GOSPEL COMMUNION: Holy Thursday & Good Friday

April 9, 2020: Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

The paraphrase-antiphon, derived from the wording of the alternate version in the 1998 ICEL Antiphonal,

This is my body given for you,
this is my blood poured out for you;
do this to remember me.

harks back to 1 Cor 11:24-26 from this evening’s 2nd Reading. The verses from Psalm 23 are then superimposed on the first half of the antiphon, so that the repeated “Do this and remember me” at the end of every two lines of the psalm becomes a kind of mantra, enfleshing our commemoration of the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The repetition invites those receiving communion to offer up themselves to God and to give themselves to their neighbors.

April 10, 2020: Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

The 1974 Graduale Romanum suggests that an appropriate song may be sung during the distribution of Communion, the current Missale Romanum suggesting Psalm 21(22) or another appropriate sung item. Since parishes will have their own repertoires for this point in the rite, the Psallite project did not provide a specific setting. If Ps 22 is desired, a setting can be found at the Song for the Word on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.