Print Issue: January 30, 2003

The Offering Is Worthy Of God Because It Is God Himself

Father Theodore Book Archbishop John F. Donoghue, assisted by Deacon Mike Mobley, left, concludes the eucharistic prayer at Mass by offering the body and blood of Christ and His redemptive work to the Father in unity with the Holy Spirit. The people respond, "Amen." (Photo by Michael Alexander)

By Father Theodore Book, Commentary

This article continues Father Book's reflections in The Georgia Bulletin on the parts of the Mass. This article continues his discussion, begun in the Jan. 9 issue, of the Eucharistic Prayer, also known as the canon.

The priest has spoken the words of consecration, and Christ is lying on the altar before us. Our Lord, who became a man for us, died for us, and rose for us, has come again for us. We hail the mystery of His coming as we call out, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."

Indeed, His coming to us in the Mass, clothed in the appearance of bread and wine, is a reminder that He will soon be coming, clothed in the sun, and seated upon the clouds of heaven. Whether it be 2000 years ago in Nazareth, today upon the altar, or in glory at the end of time, Christ's coming is a coming for us. It is an amazing condescension on the part of God, before whose greatness we are as nothing, who chooses to give Himself up as an offering for us.

It is right that we offer back to God the best of what He has given to us, and so the priest, in our name, returns to God even the saving victim that He has placed upon the altar for us. Love of God and giving thanks to Him come even before concern for our own salvation, and, indeed, our salvation springs from them. Thus, through the hands of the priest, we now offer unto God, Christ Himself, not only as He lies hidden before us, but together with all of the saving works that He has done for us-His Passion, death, and resurrection. In doing so, we offer the one gift that is truly worthy of God-God Himself.

We can only imagine the benevolent smile of the Father as He looks down upon the Son, with a gaze that must embrace us as well, offering Christ back unto Him. He has accepted much smaller gifts before-the very first sacrifices offered up by Abel, the bread and wine that Melchizedec offered at Abraham's behest, and Abraham's own faith in offering his only son, as we now offer God's only Son, our salvation.

And so we can be confident when we ask for God's angel to come and bear this sacrifice to His heavenly altar, knowing that what we offer is pleasing to Him. When that angel carries our offering into the Father's heavenly sanctuary, he does not take it away from us. Rather, in giving it to God, we possess it all the more, for we possess it in God, and God in it. Because we have offered the Son back to God the Father, we can receive Him to our own spiritual benefit.

Our reception of God is not like that of the impious Pharisees, who received Him only to throw Him into prison and lead Him to the cross. Our reception, rather, brings His light and freedom into our prison of sin and wins for us the cross, which has become the tree of eternal life.

If returning God's Gift to Him only ties it closer to us, then asking His graces for others only increases the luminous shower falling upon both us and them. Indeed, in the wealth of God's goodness, His spiritual gifts may be of benefit not only to us and those around us, but even to those who have died, and are in purgatory being prepared for the glory of heaven. Thus we pray for all who have died in communion with Christ and have the hope of joining Him in heaven.

Finally, having offered the sacrifice to God, and having asked that its fruits be given to the faithful departed, we ask that they be given to ourselves, as well, sinners though we be. It is not prideful to ask for the favor of God's grace. Rather, it is an act of greatest humility, because we know that we cannot do any good except with His help, and we cannot receive any good unless He offers it. He does, indeed, offer us what is good, and offers it abundantly, as the witness of the saints makes clear to us. We ask for a share in the favors that He has given to them, trusting that their prayers will also serve to aid us. In calling out their names we proclaim a litany of God's mercy, who has brought so many men and women into union with Him, and we proclaim our trust that He will offer us the assistance we need to imitate their virtues.

Knowing this, when the priest lifts the chalice and the paten, offering the One through whom we have access to the Father, we can join our voices with his in offering our "Amen" to all that he has offered to God, and all that God has offered to us.

Father Book, a priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, is finishing his licentiate in sacred theology at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. This is part of a continuing series on the Mass.