffering, death, and crucifixion of Christ at the priest’s hands, not because of the truth of the matter, but because of a symbolic mystery, so the sacrament of faith, which is called baptism, is faith.

Responsory

℟. Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup unworthily will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. * Let each man examine himself and so eat the bread and drink the cup. [1 Cor 11:27–28]

℣. Who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment on himself, not recognizing the body of the Lord. [1 Cor 11:29] * Let each man examine himself and so eat the bread and drink the cup.

Reading 6

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 71]

This offering is repeated daily, although Christ having died once in the flesh through one and the same suffering of death, saved the world a single time, from which death rising again to life, death will have no more dominion over him. Indeed the wisdom of God foresaw this necessity for many reasons. First of all because we sin daily, at least in sins without which mortal infirmity it is not possible to live, because although all sins are pardoned in baptism, nevertheless the infirmity of sin still remains in the flesh. Hence the psalmist: bless the Lord, my soul, who forgives all your sins, who heals all your infirmities (Ps 102:2–3). And because we fall, daily Christ is mystically sacrificed for us, and the Passion of Christ is handed down in mystery, so that he who, by dying a single time, conquered death, might forgive daily the faults of recurring transgressions through the sacraments of the body and blood. Hence we pray: forgive us our sins (Matt 6:12). Because if we would say that we do not have sin, we delude ourselves, and truth is not within us (1 John 1:8). This mystery is repeated, indeed, for the purpose of a commemoration of the passion of Christ, just as he himself said: so often as you do this, do it in memory of me. Therefore, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. This is not to be understood as, “until the death of Christ comes,” because he will not die any more, but “until the Lord himself comes for judgment.” In the meanwhile, the death of Christ for the life of time must always be proclaimed to posterity, so that they may learn with what love he loved his own, who deigned to die for them, to whom we all should return an equivalence of love, because he loved us first, although we were the sons of Gehenna, so that we, now liberated from death, might love him.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 50]

Because by the death of the Lord we have been freed, we signify the memory of this event in eating his flesh and drinking his blood, which were offered up for us.

Responsory

℟. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion in the blood of Christ? * And the bread which we break, is it not * a participation in the body of the Lord? [1 Cor 10:16]

℣. Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all participate in one bread and one cup. [1 Cor 10:17] * And the bread which we break, is it not. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. * A participation in the body of the Lord?

Third Nocturn

Antiphon. Manoah took the kid and the libation and placed it on the rock, offering it to the Lord who works miracles. When the flame ascended into heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame as well. [Judg 3:19–20]

Psalm 64 (65)

A hymn, O God, becomes you in Sion: * and a vow shall be paid to you in Jerusalem, etc.

Antiphon. His glory will be like the olive, and his odor like Lebanon. They will return to sit in his shade; they will live on wheat. [Hos 14:7–8]

Psalm 83 (84)

How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! * My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord, etc.

Antiphon. How good it is and how beautiful; grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women. [Zech 9:17]

Psalm 85 (86)

Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear me: * for I am needy and poor.

Versicle

[Isa 30:23]

℣. The bread, the fruit of the earth, alleluia.

℟. Will be most abundant and rich, alleluia.

Gospel

John 6:53

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples, and to the crowd of the Jews: amen, amen, I say to you, unless you shall eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. [And the remaining text.]

Reading 7

A homily of the blessed bishop Augustine [Alcuin, Commentaria in S. Joannis evangelium, bk. 3, ch. 15, verse 54–57] (PL 100:835–36.)

[Verse 54] You do not know how, in fact, it is given and what the method is for eating this bread. However, unless you shall eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. He said this, of course, not to the dead but to the living. Whereby, so that those understanding this life would not argue about this matter, he added what follows next.

