The Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist 10

The Preface is a prayer offered by the congregation to God, through the Celebrant, to thank Him, after we declare: “it is meet and just.” Then the Celebrant tells us why it is just and right to thank God, because He was always merciful with us in our needs, for having died for us on the Cross, and for His Resurrection, whereby giving us a guarantee of our own resurrection.

In the last part of the Thanksgiving the congregation joins the hosts of angels and saints in heaven and participates in the eternal song of, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It is at this moment that the church on earth joins the church in heaven in a song of praise. This is what Prophet Isaiah saw; all the hosts in heaven crying out , “Holy,  Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, all earth rejoices with your glory.”  The rest of the sentence, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord…” are the shouts of joy with which the people of Jerusalem welcomed Christ in His Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday.

For the Epiclesis, the Celebrant lays his hands on the bread and wine and prays to God the Father to send the Holy Spirit on the bread and wine, and these in turn become the Body and Blood of Jesus. THIS, is called Epiclesis, which means a prayer coming out of the heart, as if one is asking for urgent help. The laying of hands means the descent of the Holy Spirit on the offerings.

Every celebration of the Eucharist repeats all that Christ did and said in the Last Supper. From now omwards, the Celebrant does not speak as the one who is presiding over the community, but rather speaks  “in the name of Christ”, “alter Christus”. There, in front of our own eyes, we have the Sacrifice which Christ Himself instituted during His Last meal. Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist, it will not be simply a remembrance of something that took place years ago, because the Eucharistic Celebration makes present, re-presents, in our midst that which Jesus did with His apostles. At the end of the Consegration, the congregation will be invited to declare their faith in the Death and Resurrection of the Lord, till His second Coming, with the words: “We proclaim your death, Lord, we proclaim with joy your Resurrection, and wait for the coming of your glory.”

Right now the Church will be obeying the command Christ gave when He said: “Do this in remembrance of me”. This is the Anamnesi, which means remembrance. Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist we will be renewing that which Jesus did on the eve of His Passion, during the Last supper. In the words of St.Paul: Whenever you partake of this bread and drink of this cup, you will be proclaiming the death of the Lord till His comes again.”    /11, 12