O PRECIOUS AND WONDERFUL BANQUET

 SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

 Scrutatio 

for 

the 

CHRISTIAN FEAST OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT 

OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR 

+JESUS+CHRIST+

(June 4, 2015., Thursday)

 

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Genesis 14:18-20 / Psalm 116:10-17 / I Corinthians 11:23-26 / John 6:51-58

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Exodus 24:3-8 / Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16 and 17-18 / Hebrews 9:11-15 / Mark 14:12-16 and 22-26

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Tobias 12:6 and Psalm 8:1 

Epistle: Romans 11:33-36

Gradual and Alleluia: Daniel 3:55-56 and 52

Gospel 

Matthew 28:18-20

Offertory: 

Tobias 12:6 

Communion Antiphon: Tobias 12:6 

From the great "dumb ox" of the Order of Preachers: Thomas Aquinas in his 13th Century A.D. sermon entitled:

O PRECIOUS AND WONDERFUL BANQUET

"Since it was the will of God's only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

O precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.

It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation."

- Thomas Aquinas, Opusculum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lectures 1-4

Prostrate I adore Thee, Deity unseen,

Who Thy glory hidest 'neath these shadows mean;

Lo, to Thee surrendered, my whole heart is bowed,

Tranced as it beholds Thee, shrined within the cloud.

Taste, and touch, and vision, to discern Thee fail;

Faith, that comes by hearing, pierces through the veil.

I believe whate'er the Son of God hath told;

What the Truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold.

On the Cross lay hidden but thy Deity,

Here is hidden also Thy Humanity:

But in both believing and confessing, Lord,

Ask I what the dying thief of Thee implored.

Thy dread wounds, like Thomas, though I cannot see,

His be my confession, Lord and God, of Thee,

Make my faith unfeigned ever-more increase,

Give me hope unfading, love that cannot cease.

O memorial wondrous of the Lord's own death;

Living Bread, that giveth all Thy creatures breath,

Grant my spirit ever by Thy life may live,

To my taste Thy sweetness never-failing give.

Pelican of mercy, Jesus, Lord and God,

Cleanse me, wretched sinner, in Thy Precious Blood:

Blood where one drop for human-kind outpoured

Might from all transgression have the world restored.

Jesus, whom now veiled, I by faith descry,

What my soul doth thirst for, do not, Lord, deny,

That thy face unveiled, I at last may see,

With the blissful vision blest, my God, of Thee. Amen.