the presentation of the gifts

Nevertheless, if the Holy Mass is the central act of our Catholic life, then Mass-going must surely remain one of the most indicative of these factors. With good reason therefore we consider the number of people coming to Mass, not only on Sundays but also very specially on weekdays. With even better reason we try to assess the "quality" of their participation in the Mass; their understanding of its nature and their application to their own lives of what it should mean for them. And we often think of the ways in which we can help them.

This is where our catechists on the Mass must come in: a constant catechesis, with big groups and small groups, with Sundays congregations and very particularly with the weekday ones; a constant and simple catechesis that is not afraid to drive home the basic points by dint of repetition.

The following commentaries one for each day of the month were first prepared for school use, with the idea of repeating them once every two or three months. They can easily be adapted for use on a different basis. The person-to-person style is no doubt more suited to the spoken word or to be put down in writing, but it seemed preferable not to change it.

Christ's action

The Holy Mass is the holiest thing we have here on earth. Why? Because it is the action of Christ. The main thing in the Mass is not what is read from the Holy Scriptures, even though this is the word of God and should be listened to as such. The main thing in the Mass is not what the priest preaches in his sermon nor what the people do or sing. The main thing is what Christ does. And what does Christ do in the Holy Mass? He offers himself for us, as he offered himself on the Cross. He sacrifices himself for us. That is why we say that the Mass is the same Sacrifice as that of the Cross renewed in an unbloody manner on the altar. On the altar just on the Cross, Christ offers his body and blood for us. The difference is that on the Cross his body and blood were visible to the eyes of those who were present, while in the Mass they are hidden under the appearances of bread and wine. But they are really present. This is the great fact. In each Mass, Christ is really present and renews the Sacrifice of the Cross.

Love for the Mass

"A man who fails to love the Mass fails to love Christ." 1 To love the Mass is a guarantee for salvation. But to love the Mass does not mean just being present and no more. It means to be present with faith and devotion. It means to take part in the Mass, realizing what it is: the Sacrifice of the Cross renewed on the altar; and realizing that when we go to Mass, we go, as it were, to Calvary. And that we should be present there, like our Blessed Lady beside the Cross, in loving contemplation of Christ who offers himself lovingly for each one of us.

The holy Eucharist is the "mystery of faith." Without faith, all you would see is bread and wine being offered, no more. Without faith, the most you could see in this is a gesture, a symbol, nothing more. With faith you know that at the moment of the Consecration which is when the priest says, "This is my body," "This is the cup of my blood" the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ who is then really present as God and as Man sacrificing himself for us on the altar as he sacrificed himself on the cross. If you come to Mass without faith, or with little faith you will easily get distracted and perhaps even bored. What a sad thing to get bored with Christ's sacrifice! Would we have been bored if we had been present at Calvary? If we hadn't faith, perhaps we would. Or at least we would have completely failed to understand what the death of that Man nailed to the cross really meant. You will only begin to understand the greatness of the Mass if you have faith. Stir up your faith. And then you will always be amazed at the Mass, you will realize that it is the greatest thing we possess here on earth.

The purposes of the Mass

What else should you do, besides having a lot of faith, if you want to attend Holy Mass well? You should identify yourself with Christ. You should remember the Scriptures and have "the same mind" "that he had on the cross (cf. Phil 2:5). The same mind which means the same purposes. What purposes did Jesus have on the cross? What was he concerned about? We can sum up his ends or purposes as four: to give glory to God the Father; to thank him; to make up for the sins of men; and to ask him for graces for us. If each time you go to Mass, you try to live at least one of these four purposes, you will attend Holy Mass well.

The first purpose: adoration

God is our Creator. He is the Lord of the whole world. We depend on him for everything. He is infinite, eternal, all-powerful. His infinite greatness and goodness ought to fill us with amazement and enthusiasm. When people get enthused about God, they want to praise him, they want to adore him. Jesus Christ, with his humanity, gave perfect glory to God the Father from the cross, and he continues to do so from the altar. If you unite yourself to him, you will be offering a perfect sacrifice of adoration and praise. Pay special attention to the Gloria and the Sanctus .

The second purpose: to give thanks

God is infinitely good. And all the good things we have, have come from him: life, family, sanctifying grace, faith, the sacraments, the gift of his Mother... And so many other natural and supernatural gifts. It is good to give thanks. The person who is too proud to say "Thank You" is not only ungrateful but is bound to end up being unhappy. Unite yourself to our Lord in the Mass, giving thanks, and you will see how you also become more optimistic as a result, because you will become more and more convinced of the goodness of God.

The third purpose: to make up for our sins

Jesus is perfect God and perfect Man. He is all-holy. Therefore he has not and could not have been guilty of any sin. But, as the Holy Scriptures says, he took our sins on himself and made up for them. He did penance for us by dying on the cross. If we want to take part properly in the Holy Mass, we must be sorry for our sins. The person who is not sorry for his sins will never understand or love the Mass, nor will he ever really take part in it. But the person who comes to Mass with real sorrow for his sins, will draw from it great strength to fight against temptations and to realize that, despite his weaknesses, God loves him very much.

The penitential act the "I confess" that we all say together at the start of the Mass does not pardon mortal sins. Forgiveness of mortal sins has to be obtained in the sacrament of penance. It is also important to remember that a person who has committed a mortal sin cannot go to communion unless he goes to confession beforehand. But the penitential act, if it is said well, certainly helps to obtain pardon for present venial sins as well as to stir up new sorrow for past sins that have already been forgiven. In this way it helps us to purify ourselves and so to take better part in the Holy Mass.

The fourth purpose: petition

Our God is a merciful and a very generous God. He longs to give. He wants to give us what is absolutely the best, what is the greatest gift imaginable: eternal life and all the help we need to make it ours. God wants to give. But he also wants to be asked: "Ask and you shall receive." That is why we ask with a prayer for petition. However, it is wise, when asking, to be able to back up our petition with some proof of special merit on our part. This is where we seem to run into a big difficulty. For when we look at ourselves, we see ourselves so full of defects and so lacking in merits that there seems to be no reason why God should ever heed our petitions. That is why we look to the merits of Christ, and to those of our Lady and the saints. That is why, if we are sensible, we unite our prayer to the prayer of Christ.

Christ's prayer is always effective because it is simply impossible that God the Father should not listen to the prayer of his beloved Son. Jesus prayed for us on the cross. He continues praying for us on the altar. When we pray in the Holy Mass, therefore, and unite our prayers to that of Jesus, we can be sure that our requests will be heard by God the Father.

Holy Scripture is God's word. God speaks to us in the inspired books, so that we can know what we have to believe and what we have to do, in order to get to heaven. After each reading we say, "Thanks be to God." Why do we say this? Because it is a wonderful thing that God speaks to us, that he addresses his words to us in these holy books, pointing out to us the way to heaven. It is another marvelous proof of his love for us. That is why we thank him.

The Gospel tell us of the life of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. They tell us of the things he did and the words he spoke during his life here on earth. We stand at attention, as it were in order to listen to the Gospel. This should be a sign to others and a reminder to ourselves that we are ready and determined to put into practice what we are listening to. You will have noticed how, just before the priest begins to read the Gospel, he turns towards the altar or the tabernacle, bows down and prays. What he is doing is to ask God for grace to be able to proclaim the good news of the Gospel well. At that moment you too would do well to ask for grace to be able to listen to the Gospel joyfully, to understand it and to put it into practice.

This is said on Sundays and the bigger feasts. We declare our faith. Do we really believe in the things we say in the Creed? Of course! But do we realize how big these things are? We believe in God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is One and Three, who created us, who redeemed us by means of his Son, Jesus Christ, who sanctifies us, giving us a share in his own life by means of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit and that of the holy Church who forgives us always (always provided we are sorry and ask for his pardon), and who is determined to bring us to heaven. There are some people who live in a closed world, as if they were inside a tunnel. 2

Faith brings us out of the tunnel and let us live in the wonderful world of God. To declare our faith, as we do in the Creed, is something that should fill its with wonder, thanks and joy.

