CORPUS CHRISTI BCP (Tablet Version)
THE LORD’S PRAYER
kneeling before the altar
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil. Amen.
The altar is reverenced
In the name of the +Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
Amen
The Lord be with you
And with thy Spirit
THE COLLECT
Almighty God,
unto whom all hearts be open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love thee,
and worthily magnify thy holy Name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE SUMMARY OF THE LAW
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord;
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength.
This is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this:
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws
in our hearts, we beseech thee.
COLLECT FOR THE QUEEN
Let us pray.
Almighty God,
whose kingdom is ever-lasting, and power infinite:
Have mercy upon the whole Church;
and so rule the heart of thy chosen servant
ELIZABETH, our Queen and Governor,
that she (knowing whose minister she is)
may above all things seek thy honour and glory:
and that we and all her subjects
(duly considering whose authority she hath)
may faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey her,
in thee, and for thee,
according to thy blessed Word and ordinance;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth,
ever one God, world without end. Amen.
COLLECT OF THE DAY (+Advent & Lent Collects in Season)
Let us pray
God our Father,
whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful Sacrament
hath left unto us a memorial of his passion:
Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his
Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves
the fruit of his redemption;
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
THE EPISTLE
The Epistle is written in the 11th Chapter of the first epistle of Paul to the people of the City of Corinth beginning at the 23rd Verse.
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
At the end of the Epistle
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
THE HOLY GOSPEL
The holy Gospel is written in the 6th Chapter of John beginning at the 47th Verse.
Glory be to thee, O Lord.
Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’
At the end of the Gospel:
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise be to thee, O Christ.
HOMILY
Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable human circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, from the pinnacle of earthly greatness to the refuge of fugitives in the caves and dens of the earth. Men have found no better thing than this to do for kings at their crowning and for criminals going to the scaffold; for armies in triumph or for a bride and bridegroom in a little country church; for the proclamation of a dogma or for a good crop of wheat; for the wisdom of the Parliament of a mighty nation or for a sick old woman afraid to die; for a schoolboy sitting an examination or for Columbus setting out to discover America; for the famine of whole provinces or for the soul of a dead lover; in thankfulness because my father did not die of pneumonia; for a village headman much tempted to return to fetich because the yams had failed; because the Turk was at the gates of Vienna; for the repentance of Margaret; for the settlement of a strike; for a son for a barren woman; for Captain so-and-so wounded and prisoner of war; while the lions roared in the nearby amphitheatre; on the beach at Dunkirk; while the hiss of scythes in the thick June grass came faintly through the windows of the church; tremulously, by an old monk on the fiftieth anniversary of his vows; furtively, by an exiled bishop who had hewn timber all day in a prison camp near Murmansk; gorgeously, for the canonisation of S. Joan of Arc—one could fill many pages with the reasons why men have done this, and not tell a hundredth part of them. And best of all, week by week and month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays, faithfully, unfailingly, across all the parishes of Christendom, the pastors have done this just to make the plebs sancta Dei—the holy common people of God.
THE CREED
I believe in one God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And of all things visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
Begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made:
Who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven,
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
And was made man,
And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and was buried,
And the third day he rose again
according to the Scriptures,
And ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of the Father.
And he shall come again with glory
to judge both the quick and the dead:
Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost,
The Lord and giver of life,
Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
Who with the Father and the Son together
is worshipped and glorified,
Who spake by the Prophets.
And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church.
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.
And I look for the Resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Priest prepares the Holy Table
THE PRAYERS
Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here in earth.
Almighty and everliving God,
who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us
to make prayers and supplications,
and to give thanks, for all men:
We humbly beseech thee most mercifully
to receive these our prayers,
which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty;
beseeching thee to inspire continually
the universal Church
with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord:
And grant, that all they
that do confess thy holy Name
may agree in the truth of thy holy Word,
and live in unity, and godly love.
We beseech thee also to save and defend
all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors;
and specially thy servant ELIZABETH our Queen;
that under her we may be godly and quietly governed:
And grant unto her whole Council,
and to all that are put in authority under her,
that they may truly and indifferently minister justice,
to the punishment of wickedness and vice,
and to the maintenance of thy true religion, and virtue.
Give grace, O heavenly Father,
to all Bishops and Curates,
that they may both by their life and doctrine
set forth thy true and lively Word,
and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments:
And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace;
and specially to this congregation here present;
that, with meek heart and due reverence,
they may hear, and receive thy holy Word;
truly serving thee in holiness and righteousness
all the days of their life.
And we most humbly beseech thee
of thy goodness, O Lord,
to comfort and succour all them,
who in this transitory life
are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness,
or any other adversity.
And we also bless thy holy Name
for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear;
beseeching thee to give us grace
so to follow their good examples,
that with them we may be partakers
of thy heavenly kingdom:
Grant this, O Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake,
our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
THE CONFESSION
Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the Holy Communion,
Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins,
and are in love and charity with your neighbours,
and intend to lead a new life,
following the commandments of God,
and walking from henceforth in his holy ways:
Draw near with faith,
and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort;
and make your humble confession to Almighty God,
meekly kneeling upon your knees.
