Part Seven
To deal with this part of the Eucharistic celebration, I shall refer to the study by the Jesuit Cesare Giraudo.
Cesare Giraudo sets out the elements common to all Eucharistic prayers (Cf. CESARE GIRAUDO, Unum Corpus. Mystagogical treatise on the Eucharist, São Paulo, 2007).
1. Preface: prae agere: that which is accomplished before giving thanks: that is, before the institution narrative.
2. Sanctus.
3. Post sanctus: the part that takes up the theme of the sanctus.
4. Epiclesis on the gifts that will be eucharised and on the comunicantes.
Let us bear in mind that, in the Eucharistic Prayer, we ask the Father that through the Holy Spirit, who uses this, he transform the bread and wine into the risen Christ. So it is not only the words spoken over the bread and wine that consecrate, but the entire Eucharistic Prayer: the Missal speaks of the institution narrative (OGMR 79 d). We can also quote St Isidore of Seville who maintains that what consecrates are all the elements of the Eucharistic prayer and not just the words. In fact, the Eucharistic prayer Addai e Mari, does not have the words of consecration and therefore does not consecrate? Instead it consecrates because it has the institution narrative.
In conclusion: it consecrates the Eucharistic prayer united to the institution narrative and the prayer united to the memory of the wonders God has done (= anamnesis): do this in memory of me and we, the gathered Church, do it.
5. Acclamations: in the Missal there are different types of acclamations during the celebration (cf. eucharistic celebrations with children) and not only those referring to: mystery of faith,
6. Intercessions: we have chosen the order of the intercessions of the Second Eucharistic Prayer:
(a) The Church Militant:
The Pope;
The bishop;
The priests and deacons.
b) The Church in the other life
The deceased;
The saints;
7) The doxology and the final Amen.
Giraudo considers the final Amen to the doxology as a stamp at the foot of a will that has its validity through the signature which, in our case, is the AMEN of the assembly which is the most important one of the whole celebration.
8) Spaces of silence
It is recommended that spaces of silence be extended during the Eucharistic celebration. In fact, these make more sense in the Eucharistic celebration than during the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass. (OGMR 56 and 88).
On the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, when the Eucharist, consecrated during Mass, is placed in the monstrance and the itinerant adoration (Procession) is begun, this is an extension of the adoration carried out during the celebration of the Eucharist, which is a communal and not an individual event.
A consideration
Let us suppose the case of a priest who gives a long homily and then quickly proclaims the Eucharistic prayer. This means that for that priest, the homily is more important. In fact, from his behaviour, one perceives that he considers himself the centre of the celebration and therefore the assembly must necessarily hang on his lips as preacher.
On the other hand, in the celebration, it is the Eucharistic prayer that is the most important moment, if one can speak of a more important moment in the Eucharistic celebration.
This consideration also applies to priests who preside over a Eucharistic celebration in twenty minutes. The witness they offer to God’s people is that this is one of many things to be done and the sooner it is finished, the better. Then there are the serious things: self-care; the worship of the body: of clothes; of money; culture; friendships…
Eucharistic Prayer I
The Eucharistic Prayer I, or Roman Canon, can always be used: its use, however, is more indicated on days when a properIn Communion is assigned , or in Masses with the proper axe, as well as in the celebrations of the apostles and saints mentioned in the Prayer itself, and also on Sundays, unless, for pastoral reasons, the Eucharistic Prayer III is preferred. (OGMR 365 a)
Eucharistic Prayer II.
P.E. II, because of its particular characteristics, is more suitable for weekdays, or in special circumstances. Although it has its own preface, it can be linked with other prefaces, especially with those that present the mystery of salvation in synthesis, such as the common preface. When Mass is celebrated for a deceased person, the proposed particular formula may be inserted in its place, that is, before the Remember also our brethren.
(OGMR 365 b).
Eucharistic Prayer III
P. E. III can be used with any preface. It is preferable to adopt it on Sundays and feast days. If this Prayer is preferred at Masses for the dead, the particular formula for a deceased person can be used by inserting it in its place, i.e. after the words Recongiungi a te, Padre misericordioso, tutti i tuoi figli ovunque dispersersi. (OGMR 365 c).
Eucharistic Prayer IV
P. E. IV has an invariable preface and offers a more complete compendium of salvation history. It can be used when the Mass lacks a proper preface and on Sundays of Ordinary Time. Because of its structure, a particular formula for a deceased person cannot be included in this Prayer. (OGMR 365 d).
