Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, April 23, 2024

John 10, 22-30

The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

“The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon.”  Most of the action in St. John’s Gospel takes place in Jerusalem or, at least, in Judea, whereas the other Gospel writers concentrate on the Lord’s words and deeds in Galilee.  We should appreciate the favor John does us, for without his witness — and the precision of that witness — we would have a very limited understanding of the Lord’s Public Life.

“How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”  The Jews who demanded an answer from Jesus wanted him to tell them what they wanted to hear.  They had expected him by now to be calling the Israelites to arms and to be forming an army with which to conquer the Romans.

“I told you and you do not believe.”  That is, I told you who I am and you do not believe me.  This interpretation is made more certain by the Lord’s next sentence: “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe.”  He does works greater and far different from the Messiah preached by the Pharisees would do.  Jesus heals.  The Messiah of the Pharisees leads into battle.

“But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  They are not his sheep because they do not desire to be led by him where he wants to take them.  These Jews are not interested in the forgiveness of their sins and the salvation of their souls.  Perhaps they even take these great gifts of God for granted.  They are thoroughly of the world and cannot think of spiritual realities.  The worldly people of today, looking for salvation through financial gain, diets, or fleeting fame on social media, are not so different from these men of long ago.  As opposed to these, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”  The Jews accosting him heard “eternal life” and shook their heads, thinking that Jesus did not understand his role — the role they saw for him.  But it was he, not they, who performed miracles, and it was to him and not to each other that they should have listened and from whom they should have learned.

“No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.”  The Lord’s insistence on no one being able to take his flock from him seems off-topic.  He is insisting that his mission is to his flock, those who believe in him.  He cannot be separated from them to do work for others, and they cannot be separated from him, as though to be saved by someone else.  And what is his mission to his flock? “I lay down my life for my sheep” (John 10, 15).

“The Father and I are one.”  That is, they are of one will, though distinct Persons, and they are in union with the Holy Spirit, who is their bond.  The Lord is also clearly speaking of his equality with the Father, for otherwise he would have said, “I am in accord with the Father.”

We should labor hard in the Lord’s pastures so that we might attain eternal life and never perish — so that death loses its old meaning and instead become a place where we meet God.

The fourteenth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass:: The Roman Canon, or, The First Eucharistic Prayer

The first evidence of the Eucharistic Prayer in the Mass is that of what we call today the Roman Canon or the First Eucharistic Prayer.  The Canon emerged almost as it is now after centuries of persecution, in the oldest surviving church books.  It was fixed by the seventh century.  It is distinct from today’s other Eucharistic Prayers in its length and its richness.  It’s length allows a balance between the two parts of the Mass: what is now called the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist (formerly, the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful), which is weighted in favor of the former by the shortness of the prayer and by the length of the readings (especially on Sundays).  This imbalance is unfortunate because it minimizes the importance of the sacrificial part of the Mass which is, in fact, the most important part and which is served by the first part.  When the second Eucharistic Prayer is used, the Eucharist itself seems reduced to a mere communion service.  In terms of its richness, it is characterized by the manifestation of the involvement of the saints and angels in the Mass and by repeated references to the holiness of this work.  This prayer, more than the others, shows our ties to the Church of the ages through its two lists of saints of the early centuries.  It is also the prayer known to all the saints down through time.  Because of its solemnity, it is most often used at Masses celebrating the high holy days such as Christmas, Easter, the Ascension, Pentecost, and the Marian feast days.  Some priests use this prayer exclusively, as it offers the fullest worship of God possible.

Next: The Second Eucharistic Prayer 

 Monday in the Fourth Week of Easter, April 22, 2024

John 10, 1-10

Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.  So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” 

The Lord Jesus is speaking after he has healed the man blind from birth, the account of which is found in John 9.  A crowd has gathered, Pharisees have challenged him, he has rebuked them, and they have left.  Remaining are the people who have come to see the man who was healed and to hear more of what has happened.  Among these are many who recognize Jesus, and many of his followers.

With the withdrawal of the Pharisees, the Lord tells the crowd, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.”  As he very often does, the Lord opens his teaching with a well-known example of daily living.  Those who witnesses his rebuke of the Pharisees might have supposed that he was referring to them with “thieves and robbers”.  The Pharisees were not universally loved by the Jews and not a few in the crowd would have been inclined to agree with this interpretation.  “But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.”  Here the Lord indicates that the primary thrust of his discourse would not be aimed at the Pharisees but at the identity of the shepherd and the sheep.  “The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  The Lord develops his theme carefully, again using examples of life familiar to the people.  We might compare what he does here with how Socrates is shown to prepare an argument in one of Plato’s Dialogues.  

“When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.  But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”  The Lord seems much less direct in his teaching here than he was when he revealed to the crowd in Capernaum that he was the Bread of Life, possibly because he was then speaking to people who had actually seen and benefited from his miraculous feeding of the five thousand and who had sought to make him king afterwards.  Here, few, if any, of his hearers had witnessed the healing of my the man born blind and whose understanding of him needed not to be corrected but developed.

“Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.”  What St. John means is that Jesus was speaking of himself as the true Shepherd: when we speak of humans who watch over sheep we are the ones who use a figure of speech in our use of “shepherd”.  Human “shepherds” resemble the true Shepherd in certain ways but they are only shepherds in a derivative sense.  In other words, Jesus is not like a shepherd, he is The Shepherd.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.”  That is, The Gate, which earthly gates resemble to one degree or another.  “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.”  That is, these false shepherds did not pass through him but went over the fence.  He did not send them or sanction them.  Because of this, the “sheep” did not listen to them.  Here it became clearer to his hearers that he was speaking of the people of Israel as the sheep and the “thieves and robbers” as not only the Pharisees but also the false prophets and leaders of rebellions who claimed to be the Messiah who came before him.  The people might also have had the sneaking suspicion that he was speaking of the chief priests who had gained their positions through bribery.  “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”  The Lord emphasizes that he is The Gate.  There are no other gates.  He is also more than can be perceived with the eye: he is The Gate, appointed by Almighty God.  “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”  The first part of the verse would have been common-sense, but the second part would have startled everyone in the crowd.  

The Lord says that he “came” — into the world — as though of his own accord, which no human does, and that he came with a purpose: “that they [the sheep] might have life and have it more abundantly.”  He came into the world, then, to give a greatly abundant life to the people of Israel.  He connects this statement to that of his being The Gate, as though life would be given “through” him by the shepherds he would send to the sheep and the grace which he would bestow on the sheep through them.

We rejoice in Jesus Christ who protects and cares for us so carefully!

The thirteenth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Eucharistic Prayers

We will look at each of the four Eucharistic Prayers in some detail in succeeding articles.  Here we will look at what the Eucharistic Prayer is and a little of its history.  

First of all, what we today call the Eucharistic Prayer was called “the Canon” from the early days of the Church until the 1970 Missal when four “Eucharistic Prayers” were introduced.  The word “canon” comes from a Greek word meaning “rule” or “measure”, and was the unchanging prayer at the core of the Mass.  all the prayers and longings of the Church are contained here, and her highest praise to God.  The Eucharistic Prayer contains, in its heart, the changing of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Son of Son, who took on flesh for us, and the offering of his Body and Blood to the Father.  After the prayer is concluded, the priest consummates the Sacrifice by consuming the Lord’s Body and Blood.  In the first and second centuries in Rome, the Mass was offered in the Greek language, the universal language of its time known by both slaves and senators.  It is likely, suggested by a comment made by St. Justin, that the prayer itself was not written down and that each priest prayed as well as he could.  By the early 200’s, however, the liturgical language in Rome became Latin and at this time the prayer was either written down or drawn from memory.  Due to the persecutions and the Mass burnings of Christian books, the latter may have been most common.  The first sacramentaries show a stable, consistent prayer, and by the seventh century it was fixed, with no further alterations or additions.  During this time the most marked additions were the inclusion of the names of certain saints, whose intercession was invoked.  

The prayer itself begins immediately following the Sanctus, and concludes with the Amen that follows the doxology (“Through him, with him, etc.”).  For nearly two thousand years this prayer was said quietly by the priest With no vocal part for the people, who were encouraged to pray in their own way.  In the earliest centuries this most sacred prayer was prayed by the priest behind a veil or an iconostasis, as continues to be the case with the Orthodox.  

The reform of the Mass, ordered by the Second Vatican Council, resulted in four Eucharistic Prayers, presumably for the sake of variety although no reason for this was given.The first three of these may be used at any Mass while the fourth can only be used on non-feast days because of its construction.  The first of these prayers is based on the ancient Canon, and we will look at it next.

