Corpus Et Sanguis Christi Sequence
Sing forth, O Zion, sweetly sing,/ The praises of thy Shepherd-King,/ In hymns and canticles divine;/ Dare all thou canst, thou hast no song,/ Worthy his praises to prolong,/ So far surpassing powers like thine.
Today no theme of common praise/ Forms the sweet burden of thy lays –/ The living,/ life-dispensing food –/ That food which at the sacred board/ Unto the brethren twelve our/ Lord/ His parting legacy bestowed.
Then be the anthem clear and strong,/ Thy fullest note, thy sweetest song,/ The very music of the breast:/ For now shines forth the day sublime/ That brings remembrance of the time/ When Jesus first his table blessed.
Within our new King’s banquet-hall/ They meet to keep the festival/ That closed the ancient paschal rite:/ The old is by the new replaced;/ The substance hath the shadow chased;/ And rising day dispels the night.
Christ willed what he himself had done/ Should be renewed while time should run,/ In memory of his parting hour:/ Thus, tutored in his school divine,/ We consecrate the bread and wine:/ And lo – a Host of saving power.
This faith to Christian men is given –/ Bread is made flesh by words from heaven:/ Into his blood the wine is turned:/ What though it baffles nature’s powers/ Of sense and sight? This faith of ours/ Proves more than nature e’er discerned.
Concealed beneath the two-fold sign,/ Meet symbols of the gifts divine,/ There lie the mysteries adored:/ The living body is our food;/ Our drink the ever-precious blood:/ In each, one undivided Lord.
Not he that eateth it divides/ The sacred food, which whole abides/ Unbroken still, nor knows decay;/ Be one, or be a thousand fed,/ They eat alike that living bread/ Which, still received, ne’er wastes away.
The good, the guilty share therein,/ With sure increase of grace or sin,/ The ghostly life, or ghostly death:/ Death to the guilty; to the good/ Immortal life. See how one food/ Man’s joy or woe accomplisheth.
We break the Sacrament; but bold/ And firm thy faith shall keep its hold;/ Deem not the/ whole doth more enfold/ Than in the fractured part resides:/ Deem not that Christ doth broken lie;/ ‘Tis but the sign that meets the eye;/ The hidden deep reality/ In all its fullness still abides
Lo! the angel’s food is given/ To the pilgrim who has striven;/ see the children’s bread from heaven,/ which on dogs may not be spent.
Truth the ancient types fulfilling,/ Isaac bound, a victim willing,/ Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,/ manna to the fathers sent.
Very bread, good shepherd, tend us,/ Jesu, of your love befriend us,/ You refresh us, you defend us,/ Your eternal goodness send us/ In the land of life to see.
You who all things can and know,/ Who on earth such food bestow,/ Grant us with your saints, though lowest,/ Where the heav’nly feast you show,/ Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.
Jesus the Divine Pelican http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-symbolism-of-the-pelican.html
Anniversary of our parish perpetual adoration chapel! 🙂
This post is dedicated to St. Tarcisius.
Amo Iesu by Grace Pax 