Presentation of the gifts

We have ended the liturgy of the word. Now we start the eucharistic liturgy in which the main actions of the Mass take place. The eucharistic liturgy is made up of three main parts: the presentation of the gifts, the eucharistic prayer or Canon (with the consecration), and the communion. In the presentation of the gifts (or the offertory) the priest (and we with him) offers the hosts some small particles of unleavened bread and small quantity of wine. What he offers is really very little. We could say that it has practically no value. But, it should represent us . If you want to learn to take proper part in the Holy Mass, it is important that you learn to offer yourself and to offer all that is yours in this moment of the Mass. 3 Take your work, your studies, your needs, your struggle, and even your weaknesses. Take all of that and put it on the paten beside the hosts, those small pieces of bread. Put it on the chalice with the wine.

Jesus Christ is going to come to this altar within a few minutes. There are many ways in which he could have chosen to come. But he has wished to come by marvelously turning the bread and the wine into his own body and blood. He has wished to come by means of transubstantiation, by which something that we offer him, something that is ours, is changed into his body and blood, while of the bread and wine only the appearances remain. The bread and the wine are our gifts, our offering to God. They will be your gift and your offering if you make them yours, if you put yourself there, on the paten with the bread, in the chalice with the wine. If you let yourself get distracted at the moment when the priest is offering the gifts, then the bread and the wine will be other people's gifts, something that other people offer to God. But they won't be your gifts, because you have not offered them, you have not offered yourself with them. Now do you see how important it is not to get distracted at the moment of the offertory?

We have seen how in the presentation of the gifts, we offer to God a little bread and wine. We have seen too that these offerings ought to represent us. In themselves they are things of little value, but our affection accompanies them. Now think of what is going to happen to these gifts of ours. At the moment of the consecration, God is going to change them into something divine: into himself. From bread and wine they become the body and blood of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man! Up to the moment of the consecration our offering to God has practically no value. From the moment on, it has infinite value! Doesn't this help you see the importance of offering yourself with the bread and the wine so that they represent your day, your life? If you do this you are participating in the Mass, and God will gradually do with your life what he does with the bread and wine. He will gradually turn your life your ordinary everyday life into something with divine value in his eyes. Your life your work, your rest, your sports, your friendships if you associate it closely to the Holy Mass, will be a sanctified life, which means sanctified work, sanctified rest, sanctified sports, sanctified friendships. Unite yourself well to the Holy Mass.

Orate, fratres

We have spoken of how we ought to offer ourselves on the paten with the bread, and in the chalice with the wine. You have probably noticed how the priest, before he offers the chalice, adds a few drops of water to the wine, the wine that will soon be turned into the blood of our Lord. These drops of water which are dissolved in the wine and therefore also turn into the Blood of Christ represent us and all that we offer to God with Christ. Consider what happens next. After offering the bread and wine, the priest turns to the people and invites them to pray "so that our sacrifice," he says my sacrifice and yours "may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty," Don't pass over this too lightly: the sacrifice of the Mass is Christ's action, Christ's sacrifice. But it is also the sacrifice of the priest and of the people. It is your sacrifice if you have made it yours, if you have really put some part of yourself into this sacrifice.

The Preface introduces the Canon which is the central and most solemn part of the Holy Mass. At the end of the Preface we say the Sanctus: "Holy, holy, holy Lord God..." It is like a song or a shout of enthusiasm. Let us think for a moment what our God is like. He is all powerful (he can do anything). He is infinite Love (he loves us as no one else could ever love us). He is all goodness and truth and greatness (he became Man out of love for us; he died on the cross to redeem us; and then he overcame death by rising again).

All of this should fill us with gratitude and joy. And then, like the saints and the angels in heaven, we will grow really enthusiastic about our God, we will want to praise him, and we will repeat the "Holy, holy, holy" with faith and fervor.

Consecration

The most solemn moment of the Holy Mass is the consecration. Up to that moment what is on the altar is bread and wine. From the moment when the priest pronounces the words of the consecration" This is my body"; "This is the cup of my blood" what is in the altar is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Of the bread and wine nothing remains except the appearances. But, under those appearances, God is really present. All of this is done by the power of God. Jesus Christ is God become Man and he can do anything. He can even change a little bread and wine into his own body and blood so that it can be our offering and sacrifice: and also, if we are fit to receive him, so that it can be our food.

The priest raises the host and the chalice. And we adore Appearances will not deceive us if we have faith. With the eyes of our body we only see bread. But with the eyes of faith which is how the Christian soul sees we see and recognize our Lord himself. Let us express our faith. You remember those words of Saint Thomas, "My Lord and my God." Many people repeat them quietly to themselves at the moment of the elevation. Thomas wished to see the glorious Body of the risen Jesus. Then he proclaimed his divinity. Our Lord said to him, "Thomas, you believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe." Let us proclaim our faith in the real presence of Jesus in the host, relying for proof on his infallible word.

Consecration Communion

This is the moment of the Mass when we have to be most awake, putting heart and soul into many acts of faith and love and adoration. Because Christ is at last on the altar. There is no longer any bread or wine. By the miraculous process of transubstantiation all of it has been changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, God become Man. Our Lord is really present with his humanity and his divinity, offering himself for us on the altar just as he offered himself for us on the cross.

We are on Calvary. This is the "composition of place" that we should make in these moments. Christ is offering himself for us. We too should want to be beside him, like our Lady and Saint John who were beside him and kept him company on Calvary. Let us ask them to help us not to get distracted, to be present with faith, to realize what Jesus is doing as he offers himself on the altar for the whole humanity to adore him, to thank him.

The Mass is never a private action. Even if very few people or only a single person accompanies the priest, the whole Church is present. "Priests fulfill their chief duty in the mystery of the Eucharistic sacrifice. In it the work of our redemption continues to be carried out. For this reason, priests are strongly urged to celebrate Mass every day, for even if the faithful are unable to be present, it is an act of Christ and the Church." 4 Let us be conscious of this presence of the whole Church which, of course, also includes the angels and the saints. They are present and adoring from the moment of the consecration. If we ask them, they will help us too, to be present in a spirit of reverence and adoration.

The Our Father

The Eucharistic Prayer or Canon is the central part of the Mass. Now the moment for communion is approaching. As we end the Canon we begin our more immediate preparation for communion. And first of all we say the prayer that our Lord himself taught his disciples: "Taught by him, we dare to call God our Father he is the Almighty who created heaven and earth, and he is a loving Father who waits for us to come back to him again and again, as the story of the prodigal son repeats itself in our lives." 5 The Our Father contains seven petitions. We would do well to meditate on each one of them as they cover all of our most important needs.

Preparation for Communion

"This is the Lamb of God... Lord, I aim not worthy.. We are going to receive our Lord. On this earth, when we receive an important person, we bring out the best lights, music, formal dress. How should we prepare to receive Christ into our soul? Have we ever thought about how we would behave if we could only receive him once in a lifetime?" 6 We are not worthy to have him enter even once into our house, into our poor soul. Yet he is so eager to enter there very often. What we can and ought to do is to ensure that however poor the house of our soul is, it is clean. We cannot receive our Lord with a dirty soul, with a soul dirtied by sin. If we ever stain ourselves with a serious sin, then we have to get cleaned in the sacrament of penance before going to communion. We are not worthy to receive our Lord. But we must never receive him unworthily with a mortal sin on our soul that has not been confessed. It would be like the kiss of Judas. It would mean betraying Christ, striking him, crucifying him all over again.

"Happy are those who are called to his supper." "If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you will not have life in you." "Anyone who eats this bread will live forever..." We come to Mass because we have felt ourselves invited to accompany our Lord in his sacrifice while he offers himself for us and to offer ourselves with him. We come to Holy Mass, therefore, to take part in the sacrifice of Christ. When the moment of communion comes, we feel that our Lord continues to invite us. Now he is calling us to his supper where he offers himself to us to be the food of our souls. How hungry we should be to receive him!

The soul needs its nourishment even much more than the body. But we should not forget that while the appetite of the body is generally spontaneous (three or four times a day we feel like eating), the appetite of the soul is rather reflexive and voluntary : it is a consequence of faith. Stir up your faith in him who is hidden beneath the appearances of bread: "Lord, I recognize you." Stir up your faith in his promises: "Anyone who eats this bread will live forever." And your hunger for communion will increase from day to day.