Eucharistic Prayers of Reconciliation
The Eucharistic Prayers of Reconciliation can be used in Masses where the faithful are introduced to the mystery of reconciliation in a special way. For example, in Masses for concord, for reconciliation, for peace and justice, in times of war or turmoil, for the remission of sins, to ask for the virtue of charity, the mystery of the Holy Cross, the Most Holy Eucharist, the Precious Blood of Our Lord, as well as in Masses of the Season of Lent. Although these Eucharistic Prayers have a preface of their own, they can also be used with other preface that refer to the themes of penance and conversion, such as the Lenten Prefaces (MESSALE ROMANO ed. III, p. 488).
The Eucharistic Prayers for various needs.
In these Eucharistic Prayers, prayers are said for the Church; for the increase of the various vocations in the service of God’s people; for evangelisation; for persecuted Christians; for unity and concord in the various countries of the world and for their rulers; for refugees, exiles, migrants, for all those who suffer and for those who make others suffer. (ROMAN MESSAL ed. III, p. 498 – 510).
1. The Preface:
a) The Lord be with you: it is the Lord’s invitation to His bride, who is the Church, to join Him: where two or three are gathered in my name…(St Augustine).
b) Lift up our hearts. Why hearts? In Eastern liturgies it is said on high our hearts: it is the epiphany of God. Leave the earth, you enter eternity.
c) Giving thanks.
All elements are joined to the others: It is a good and just thing, it is truly a good and just thing, when? In every place. Why? Because thanks are given, to the Father, through Christ, in the Spirit. There is the Trinity in the Eucharistic Prayer; the creation the incarnation, the Passion and the resurrection.
This is the conclusion of the preface that leads to the Holy.
The Holy is the overall conclusion of the celebration we are united to the heavenly Church.
2. The Holy is sung together with the heavenly church, that the Father may send the Spirit to sanctify the bread and wine so that they may become the body and blood of Christ, through which we may be sanctified.
3. Oratio post sanctus:
Truly holy are you O Father, source of all holiness.
Extended hands: we are like Christ before the Father to do his will.
Hands on the offerings: we ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit.
Hands on the offerings making the sign of the cross: the presence of the Son fulfilling the Father’s will. The Holy Trinity at work in the liturgy.
4. Epiclesis: asking for the Spirit. Dew is a term that recalls biblical echoes. In fact, the anaphora (= the Eucharistic prayer) is addressed to the Father in the Son, through the Holy Spirit.
5. Intercessions
a) Communion is with the pope and the bishop of the place, and one does not say: with the bishop presiding over the celebration, as if the Father – to whom the celebration is directed – does not know the name dil that the one presiding, if one wants to pray for the presiding bishop, one can do so in an intention of the Prayer of the Faithful. This also applies to the Cardinal Prefect for beatifications and canonisations, when he presides over the Eucharistic celebration for the occasion (OGMR 149).
b) The Dead and All Saints.
In the Italian Missal: the remembrance of the saint of the day or the patron saint. On Sunday, the saint of the day is not to be remembered, because, being Sunday, there is no remembrance. Instead, for us St Vincent and St Louise are our patron saints, so I invite us to remember them at every Mass. Of course, if the memory of a saint falls, the saint is named first and then St Vincent and St Louise.
For our blessed: when the memory of one of our blessed falls, it is celebrated because it is written in the Community calendar. This also applies to the blessed in the dioceses where we exercise our pastoral service.
Lastly, I invite everyone to always celebrate the memorial of the blessed as obligatory, even if the Congregation for the Worship of Saints has obliged us to write them down as optional. These are brothers and sisters who, by their martyrdom and service to the poor, honoured the charism of St Vincent and St Louise in the Church of their time.
An example:
on 4 January I have to celebrate the obligatory memory of St Elizabeth Seton and on 7 January I can skip the memory of Blessed Lyndalva. Now, with all due respect to Seton, this says much less to me than Blessed Lyndalva: a sister of mine who gave her life to remain faithful to the charism. This thought applies to all the blessed men and women who, unfortunately, had to be written on the Community calendar as optional memories. This is why I invite everyone to always celebrate them as obligatory memorial.
c) The Christological conclusion must be joined to the doxology, without pause.
The doxology is the true vial of the Eucharistic Prayer.
At the doxology the president is not expected to raise his hands and give the chalice and paten to the other concelebrants and also the various pyxes that are on the table (cf. Ceremonial of Bishops n. 158; OGMR 151). When the deacon is present, he raises the chalice at the doxology (OGMR 180). If the deacon is not present, the main celebrant may have the chalice raised by one of the concelebrants (OGMR 208; Notitiae 33 (1997) p. 322 – 323).
By Fr. Giorgio Bontempi C.M.
