A Tour through the Mass!

Eucharistic Prayer

Having looked at the Preface in last week’s article, we pass on to the following sections of the Eucharistic Prayers.

Following the “Holy, Holy”, there is a section of the prayers which is different in each prayer and is really a means of moving from the Preface and the ‘Holy, Holy’ to the central part of the prayer.  It is technically called the ‘Post Sanctus’ which is a fancy Latin name meaning ‘the bit after the Sanctus’.  In the Second Eucharistic Prayer it is very simple: “Lord, you are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness.”  So, it takes up the word ‘holy’ from the “Holy, Holy’ and will go on to ask the Holy Spirit to make this bread and wine holy.  The idea of holiness is the link. 

There are more expanded forms of this in the third and fourth Eucharistic Prayers as there are in the other Eucharistic Prayers.

The Holy, Holy or the Sanctus

This prayer has its origins in the Old Testament, specifically in the prophet Isaiah.  It comes from Isaiah’s vision of God which is the source of his vocation as a prophet.

We find this in chapter 6, verses 1 to 13 of that book.  It reads thus: “I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; his train filled the sanctuary.  Above him stood seraphs…… Each cried out to the other “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Sabaoth.  His glory fills the whole earth”.  The ‘Holy. Holy’, as we know it, has been expanded from those words.

These words came into the celebration of the Mass during the fourth century when most of the Eucharistic Prayers were expanded further than their earlier forms. 

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin