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Writing in the new Pastoral Plan for the Diocese "The Word Who is Life: The Call to Mission" (7.4), Bishop Richard asks that every parish provides times of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, leading to monthly Holy Hours. To support this, the diocesan Formation Team is providing regular resources - including suggested scripture readings and intentions. The resources for June can be found below:
Liturgical Calendar – Ordinary Time, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,
The Nativity of John the Baptist, Saints Peter & Paul
“Besides the times of year that have their own distinctive character, there remain in the yearly cycle thirty-three or thirty-four weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ itself is honoured in its fullness, especially on Sundays. This period is known as Ordinary Time.” [Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar, 43]
There is nothing ‘ordinary’ or commonplace about Ordinary Time! It is so called because this is the ordered time – outside the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter – when Sundays are counted (using ordinal numbers). Ordinary Time is divided into two periods: between the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent, and between Pentecost and the beginning of Advent. It is the longest season of the church year.
Whereas Christmas celebrates the Incarnation and manifestations of Christ, and Holy Week and the Easter season celebrate the Paschal Mystery (his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension), the Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects, taking us through his life, ministry, teaching, healing and other miracles.
In this season we are encouraged to grow and mature in daily expression of our faith.
This is a time to deepen our prayer life, to read and reflect on the Scriptures, and to unite ourselves more deeply with the Lord in the Eucharist. Gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can strive all the more to become the witnesses, missionary disciples and messengers of the Gospel that we have been called and commissioned to be through our baptism, showing the face of Christ to everyone we meet, and sharing his love with the world.
The Eucharist nourishes and strengthens us for this. Each time we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we are entering again into his covenant, which gives us new life. He gives himself for us so that we might give ourselves to him in love and be united with him, who even poured out his blood for us. We can offer ourselves and unite everything – our lives, our work, our sufferings and our joys – with Christ’s sacrifice. In Holy Communion, Christ transforms us into his own self, and our lives increasingly become modelled on the pattern of his self-sacrificial love and service.
The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist is an intimate union with Christ; and the grace and purpose of this sacrament is the building up of his mystical Body, the Church. Receiving Christ in the Eucharist draws us into deeper union both with him and with the Church, gathered into one by the Holy Spirit. We become one with him and with each other through sharing in his Body and Blood – an active relationship with Our Lord embodied in the Eucharistic celebration.
We become what we receive. We receive Christ’s Body so as to be his Body, which means sharing in his mission. At the end of Mass, transformed through communion with Christ in the Eucharist, we are commissioned by him and sent out to be his Body in and for the world, to be bread broken for those who hunger, and wine poured out for those who thirst. Our minds and hearts are transformed so that we think, love and speak like Jesus and put into effect in our lives what we have received, transforming the world around us by the way we live: sharing the Good News, being peace-makers, striving for justice, forgiving those who have hurt us, caring for those who are ill, doing all we can to help the poor, the homeless, the hungry, refugees, all those in need.
Nourishing your faithful by this sacred mystery,
you make them holy, so that the human race, bounded by one world,
may be enlightened by one faith and united by one bond of charity.
[Preface II of the Most Holy Eucharist: The fruits of the Most Holy Eucharist]
Grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son
and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.
[Eucharistic Prayer III]
Grant in your loving kindness to all who partake of this one Bread and one Chalice
that, gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit,
they may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your glory.
[Eucharistic Prayer IV]
“If we receive the Eucharist worthily, we become what we receive.”
[St Augustine (354-430), Easter Sermon, 227]
“Our sharing in the Body and Blood of Christ has no other purpose
than to transform us into that which we receive.”
[Pope St Leo the Great (c.400-461)]
“The Church makes the Eucharist and the Eucharist makes the Church.”
[Henri de Lubac SJ (1896-1991)]
“If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door,
you will not find Him in the chalice.”
[St John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)]
Scripture
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to Jesus, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, “The Master says: Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there.’
The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.
And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’
After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives. [Mark 14:12-16.22-26]
With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another,
‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’ [Mark 4:35-41]
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’ [Matthew 16:13-19]
I, Paul, who am less than the least of all the saints have been entrusted with this special grace, not only of proclaiming to the pagans the infinite treasure of Christ but also of explaining how the mystery is to be dispensed. Through all the ages, this has been kept hidden in God, the creator of everything. Why? So that the Sovereignties and Powers should learn only now, through the Church, how comprehensive God’s wisdom really is, exactly according to the plan which he had had from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is why we are bold enough to approach God in complete confidence, through our faith in him.
This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name: Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God. [Ephesians 3:8-12.14-19]
Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news. So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.
Here is a saying that you can rely on:
If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.
If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.
If we disown him, then he will disown us.
We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful, for he cannot disown his own self.
You know, though, what I have taught, how I have lived, what I have aimed at; you know my faith, my patience and my love; my constancy and the persecutions and hardships that came to me in places like Antioch, Iconium and Lystra – all the persecutions I have endured; and the Lord has rescued me from every one of them. You are well aware, then, that anybody who tries to live in devotion to Christ is certain to be attacked. [2 Timothy 2:8-13; 3:10-12]
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of all people, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven. [Matthew 5:13-14]
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I tell you, most solemnly,
unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,
it remains only a single grain;
but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves their life loses it;
anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.
If anyone serves me, they must follow me,
wherever I am, my servant will be there too.
If anyone serves me, my Father will honour them.’ [John 12:24-26]
[Bob Hurd (Verses 1, 2 & 5 based on “Ubi caritas”, 9th cent., vv. 3 & 4 Bob Hurd)]
©1996, 2004 Bob Hurd. Published by OCP Publications.
Used by kind permission. May be reproduced under the terms of the OneLicense licence.
Corpus Christi Sequence – Lauda Sion (Praise, O Zion)
1. Praise, O Zion, voices raising, glorify your Shepherd-King;
let unworthy yet impassioned thankful hymns of homage ring!
Join your humble acclamation to the psalm which angels sing.
2. Here recalling Christ’s own Passion, come, disciples, as his friends;
blessing, breaking, pouring, sharing – by these actions, Christ still sends
to the world his Blood and Body, Covenant which never ends.
3. Christ, the Paschal Lamb obedient, gave himself as God had planned;
now replacing former off’rings, in self-giving, here he stands,
prays again in consecration; “Eat and drink!” his great command!
4. As we keep this wondrous myst’ry, heart and mind in faith combine.
Here we eat the bread, his Body, drink his precious Blood in wine;
this, the deathless Victim’s table set in in sacramental sign.
5. Though a multitude receives him, Christ, in many parts, is one;
shared alike by saints and sinners, he remains God’s only Son.
This, the choice and gift of heaven: saving grace withheld from none.
6. Though the bread has now been broken, though the wine has now been poured,
Christ, here present in these symbols, still is whole, and truly Lord.
Through one meal one Church is nourished, leading to one life restored.
7. Bread of Angels! for God’s children, pilgrims’ strength along the way;
God provides in love, as always, holy manna ev’ry day.
Christ, as Isaac on the altar, still our debt to God will pay.
8. Living bread, Good Shepherd, feed us, endless mercy offering;
with your hallowed saints unite us, to your heav’nly banquet bring;
there will we, forever feasting, “Amen! Alleluia!” sing!
[Thomas Aquinas (c.1225-1274) Tr. Alan Hommerding]
© 2000, 2002 World Library Publications, 3825 North Willow Road, Schiller Park, IL 60176. All rights reserved.
(Commissioned by the Archdiocese of Chicago for the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 2000)
87 87 87 Hymn tunes: St Thomas (Tantum ergo), Pange lingua, Picardy, etc.
Used by kind permission. May be reproduced under the terms of the OneLicense licence.
Lord, the Word who is Life.
May all the people of our Diocese
grow in openness to the power of the Holy Spirit,
so that through a growth in understanding and courage, and truly open to your call,
we may bear powerful witness to all around us,
for you are Lord for ever and ever. Amen.
The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.
From now onwards, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. [2 Corinthians 5:14-17]
The Formation team will shortly be providing basic guidelines to help set up lay-led times of Adoration for those communities that would like to join the call to prayerful support of the Diocese. For enquiries about this initiative, please contact our Spirituality Adviser, John Harman; E: Jon.harman@abdiocese.org.uk.
Scripture excerpts from The Jerusalem Bible, © 1966 by Darton Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday and Company Ltd.
Prayer (“Lord, the Word who is life”) © 2018 Diocese of Arundel & Brighton
