May 6, 2020 - Liturgy of the Eucharist (part 2)
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Do we produce the fruit of the Kingdom of God and give to God what is due Him? The Mass is our way of giving back to God all that we have received from Him, our lives and our worldly goods. All things come to us in and through Jesus Christ, so we give to God what is due Him by giving the supreme offering we have - the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. We unite ourselves to this sacrifice by our presence at Mass and receive in communion a share in God’s life. In thanksgiving to God we offer our lives and good works as the fruit of the Kingdom of God, and by uniting this to the sacrifice of the Mass we give God His due.
Now let us reflect upon the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, which is our prayer of thanksgiving to God. First, we prepare our gifts of bread and wine to be offered as a sacrifice, as we say, “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of His Name, for our good and the good of all His holy Church.” Then the Eucharistic Prayer begins shortly after this, following a brief preface in which we recall our duty to offer God thanks and praise for the many blessing we have received, most especially for the gift of salvation won through Jesus Christ sacrifice of Himself on the cross. You may notice that during the Eucharistic prayer the priest extends his arms in prayer; this is because he acts in the person of Christ and is praying to God the Father on behalf of all people present in the congregation and for all people throughout the world. As Jesus is our intercessor between God, the Father, and man, the priest continues Christ’s presence in the world by interceding between man and God the Father. Jesus Christ is both priest and victim. As priest He offers the sacrifice and as victim He is the sacrifice that is offered. Jesus is able to do this because every priest acts in the person of Jesus Christ and thus Christ is present to us not only in the consecrated bread and wine but also through the person of the ordained priest.
Now let us go through Eucharistic Prayer III, let us pay attention to the words of the prayer; they are powerful because they do what they say.
“You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.”
This section addresses God the Father because it is to the Father we offer our sacrifice and we give him thanks and praise because He has given us our life and goodness, through Jesus Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit. As a response to the great gifts we have received we offer our thanks by a perfect offering (Jesus Christ). Next the priest calls down the Holy Spirit by extending his hands over the gifts and saying,
“Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.”
Eucharist is a thank offering, offered to the Father in thanksgiving for the many blessings we have received – life, health, and especially the offer of salvation.
Next the priest prays the words of institution, the same words Jesus prayed at the Last Supper with his Apostles.“For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread,
and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing,
broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying:
TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT,
FOR THIS IS MY BODY,
WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.
In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice,
and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing,
and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying:
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.”During this consecration the priest acts in the person of Christ, so that Christ is truly present to us through the priest and his actions. Christ Himself through the priest consecrates the bread and wine by the power of the Holy Spirit and transforms it into His Body and Blood. We then proclaim the mystery of faith – the mystery of what has just been done in our presence:
"We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again."
or:
"When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again."
or:
"Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free. "
The sacrifice that Jesus made once and for all on Calvary is re-presented to us so that we can offer this sacrifice for ourselves and our sins.Continuing, the prayer says, “Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the saving Passion of your Son, his wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.”
We have proclaimed that Christ has died and Christ is risen, so we proclaim that His Body and Blood before us is living, spiritual food, not his physical body and blood; we are not cannibals.
We then ask for union with Christ which will be achieved at Communion, “Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.”
In the next part of the prayer we unite ourselves to the sacrifice, thus offering ourselves and our lives in union with Christ to the Father, so that we may share in the heavenly life.
“ May he make of us an eternal offering to you, so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect, especially with the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with blessed Joseph, her Spouse, with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs (with Saint N.: the Saint of the day or Patron Saint) and with all the Saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help.”Finally, since the sacrifice of Christ has made peace between us and God, we ask for the peace and salvation of all the world, including those who have died; to this end we ask for the strengthening of the Church and her leaders.
“May this Sacrifice of our reconciliation, we pray, O Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant Francis our Pope and Christopher our Bishop, the Order of Bishops, all the clergy, and the entire people you have gained for your own.
Listen graciously to the prayers of this family, whom you have summoned before you: in your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world.
To our departed brothers and sisters and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.”Given the richness of the Eucharistic prayer we may better understand why we need to come to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. First, we have a serious obligation to come to Mass on these days and the Church still teaches that missing Mass on these days is objective mortal sin. Let us think for a minute; Jesus has given us the first and greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. When we miss Mass we put something else before our love for God, so we break the first and greatest commandment, which is the greatest sin we can commit.
Second, there is another reason we come to Mass – to give God thanks. Think about what we do when we receive a card or gift. We give thanks to the person who sent it; we send them a thank you card or at least say thank you to them. We have an obligation to thank them for their kindness. Well, so it is with God. We have received life from God. We have also received salvation through Jesus Christ; what greater gift could we have been given? Do we feel the obligation to give God thanks? This is what the Mass is for us; our way of thanking God for the blessings He has given to us. Since our life and salvation are the greatest gifts we can be given we in justice should offer back to God the greatest gift we have, Jesus Christ, Who became man so that we could share in God’s life. The Mass allows us the opportunity to make an acceptable and perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving to God the Father, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
In addition when we partake of the sacrifice of the Mass we are able to offer ourselves in union with Christ to God the Father so that our lives and all that we are is offered in sacrifice. In Communion we receive Christ’s Body and Blood and thus also are given a share in the heavenly life that the saints enjoy. So the Mass truly is heaven on earth. The question now should be: Why would we not want to go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of obligation? Indeed, why not go every day?The Mass is our way of giving to God the fruits of the Kingdom of God that have been entrusted to our care. Let us be thankful for the blessings and goodness we have received from our heavenly Father and offer to Him our lives and good works by uniting them to the Eucharist. As we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, let us be willing to make an act of thanksgiving with our lives.