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JUBILEE TEACHING

The liturgy of the Eucharist

JUBILEE TEACHING FOR JUNE 15, 2008 | 11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

The second major part of the Mass reflects Christ’s actions at the Last Supper and fulfills his request to eat bread and drink wine as his body and blood in memory of his life, death and resurrection.

There is an offertory song, a kind of brief anthem, and preparation of the altar, the bread and the wine. This includes folding special cloths to catch any fragments or drops of the bread and wine once it is consecrated, mixing a little water with the wine, and getting the Communion wafers, or “hosts,” ready for the assembly.

The priest washes his hands in a ritual suggesting purification and invites the assembly to prayer. As he turns back to the gifts, the faithful say one brief prayer, and then what Catholics consider the awe-inspiring moment takes place. The eucharistic prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving, is spoken.

The eucharistic prayer consists of these elements: an introductory dialogue, preface (“Lord be with you”), Sanctus, thanksgiving, acclamation, the “epiclesis” (when the priest asks God to consecrate the host and wine), the narrative institution (the actual formal moment of consecration), the anamnesis (an acknowledgement that Christ comes to us through the apostles), the offering, petitions or intercessions for the people, doxology (or, the Gloria in Excelsis, the angels’ song at the birth of Our Lord), memorial acclamation and great amen.

This is the high point of the Mass. The gifts of bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ in what is known as transubstantiation.

The Mass now turns to the Communion rite itself, which begins with the Our Father, also known as the Lord’s Prayer. The members of the assembly turn to each other to give the rite of peace.

The kiss of peace descended from the apostles, but at one time it was dropped from the liturgy. Vatican II reinstated it in the 1960s. Now called the rite or even the “sign of peace,” it is not literally a kiss anymore. Parishioners usually shake hands with those next to them, saying, “Peace be with you.”

In the fraction rite, the priest “breaks” the bread as the assembly says a prayer called the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). The faithful move in procession to the sanctuary at the front of the church to receive Communion. The Liturgy of the Eucharist ends with a prayer after Communion. Once the Mass is concluded, the priest blesses the members of the congregation before they are dismissed.

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