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THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST:Preparation of the Gifts; Eucharistic Prayer; and the Communion Rite
THE PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS
“Offere” to present; to bring; to offer Described by St. Justin Martyr in 155 Sacrificial overtones; symbolize gift of
oneself and one’s labor (Ex 29: 2; Lev 2:4-7)
Bread, wine, and assortment of gifts used Bread was the staple of life; bread=eating
(Gen 31:54; Lv 26: 26; Ez 4: 16) Wine common part of Israelite meals
THE OFFERTORY
Money eventually overshadowed gifts of flax, honey, wool, etc
Q: Why??? God doesn’t need these gifts…
A: We need to grow in love Self-giving, sacrificial acts are of immense
value when united to Christ
MIXING OF WATER & WINE, WASHING OF HANDS, PRAYER OF OFFERINGS
“Blessed are you, Lord of all creation…” rooted in Jewish prayers
Wine symbolizes JC’s divinity; water, his humanity Symbolic of
Hypostatic union
Priest: “With humble spirit and contrite heart may we be accepted by you, O Lord…”
Humble spirit & contrite heart recall Shadrach, Meschach, & Abednego who offered up themselves Dn 3: 39-40
WASHING OF HANDS
Signals a dramatic event about to occur (Ps 24: 3-4)
Levites purified themselves before approaching the Holy of Holies (Ex 40:34; 1 Kgs 8:10-11) Matter of life & death: Uzzah
Echoes David’s prayer for purity (Ps 51:2)
WASHING OF HANDS
Priest: Pray brethren, that my sacrifice and yours, may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.
My=JC (priest acting in persona christi) Yours=the Church offering itself to God
THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
Priest: The Lord be with you… About to embark on most sacred part of
Mass Entering into the mystery of Christ’s
sacrifice Ancient part of mass—Hippolytus 215 Reflects Jewish prayers at mealtime,
especially the Passover celebration
LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS
Biblical image: heart is the hidden center of the person, the origin of thoughts, desires, and actions
Meant to be a wake up call: to summon our full attention to what’s about to happen
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM (313-386)
Lift up your hearts: For in this sublime moment the heart should be lifted up to God, and not be allowed to descend to the earth and to earthly concerns. With all possible emphasis the sacrificing priest exhorts us in this hour to lay aside all the cares of this life, all domestic worries, and direct our hearts to God in heaven who hath so loved men… Let there be none among you, who shall confess with his lips: We have lifted up our hearts, and allow his thoughts to remain with the cares of this life.
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM CONT.
Cyril goes on to say this is difficult because we are fallen.
Yet, if there is ever a moment to concentrate most intently and give God our fullest attention, it is now at the Eucharistic prayer
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord.
All: It is right and just It is… most fitting to
creation to give thanks, because that is the best it can offer him in return. For when creation tries to make any other return to God it finds that its gift already belongs to the Creator of the universe, no to the creature offering it. --Philo
A lot to be thankful for right now: Father sending the Son Redemption bought by
the cross The miracle about to
take place in mass We are about to be
filled with the Real Presence
We become a living tabernacle
SANCTUS “HOLY HOLY HOLY LORD” (IS 6:3) In Heaven, the
Sanctus is ecstatic & awesome
Sung by the seraphim who burn with love who cover their faces
3x highest value in Hebrew (no punctuation)
Temple foundations shake & room fills with smoke
Seraphim “the burning ones”
SANCTUS
John sees a similar vision in Revelation 1:17 Six-winged seraphim sing a similar hymn of praise
John, like Isaiah, afraid in the heavenly court
Our voices join the angels & saints at this point
We are mystically entering the Heavenly throne room
THE EPICLESIS
Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
“To invoke; to call down”
Priest prays that the Father send the Holy Spirit to transform the humble bread & wine
Like ancient Jews who prayed for the Messiah, we pray for him to be made present again
THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND CONSECRATION
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.
These words might be too familiar, but what if we had never heard them before?
ANAMNESIS
Passover not merely recalled, but re-lived. Past mystically made present to those
celebrating the feast All Israelites participated in first
Passover; all were saved from slavery; all united into one covenantal family with God.
