A Tour through the Mass!

Eucharistic Prayer and the Holy Spirit

As the Eucharistic Prayer continues, we come to the central part of the prayer.  Below we have the central part of the Second Eucharistic Prayer – because it is the shortest and simplest: 

“Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Before he was given up to death, a death he freely accepted, he took bread and gave you thanks.  He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it: This is my body which will be given up for you.

When supper was ended, he took the cup.  Again, he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: This is the cup of my blood.  The blood of the new and everlasting covenant.  It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.

(Then we have the memorial acclamation), Then:

In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread and his saving cup.  We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you.  May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit.”

Over the next couple of weeks, we will look at various aspects of this dense prayer.

This week, I would like to look at the role of the Holy Spirit.  Notice that the Holy Spirit gets two mentions in this prayer.  At its beginning, we pray that the Father will let the Holy Spirit come upon these gifts of bread and wine which we have brought to the altar during the Presentation of the Gifts.  It is the bread and wine which we have presented that we ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify.  It is only by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit that the Eucharist can be what it is.  The Holy Spirit is concelebrating with us all the way through the Eucharist.  Only by his mysterious presence are we able to celebrate the Eucharist at all.

The second mention of the Spirit at the end of this section of the Eucharistic Prayer prays that all of us who receive the body and blood of Christ may be ‘brought together in unity’ by the Holy Spirit.  We pray that we may be drawn into the union of being the body of Christ, the church.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin