In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine,
and being a priest of God Most High,
he blessed Abram with these words:
            “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
                        the creator of heaven and earth;
            and blessed be God Most High,
                        who delivered your foes into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

R (4b)  You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
            till I make your enemies your footstool.”
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
            “Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
            before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
            “You are a priest forever, according to the order of  Melchizedek.”
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
 

Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, 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 death of the Lord until he comes.

Laud, O Zion, your salvation,
Laud with hymns of exultation,
            Christ, your king and shepherd true:

Bring him all the praise you know,
He is more than you bestow.
            Never can you reach his due.

Special theme for glad thanksgiving
Is the quick’ning and the living
            Bread today before you set:

From his hands of old partaken,
As we know, by faith unshaken,
            Where the Twelve at supper met.

Full and clear ring out your chanting,
Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,
            From your heart let praises burst:

For today the feast is holden,
When the institution olden
            Of that supper was rehearsed.

Here the new law’s new oblation,
By the new king’s revelation,
            Ends the form of ancient rite:

Now the new the old effaces,
Truth away the shadow chases,
            Light dispels the gloom of night.

What he did at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
            His memorial ne’er to cease:

And his rule for guidance taking,
Bread and wine we hallow, making
            Thus our sacrifice of peace.

This the truth each Christian learns,
Bread into his flesh he turns,
            To his precious blood the wine:

Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,
But a dauntless faith believes,
            Resting on a pow’r divine.

Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things to sense forbidden;
            Signs, not things are all we see:

Blood is poured and flesh is broken,
Yet in either wondrous token
            Christ entire we know to be.

Whoso of this food partakes,
Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;
            Christ is whole to all that taste:

Thousands are, as one, receivers,
One, as thousands of believers,
            Eats of him who cannot waste.

Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers dooms preparing,
            Endless death, or endless life.

Life to these, to those damnation,
See how like participation
            Is with unlike issues rife.

When the sacrament is broken,
Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,
            That each sever’d outward token
            doth the very whole contain.

Nought the precious gift divides,
Breaking but the sign betides
            Jesus still the same abides,
            still unbroken does remain.

The shorter form of the sequence begins here.

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.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
“Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here.”
He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.”
They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.”
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Then he said to his disciples,
“Have them sit down in groups of about fifty.”
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.

After the death of Jehoiada,
the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash,
and the king then listened to them.
They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers,
and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols;
and because of this crime of theirs,
wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD,
the people would not listen to their warnings.
Then the Spirit of God possessed Zechariah,
son of Jehoiada the priest.
He took his stand above the people and said to them:
“God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the LORD’s commands,
so that you cannot prosper?
Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.’”
But they conspired against him,
and at the king’s order they stoned him to death
in the court of the LORD’s temple.
Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him
by Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, and slew his son.
And as Zechariah was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and avenge.”

At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash.
They invaded Judah and Jerusalem,
did away with all the princes of the people,
and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.
Though the Aramean force came with few men,
the Lord surrendered a very large force into their power,
because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers.
So punishment was meted out to Joash.
After the Arameans had departed from him,
leaving him in grievous suffering,
his servants conspired against him
because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest.
He was buried in the City of David,
but not in the tombs of the kings.

R. (29a) For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.
I will make his posterity endure forever
and his throne as the days of heaven.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“If his sons forsake my law
and walk not according to my ordinances,
If they violate my statutes
and keep not my commands.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“I will punish their crime with a rod
and their guilt with stripes.
Yet my mercy I will not take from him,
nor will I belie my faithfulness.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“No one can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”