The Eucharistic Prayer, Part 1 by Fr. Joseph Evinger
Today I will begin to cover the Eucharistic Prayer which is prayed at every Mass. The Eucharistic Prayer is the central prayer of the whole Mass since it is this prayer which connects us to the sacrifice of Jesus: “For this is my body which will be given up for you, …my blood which will be poured out for you.” I will speak about this part in more detail in my next article.
In this article I wish to speak about the Preface and the Sanctus. The Preface is prayed out loud or sung. It always relates to the particular mystery we are celebrating that day. If it is Christmastide the Preface relates to Jesus’ birth, if it is Eastertide the Preface relates to Jesus’ resurrection, and so forth. At the beginning of this prayer there is a brief dialogue between the priest and the people, reminding us of whose presence we are entering. “The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right and just.” Then the priest turns in prayer to the Father, always stating that it is right and just to give him thanks and praise. He prays this way since the Holy Mass is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. The word Eucharist actually means thanksgiving in Greek. Thus, at every Mass we must thank God for his love and work in our lives, for he shines his love on both the good and the bad.
I always love the way in which the priest finishes the Preface. He calls to mind that we are to join the angels and saints in glory and praise to God singing: Holy, holy, holy, etc. Portions of this prayer were shouted out to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on a donkey before his death. Also in the book of Revelation and other books of the Old Testament scriptures, angels sing these words to God: Holy, holy, holy. Yes. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Christ is coming to our altar. Truly. Heaven is coming to earth, and earth is being elevated to God. The question we are left with as we sing these words, do we really want Christ to meet us in our brokenness and sinfulness? Or is there some sin or sins that are keeping us from encountering his coming to us?