We should be so eager to receive him! Holy Communion is the greatest gift we could be offered. And yet some people are not interested! They could go to communion frequently; but they don't. And there are others who don't go to communion because their weaknesses get the better of them. But why don't they go to confession first, and then to communion? And then they will get strength , precisely to resist those weaknesses! But since God not only knows this but loves us, he has given us a source of special strength, of divine strength, in the sacrament. How eager we ought to be to receive them, especially those two which we can receive often, confession and communion.

We should put so much love into how we receive him! Always with faith, and always with love. If you really have faith, if you realize what it is you receive, you will receive him with love, just as it is with love that he comes to you. He comes to you with love, and you ought to receive him with love. There is no obligation to go to communion frequently. But if you do go to communion, then there is an obligation to receive him with love and affection. It would be such a lack of reverence to receive our Lord in a routine way, without trying to make many acts of faith and of love.

Holy Mass: self-giving

In the Mass, Christ offers himself for us. And in Holy Communion he offers himself to us. Think what this offering costs our Lord his whole passion! The Mass asks us also for correspondence and self-giving. If we attend Mass with faith, it will be easier for us to give ourselves to God each day trying to fulfill his commandments with love. And it will also be easier for us to give ourselves generously to other people, in a constant effort to love them, to understand them, to make their lives happier.

Opening prayer, prayer over the gifts, prayer after communion

In the Holy Mass we are praying constantly with Jesus and through Jesus. Remember, for instance, the prayer that we say before the readings, and those that come after the offertory and the communion. We ask for different things. But what matters most is that we always ask "through Jesus Christ our Lord." It has been said that the only prayer which reaches heaven with full effect is that of Jesus. Therefore when we pray through him in the Mass, we can be sure that our prayers reach God the Father and that he listens to them.

Mass: presence of God

There are so many other small details in the Mass that we can learn from. One is the fact that time and again throughout the Mass the priest says to the people he wishes them "the Lord be with you," and the people return him the same wish. Could we wish someone anything better? The Lord is going to be with us during the whole of the Mass, and we should try to be with him. And then he will also be more with us and we more with him during the rest of the day.

Sorrow for one's sin

The Mass is a sacrifice offered for the forgiveness of sins. We would not have proper dispositions for taking part in the Mass if we were not aware of our sins and sorry for them. That is why, as soon as the Mass has begun, the priest invites each one of us to call our sins to mind. And all of us pray together, acknowledging that we have sinned through our own fault in our thoughts and words, in what have done and failed to do. If you are not sorry for your sins you will never attend Mass well. Think at the moment therefore about your sins and your acts of selfishness, and ask Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and all the angels and saints, to pray for you and help you to be very sorry for those faults of yours which, even if they are not very grave, nevertheless disfigure the soul.

Thanksgiving

Christ offers himself for us in the Holy Mass, and he offers himself to us in Holy Communion. To be present at Mass, and receive Holy Communion, is the greatest thing we can do here on earth. Here, on the altar, we receive the greatest benefits that God gives us on earth. Once Mass has ended it is only logical that we remain for a few minutes giving thanks to our Lord. To leave without giving thanks would be a sign of little consideration or little faith. "The fact that the sacred function... has come to an end, does not dispense him who has communicated from making his thanksgiving. On the contrary it is most fitting that after he has received Holy Communion and after the Mass is over he should collect his thoughts and, in close union with his Divine Master, pass such time as circumstances allow in devout and salutary conversation with him." 7

Those moments, when one has received communion and the Mass has just ended, are the best moments to ask graces and favors from our Lord. He is so eager to give, but at the same time he wants us to ask. "Ask and you shall receive." Can there be any better moment for asking than when we are united with him, when he is inside us, brought there by his immense love towards each one of us? Don't waste those moments. Use them to pray for many things, for yourself, for your loved ones, for the Church, for the Pope, for souls everywhere, for the whole world...

• J. M. Escriva, Christ is Passing By , no. 92.
• J. M. Escriva, The Way , no. 575.
• Cf. Vatican 11, Presbyterorum Ordinis , no. 5; Lumen Gentium , nos. 11 and 34.
• Vatican II, Presbyterorum Ordinis , no. 13.
• Christ is Passing By , no. 91.
• Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei , no. 130.

Additional Info

• Author: Cormac Burke

Cormac Burke. "The Mass Explained." (Manila: Sinag-Tala Publishers, 1981).

Reprinted by permission of Sinag-Tala Publishers. All rights reserved. ISBN 971 554 014 7. The Mass Explained is currently out of print.

Nihil Obstat : Daniel V Flynn, J.C.D. Censor librorum. Imprimatur : Joseph T. O'Keefe Vicar General, Archdiocese of New York. April 11, 1980.

• Publisher: Sinag-Tala
• Alternate: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0673.html

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• Introductory Rites  
• LITURGY of the WORD   (Biblical Readings, Homily, Creed, Intercessions)  
• LITURGY of the EUCHARIST   (Preparation, Eucharistic Prayer, Communion Rite)  
• Concluding Rite

[ After the people have assembled, an opening song or entrance antiphon is sung or recited as the priest and the ministers enter the church and process to the altar; after reverencing the altar (sometimes also using incense), they go to their chairs. ]

Priest :  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  [ All together make the sign of the cross. ] All :  Amen. Option A: Priest :  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. All :  And also with you. Option B: Priest :  The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. All :  Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. or All :  And also with you. Option C: Priest :  The Lord be with you. [or Bishop :   Peace be with you.] All :  And also with you.   [ The priest or another minister may then briefly introduce the Mass of the day, saying something about the readings, the feast, and/or the special occasion being celebrated. ]

Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling Holy Water:

Priest :  Dear friends, this water will be used to remind us of our baptism. Let us ask God to bless it, and to keep us faithful to the Spirit he has given us.  [ or similar words of introduction ] Option A: Priest :  God our Father, your gift of water brings life and freshness to the earth; it washes away our sins and brings us eternal life. We ask you now to bless this water, and to give us your protection on this day which you have made your own. Renew the living spring of your life within us and protect us in spirit and body, that we may be free from sin and come into your presence to receive your gift of salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. All :  Amen. Option B: Priest :  Lord God almighty, creator of all life, of body and soul, we ask you to bless this water: as we use it in faith forgive our sins and save us from all illness and the power of evil. Lord, in your mercy give us living water, always springing up as a fountain of salvation: free us, body and soul, from every danger, and admit us to your presence in purity of heart. Grant this through Christ our Lord. All :  Amen. Option C (during the Easter Season): Priest :   Lord God almighty, hear the prayers of your people: we celebrate our creation and redemption. Hear our prayers and bless this water which give fruitfulness to the fields, and refreshment and cleansing to man. You chose water to show your goodness when you led your people to freedom through the Red Sea and satisfied their thirst in the desert with water from the rock. Water was the symbol used by the prophets to foretell your new covenant with us. You made the water of baptism holy by Christ's baptism in the Jordan: by it you give us a new birth and renew us in holiness. May this water remind us of our baptism, and let us share the joy of all who have been baptized at Easter. We ask this through Christ our Lord. All :  Amen. [ After blessing the water, the priest moves through the church sprinkling all of the people while an antiphon or other song is sung. When the sprinkling and the song is finished, the priest concludes this rite as follows: ] Priest :  May almighty God cleanse us of our sins, and through the eucharist we celebrate make us worthy to sit at his table in his heavenly kingdom. All :  Amen. [ This rite is commonly celebrated during the Easter Season, but may also be used at other times. When it is used, the Penitential Rite is omitted, and the Mass continues with the Gloria (on most Sundays and solemnities) or with the Opening Prayer (during Advent and Lent, and on weekdays). ]

or   Penitential Rite:

Priest :  As we prepare to celebrate the mystery of Christ's love, let us acknowledge our failures and ask the Lord for pardon and strength.        or   Coming together as God's family, with confidence let us ask the Father's forgiveness, for he is full of gentleness and compassion.        or   My brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins.       [ or similar words of introduction, followed by a period of silent reflection. ] Option A: All :  I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord, our God. Priest :  May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. All :  Amen. Option B: Priest :  Lord, we have sinned against you: Lord, have mercy. All :  Lord, have mercy. Priest :  Lord, show us your mercy and love. All :  And grant us your salvation. Priest :  May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. All :  Amen. Option C: [ The following or other invocations may be spoken by the priest or another minister, but the priest always gives the final blessing. ] Minister :   You raise the dead to life in the Spirit: Lord, have mercy. All :  Lord, have mercy. Minister :   You bring pardon and peace to the sinner: Christ, have mercy. All :   Christ, have mercy. Minister :   You bring light to those in darkness: Lord, have mercy. All :  Lord, have mercy. Priest :  May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. All:  Amen.

