By DON FIER
As narrated in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and in the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper on the night before He died. Jesus and His apostles had just traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the great Jewish feast of Passover in commemoration of the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
During the course of the meal, Jesus “took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (Luke 22:19). After supper, He likewise took the cup and gave it to them, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).
“By this action,” explains Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, “Christ gave the Passover its ultimate meaning and anticipated the final Passover of the Church in the glory of His kingdom” (The Faith, p. 118). By instituting the Eucharist, our Lord fulfilled words He had spoken during His Bread of Life Discourse: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:54-56).
Moreover, by giving the command, “Do this in remembrance of me,” our Lord gave the apostles and their successors, the bishops, the power to do what He had just done until the end of time, thereby ensuring the preservation of the Holy Eucharist in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. “The Eucharist,” continues Fr. Hardon, thus “became the center of the Church for the obvious reason that the Eucharist is Christ” (ibid.).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) now considers the structure of the Eucharistic Liturgy as it has been handed down through the ages. “As early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration…[which] have stayed the same until our own day for all the great liturgical families” (CCC, n. 1345).
In his description, written around AD 155, it is easy to recognize the same fundamental order of the Mass which is celebrated today in Catholic churches throughout the world.
The Celebration of the Eucharist, then, “displays two great parts that form a fundamental unity” (CCC, n. 1346): the Liturgy of the Word which includes the readings, homily, and general intercessions; and the Liturgy of the Eucharist which includes the offertory, consecration, and Holy Communion. These two components are so intimately linked together that the Vatican II fathers unequivocally affirm that “they form but one single act of worship” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 56).
As elaborated upon by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his 2007 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, “From listening to the word of God, faith is born or strengthened (cf. Romans 10:17); in the Eucharist the Word made flesh gives himself to us as our spiritual food. Thus, from the two tables of the word of God and the Body of Christ, the Church receives and gives to the faithful the bread of life….The word of God, read and proclaimed by the Church in the liturgy, leads to the Eucharist as to its own connatural end” (n. 44).
The Catechism now takes us on a brief journey through the order of the Mass beginning with the gathering together of the people to form the eucharistic assembly. Important to recognize is that “it is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates” (CCC, n. 1140). At its head is Christ Himself, represented by the ordained minister (priest or bishop) acting in persona Christi capitis (“in the person of Christ the Head”), who is the principal agent of the Eucharist and presides invisibly over every Eucharistic Celebration.
The Introductory Rite begins with the Sign of the Cross and the apostolic greeting of the priest: “The Lord be with you,” followed by the response: “And with your spirit.” This response, which went into effect with the new translation in late 2011, is reflective of the scriptural language of St. Paul (see Gal. 6:18), but even more important acknowledges the Holy Spirit’s unique activity through the priest by virtue of his Ordination.
It is followed by the Penitential Rite which usually includes the Confiteor and Kyrie Eleison, where we acknowledge our guilt before God, express our heartfelt repentance, and ask for an outpouring of His mercy. On Sundays (except in Advent and Lent) and major feast days, the tone shifts from sorrowful repentance to a joyful song of praise to each Person of the Blessed Trinity in the Gloria. The Introductory Rite concludes with the Collect, a prayer which summarizes the intentions of the celebration.
The Liturgy of the Word follows, “which ‘includes the writings of the prophets,’ that is, the Old Testament, and ‘the memoirs of the apostles’ [their letters and the Gospels]” (CCC, n. 1349). All in attendance are encouraged to listen carefully to the very words of God as He speaks to us personally through the writings of the inspired authors of Sacred Scripture.
“For in the sacred books,” teaches the Second Vatican Council, “the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them” (Dei Verbum [DV], n. 21). Throughout the liturgical seasons and cycles of the Church’s calendar, the word of the Lord majestically unfolds for us (for a more in-depth discussion, see volume 148, nn. 37-38; September 17-24, 2015).
The homily follows, which is “an exhortation to accept this Word as what it truly is, the Word of God, and to put it into practice” (CCC, n. 1349). So crucial is the homily that Vatican II teaches that it should “hold the foremost place” (DV, n. 24) for instruction of the Christian faithful. The right (and duty) to proclaim the Gospel and to preach the homily is reserved for ordained deacons, priests, and bishops (Code of Canon Law, canons 762; 767 § 1).
The Liturgy of the Word comes to a close (on Sundays and major feast days) with the faithful’s Profession of Faith, the Nicene Creed, followed by the Prayer of the Faithful. This practice of intercessory prayer is attested to often in the Church’s early history (see Acts 12:5; 1 Tim. 2:1-4; 1 Thess. 1:2-3; 2 Cor. 2:11, etc.) and is a fitting component of the Mass.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal notes that the faithful exercise “the office of their baptismal priesthood” (n. 69) in making intercessory prayer. Prayers of intercession are “characteristic of a heart attuned to God’s mercy” (CCC, n. 2635) and they accustom one to look “not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4).
The Wedding Garment
This marks the transition point to the second part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It is interesting to note is that in the early days of Christianity, only the baptized were allowed to remain — those preparing to become members of the Church (catechumens) were dismissed. In fact, in ancient times, the first part of the Mass was referred to as the Mass of Catechumens.
As Fr. Peter Stravinskas explains in The Catholic Church and the Bible: “The Fathers of the Church often interpreted Jesus’ parable of the wedding garment as the necessity of being in a state of baptismal innocence to approach the altar. It was surely this rationale that called for catechumens to leave the liturgical celebration before the Offertory” (p. 71).
In contemporary times, as a general rule, everyone is invited to stay for the entire Mass — with the stipulation, of course, that only practicing Catholics who are properly disposed can receive Holy Communion.
It is at this transition point that a collection is taken up. “This custom of the collection, ever appropriate,” explains the Catechism “is inspired by the example of Christ who became poor to make us rich (cf. 1 Cor. 16:1; 2 Cor. 8:9)” (CCC, n. 1351).
In his First Apology, St. Justin Martyr (referred to earlier) confirms this as a practice which originated in the Church’s very beginning: “They who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows, and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need” (chapter 67).
It is in the Liturgy of the Eucharist that Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross is made present by the priest, who carries out what Christ inaugurated at the Last Supper and commanded His apostles to do in His memory. It is during this part of Holy Mass that bread and wine are offered as gifts by the people, consecrated and changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and received by the faithful in Holy Communion.
It is at this juncture that we will pick up next week as we unpack what takes place during the offertory, the eucharistic prayer, and the Communion rite.
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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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