May 4, 2020 - The Liturgy of the Eucharist (part 1)

Getting back to the reflections on the Mass, we move now into the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We move now toward the climax of the Mass, the point to which everything prior has been preparing us, the Eucharist. The Eucharist is primarily a sacrifice and the sacrifice is of thanksgiving. Now we are not as used to ritual sacrifice in our world today as people of the past, especially our Jewish ancestors in the faith. Sacrifice is and always has been the proper way to worship God. 

People of all times and cultures have made sacrifices to their god or gods. People realize that God is worthy of our sacrificial offerings. Now what has been sacrificed over the ages has changed through time but the necessity of sacrifice as a means of worship of God remains. Thus the Mass is when we offer sacrifice to God our Father so that we can rightly honor and worship Him. 

So as we begin the Liturgy of the Eucharist we start by preparing the altar and presenting the gifts that will become our sacrifice to God. You are probably familiar with this time of the Mass and it may even seem like an intermission. It’s the time that we also take out our wallets or purses to make our donation in the basket. It does kind of have a half-time feel and we may think it’s a good time for a break, but this is the time for us to reflect and prepare for the most intense, powerful and essential event of our week. For we are preparing to offer ourselves in sacrifice to God! 

You might think I am crazy, or perhaps you are confused, thinking, we are offering bread and wine not me or you or her! Well, yes we are offering bread and wine and these will become the acceptable sacrifice offered on the altar, but it is not alone. This bread and wine becomes the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; it truly becomes the Body of Christ and the fullness of the Body of Christ includes all of us who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our Savior. 

We have just prior to the presentation of the gifts professed our belief in the Trinity, the Church and all Jesus teaches through the Church. We have declared ourselves as members of the Body of Christ. So as the bread and wine are being prepared to become the sacrifice of Jesus Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, so then we should be preparing to unite ourselves to this one acceptable sacrifice. 

As the priest is preparing the altar, we should be preparing our hearts intentionally and willingly to offer ourselves to God the Father together with Jesus, which we do at this same time in two main ways - the collection and the bring up of the gifts. Our willingness to offer our contribution to the collection is one of the ways we unite ourselves to the sacrifice of the Mass. We are giving away our own money to serve the needs of our parish community. This has always been a practice of public worship even going back to the time of Jesus when He praised the widow who gave 2 small coins. She gave all that she had, her whole livelihood, sacrificing everything for God - trusting in His providential guidance. 

Next, we will have some of the parishioners bring the gifts to the priest at the altar - why? This is helping us to see the reality that we are united to this sacrifice. We, the priest, everyone at the Mass and those united to us in spirit, are offering ourselves through the bread and wine that has been prepared for the Mass. Originally, the bread and wine would have been prepared and supplied by the people themselves. Signifying more prominently that we are part of this sacrifice.