[ The following acclamations are sung or recited, either in English or Greek, unless they have already been used, as in option C above. ]  Priest :  Lord, have mercy.   All :  Lord, have mercy. Priest :  Christ, have mercy.  All :   Christ, have mercy. Priest :  Lord, have mercy.   All :  Lord, have mercy.  or  Priest :  Kyrie, eleison.    All :  Kyrie, eleison. Priest :  Christe, eleison.  All :   Christe, eleison. Priest :  Kyrie, eleison.    All :  Kyrie, eleison.

[ This ancient hymn of praise is used on all Sundays outside of Advent and Lent, on solemnities and major feasts, and in solemn local celebrations. It is preferably sung by the whole congregation, but may also be sung by the choir or recited by all . The priest may begin with a brief sung or spoken invitation for the people to praise God. ] All :  Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King,  almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world:  have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father:  receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One,  you alone are the Lord, You alone are the Most High,  Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,  in the glory of God the Father.  Amen.

Opening Prayer:

Priest :  Let us pray. [ After a time of silent prayer, the priest sings or says the Opening Prayer, which is different for each Mass. At the end, the people proclaim their consent. ] All :  Amen.

LITURGY OF THE WORD

Lector :  A reading from the Book (or Letter, or Acts) of ...  [ Different readings are prescribed for each day. At the end of the reading, the lector proclaims, and the people respond: ] Lector : The Word of the Lord. All :   Thanks be to God!

Responsorial Psalm:

[ The choir and/or cantor sing or recite the psalm; the people join in the repeated response. ] 

Second Reading:

[ A second reading is prescribed for all Sundays and major feasts, but not for most weekdays or minor feasts. The lector's introduction and conclusion and the people's response are the same as in the First Reading, above. ] 

[stand] Alleluia or Gospel Acclamation:

Choir or Cantor :   Alleluia!    All repeat :   Alleluia! Choir or Cantor :   [ verse ]     All repeat :   Alleluia! [ The "Alleluia" may be repeated two or more times, especially during the Easter Season. If it is not sung, it may be omitted. ] [ During the Season of Lent, a different "Gospel Acclamation" is used, such as "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!" or "Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ!" or "Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!" or something similar. ]

Before the Gospel Proclamation : Deacon (or Priest ) :   The Lord be with you.   All :  And also with you. Deacon (or Priest ) :   A reading from the Holy Gospel according to... [ Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John ] All :  Glory to you, Lord! After the Gospel Proclamation : Deacon (or Priest ) :   The Gospel of the Lord.    All :   Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

[sit] Homily:

[ The bishop, priest, or deacon then speaks to the people, usually focusing on that day's scriptures and/or on the feast or special occasion being celebrated at that Mass; but the homily may also be based on any liturgical text from the Mass. ]

[stand] Profession of Faith:

[ On Sundays and solemnities, the Nicene Creed is normally recited by everyone after the homily. The Apostles' Creed may be used instead, esp. in celebrations of Masses with children. ] NICENE CREED: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,      maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.  We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,      eternally begotten of the Father,      God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,      begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.      Through him all things were made.      For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:          [bow during the next two lines:]     by the power of the Holy Spirit      he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.     For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;     he suffered, died, and was buried.     On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;     he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.     He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,     and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,      who proceeds from the Father and the Son.      With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.      He has spoken through the Prophets.      We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.      We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.      We look for the resurrection of the dead,      and the life of the world to come.  Amen. APOSTLES' CREED: I believe in God, the Father almighty,      creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.     He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit         and born of the Virgin Mary.     He suffered under Pontius Pilate,         was crucified, died, and was buried.     He descended to the dead.     On the third day he rose again.     He ascended into heaven,         and is seated at the right hand of the Father.     He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,     the holy catholic Church,     the communion of saints,     the forgiveness of sins,     the resurrection of the body,     and the life everlasting. Amen.

General Intercessions / Prayer of the Faithful:

Lector :   …let us pray to the Lord. All :   Lord, hear our prayer.   [ or a similar response, repeated after each petition ]

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

Priest :  Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life. All :   Blessed be God for ever. Priest :  Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become our spiritual drink. All :  Blessed be God for ever. [ If there is no singing during the presentation of the gifts, the priest may say the preceding prayers aloud, and the people may respond. But if a presentation song is being sung, the priest recites these prayers inaudibly, and the people's response is omitted. Then, after the priest has washed his hands and the music is finished, he invites the people to join in prayer: ]

Priest :  Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father. All :  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 Church.

Prayer over the Gifts:

[ The priest sings or says this prayer, which is different for each Mass. At the end, the people respond: ] All :  Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer:

[ The priest may choose from among four regular Eucharistic Prayers, or two other Eucharistic Prayers for Masses of Reconciliation. On appropriate occasions, the priest may also choose from among three Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children, or four recently approved Eucharistic Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions. Each prayer has a similar structure, including some responses and acclamations by all the people. There are also many choices for the "Preface," depending on the liturgical season, the feast of the day, and the ritual or occasion being celebrated at that Mass. Click here for the full texts of the various Eucharistic Prayers . ] [ The posture of the people during the Eucharistic Prayer is different in various countries and regions; in the United States, the people normally stand until the "Holy, Holy", and then kneel until after the "Great Amen." ] Preface Dialogue: Priest :  The Lord be with you.   All :  And also with you. Priest :  Lift up your hearts.   All :  We lift them up to the Lord. Priest :  Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.   All :  It is right to give him thanks and praise. Holy, Holy (Sanctus): All :   Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. [kneel] Memorial Acclamation: Priest :   Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:  All :  A - Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.     or B - Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory.      or C - When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory.     or D - Lord, by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. You are the Savior of the World. Doxology and Great Amen: Priest :   Through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever. All :  Amen!   [ may be sung more than once ]

COMMUNION RITE

Lord's Prayer:

Priest :  Let us pray with confidence to the Father in the words our Savior gave us.       or   Jesus taught us to call God our Father, and so we have the courage to say:       or   Let us ask our Father to forgive our sins and to bring us to forgive those who sin against us.       or   Let us pray for the coming of the kingdom as Jesus taught us. All :  Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Priest :  Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. All :  For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

Sign of Peace:

Priest :  Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live for ever and ever. All :  Amen. Priest :  The Peace of the Lord be with you always.  All :  And also with you. Deacon or Priest :   Let us offer each other a sign of peace. [ The ministers and all the people exchange an embrace, handshake, or other appropriate gesture of peace with those near them, according to local custom. ]

All : Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: grant us peace. [kneel] [ This text may be sung or recited, and may be repeated several more times until the breaking of bread and the preparation of the communion vessels is finished; but the last phrase is always "Grant us peace." ]

Priest :  This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper. All :  Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed. [ The manner of receiving communion differs significantly between various countries, dioceses, and even individual parishes. In the United States, the people normally process to the front in lines, receive communion standing, and then return to their places in the congregation. In some cases, the ministers may go to other locations within the church to distribute communion, or may even approach individuals at their places (esp. the elderly or infirm). Communion is now usually offered "under both species", i.e., both the consecrated bread and the consecrated wine. It may be distributed by priests, deacons, or designated lay persons, called "Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist." Communicants are encouraged to receive the consecrated bread in their hands, but may also receive communion on the tongue. After returning to their places, the people are encouraged to remain standing until everyone has received communion, but in many parishes the people immediately sit down or kneel for silent prayer. ] Communion Minister :   The body of Christ.    Communicant :   Amen. Communion Minister :   The blood of Christ.   Communicant :   Amen.

Communion Song:

[ During the reception of Communion, an appropriate song is sung, or at least a short "Communion Antiphon" is recited. ]

[sit] Period of Silence   or   Song of Praise:

[ When the distribution of Communion is completed, there may be a period of silence for individual prayer, or a psalm or song of praise may be sung. The people either stand, sit, or kneel during this time, although the posture of the congregation should be unified. ]

[stand] Prayer after Communion:

Priest :  Let us pray. [ All pray in silence for a while, unless a period of silence has already been observed. Then the priest sings or says the Prayer after Communion, which is different for each Mass. At the end, the people proclaim their consent. ] All :  Amen.