[Verse 55] He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life. Therefore he does not have it, who does not eat this bread or drink this blood. For without it, men in this age who are not in his body through faith are able to have temporal life, but never eternal life, which is promised to the faithful. So that they, who partake in this food and drink of his carnally, and spiritually do not understand that in faith they are sent into eternal life, do not think that those who take it now also do not die in the flesh, he deemed it worthy to oppose this thought. For when he said: whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, immediately he added and said: and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:54), so that meanwhile he may have eternal life according to the spirit in the repose which overtakes the spirits of the faithful. What pertains to the body, however, and not to them will be deprived of eternal life in the resurrection of the dead on the last day. My flesh, he said, truly is food, and my blood truly is drink (John 6:55).

[Verse 56] Although men desire from food and drink, that they neither hunger nor thirst, this is not assured, unless it is that food and drink which makes those, by whom it is consumed, immortal and incorruptible, that is, a community of the saints themselves, where there will be peace and full and perfect unity. Therefore, indeed, as men of God understood before us, our Lord Jesus Christ put his body and blood into these things, which are made into some one thing. Now, one bread is made from many grains, and wine flows together from many clusters of grapes. Finally he now explains how what he has spoken happens, and what it is to eat his body and drink his blood.

[Verse 57] He who eats my body and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him (John 6:57), says the Lord. To eat that food and to drink that drink is, therefore, to abide in Christ, and to have him abiding in oneself. And thus the person who does not abide in Christ, and in whom Christ does not abide, without doubt does not eat spiritually his flesh, although physically and visibly he chews with his teeth the sacraments of the body and blood of Christ, but rather he eats and drinks the sacrament of such great importance to his own condemnation, who, impure, presumes to approach the sacraments of Christ, which no one rightly takes except the one who is pure. About whom it is said: blessed are the pure of heart, because they shall see God (Matt 5:8).

Responsory

℟. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they died. * This is the bread which descends from heaven. If anyone eats of it, * he will not die. [John 6:48–50]

℣. I am the living bread which descended from heaven. If anyone shall eat from this bread, he will live forever. [John 6:51] * This is the bread which descends from heaven. If anyone eats of it. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. * He will not die.

Reading 8

[Alcuin, Commentaria in S. Joannis evangelium, bk. 3, ch. 15, verses 58–61] (PL 100:836–37.)

[Verse 58] As the living Father, he said, sent me, I live because of the Father. And he who eats me, will live because of me (John 6:58). Certainly the Son, who was born equal, is not made better through the participation of the Father, as he makes us better through the participation of the Son through the unity of the body and blood which that food and drink signifies. We live on behalf of him, by eating him, that is, receiving him as eternal life, which we do not have by ourselves. He himself lives on behalf of the Father, sent by him, because he emptied himself, made obedient up to the sign of the cross. As the living Father sent me, I live on behalf of the Father. And he who eats me, he himself will live on behalf of me. This is as if to say: I live because of the Father, that is, I direct my life to him as to one greater, he brought about my emptying, in which form he sent me. Participation brings about for the one who eats me, that each one lives on behalf of me. Thus, I, humbled, live on behalf of the Father, this man, uplifted, lives on behalf of me. He said this not about his nature, in which he is always equal to the Father, but about that in which he was made lesser in relation to the Father, about which earlier he said: just as the Father has life in and of himself, he gave his Son life to have in and of himself (John 5:26).

[Verse 59] This is the bread which descended from heaven, that by eating it we may live, because we can have eternal life from it. Not like the manna, he said, your fathers ate, and died. Whoever eats this bread, will live forever. Because they died, it is to be understood that they do not live in eternity. For certainly here on earth they will die who eat Christ, but they live in eternity, because Christ is the sign of eternal life. The one who eats and drinks, it is as if he abides and is abided, dwells and is dwelt in, holds fast and is not abandoned. Therefore he taught us this when he admonished us with mystical words, that we are in his body, under his head, in his limbs by eating his flesh, not abandoning his unity; but because there were several participating who did not understand, they were scandalized. They did not imagine anything except the flesh that they were. The Apostle himself said, and said truly: to be wise in the flesh is death (Rom 8:6). The Lord tells us to eat his flesh and be wise. To be wise in the flesh is death, although he may speak of his own flesh, because his food is eternal life. Therefore we must not be wise in the flesh according to flesh, just as in these words.

