JUNE 22, 2017
9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON
SACRED MYSTERIES (YOUTH ROOM)
THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST (PART 3.5 OF THE MASS)
We're halfway through the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where we've just finished the Eucharistic Prayer. You've been kneeling the whole time, the priest just prayed "Through Him, with Him, and in Him ..." and you've answered "Amen," in the Great Amen.
Now, everyone stands, and the priest introduces the Lord's Prayer – the Our Father – with "... we dare to say." If we dare to call God "Our Father," then we need to live a life in His grace. Otherwise, we're not being good children of "Our Father." So, we "dare" to call God "Our Father."
There are 7 petitions in the Our Father:
- 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,
- Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
- Lead us not into temptation,
- Deliver us from evil.
The priest prays a short prayer and the people answer "For the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory are Yours, now and forever."
The priest then prays for peace. We pray over and over at this point for peace. This is leading up to the Sign of Peace. The Sign of Peace is not a "7th Inning Stretch," or a time to be silly. The prayers are all repeating the desire for peace, and so in the Sign of Peace, we take charge of this and put it into practice in our own immediate circumstances. We need to take this desire for peace into how we behave, how we answer to authority, how we think – in every aspect of how we live our lives.
We then pray the "Lamb of God" three times – with the final petition being (not "have mercy on us," but) "grant us peace." Again, with the peace!
Jesus is only called "Lamb of God" once in all four Gospels. It's in the Gospel of John, when John the Baptist sees Jesus and calls out "Behold the Lamb of God!" The priest will say this in a little while.
Otherwise, "Lamb of God" occurs 27 times in the Book of Revelation, which shows us the worship of God in Heaven; as well as the spiritual battle between the devil and the angels.
After the Lamb of God, you kneel. At this point, the priest breaks the host at the altar (that is, the Body of Christ), and places a small particle into the chalice (that is, the Blood of Christ) saying a short prayer. This symbolizes not only Jesus's resurrection when His life-blood was re-united to His body.
There was also an ancient custom where remote parishes would send a fragment of the consecrated host to the Bishop's Cathedral Church to be mingled in his chalice at his Mass.
These days, the Pope and the Bishop are a bit far away, so this action symbolizes that ancient practice and shows that we are united to the Pope and the Bishop.
The priest prays one of two prayers of preparation for Holy Communion, and then holds up the Body of Christ (and sometimes the Blood of Christ, too) and says what John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus:
Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world.The priest then adds a line from the Book of Revelation:
Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.Then everyone repeats the words of the centurion from Matthew 8:8,
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.At this point, the Communion Song begins, and the people come forward to receive the Body (and Blood) of Christ. When the priest or minister says: "The Body of Christ," or "The Blood of Christ," the correct response is "Amen." Don't mumble it, and don't say anything else – make the proper, prayerful, response.
When you go back to your seat, pray and ask Jesus for His grace to live a good, virtuous, and holy life.
At the end of communion, the remaining hosts are placed in the tabernacle, and the vessels holding the Body and Blood of Christ are purified with water.
Then the final prayer is said, preceded by "Let us pray," and ending with "Amen."
That's the end of the Communion Rite, and the end of the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Here is a link to the 11 x 17 cards in PDF format.