[Announcements, etc.]:

[ If there are any announcements, acknowledgements, reflections, eulogies, or similar actions, these are best included here, after the Prayer after Communion and before the Concluding Rite. The people may remain standing, or may be invited to sit, depending on the length of the announcements or activity. ]

CONCLUDING RITE

[stand] Greeting:

Priest :  The Lord be with you. All :  And also with you.

Option A:  Simple Form Priest :  May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All :  Amen. Option B: Solemn Blessing  Deacon or Priest :   Bow your heads and pray for God's blessing. [ One or more invocations may be spoken, and the people usually respond " Amen " to each one. The following conclusion is always used. ] Priest :  May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All :  Amen. Option C:  Prayer over the People Deacon or Priest :   Bow your heads and pray for God's blessing. [ The priest may choose from several options, depending on the occasion or special need. The following conclusion is always used.] Priest :  May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All :  Amen.

Deacon or Priest :   Go in the peace of Christ.     or   The Mass is ended, go in peace.    or   Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. All :  Thanks be to God!

[Recessional and Closing Song]:

[ Although it is traditional in many countries and many parishes to sing a final song or to have some instrumental music played as the priest and ministers process out of the church, this is not prescribed in the Order of Mass. ]

RELATED WEBPAGES & PUBLISHED RESOURCES:

• Please see the post-2011 version of this webpage for an updated list of related resources.

Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Presentation of the Gifts

As a continuation of his Be Formed series, Father Burke Masters returned to Morning Air to speak with John Morales about the preparation and presentation of the gifts at Mass.

To begin, Father Burke talked about the symbol of the altar and what it represented. “Well [the altar] represents the presence of Jesus among us. That’s first and foremost. But it represents the table … for the Last Supper.” It represents the table where His apostles gathered around to witness the presentation of Jesus’s body, blood, soul, and divinity for them to consume.

When we go to Mass, we are essentially time-traveling, said Father Burke. We are being transported to that first sacrifice of the Mass, the bloody one at the top of Mt. Calvary. The altar is a representation of that cross upon which the gifts, the bread and wine, will become Jesus’s body and blood. We are celebrating that same sacrifice as the one that took place 2,000 years ago.

“The biggest thing I want people to hear in the presentation of the gifts is that we are called to place our gifts in that chalice and on the paten – paten means plate.  That’s where the large celebrant host is. This isn’t just like a nice ceremony.  We are putting our sacrifices, our lives, our struggle, our joys, our talents into the chalice and onto the paten that will be offered with Jesus back to the Father.” We are not merely outside observers of this sacrifice. We are not distant bystanders at the foot of the cross as Jesus is crucified. We are participants. We are witnesses, in every sense of the word, to the greatest act of love.

This presentation of the gifts to the altar for sacrifice was not something retroactively assigned to the role of the redeemer, but a longstanding tradition to the Jewish people, back into the Old Testament. Farmers and harvesters were charged with bringing the first crop yield to the priest for sacrifice, often not knowing if there would be a second yield. “It was a real act of trust in God that, ‘I’m giving you the first fruits that I have back to you, back to God,’” said Father Burke. What are the first fruits that we can offer back to God? Our talents, our skills, our time, our efforts, our financial blessings. All of these, we can offer up at the consecration during Mass, telling God that we are His to command.

A common misconception among non-Catholics is that we are re-crucifying Jesus, putting Him back through His passion, and commemorating this morbid atrocity. On the contrary, we are not doing anything “again” or even representing the sacrifice. While there is a lot of symbolism in our faith, there is nothing symbolic about the sacrifice of the Mass. He died once for all, so we are merely tapping into that one sacrifice that took place 2,000 years ago and celebrating His redemption of our sins.

Listen to the whole segment below:

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The Priest in the Offertory of the Mass

A ZENIT DAILY DISPATCH

Reflection by Father Juan José Silvestre Valór

ROME, 19 FEB. 2010 (ZENIT)

This article by Juan José Silvestre Valór, professor of liturgy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and consultor to the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, describes the priest's role in the Offertory of the Holy Mass.

The commentary only takes the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite into consideration, which, in comparison to the Extraordinary Form, has been simplified with regard both to the gestures and the prayers. The article shows the spiritual richness, which is still possible to identify, despite the simplification of the Ordinary Form.

"In the early Church there was a custom whereby the Bishop or the priest, after the homily, would cry out to the faithful: 'Conversi ad Dominum' — turn now toward the Lord. This meant in the first place that they would turn toward the East, toward the rising sun, the sign of Christ returning, whom we go to meet when we celebrate the Eucharist. Where this was not possible, for some reason, they would at least turn towards the image of Christ in the apse, or towards the Cross, so as to orient themselves inwardly toward the Lord.

Fundamentally, this involved an interior event; "conversion," the turning of our soul toward Jesus Christ and thus toward the living God, toward the true light."[1] These words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI permit us to introduce the theme that we would like to focus on: the priest in the Offertory of the Holy Mass.

After the Liturgy of the Word we enter into the Eucharistic Liturgy. As we know, both parts of the Mass "are closely united and form a single act of worship."[2] This part of the Mass begins with the "oblatio donorum," or the presentation of the gifts, the first gesture that the priest, representing Christ the Lord, performs in the Eucharistic Liturgy.[3] This is not a mere interlude between the two parts of the Mass but is rather a moment in which they are unified, without being confused, and so form a single rite. In fact the Liturgy of the Word, which the Church reads and proclaims in the liturgy, leads to the Eucharist.

The Liturgy of the Word is a true discourse, which awaits and demands a response. It has the character of proclamation and dialogue: God who speaks to his people and the people who answer and make the divine Word their own through silence and through song. They adhere to it and profess their faith in the "profession fidei" and, filled with confidence, they present their requests to the Lord.[4] Consequently, the turning of the one who proclaims toward those who listen, and vice versa, imply that it is reasonable that they face each other.[5]

Nevertheless, when the priest leaves the ambo or his seat to ascend to the altar — the center of the whole Eucharistic Liturgy[6] — we prepare ourselves in a more immediate way for the common prayer of the priest and the faithful directed to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit.[7] In this part of the celebration the priest speaks to the people only from the altar,[8] since the sacrificial action that takes place in the Eucharistic Liturgy is not principally directed to the community. In fact, the spiritual and interior orientation of everyone, of the priest — as representative of the entire Church — and of the faithful, is "versus Deum per Iesum Christum" (toward God through Jesus Christ). In this way we better understand the acclamation of the ancient Church: "Conversi ad Dominum" (turn toward the Lord). "Of course the priest and the people do not pray to each other, rather toward the one Lord. Therefore, during the prayer they face in the same direction, toward the image of Christ in the apse or toward a cross, or simply toward heaven, as the Lord did in his priestly prayer on the eve of his Passion."[9]

The "oblatio donorum," that is, the Offertory or the presentation of the gifts, prepares the sacrifice. In the early Church it was a simple external preparation of the center and summit of the whole celebration, which is the Eucharistic Prayer. This is evident in the testimony of St. Justin,[10] or in the more elaborate development that the "Ordo Romanus I" presents already in the 7th century. At any rate, to limit oneself to considering the offering of the faithful in these first centuries only from the point of view of a simple external preparation would be to empty the action of its ideal and concrete meaning.[11]

Indeed, quite early this material gesture was understood in a much more profound way. This preparation came to be conceived not only as a necessary external action but as an essentially interior process. It was seen as related to the Jewish practice in which the head of the household lifted up the bread to God to receive it again from him, renewed. Eventually, understood in a deeper way, this gesture was associated with Israel's preparation for presenting herself before the Lord. In this way, the external gesture of the preparation of the gifts was more and more regarded as an interior preparation before the nearness of the Lord, who seeks the Christians in their offerings. In reality "it is made clear that we are the true gift of sacrifice conformed to the Word, or at least we must become this through participation in the act by which Jesus Christ offers himself to the Father."[12]