[Verse 61] And many hearing this who were not his enemies but his disciples, said: this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it? (John 6:60). If his disciples found this saying hard, what of his enemies? And in spite of this it was thus necessary for him to say it, although it might not be understood by men. The mystery ought to create proponents, no opponents.

Responsory

℟. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life. * And I will raise him up * on the last day. [John 6:53–54]

℣. My flesh indeed is truly food and my blood truly drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. [John 6:55–56] And I will raise him up. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. * On the last day.

Reading 9

[Alcuin, Commentaria in S. Joannis evangelium, bk. 3, ch. 15, verses 64–69] (PL 100:838–40.)

[Verse 64, ch. 16] It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh on the other hand does not benefit anyone. We have said that the Lord instructed us in eating his flesh and drinking his blood, so that we may abide in him and he in us. Moreover, he himself abides in us, since we are his temple. So that we too may be members of him, union joins us into a whole. Unity then through love of him, love through the spirit. Therefore it is the spirit that gives life, for the spirit makes living members. But the spirit does not make the members live, except those things the spirit itself finds which are in the body which invigorates them. For how can the spirit which is in you, O man, by which you are held together so that you are man, vivify a member which it finds separate from your flesh? If you take one thing away from the soul it does not live, because it is not joined to the unity of your body. These things are said, so that we may love unity and fear separation. Nothing indeed ought a Christian fear as much as being separated from the body of Christ. If indeed he is separated from the body of Christ, he is not a member of him. If he is not a member of him, he is not animated by his spirit. Whoever, the Apostle says, does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not of his body. It is the spirit, therefore, that gives life; the flesh does not benefit anyone. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life; they must be understood spiritually. You have understood spiritually, they are spirit and life. But they are not yours, O man, you who do not understand them spiritually, nor know to venerate them with faith.

[Verse 65] There are, however, some among you who do not believe, and therefore do not understand because they do not believe. The prophet said: unless you shall believe, you shall not understand (Isa 7:9). We are united by faith, we are given life by understanding; first let us have faith, so that afterwards we may be given life by understanding.

[Verse 67] From this time many of his disciples turned away, in such a way as to be cut off from the body of Christ, and did not follow him any longer, because they were not faithfully in his body, and these were not a few but many. Let us hear therefore what he said to the few who remained.

[Verse 68] Jesus therefore said to the twelve: do you also wish to go away? (John 6:67). The twelve did not go away, not even Judas, but why the group remained with the Lord now appeared. Later it was made manifest. One responded for all, one for many, a single one for the whole group. Simon Peter therefore answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? (John 6:68). If you drive us from you, give us another similar to you to whom we shall go. If we withdraw from you, to whom shall we go?

[Verse 69] You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68). Behold how Peter understood because the Lord gives, the Holy Spirit renews. How else unless it was because he believed the words of eternal life? You have eternal life in the ministration of your body and blood. And we believe and have come to know. We believe indeed that we might come to know. For if first we wish to come to know and then believe, what have we believed and what have we come to know? That you are Christ, the son of the living God, that is, that you are in eternal life itself, and you do not give in your flesh and blood anything except what you are.

Responsory

℟. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me * lives because of me. * This is the bread which descended from heaven. [John 6:57–58]

℣. Not like the manna your fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever. [John 6:58] * This is the bread which descended from heaven. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. * He lives because of me.

Fourth Nocturn

Antiphon. Jonathan extended the tip of the staff he had in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth and his eyes became bright. [1 Sam 14:27] (No music is indicated for these antiphons in the Strahov manuscript.)

Psalm 101 (102)

Hear, O Lord, my prayer: * and let my cry come to you, etc.