Kneel
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Maker of all things,
Judge of all men:
We acknowledge and bewail
our manifold sins and wickedness,
Which we from time to time
most grievously have committed,
By thought, word, and deed,
Against thy Divine Majesty,
Provoking most justly
thy wrath and indignation against us.
We do earnestly repent,
And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings;
The remembrance of them is grievous unto us;
The burden of them is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us,
Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,
Forgive us all that is past;
And grant that we may ever hereafter
Serve and please thee
In newness of life,
To the honour and glory of thy Name;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Stand
Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
who of his great mercy
hath promised forgiveness of sins
to all them that with hearty repentance
and true faith turn unto him;
Have mercy upon you;
pardon + and deliver you from all your sins;
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness;
and bring you to everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE COMFORTABLE WORDS
Then shall the Priest say,
Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn to him.
Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. St. Matthew 11.28
So God loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. St. John 3.16
Hear also what Saint Paul saith.
This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
1 St. Timothy 1.15
Hear also what Saint John saith.
If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins. 1 St. John 2.1
After which the Priest shall proceed, saying,
The Lord be with you.
And with thy Spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up unto the Lord.
Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
It is meet and right so to do.
Then shall the Priest say,
It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty,
that we should at all times, and in all places,
give thanks unto thee, O Lord,
Holy Father,
Almighty, Everlasting God.
And now we give thee thanks
because, having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end;
and on the night before he suffered,
sitting at table with his disciples,
he instituted these holy mysteries,
that we, redeemed by his death
and restored to life by his resurrection,
might be partakers of his divine nature.
Therefore with Angels and Archangels,
and with all the company of heaven,
we laud and magnify thy glorious Name;
evermore praising thee, and saying:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts,
heaven and earth are full of thy glory:
Glory be to thee, O Lord most High. Amen.
THE PRAYER OF HUMBLE ACCESS
Bowing
We do not presume to come to this thy Table,
O merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness,
but in thy manifold and great mercies.
We are not worthy so much
as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table.
But thou art the same Lord,
whose property is always to have mercy:
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord,
so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ,
and to drink his blood,
that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body,
and our souls washed through his most precious blood,
and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.
Amen.
THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
who of thy tender mercy
didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ
to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption;
who made there
(by his one oblation of himself once offered)
a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice,
oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world;
and did institute,
and in his holy Gospel command us to continue,
a perpetual memory of that his precious death,
until his coming again:
Hear us, O merciful Father,
we most humbly beseech thee;
and grant that we receiving these
thy creatures of bread and wine,
according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ’s
holy institution,
in remembrance of his death and passion,
may be partakers of his most blessed + Body and Blood:
who, in the same night that he was betrayed,
took Bread; and, when he had given thanks,
he brake it, fraction and gave it to his disciples, saying,
Take, eat;
this is my Body
which is given for you:
Do this in remembrance of me.
Likewise after supper he took the Cup;
and, when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them, saying,
Drink ye all of this;
for this is my Blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for you and for many
for the remission of sins:
Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it,
in remembrance of me. Amen.
Then shall the Priest first receive the Communion in both kinds himself, and then proceed to deliver the same to those present in like manner,
And, when he delivereth the Bread to any one, he shall say,
The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life: Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.
And the Minister that delivereth the Cup to any one shall say,
The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life: Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.
When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the Lord’s Table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, and dispose of them reverently and discretely.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,
For ever and ever. Amen.
After shall the Priest say:
O Lord and heavenly Father,
we thy humble servants
entirely desire thy fatherly goodness
mercifully to accept this our sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving;
most humbly beseeching thee to grant,
that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ,
and through faith in his blood,
we and all thy whole Church
may obtain remission of our sins,
and all other benefits of his passion.
And here we offer
and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves,
our souls and bodies,
to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee;
humbly beseeching thee,
that all we, who are partakers of this holy Communion,
may be fulfilled with thy grace and heavenly benediction.
And although we be unworthy,
through our manifold sins,
to offer unto thee any sacrifice,
yet we beseech thee to accept this
our bounden duty and service;
not weighing our merits,
but pardoning our offences,
through Jesus Christ our Lord;
by whom, and with whom,
in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
all honour and glory be unto thee,
O Father Almighty,
world without end. Amen.
THE GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
Glory be to God on high,
and in earth peace, good will towards men.
We praise thee, we bless thee,
we worship thee, we glorify thee,
we give thanks to thee for thy great glory,
O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.
O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesu Christ;
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
that takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer.
Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father,
have mercy upon us.
For thou only art holy;
thou only art the Lord;
thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost,
art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Then the Priest shall let them depart with this Blessing.
The peace of God,
which passeth all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds
in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord:
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen.
Go in the peace of Christ.
Thanks be to God.