Following the Consecration, the Eucharistic Prayer continues, as the Priest invites us now to share in the Mystery of Faith.
There are three different proclamations of the Mystery of Faith where we see our salvation through Christ’s Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, now made present in the celebration of the Eucharist. With these prayers we should be filled with “profound amazement and gratitude” (Pope John Paul II). All three are rooted in Scripture, (1 Corinthians 11:26 and John 4:42).
We have just been invited to “eat and drink” and we turn now to reflecting on how we arrived at that most holy moment. As a congregation we have been quiet, but we again raise our voices in community and in acclamation.
The first profession:
We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
Brings us to a simple profession – Jesus died and then rose again – do you truly believe this?
Our second profession:
When we eat this Bread and drink the Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
Allows us to recognize this bread and wine is truly the Body and Blood, and is our strength, possible only by the Sacrifice of Jesus.
Our third profession:
Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
Permits us to reach for our Saviour during our journey to Heaven. It is by His Cross and Resurrection that we have been freed from our earthly journey. The gates of Heaven have been opened for us. We can only enter if we turn our lives over to Jesus, the Saviour.
After the Mystery of Faith, we become silent again as the Priest continues the Eucharistic Prayer to God, the Father. We are witnesses to the memorial and intercessions that will follow.
Therefore, O Lord, as we now celebrate the memorial of our redemption, we remember Christ’s Death and his descent to the realm of the dead, we proclaim his Resurrection and his Ascension to your right hand, and, as we await his coming in glory, we offer you his Body and Blood, the sacrifice acceptable to you which brings salvation to the whole world.
“Do this in memory of me”…And so, the Prayer continues. We have not forgotten, we have not pushed it aside, we are present, and we proclaim. I like this invitation as it reminds me that I am on a journey, that Christ will come again, and I don’t know when. I am not in control, so until that time arrives, I pray that I will remain faithful to the Sacrifice.
It then continues,
Look, O Lord, upon the Sacrifice which you yourself have provided for your Church, and grant in your loving kindness to all who partake of this one Bread and one Chalice that, gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit, they may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your glory.
I’m captured by the words gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit. He has not left us since He has been called down to be with us. We are one body, one spirit in Christ (1 Corinthians 17).
The priest then continues by praying for the living and the dead on our behalf. So many prayers flow from my heart during this brief time of the Eucharistic Prayer.
Therefore, Lord, remember now all for whom we offer this sacrifice: especially your servant our Pope, our Bishop, and the whole Order of Bishops, all the clergy, those who take part in this offering, those gathered here before you, your entire people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart.
Our Priests truly need our prayers. I used to travel a remote highway corridor many times looking for a church to stop to attend Mass. I often encountered a Liturgy of the Word only, as there was no Priest available to say Mass. No Priest. May our prayer for the Pope, the Bishops, the Order of Bishops, our clergy, bring them strength in their vocation, souls on fire with the love of God’s people, wisdom, understanding and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, joy in their ministry and help for them to become true instruments of God’s divine grace.
But the prayer to God continues and includes me – as I take part in this Mass and those who are seeking, for God truly invites all to a relationship with Him.
Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ, and all the dead, whose faith you alone have known.
This part of the prayer is particularly sad and hopeful at the same time for me. More and more of those I love, are passing from their life here on earth to their life with God. Loved ones who I miss tremendously everyday, and those I don’t even know, especially during the time of the pandemic. God alone knows the journey they have traveled. Our prayers intercede for them and are truly heard by the Father.
The Priest then continues with a final intercession. This is what it’s all about. God desires to bring us home after our earthly journey is complete. I can’t imagine –
To all of us, your children, grant, O merciful Father, that we may enter into a heavenly inheritance with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and with your Apostles and Saints in your kingdom. There, with the whole of creation, freed from the corruption of sin and death, may we glorify you through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God – pray for me
O holy Apostles, those who walked with my Lord – pray for me
O Saints in the dwelling place of God who now worship Him in His presence – pray for me
O God, my loving Father, through your great mercy, grant me entrance into your kingdom
At the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer, the Priest takes the chalice and the paten with the host, and raising both, he alone says:
Through Him, and with Him, and in Him,
O God, almighty Father,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
All glory and honour is yours,
For ever and ever.
All we are, all we have, we bring to God in thanksgiving: our love, our joy, our praise, our worship, our humanity, our soul, our weaknesses, our failings, our very beings.
Our silence can now be broken, and our response should ring in the highest heaven!
Amen.
It’s a simple word we acclaim at the end of a prayer. It means, “I agree, so be it.” Here, at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, it’s not just a word of affirmation of faith. It is us, one voice, one heart, one spirit crying to Heaven, to God our Father. We have mostly listened through the Eucharist Prayer, being passive participants.
Our Amen should not be passive. Proclaim it aloud – God has heard our prayer. Let us give praise to God, our loving, merciful Father.