Antiphon. Eat honey, my son, because it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. You have found honey. Eat enough to satisfy yourself. [Prov 24:13; 25:16]

Psalm 102 (103)

Bless the Lord, O my soul: * and let all that is within me bless his holy name, etc.

Antiphon. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without any exchange. Listen, you hearing me, and eat well, and let your soul delight in richness. [Isa 55:1–2]

Psalm 104 (105)

Give glory to the Lord, and call upon his name: * declare his deeds among the Gentiles, etc.

Versicle

[Song 5:1]

℣. I have eaten honeycomb with my honey, alleluia.

℟. I have drunk my wine with my milk, alleluia.

Reading 10

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 72]

Whether by symbolism or by truth the mystery of the chalice becomes a sacrament, truth tells: my flesh truly is food, and my blood truly is drink (John 6:56). Otherwise how will it be a great thing—the bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (John 6:52)—unless it be true flesh? But because it is not right that Christ be devoured with the teeth, he wanted this bread and wine truly in the ministry to become powerfully his flesh and blood by the consecration of the Holy Spirit, and daily to be sacrificed mystically for the life of the world, so that, just as his true flesh is created from a virgin through the Holy Spirit without intercourse, through the same Holy Spirit the same body of Christ may be mystically consecrated from the substance of bread and wine. The body of Christ is both truth and a symbol. Truth when the body and blood of Christ is produced by the power of the Holy Spirit and by his own power from the substance of bread and wine. The symbol is that which is perceived externally.

Within the Catholic Church, in the ministry of the body of Christ, nothing greater by a good priest, nor inferior by a bad priest, is accomplished, because it is accomplished, not by the merit of the one consecrating, but by the word of the Creator, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. If it were by the merit of the priest, it would in no way pertain to Christ. Now however, just as it is he himself who baptizes, so it is he himself who, through the Holy Spirit, makes it his flesh, and changes wine into his blood. Hence the priest: command, he says, these offerings to be carried up by the hands of your holy angels to your sublime altar, in the sight of your divine majesty. (Roman Canon of the Mass, prayer Supplices te rogamus.)

How is it that he demands these offerings be brought into the light, if not that it be understood that these things are done in his priesthood? Therefore this offering is blessed, through which we are blessed, it is enrolled, through which men are enrolled in heaven, it is certified, through which we are deemed to be of the flesh of Christ, it is intelligent, through which we are freed from bestial understanding, it is accepting, (Roman Canon of the Mass, prayer Quam oblationem.) so that we who are displeasing to ourselves may become by it acceptable to his only Son. Nothing is more sensible than that, because we receive the likeness of his death in baptism, we also consume the likeness of his body and blood, so that truth may not be lacking in the sacrament, and that there be no mockery by pagans, that we drink the blood of a dead man.

It must be believed that the sacraments are produced by the words of Christ, by whose power they are created beforehand, by his word especially they are produced for the better. All the remaining things which the priest says, or which the group of the chorus sings, are nothing other than praises and thanksgivings, or even supplications, or prayers of the faithful.

Responsory

℟. Melchizedech, king of Salem, offered bread and wine; he was the priest of the highest God. * He blessed Abraham and said. [Gen 14:18–19]

℣. Blessed be Abraham by the most high God, who created heaven and earth. [Gen 14:19] * He blessed Abraham and said.

Reading 11

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 74]

All things that the Lord wished, he did in heaven and on earth. And because he wished it, it was done. Thus, although it seems to be the form of bread and wine, these things, after consecration, must be believed to be nothing other than the flesh of Christ and his blood. Whence he himself spoke the truth to his disciples: this, he said, is my flesh, for the life of the world (John 6:52).

And that I may speak more remarkably, it is clearly nothing other than what was born of Mary, and suffered on the cross, and rose again from the tomb. This, I say, it is, and therefore it is the flesh of Christ, which is offered for the life of the world even today, and when it is taken worthily, eternal life certainly is restored in us. This bread which we consume in mystery, I certainly understand to be that bread which was formed by the hand of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin, and destroyed by the fire of his Passion on the altar of the cross. The bread of the angels has become the food of men. Whence he himself said: I am the living bread, who descended from heaven (John 6:51). And again: the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world (John 6:52).

