Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Sometimes you just need to mix things up a bit. Usually, I preach on the readings, because the Word of God should be preached; St. Paul says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” However, tonight, to mix things up, I thought I’d preach on one of the prayers that will be said soon, what we call the Prayer over the Offerings. This is the prayer that is said after I have prepared the bread and the wine on the altar, and have washed my hands in preparation.
The prayer says, “Grant us, O Lord, we pray, that we may participate worthily in these mysteries, for whenever the memorial of this sacrifice is celebrated the work of our redemption is accomplished. Through Christ our Lord.” Maybe it sounds to you like any other prayer in the Mass, a little wordy, some unique words. But this one in particular is very full of meaning that, if we are not paying attention, can gloss over us.
We start out by asking God the Father to help us “participate worthily in these mysteries…” Right now, we are participants in something. We are not spectators (at least we are not supposed to be). We are engaged in something. So often the Church uses the phrase “active participation” when it comes to what we should be doing in the Mass, and because we are an active society, we tend to take it as doing something, like being a lector or an extraordinary minister or a choir member. But active participation is always united to us giving ourselves, first and foremost interiorly, to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit, in what is being celebrated. Tonight, on Holy Thursday, we participate in the Lord’s Supper in a mystical way. We do not simply remember it. A lot of Protestant music will talk about remembering what our Lord did at the Last Supper, remembering His saving life, Death, and Resurrection. But we don’t only remember. We participate. Simply remembering is for museums, which is what some churches have become. If people understood that they participate in what we celebrate, churches would not be so empty.
But it is not any participation. It is a worthy participation. And how do we worthily participate? We respond to the prayers with the voice, we listen to the prayers with our ears, we focus our attention on what is being done, on the smoke of the incense, on the precious nature of the vessels. And hopefully, we also come with pure souls, free from any grave sins that hinder us from being present with Jesus, just as Judas left the Upper Room. He could not worthily participate because his heart did not belong to God. Shortly after this prayer we are invited to lift up our hearts, to leave behind the worries and anxieties of the day, and to focus on what God is doing for us. We say, “We lift them up to the Lord,” but do we?
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| The Upper Room, where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper |
This mystery is so great that angels themselves bow down in worship, and shield their faces from the miracle that takes place when ordinary bread and wine become the Body of Blood of Jesus. The God whom the universe cannot contain humbles Himself and makes Himself present in the ciborium and in the chalice. The saints, who worship with us tonight and at every Mass, join their prayers to the perfect prayer of the Mass, the perfect prayer of Jesus offering Himself to the Father.
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| The place in Jerusalem where Jesus was nailed to the cross |
And the Eucharist, every Eucharist, is not simply the Last Supper, but is what the Last Supper points to, what only one of the Apostles would actually experience, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Tonight only makes sense–and every Mass only makes sense–in the light of the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary. Jesus gave His Church, His bride, a way that His once for all sacrifice on the cross could be accessible, not only in memory, but in reality, to every member of the Church throughout the ages. And that is why the prayer continues, “for whenever the memorial of this sacrifice is celebrated the work of our redemption is accomplished.” Every time Mass is celebrated, Christ’s saving work continues. That’s why we offer Masses for people, that Christ’s saving work can be applied for this person or that person, living or deceased. Each and every day that the Mass is celebrated, salvation is achieved by Christ. And it’s achieved here, where we get to participate in it, not watch it as spectators.
Of course tonight we use many of our signs and symbols to impress what the prayers say. But it’s the same at a Papal Mass, and at Mass in the gym at Powers, and at Mass here at St. Pius X Church. Tonight, as we enter into the three intense days of our Lord’s saving action of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, let us set aside all earthly cares, lift up our hearts to the heavenly things, and focus our spirit, mind, and body on the great mystery of our salvation, accomplished by Christ, and made present for us in the Mass. “Grant us, O Lord, we pray, that we may participate worthily in these mysteries, for whenever the memorial of this sacrifice is celebrated the work of our redemption is accomplished. Through Christ our Lord.”