This deepening of the gesture of the presentation of the gifts stems from the logic of the external form that the Holy Mass itself presents.[13] Its primordial element, the radical "novum" that Jesus inserts into the Jewish sacrificial supper, is precisely the "Eucharist," that is, that it is a memorial prayer of thanksgiving. This prayer, the solemn Eucharistic Prayer, is something more than a series of words: it is a divine action that is realized through human discourse. Through it the elements of the earth are transubstantiated, wrested, so to speak, from their creaturely reality, taken into something more profound and transformed into the Body and Blood of the Lord. We ourselves, participating in this action, are transformed and converted into the true Body of Christ. Thus, we understand that "[the] remembrance of his perfect gift consists not in the mere repetition of the Last Supper, but in the Eucharist itself, that is, in the radical newness of Christian worship. In this way, Jesus left us the task of entering into his 'hour.' 'The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving.' Jesus 'draws us into himself'."[14]

It is God himself who is at work in the Eucharistic Prayer and we feel ourselves drawn by this action of God.[15] In this journey, which begins with the presentation of the gifts, the priest plays a mediating role, as happens in the Canon or in the administering of Communion. Although in the current offertorial procession the task of the faithful is above all in evidence, the mediation of the priest always remains because the priest receives the gifts and places them on the altar.[16]

In this movement toward the "oratio," which carries the offering of self with it, the external gestures are secondary. With the "oratio" man's action takes a backseat. What is essential is God's action. Through the Eucharistic Prayer he wants to transform us and the world. Because of this, it is logical that we draw near to the Eucharistic Prayer in silence. And it remains necessary that corresponding to the external procession of the presentation of the gifts there is an interior procession. In "the preparation of ourselves we place ourselves on a journey, we present ourselves to the Lord: we ask him that he prepare us for the transformation. The community's silence is therefore the community's prayer, and ultimately its common action; it is the beginning of a journey toward the Lord in our daily life, making ourselves his contemporaries."[17]

Thus, the moment of the "oblatio donorum," while it is a "humble and simple gesture, [it] is actually very significant: in the bread and wine that we bring to the altar, all creation is taken up by Christ the Redeemer to be transformed and presented to the Father."[18] This is what we can call the cosmic and universal character of the eucharistic celebration. The offertory prepares the celebration and we place ourselves within "the 'mysterium fidei' which is accomplished in the Eucharist: the world which came forth from the hands of God the Creator now returns to him redeemed by Christ."[19]

This is what the elevation of the gifts and the prayers that accompany it are: "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life." The content of the prayers is connected with the prayers that the Jews recited at table. They are prayers that, in the form of benedictions, have as their reference point the Passover of Israel and are thought, declaimed and lived thinking of this event. This supposes that they were chosen as a silent anticipation of the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ. For this reason, the preparation and the definitive reality of the sacrifice of Christ interpenetrate in these words.

On the other hand, "we also bring to the altar all the pain and suffering of the world, in the certainty that everything has value in God's eyes."[20] In reality, "the celebrant, as minister of this sacrifice, is the authentic priest, performing-in virtue of the specific power of-sacred ordination-a true sacrificial act that brings creation back to God. Although all those who participate in the Eucharist do not confect the sacrifice as He does, they offer with Him, by virtue of the common priesthood, their own spiritual sacrifices represented by the bread and wine from the moment of their presentation at the altar."[21]

The bread and wine become, in a certain sense, the symbol of all that that the eucharistic assembly as such brings in offering to God and that it offers in spirit. This is the force and the spiritual meaning of the presentation of the gifts.[22] In this light we understand the incensing of the gifts on the altar, of the cross and the altar itself, which signifies the offering of the Church and her prayer, which ascend like incense into the presence of God.[23]

"We now better understand why the Eucharistic Liturgy, as a presentation and offering of creation and [the faithful themselves] to God began, in the early Church with the acclamation: 'Conversi ad Dominum' — we must always distance ourselves from the dangerous pathways on which we often travel with our thoughts and deeds. We must instead always direct ourselves toward him. We must always be converted, with our whole life directed toward God."[24]

This path of conversion, which must be more intense and immediate in the moment leading up to the Eucharistic Prayer, must always be guided in the first place by the cross. In this connection Benedict XVI makes the following proposal: "Do not go on with new transformations but simply place the cross at the center of the altar. The priest and the faithful look together toward the cross to let themselves be guided in this way by the Lord, to whom all pray together."[25]

On the other hand, the gesture of the presentation of the gifts and the attitude with which it is done stimulate the desire of conversion and the gift of self. The gestures and the words that are directed toward this end are different. Let us briefly look at two of them:

a) The prayer "In spiritu humilitatis"[26]: This formula entered into the liturgical books of France in the 9th century. It appears for the first time in the sacramentary of Amiens, in the offertorial part.[27] In the Roman liturgy we already find it in the "Ordo" of the Curia and from there it passed into the Missal of Pius V.

As Lodi points out, before the text of the great Eucharistic Prayer begins (the Roman Canon), which must be faithfully recited and in which it is the most difficult to express personal intentions, we find this prayer that permits the celebrant to express his sentiments. At the same time, though the biblical Word that inspires this whole prayer, the ultimate meaning of external offering is expressed: the gift of the heart accompanied by the intimate disposition of personal sacrifice.[28]

We observe that the plural articulation ("sacrificium nostrum") seems to indicate, once more, that the celebrating priest pronounces it in the name of the people. The fact that it is said silently by the priest does not seem to us a sufficient reason to regard it as a private prayer. Indeed, the prayers of the presentation of gifts themselves can be said aloud or quietly and in no way are they considered private.   The silence that is produced in this moment of apologetic prayer, and the position — a profound bow — of the priest, which is clearly penitential, helps those present at the celebration to enter into the invisible realm and emphasizes the idea of the necessity of penitence and humility in our encounter with God. Humility and reverence before holy mysteries. These are attitudes that reveal the substance itself of any liturgy.[29]

b) The lavabo[30]: The priest's washing of his hands does not represent a universal tradition (in Italy and Spain it is not met with until almost the end of the 15th century, while is France it was introduced in the "Ordines" that came from Rome toward the end of the 9th centiry).[31] In Rome it had an entirely practical function, even though later it also acquired a symbolic value.[32]   Currently, the lavabo is an entirely symbolic gesture, as can be deduced from the formula that goes along with it, and as can also be seen from the fact that, in general, all that get washed are the tips of the priest's fingers and thumb, those that touch the sacred Host. We can say that the rite expresses the desire for interior purification.[33] Some have proposed and continue to propose the suppression of this rite. We do not share this idea, because we believe that it has a clear catechetical value and, moreover, renewed penitential act of the priest, who in that moment is disposing himself to the eucharistic act and is preparing himself for it. At the same time, as Lodi notes,[34] the formula that accompanies the washing of the hands is already present in Christian antiquity as a solemn practice used before the priest recollects himself in prayer, as is testified to by Tertullian [35] and the "Apostolic Tradition".[36]

The priest concludes the presentation of the gifts turning to the faithful and asking them to pray that "my sacrifice and yours will be acceptable to God the Father almighty." "These words are binding, since they express the character of the entire Eucharistic Liturgy and the fullness of its divine and ecclesial content." [37] The same can be said for the response of the faithful: "May the Lord accept this sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his Holy Church." It is therefore logical that the "[a]wareness of the act of presenting the offerings should be maintained throughout the Mass,"[38] because the faithful must learn to offer themselves in the act of offering the immaculate Host, not only through the hands of the priest, but also together with him. [39]

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

[1] Benedict XVI, Easter Vigil Homily, March 22, 2008. [2] "Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani" (General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM)), No. 28; cf. Vatican II, "Sacrosanctum Concilium," No. 56.

[3] Cf. GIRM, Nos. 72-73. [4] Cf. GIRM, No. 55.

[5] Cf. J. Ratzinger, "El espíritu de la liturgia. Una introducción," p. 102. [6] Cf. GIRM, No. 73. [7] Cf. GIRM, No. 78.

[8] Cf. "Pregare 'ad Orientem versus'," "Notitiae." 322, vol. 29 (1993), p. 249. [9] J. Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, "Gesammelte Schriften," Preface to vol. XI: "Theologie der Liturgie."

[10] Cf. St. Justin Martyr, "Apology," I, 65 ff. [11] Cf. V. Raffa, "Oblazione dei fedeli," in "Liturgia eucaristica. Mistagogia della Messa: dalla storia e dalla teologia alla pastorale pratica," CLV-Edizioni Liturgiche, Rome, 2003, p. 405.

[12] J. Ratzinger, "El espíritu de la liturgia. Una introducción," p. 237. [13] Cf. J. Ratzinger, "Forma y contenido de la celebración eucarística," in "La fiesta de la fe," pp. 43-66.

[14] Benedict XVI, "Sacramentum Caritatis," No. 11. [15] "The greatness of Christ's work consists precisely in the fact that he does not remain isolated and separated from us, that he does not relegate us to a merely passive role; not only does he support us, but he carries us, he identifies with us, whose sins belong to him, whose being belongs to us: he truly accepts us in such a way that we become active with him and from him; we act with him and so participate in his sacrifice, we share in his mystery. Thus also our life and our suffering, our hope and our love become fruitful in the new hear he has given us" (J. Ratzinger, "Il Dio vicino," pp. 47-48).

[16] Cf. GIRM, No. 73. [17] J. Ratzinger, "El espíritu de la liturgia. Una introducción," p. 236. [18] Benedict XVI, "Sacramentum Caritatis," No. 47.

[19] John Paul II, "Ecclesia de Eucharistia," No. 8. "However it is explained, objectively speaking, it does not seem possible to deny the effective involvement, already actual in the action and movement (which we say is sacrificial by nature — 'offerimus'), of the earth, of man and his creative activity, obviously not as an absolute object closed in on himself and definitively complete in the fleeting moment, but dynamic, open to what is to come and aimed at a goal that is future in itself but already present in the mind and heart. Certainly in the ritual the sacrifice will only be represented in the eucharistic prayer. Nevertheless, it will not be as an event that emerges out of nowhere. It will be rather be the culmination of a discipline that is lived interiorly and wholly directed toward it" (V. Raffa, "Liturgia eucaristica: Mistagogia della Messa: dalla storia e dalla teologia alla pastorale pratica," p. 415).

[20] Benedict XVI, "Sacramentum Caritatis," No. 47. [21] John Paul II, "Dominicae Cenae," No. 9.

[22] Cf. GIRM, No. 73. [23] Cf. GIRM, No. 75.

[24] Benedict XVI, Easter Vigil Homily, March 22, 2008. [sic] [25] J. Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, "Gesammelte Schriften," Preface to vol. XI: "Theologie der Liturgie."

[26] Cf. J. Jungmann, "El sacrificio eucarístico," II, nos. 52, 58, 60, 105. M. Righetti, "Historia de la Liturgia," II, p. 292. [27] Cf. P. Tirot, "Histoire des prières d'offertoire dans la liturgie romaine du VIIe au XVIe siècle," "Ephemerides Liturgicae" 98 (1984), p. 169.

[28] Cf. E. Lodi, «Les prières privées du prêtre dans le déroulement de la messe romain», in "L'Eucharistie: célebrations, rites, piétés," BEL Subsidia 79, CLV-Edizioni Liturgiche, Rome 1995, p. 246.

[29] Cf. John Paul II, Message to the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Sept. 21, 2001.

[30] Cf. J. Jungmann, "El sacrificio eucarístico," nos. 83-84. M. Righetti, "Historia de la Liturgia," II, pp. 282-284.

[31] Cf. P. Tirot, "Histoire des prières d'offertoire dans la liturgie romaine du VIIe au XVIe siècle," pp. 174-177.

[32] It should not be forgotten that the symbolic ablution is found very early on in the Eastern liturgy. It is attested to by Cyril of Jerusalem, who died in 387. (cf. "Catechesi mistagogiche," V, 2: ed. A. Piédagnel, SCh 126, 146-148) and in the 5th and 6th centuries in Pseudo-Dionysius (cf. "Ecclesiastica Hierarchia," III, 3, 10: PG 3, 437D-440AB).

[33] GIRM, No. 76: "The priest then washes his hands at the side of the altar, a rite that is an expression of his desire for interior purification."

[34] Cf. E. Lodi, "Les prières privées du prêtre dans le déroulement de la messe romain," p. 246.

[35] Cf. Tertullian, "De oratione," III: CSEL 20, 188. [36] Cf. "Tradition Apostolique," 41, SCh 22 bis, 125.

[37] John Paul II, "Dominicae Cenae," No. 9. [38] Ibid. [39] Cf. Vatican II, "Sacrosanctum Concilium," No. 48.  

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The Liturgy of the Eucharist: The Preparation of the Gifts (6)

“pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god, the almighty father.”.

The bishop or priest invites everyone participating in the liturgy to join their voices to the prayer he’s just said in silence that the offering may be acceptable to God. Together the assembly prays that their sacrifice be pleasing to God and they exercise their baptismal priesthood by offering not just bread and wine, but all their sacrifices since the last celebration of the Eucharist.  Whether it’s been a day or a week since our last participation in the Eucharist, this is the moment when we turn the ups and downs of daily life, those little acts of kindness, those great sacrifices for the sake of others, and all our efforts to grow in holiness and virtue into spiritual sacrifices that we hope are pleasing to Our Father, alongside the perfect and pleasing sacrifice of His Son. In this way we exercises a spiritual priesthood that we’ve received through Baptism, even as the bishop or priest exercises a sacramental one through Holy Orders. Maybe in that day or week between participation in the Eucharist we don’t think much about whether what we’re doing can be brought to the altar, but we should. It motivates us to not come to the next celebration of the Eucharist empty handed. The Lord is pleased by even one act of faith, hope, or charity.

“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.”

In this prayer we’re invited to think big, not just glorifying God, not just asking for our own good, but asking for the benefit of the entire Church. The bigger the stakes, the bigger the sacrifice. Not only are we called to give glory to Glory Himself, the Lord, but to win favor for the entire Church. We make intercession, just as we know our brothers and sisters participating in the Eucharist throughout the world are interceding for us. Priesthood, whether sacramental or spiritual, entails interceding on behalf of others. That’s what transforms our prayers into something beyond a transaction between me and God, just seeking some personal benefit, into something selfless. We don’t just think big for ourselves, we think big for the Church, all our brothers and sisters in the faith who need prayers to grow in holiness and to be strong in the face of adversity, whether material or spiritual. With the stakes so high we must be emboldened in our daily lives to practice the selflessness that truly benefits others. When we keep those we can help in mind it helps us to make the more difficult sacrifices knowing that they’ll bear great spiritual fruit. That spiritual sacrifice helps us to grow in holiness as well.

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Before you go

Sign up for our free newsletter, the mass series – part iv: presentation of the gifts: bread, wine and ourselves.

The following is the fourth part in a seven-part series on the Mass.

Before moving forward let’s review. One week ago, we saw that the church considers the Liturgy of the Word power-packed. What the liturgy’s actions say, the word of God enacts. Or as the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” says: “The liturgical word and action are inseparable both insofar as they are signs and instruction and insofar as they accomplish what they signify.”

Two weeks ago, we observed how the entrance rites developed in the church’s history. At the time of St. Justin Martyr in A.D. 155, they were very rudimentary (see CCC, 1345), but other parts of Mass, including the procession of gifts, were already being done.

Three weeks ago, we examined some liturgical concepts that are helpful in understanding the Mass, especially how the liturgy makes use of signs and symbols to communicate God’s grace to us.

All three of these – symbols, gifts, and word plus action – are important for the part of the Mass we look at today: preparation of the gifts.

Sometimes this is also called this the “offertory,” but since the bread and wine will be supremely “offered” in the eucharistic prayer, we’ll use the term preferred by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.

Presentation of the gifts assumed great importance in the early church.

St. Cyprian, martyred in Africa in 258, chided those who came to Mass and received the Eucharist but made no offering of their own: “You are wealthy and rich, and do you think that you celebrate the Lord’s Supper, not at all considering the offering? Who comes to the Lord’s Supper without a sacrifice, and yet takes part of the sacrifice which the poor man has offered? Consider in the Gospel the widow. . .”

St. Augustine was impressed by a fifth-century procession of gifts in Rome in which the faithful brought from their own homes things from their kitchen tables. (After handling all the gifts, no wonder the priest had to wash his hands!)

