The Introduction flows seamlessly into the Preface and completes, expands and brings to light the meaning of our last response “It is right and just”. The Priest continues,
It is truly right to give you thanks, truly just to give you glory, Father most holy,
I was recently reminded during a Priest’s homily, that this is a prayer to God the Father, the most holy. It took me aback a bit as I lingered on those words. We recently celebrated Father’s Day – honoring our dads for their commitment to family, their dedication to teaching their children, forming their lives through example. Here, in this moment of the Eucharistic Preface we encounter the words “Father most holy”. All goodness, all love, all things flow from Our Father. Above all things, it is truly right to give thanks and truly just to give glory to the Most Holy One.
Continuing the prayer on our behalf, we hopefully find time to lose ourselves in the next lines,
For you are the one God living and true, existing before all ages and abiding for all eternity
Wow…so much richness is contained in so few words. Let’s take some time to reflect on these truths.
The One God – there is no other. Don’t you just want to sing it from the mountaintops – I love you my God, for all I have comes from you! Living and True – there’s a line from a popular religious song by Newsboys “God’s not dead, He’s surely alive, He’s living on the inside….”. The reality is that the God who lives, we without we cannot live without. He is our guide and our strength. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
The Preface then continues,
existing before all ages and abiding for all eternity, dwelling in unapproachable light;
I’m drawn at this point of the Preface to our common prayer: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be”, and again to the Bible, the first three words, “In the beginning”. It’s impossible to comprehend in our humanity ‘before all ages’, since we are bound by time and space. God is not limited. He exists – at the beginning and for all eternity. And the beautiful thing is that we are made to dwell with Him – for all eternity, in unapproachable light.
Our prayer to God the Father continues with these next words,
yet you, who alone are good, the source of life, have made all that is
so that you might fill your creatures with blessings and bring joy to many of them
by the glory of your light.
This proclamation by the Priest opens for us the beautiful nature of our relationship with God the Father. Everything that flows from God is for us – for you and me, so that we may be filled with blessings and with joy. I like the word “filled”. For me it means there is room for nothing else, and it’s time to take that “fullness” to everyone I encounter.
The Preface concludes with an invitation for all of us to be united with the Angels in heaven – wow – united with the Angels; we truly are the children of God, created in His image.
And so, in your presence are countless hosts of Angels, who serve you day and night
and, gazing upon the glory of your face, glorify you without ceasing.
With them we, too, confess your name in exultation,
Giving voice to every creature under heaven as we acclaim:
We are called to proclaim God’s message and share our faith, to be a people of God, and then we are invited to confess in exultation His Holy Name – to be His voice here on Earth, in our homes, in our workplaces, during our times of relaxation, always and everywhere.
………………………………………….
Join me next Wednesday as we pray together the Holy, Holy. God bless your day.