December 31, 2023 - Pastor Message
November 21, 2024THE MASS EXPLAINED PART 5: THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
THE MASS EXPLAINED
PART 5: THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28).
Continuing our study of the parts of the Mass, we look this week at the Eucharistic Prayer. This is the heart of the Mass, the moment toward which all before has built and from which all after flows. It is the moment that we say the words of institution and transform bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood for our salvation, but there is obviously more than that moment in the Eucharistic Prayer.
The Eucharistic Prayer begins with a prayer we call the Preface, which itself begins with a dialogue between the priest and the people. This dialogue invites us all to enter into the prayer. Even though the priest prays most of the Eucharistic Prayer himself, it is really the prayer of the whole congregation, and of the whole Church. The Preface sets the table for the rest of the Eucharistic Prayer, which is an extended prayer of thanksgiving for our salvation in Christ. In fact, the word Eucharist means “thanksgiving”, and the Preface invites us to “give thanks to the Lord our God.” We conclude the Preface with the hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” or the Sanctus, the song of the heavenly hosts around God’s throne in the book of Revelation (4:8) and of the crowds as Jesus entered Jerusalem on his way to the victory of the cross (Matthew 21:9). This is because, in the Eucharistic Prayer, we sacramentally enter into the heavenly banquet, which is made possible by Christ’s sacrifice in Jerusalem.
In the Eucharistic Prayer, we don’t just remember Christ’s saving sacrifice, we enter into it anew, just like the disciples 2000 years ago. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, called on by the priest as he extends his hands over the bread and wine, Jesus becomes present for us on the altar through the words of consecration, taken from Christ’s words at the Last Supper: “Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you...Take this all of you and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.”
The Eucharistic Prayer then transitions into praying for the effects of our celebration of Christ’s saving sacrifice, namely our Communion with Christ, with each other, with the Church, and with those who have died. Finally, we conclude the Eucharistic Prayer through another hymn, the “Great Amen,” by which the people join themselves to the prayer of the priest by their affirmation, “So we believe,” similar to the covenant ceremony of the Israelites under Moses when he received the Law from God on Mount Sinai: “Then having sent young men of the Israelites to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord, Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar. Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, ‘All that the Lord has said we will heed and do.’ Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his’” (Exodus 24:5-8). This prepares us for the next part of the Mass, the Communion Rite, by which we are saved by receiving the Body and Blood of our peace offering with God, Jesus Christ.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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