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Lenten Season · Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper · Year A

Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

The Cup of Salvation

April 2, 2026

The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, Dieric Bouts
The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, Dieric Bouts, c. 1464–1467Saint Peter's Church, Leuven
A wing of the Last Supper altarpiece, where Bouts surrounded the central communion with four Old Testament meals that prefigure it.I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.Dieric BoutsA Netherlandish painter in Leuven, known for still, elongated figures and for being among the first to use a single vanishing point.Saint Peter's Church, LeuvenA Flemish Gothic church in the university town of Leuven, which still holds the Bouts altarpieces painted for it.Saint Peter's Church, Leuven
Roman Lectionary
GospelJohn 13:1-15Jn 13:1-15
Second Reading1 Cor. 11:23-261 Cor 11:23-26
First ReadingExod. 12:1-8, 11-14Ex 12:1-8, 11-14
Responsorial PsalmPs. 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18Ps 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18Alt. Psalmcf. 1 Corinthians 10:16cf. 1 Cor 10:16

Overview & Insights

"The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." (Psalm 116:13)

The psalmist asks how to repay the Lord for deliverance from death and answers by lifting the cup of salvation and calling on the Lord's name before the whole assembly. The Church has long heard this psalm's language of the cup on the night Jesus instituted the Eucharist.

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Take it further: Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

Commentary

Commentary on Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19Commentary on Ps 116:1-2, 12-19 Working Preacher

Working Preacher's Maundy Thursday commentary covers the fuller verses 1-2 and 12-19, which contain all of the Catholic selection, and draws the connection to Holy Communion directly from verse 13's cup of salvation.

Psalm 116 CommentaryPs 116 Commentary Enduring Word

David Guzik's notes work through the psalmist's vow to repay the Lord publicly for deliverance from death.

Psalm 116:13 CommentariesPs 116:13 Commentaries BibleHub

BibleHub stacks classic commentaries on verse 13's cup of salvation.

Psalm 116 - Haydock's Catholic Bible CommentaryPs 116 - Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary New Advent / Haydock

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary reads the cup of salvation explicitly against the Last Supper this Mass commemorates.

Background & Word Study

Psalms 116 (Hebrew/English)Ps 116 (Hebrew/English) Sefaria

Sefaria gives the Hebrew text alongside English for the psalm's vow language and its word for the cup.

The Church Fathers

Psalm 116 - Catena Aurea / Church FathersPs 116 - Catena Aurea / Church Fathers Catena

Catena gathers patristic comment on the psalm, including readings of the cup of salvation as a figure of the Eucharist.

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