Source and Summit #7 – The Liturgy of the Eucharist

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Source and Summit #7 – The Liturgy of the Eucharist

 

Beloved, best regards!

Before I discuss the Liturgy of the Eucharist, ,I want to point out that for us who believe in Jesus Christ, the entire Holy Mass is important — from the entrance chant, to the dismissal and final hymn..  It is during the Mass we  give ourselves, our desires, our thoughts to God. It is critical that we understand that this how each and everyone of us  approach the Holy Mass.

My emphasis now  now is on the crucial part of the Mass – After the the Liturgy of the Word, after we have brought our petitions to God, we move on to the most important part of the Holy Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

During the solemn Sunday Mass,  the faithful bring  forth the gifts to the altar in preparation for the holy sacrifice and join the altar servers in the space of the presbytery… These gifts are not the sacrifice. :  In the instructions of the Polish Episcopate, it is said that the faithful remain seated during the presentation of the gift. Probably so that those who bring gifts will be better seen.

The priest and his assistants go out to receive the gifts and acknowledge hose who carried them forth. We should all join in presenting gifts.  We should bring our effort, our work, our lives.  , iIt is good to ask yourself the question: what exactly do I bring to the altar to offer Jesus today?   We can all say:  I bring myself; I bring my life; I bring my toil, my problems, crises, troubles; and lastyly, I ask for God’s blessing for a special intention or request.   But, we should also say to Jesus, today I bring you the cross that rests on my shoulders. Help me to embrace this cross as you embraced yours.

Now the assistants of the priest present the bread wine, the work of human hands, to the presiding priest.  These gifts of bread and wine, signify our toil, our effort. He  solemnly prays the Eucharistic Prayer. This is the very heart of the Holy Mass. Once there was only one Eucharistic Prayer the so-caled Roman canon..  Today there are a dozen or so Eucharistic prayers to choose from.   After the Council, these other prayers came into use with at leastthree versions of the Eucharistic prayer designated for children’s  participation As priests, we most often use the second Eucharistic prayer, which is really a reference to liturgical history, to the apostolic tradition of the Roman Hippolytus, .  modelled on this prayer which was written in the first centuries. The Eucharistic Prayer begins with the Preface. It starts with the introductory dialogue,:Priest: ‘The Lord be with you.’ – the faithful  answer – ‘And with your spirit’; the priest: ‘Lift up your hearts’ – response is Response:  We lift them up to the Lord’. Priest:  ‘Let us give thanks to the Lord’ – Response:– ‘It is right and just’. The preface refers to the ancient liturgical period, to liturgical memories, and to the saints we worship. It describes the history of salvation, what has happened, what God has accomplished in the history of salvation, the stories of saints, martyrs and pastors. We remember those who for us become a model and an example to follow  and above all the greatest example to follow Jesus Christ. After the solemn preface, usually is sung, and followed by singing the  solemn  ‘Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts’. The faithful join in singing to remember our weakness in the face of God’s holiness.   We remember that although we are sinners, we praise, we adore and we glorify God’s goodness and holiness.

Now comes the epiclesis – the Eucharistic prayer — the prayer that we priests bring to God the Father, that He may send the Holy Spirit to transform bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. The transformation of bread and wine is not done by the power of the priest; i t is done by the power of the Holy Spirit. Actually there are two epiclesses, i.e. prayers to the Holy Spirit. The first epicleza is called the Consecration when the bread and wine become s the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Eucharistic prayer is followed by the so-called Communion epicleza, which makes us, the participants of this liturgy, one body through the power of the Holy Spirit. Do we believe it? Do we want to submit to the Holy Spirit? This is an important question: Do I, , want to be one body with all present at this Mass? One with my wife? With my husband? With my children? With my neighbours? Do I want to live in harmony? Is there such a desire in me? If my answer is “Yes,” Then we must intercede and ask the Holy Spirit: Holy Spirit, let us be one.

The Eucharistic prayer  is the  moment of sacrifice, when the church offers God the Father: Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. That is why most of the Eucharistic prayers begin: “As we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection, we offer you, Lord, the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation.” We offer to God the greatest treasure  given to us – Jesus Christ and his Paschal mystery–His passion, death and resurrection. We believe that this remembrance is salutary for us, that we  leave this  church, we leave as new people.  Additionally,  during the  Eucharistic Prayer, we pray  for the Pope,  and the  bishop of the diocese,  Our departed brothers and sisters and saints and martyrs.

I really liked the words Saint Monika, mother of Saint Augustine, when she said to him: It does not matter where you bury me, but it is important that you remember me at the altars of the Lord Thus, it is easy to see how important and beautiful the Eucharistic Prayer  is especially in our commission of Mass intentions offered for those we love, special requests, and deceased family and friends

Lastly, in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Priest invites us to worship God through the Great Doxology.  This is the moment when the priest lifts up the holy figures: the Body and Blood of Jesus, crying out: ‘Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, for ever and ever’, and we solemnly answer: Amen. It is here that we praise the Lord, through Christ, with Christ and in Christ. We Christians bring our prayer to God the Father through Christ, because we know that Jesus mediates between God and u. That is why we sing this doxology so solemnly  As we gaze upon Juesus in the form of Bread and Wine, we all stand in praise of God and say that he is great, that he is holy, that our life is in him.

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