LAST SUPPER & MASS AS A SACRIFICE? Sacrificial language in reference to Himself
Body & blood recalls Passover lamb (Ex 12:27) “given up” (didomai in Greek) associated with
sacrifice in NT (Lk 2:24; Mk 10:45; Jn 6:51; Gal 1:4) Blood ‘poured out’ alludes to atoning sacrifices in
Temple New & eternal covenant echoes Mosaic covenant
All that’s left is to carry out the sacrifice on Good Friday
MASS AS A SACRIFICE
Command “Do this” + anamnesis = sacrifice Good Friday made present at every mass for
a salvific purpose: so that its power may be applied to our lives for the daily sins we commit & so that we can unite ourselves more deeply to Christ in His act of total, self-giving love
Indeed, we have in every mass a unique opportunity to enter sacramentally into the Son’s loving gift of himself to the Father
NOTES ON THE NEW TRANSLATION
Cupchalice More faithful to
original translation Underscores
liturgical nature of the vessel Cups are for drinking Chalices are for
worship
Poured out for allmany
Christ died for all Recalls ‘the many’
that are mentioned three times in Isaiah 53: 11-12
Identifying himself as the Suffering Servant
The ‘many’ also contrasts with the ‘one’ who died
THE MYSTERY OF FAITH, OFFERING, & INTERCESSIONS
“We proclaim your death…”
Not so much instruction as a pause to wonder at the mystery taking place right now
Called once more to unite ourselves to Christ’s sacrifice & given three models of sacrifice 1) Abel—gives his
best 2) Melchizedek—
mysterious OT priest gives bread & wine
3) Abraham—offers that which is most precious to him: Isaac
THE GREAT AMEN
Eucharistic prayer culminates with the Great Amen
“Amen” Hebrew expression of consent “Let it be so”
The angels & saints cascade amens in Heaven We join the heroes of salvation history with our
Heaven This Amen “resounds in heaven, as a celestial
thunderclap.” –St. Jerome
THE COMMUNION RITE!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Priest: At the Savior’s command and formed by divine teaching we dare to say…
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespassesAs we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our: Reminds us of our unity through Father
Father: “Abba” address God in personal & intimate terms, not distant/formal terms
Hallowed by the Name: May God and his name be recognized & treated as holy
Thy Kingdom come: prophets foretold restoration of Israel & we echo it, beginning in our own heart
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Thy will be done—in heaven, God’s will is obeyed perfectly
Our daily bread--symbol for supporting life in general; recalls manna; ‘supersubstantial’ is Eucharist
Forgive us—make us holy tabernacles; but God’s mercy can’t penetrate an unmerciful heart (Mt 6:14-15; 18: 23-35)
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Lead us not—a request that God doesn’t allow us to give in to temptation, rather than never be tempted
Deliver us—Scripture can be translated as “the Evil One.” Not random, bad things that happen, but Satan and his fallen angels
A PRAYER FOR PEACE
Priest prays for peace (shalom)—not mere absence of hostility, but an inner wholeness that is stable, profound, and personal
Anxiety occurs when our hope is in worldly goods, which can be lost.
Preoccupations and worries in this life indicate something is wrong spiritually & God has been shut out of our hearts
THE “PROTESTANT” ENDING OF THE LORD’S PRAYER
Not part of the actual prayer Jesus taught
Strong biblical roots—derived from King David
Brought Israel to its zenith, but David recognized at end of his life all the good came from God (1 Chr 29: 10-11)
At mass, we echo David thanking God for the blessings we have, and affirm God as their source.
THE SIGN OF PEACE
Again we pray for ‘shalom’; worldly success is fragile & breeds insecurity
Connects the Lord’s Prayer with the reception of holy communion
Sign varies upon local custom, but very ancient (Justin Martyr in 155)
We ritually express the peace we long for and will one day enjoy
THE FRACTION, COMMINGLING, & AGNUS DEI
The ‘breaking of bread’ started a Jewish meal
The separate consecration of body & blood symbolize the death of Christ
A small piece of the host is placed in the chalice, reuniting body & blood, symbolic of the Resurrection
Agnus Dei takes us right up to God’s throne (Rv 5: 11-12)
MASS AS A MARRIAGE?
“Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb”
Heaven is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rv 19:9)
‘Supper’ & ‘Lamb’ recall Passover
Lamb is also a bridegroom
We stand in role of bride
WE APPROACH OUR LORD IN COMMUNION We become like: Roman Centurion—
Lord I am not worthy… (humility & faith)
Mary, who carried Jesus in her womb, and then reunited with him sacramentally May our hearts beat as
one with Jesus, like Mary’s does!
Sacred moments to reflect & rest with Our Lord
Priest purifies the sacred vessels
“Prayer of Communion” for the spiritual fruits of the Eucharist to take effect
ITE MISSA EST
Dismissal is not a conclusion, but a sending forth.
Empowered by grace, reunited with Our Lord, we return to a world scarred by sin and desperately in need of the love of Christ
Good news: you’re now a living tabernacle capable of doing that! And remember: the Lord is with you!
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