Augustine called this an “admirable exchange” – for their gifts, God gave back Jesus. Our present prayer over the gifts from the sixth day in the octave of Christmas uses Augustine’s language: “Lord, receive our gifts in this wonderful exchange: from all you have given us, we bring you these gifts, and in return, you give us yourself.”

Valid matter. The church uses unleavened bread made only of pure wheat flour and water, and wine only from grapes. Why?

Because that’s what Jesus used. He told us to “do this” in his memory, and if “this” changes too much, we’re no longer following his command.

Even in places of the world where wheat or grapes are scarce, the church still insists that these foodstuffs be imported instead of substituted with local products such as corn flour or rice wine. For persons with celiac disease or alcohol intolerance, the church permits virtually gluten-free hosts and mustum, wine, whose fermentation has been arrested.

Collection of money. Yep, it’s in the Bible. “From the very beginning, Christians have brought, along with the bread and wine for the Eucharist, gifts to share with those in need” (CCC, 1351). Tithing and almsgiving are acts of worship (2 Corinthians 9:10-15) and express not only our desire to help those in need but also our generosity to God.

A $20 bill and a $1 bill are next to each other in a man’s wallet. The $20 bill says, “Isn’t life great! I get to go to the best places: to movies and nice restaurants and the mall.” The $1 bill replies, “Well, I go to church.” (Right about now lots of people are upset with me, while pastors are secretly sighing, “Thank you Father Tom!”)

Made by hand. The ordinary form of Mass uses adapted Jewish “berakah” (blessing) prayers whose words are packed with meaning, even if they’re done silently during the music.

Bread and wine symbolize a wonderful cooperation between God and humans. We lay upon the altar not only creation’s goods but ours, too. The gifts are not mere wheat and grapes, but “the work of human hands.”

Symbolically, that’s us on the altar, offering ourselves to God. In the eucharistic prayer, we will ask God to send the Spirit to change the gifts and change us as well – but, again, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The gift of ourselves is never easy, and the church, knowing that, treats our offerings with great care. The priest places them in a dignified place on the altar, incenses them reverently, and asks God to receive them to himself.

“Pray, sisters and brothers, that our sacrifice” – not only bread and wine, but what they symbolize: our work, struggles, joys, money, our very lives – “may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.”

In the next part of Mass, the great eucharistic prayer, it happens: the Holy Spirit comes down, and as the words of Christ are repeated over the bread and wine . . . Stay tuned!

Father Tom Margevicius is instructor of liturgical theology at St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

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A new exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum explores the creative practice of Amish quilters in the United States. “ Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women ” looks beyond quilting as a utilitarian practice. It reveals historical quilting among the Amish as an aesthetic endeavor that walked a line between cultural and individual expression. The quilts paradoxically twin the plain with the spectacular, tradition with innovation, and a dismissal of personal pride with objects often seen as extraordinary artworks.

The exhibition is on view from March 28 through Aug. 26 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s main building in Washington, D.C. It is organized by Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art, and Virginia Mecklenburg, senior curator, with support from Anne Hyland, curatorial assistant. Janneken Smucker, cultural historian and professor of history at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, is the primary author of the exhibition catalog and contributed to the exhibition; she is a fifth-generation Mennonite quilt maker of Amish Mennonite heritage.

The exhibition celebrates a major gift announced in 2021 of Amish quilts to the museum by Faith and Stephen Brown. They began collecting quilts in 1977, four years after encountering Amish quilts for the first time at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in the exhibition “American Pieced Quilts.” The 50 quilts featured in “Pattern and Paradox” include 39 from the museum’s collection and 11 promised gifts. Around 100 additional quilts from the Browns’ exemplary collection are promised to the museum as a bequest.

“Faith and Stephen Brown assembled this extraordinary collection with care and devotion over some four decades after a revelatory visit to the Renwick Gallery. It comprises the largest and most widely representative group of Amish quilts ever to be acquired by a major art museum,” said Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director. “Their generous gift reaffirms SAAM’s long-standing commitment to equity in representation for art and artists and brings sharply into focus the complexity and importance of exhibiting diverse cultures in the museum setting.”

In the late 19th century, Amish women adopted an artform already established within the larger American culture and made it distinctly their own, developing community and familial preferences with women sharing work, skills and patterns. The quilts in “Pattern and Paradox” were made between 1880 and 1950 in communities united by faith, values of conformity and humility and a rejection of “worldly” society. No specific guidelines governed quilt patterns or colors, so Amish women explored uncharted territory, pushing cultural limitations by innovating within a community that values adherence to rules. Styles, patterns and color preferences eventually varied and distinguished the various settlements, but it was the local quilters who drove and set the standards.  

Today, Amish quilts present a particular quandary for art museums and audiences. By the mid-20th century, Amish quilts were increasingly being shown in museums. 

“‘Pattern and Paradox’ invites viewers to consider the dual identity of Amish quilts,” Umberger said. “These objects traveled into the art world in the late 20th century, but the Amish women who made them never intended them to be seen as artworks. Audiences and collectors responded to the striking color combinations and inventive abstract patterns, but the Amish were uneasy with the idea of having made and possessing museum-worthy, valuable artworks and began divesting of these quilts. Seen here, hanging on the gallery walls like paintings, they prompt us to consider the subjectivity of words like ‘artist’ and ‘art’ and consider how cultural perspective can transform one’s understanding of an object.” 

Although vintage quilts remain among the most recognized manifestations of Amish culture, they represent the historical, localized trends of only a finite period from a living and changing culture. The exhibition celebrates the quilts, the women who made them, the collectors who preserved and donated them, and considers the unique role of Amish quilts in American art today, roughly a century after those in this collection were made.

Book The accompanying catalog, published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with D Giles Limited, is written by Smucker with an introduction by Umberger. It will be available for purchase ($34.95) in the museum store and online .

Free Public Programs  A series of free public programs will be presented in conjunction with the exhibition. Umberger and the Browns will tour visitors through the exhibition Friday, April 12, at 11:30 a.m. A second gallery talk with Umberger and Smucker will be held Friday, May 24, at 11:30 a.m. Smucker will give a lecture Thursday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m.; registration is required. Details about these programs and additional events are available on the museum’s website .

Credit “Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women” is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support has been provided by Faith and Stephen Brown, Billings and John Cay, Barbara Coffey Endowment and the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation. This exhibition received federal support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, and from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Note to editors: Selected high-resolution images for publicity only are available through the museum’s Dropbox account. Email [email protected] to request the link.

About the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the flagship museum in the United States for American art and craft. It is home to one of the most significant and inclusive collections of American art in the world. The museum’s main building, located at Eighth and G streets N.W., is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The museum’s Renwick Gallery, a branch museum dedicated to contemporary craft, is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W. and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Check online for current hours and admission information . Admission is free. Follow the museum on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and YouTube . Smithsonian information: (202) 633-1000. Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. Website: americanart.si.edu .

Press Images

Unidentified Maker​​, Crazy Star ; ca. 1920​​, Arthur, Illinois​​, cotton and wool; 74 x 63 ½ in. (detail), Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown, Promised gift to the Smithsonian American Art Museum

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2024 Minnesota Lecture: Myrna Wooders

1925 S 4th St Minneapolis , MN 55455

Join us on April 5 at 4:00 pm for Myrna Wooders' presentation: "From cooperation to price-taking. equilibrium in economies with clubs, with monopolists of information, and with local public goods; an elementary approach."

Our speaker:

Professor Wooders (Vanderbilt) is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, an Economic Theory Fellow, and a Fellow of the Game Theory Society.  Among her activities, she is a Visiting Research Professor at NYUAD, Editor of Journal of Public Economic Theory, a VU Faculty Senator, a Member of GetPreCiSe (an NIH Center for Excellence in Ethics Research), and President of the Association of Public Economic Theory.

Myrna Wooders’ research has concentrated on game theory and its applications, including public economics and information economics. Her recent work has focused on problems of team/coalition formation from the perspectives of non-cooperative game theory and simulation experiments, supported by data from the field.  Her research with GetPreCiSe focuses on issues of genetic privacy and identity. Experiments using techniques from experimental economics are in the development stage for both these lines of research. Her research is currently supported by the NSF and the NIH.  She is also working on issues of prejudice and discrimination, developing theory and testing theory in the lab.

Her specializations include: Public Economics, Game Theory and Microeconomic Theory