During the Offertory, the Church on earth in union with the Church in Heaven offers to God the Father through the Holy Spirit, the spotless Victim, Jesus Christ; “the Bread of life and the cup of salvation”. As on the Cross, also on the altar…of every Mass celebrated… Christ is the Priest and the Victim. The Sacrifice of Christ is offered for all the members of the Church, living and dead.
In the Bidding Prayers we pray for His Holiness the Pope, Bishop of Rome, for the local Bishop of the Diocese or Archbishop of the Archdiocese, for all priests and the faithful. We pray to God the Father to be merciful with all His children, and for all those who are seeking for the truth. The Prayer ends by praying for ourselves so that God may have mercy on us and to give us…”the inheritance of eternal life together with the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, Mary, the Apostles and with all the saints.”
The Eucharistic Prayer ends with the Celebrant holding the ‘paten’ with the Bread (host), in one hand, whilst with the other he holds the Cup, he raises them up and says: “Through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, is given, to you, God the Father, Almighty, together with the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory, for ever and ever.” The whole congregation answers in a loud voice, “AMEN” This is called the great AMEN.
One day, when St.Ambrose, then Bishop of Milan, Italy, was approaching the Cathedral of Milan (beautiful Gothic), Ambrose heard a loud, rumbling sound, as if of strong thunder. On entering the Cathedral he had a vision; he saw the Cathedral fully packed with hosts of Angels, who together with the congregation were shouting aloud, AMEN. Such is the importance of this ‘great’ AMEN. When we say it, we proclaim it, we will be declaring the Eucharistic action of the priest to be ours as well, of all those participating in the Sacrifice. We should be proud to make such a ‘declaration’. In fact, here, in Malta, during certain Solemn Celebrations, the great AMEN, is sung for three times, each time moving up the pitch one note to create a climax…it’s a wonderful experience.
The ‘Our Father’ recited by the Celebrant, together with the congregation is a preparation for Holy Communion. According to St.Augustine, the praying of the Our Father before receiving the precious Body and Blood of Jesus, serves as an act of purification to receive Jesus worthily. Because in it we will be declaring that we are sinners, unworthy, but feel repentant with the words: “Forgive us our debts (trespasses) as we forgive others.” When praying this ‘model prayer; it is wise that we know what we are actually saying, not to render it just a lip-service, but we mean what we are saying.
It is customary in many countries, as in Malta, during the praying of the ‘Our Father’ to open both hands in a begging form, a symbol signifying that ‘we can’t do anything on our own, we are nothing, we depend completely on God, our Father,’ the reason for opening our arms in a ’begging form’. /13
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