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 13]

To receive communion of the Eucharist daily I neither praise nor censure. I urge communion on all Sundays. If however the soul is in a state of sin, I say that he is more to be burdened by receiving the Eucharist than to be purified. And therefore [if] someone is consumed by sin, but yet does not have a wish to sin further, let him receive communion in tears and prayers, and, confident in the mercy of the Lord, let him approach the Eucharist undaunted and secure. But I say this to the one whom mortal sins do not burden. Thus one person says that the Eucharist must not be received daily, another asserts that it be done daily, let each one do what he conscientiously believes must be done according to his own faith. Nor did either of them put himself before the other, Zacheus and that centurion, when one of them gladly received the Lord into his house, the other said to the Lord: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter my house (Matt 8:8), both honoring the Savior, although not in one way, both having been pitied for their sins, both having attained mercy. To this it applies that manna tastes in the mouth of each according to his own desire.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 14]

If, however often the blood of Christ is poured out, it is shed for the remission of sins, I ought always to receive it, so that always my sins may be forgiven.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 24, beginning]

I who always sin, ought always to have a remedy.

Responsory

℟. The multitude of the sons of Israel shall kill the lamb. * And they shall take its blood, and place it on doorposts and lintels of the houses in which they eat it. [Exod 12:6–7]

℣. And they shall eat flesh on that night roasted over fire and unleavened bread with bitter herbs. [Exod 12:8] * And they shall take its blood, and place it on doorposts and lintels of the houses in which they eat it.

Reading 12

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 24, conclusion]

Those who live wickedly in the Church, and do not cease to receive communion, considering themselves to be purified by such communion, let them learn that they acquire nothing for their purification, as the prophet says: how is it that my beloved commits crimes in my house? Do the consecrated pieces of flesh take away from you your maliciousness? (Jer 11:15). As the Apostle [says]: let a man examine himself, he said, and thus eat of that bread and drink from that chalice (1 Cor 11:28).

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 56]

This bread is not that which goes into the body, but the bread of eternal life, which supports the substance of our soul. This is a daily bread, receive it daily, so that daily it may be of benefit to you. Live in such a way that you may be worthy to receive it.

[Gratian, De consecrationem, d. 2, can. 66]

Sacred things can be harmful to the wicked. They work to the salvation of the good, to the judgment of the wicked. Hence the Apostle: he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Cor 11:29). Not because that thing is evil, but because the evil one receives evilly what is good. It was not an evil morsel which was given by the Lord to Judas. The doctor gives health. But because he who was unworthy received it, he received it to his destruction.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 67]

Let the steward not forbid the rich of the land (Ps 22:29) from eating at the Lord’s table, but let him advise them to fear the bringer of judgment.

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 68]

Just as Judas, when Christ handed a morsel to him, did not receive evil but badly received good, gave room to the devil, so when someone unworthily consumes the body of Christ, it is not the case that because he is wicked, it is wicked, or because he does not receive it to his benefit he receives nothing. The body and blood of the Lord nonetheless was in them, to whom the Apostle said: whoever eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Cor 11:29).

[Gratian, De consecratione, d. 2, can. 46]

Many receive the body unworthily, about whom the Apostle said: he who eats and drinks from the chalice of the Lord unworthily, eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Cor 11:29). But how must Christ be eaten? He himself described the way: he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood worthily*, remains in me and I in him* (John 6:57), and if he receives the sacrament unworthily, he obtains great torment.

Responsory

℟. When the dew had gone up, * there appeared on the ground a fine and flake-like thing, * similar to hoarfrost on the ground. [Exod 16:14]

℣. It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. [Exod 16:15] * There appeared on the ground a fine and flake-like thing. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. * Similar to hoarfrost on the ground.