June 6, 2021

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

First Reading

The Book of Exodus     24: 3-8

24:3 Therefore, Moses went and explained to the people all the words of the Lord, as well as the judgments. And all the people responded with one voice: “We will do all the words of the Lord, which he has spoken.”
24:4 Then Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And rising up in the morning, he built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve titles according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
24:5 And he sent youths from the sons of Israel, and they offered holocausts, and they immolated calves as peace-offerings to the Lord.
24:6 And so Moses took one half part of the blood, and he put it into bowls. Then the remaining part he poured over the altar.
24:7 And taking up the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people, who said: “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient.”
24:8 In truth, taking up the blood, he sprinkled it on the people, and he said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has formed with you concerning all these words.”

Second Reading

The Letter to the Hebrews     9: 11-15

9:11 But Christ, standing as the High Priest of future good things, through a greater and more perfect tabernacle, one not made by hand, that is, not of this creation,
9:12 entered once into the Holy of Holies, having obtained eternal redemption, neither by the blood of goats, nor of calves, but by his own blood.
9:13 For if the blood of goats and oxen, and the ashes of a calf, when these are sprinkled, sanctify those who have been defiled, in order to cleanse the flesh,
9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the Holy Spirit has offered himself, immaculate, to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, in order to serve the living God?
9:15 And thus he is the Mediator of the new testament, so that, by his death, he intercedes for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former testament, so that those who have been called may receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.

Gospel

The Holy Gospel According to Mark     14: 12-16, 22-26

14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they immolate the Passover, the disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
14:13 And he sent two of his disciples, and he said to them: “Go into the city. And you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.
14:14 And wherever he will have entered, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says: Where is my dining room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
14:15 And he will show you a large cenacle, fully furnished. And there, you shall prepare it for us.”
14:16 And his disciples departed and went into the city. And they found it just as he had told them. And they prepared the Passover.
14:22 And while eating with them, Jesus took bread. And blessing it, he broke it and gave it to them, and he said: “Take. This is my body.”
14:23 And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank from it.
14:24 And he said to them: “This is my blood of the new covenant, which shall be shed for many.
14:25 Amen I say to you, that I will no longer drink from this fruit of the vine, until that day when I will drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
14:26 And having sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.