 The Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 21, 2024

John 10, 11–18

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”

It is easy to sympathize with the shepherd of whom the Lord Jesus speaks who works for pay and runs off when he sees a wolf coming.  Unless he is a very good shot with his sling, he could be killed along with a number of the sheep.  The person owning the sheep would be very distressed at the loss of his sheep, but he could always hire a new shepherd and he could gather up his remaining animals.  In the event of an emergency, there was no incentive for the shepherd to stay and try to defend the sheep.  

So who is this “good shepherd”, and why would he lay down his life for his sheep?  The Greek word translated as “good” has the meaning of “virtuous”, “noble”, and “moral”, with the implication of “inspiring” through the display of these qualities.  The “good” shepherd, then, sees the good as his duty,and is not motivated by profit.  He sees himself as representing the sheep owner and his interests, and puts this above his own interests, or identifies this as his own interests.  The “good shepherd” sells out for his sheep, holding nothing back.  He makes a continual offering of himself for his sheep.  

“I am the good shepherd.”  The Son of God tells us in these words exactly who he is and what he means to do.  Our salvation is his purpose.  He, the infinite God, does this for his erring, wandering, difficult creatures.  We could never have believed this if it had not been revealed to us.  It simply goes beyond all reason.

It would seem madness for a God or  a human being to act this way and to have this mind, but we see this “throwing away of one’s life” in the crucifix and also in the lives of men and women religious and of priests.  As closely as they can they model their lives of sacrifice after that of the Good Shepherd.  To do this they give up everything that could hold them back, including family and spouses.  They are worthy of our prayers, for they do this for us, to intercede for us.  And we pray for one another as well so that we might be good sheep of this wondrous Shepherd and that he might call our names and lead us into  eternal pastures.

The twelfth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Sanctus

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.”  The Sanctus, or, “the Holy, Holy, Holy”, is the second hymn found in the text of the Mass.  The first is the Gloria, and the third is the Agnus .Dei, or, “the Lamb of God”.  It is composed of two verses.  The context of the first verse, Isaiah 6, 3, is a vision the Prophet experienced in the Temple in Jerusalem: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the Temple. Upon it stood the seraphim: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they flew” (Isaiah 6, 1-2).  God is seated in his Temple and the winged angels cry out his praises.  Heavenly praise is uttered on earth.  The second verse is taken from Psalm 117, 26: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  This psalm was held by the Jews to speak of the coming of the Messiah.  As such, this verse was shouted by the people as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on an ass (cf. Matthew 21, 9).  This verse is the praise of God by mortal humans.  Thus, the linking of the two verses concludes the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer, which exhorts the people of earth to join in the eternal praise of the angels.  This is most appropriate here because the Son of God is about to appear on our altars just as he came into Jerusalem on an ass two thousand years ago, and just as Isaiah saw him in the Temple long before that.

This part of the Mass is one for which we have the earliest witnesses.  Pope St. Clement mentions it in his letter to the Corinthians, and many of the Fathers in both the east and west quote it.  The earliest surviving Mass books all have the Sanctus, and in its established position.  

Two Hebrew words are found in the Sanctus.  This is most clear in the Latin text in which neither word is translated but are simply allowed to remain in the Hebrew as words common in the Church in early times: sabaoth and hosanna.  The Hebrew sabaoth means “armies” and is translated into English as “hosts”.  The sense of the verse is this: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of armies”, that is, of the legions of angels.  The second Hebrew word, hosanna, is not easily translated.  It is a sort of jubilant shout made upon the realization of being saved, as the word itself seems related to the verb “to save”.

Next: The Eucharistic Prayers

 Saturday in the Third Week of Easter, April 20, 2024

John 6, 60-69

Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”  As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  More literally, the Greek translates as, “This saying is harsh; who can hear it?”  Jesus had made it abundantly clear that if they were to enter eternal life, they must eat his Body and drink his Blood.  What he was saying was not just shocking, but impossible, as they understood it.  No Jew had ever said anything like this.  No human had ever said anything like Jesus had just said.  And they understood what he was saying: his Flesh was true food, and his Blood, true Drink, meaning that earthly food and drink in some ways resembled his Body and Blood, but these were the real thing and all other food and drink was as a shadow.  The reaction of the crowd  does not seem extreme when we see what Jesus was teaching them, but they did not get beyond the “what” to the “how”.  When the Angel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin that she would bear the Son of God, she accepted the “what” right away — for an Angel of God was speaking — and she then proceeded to the “how”, what she needed to know.  But this crowd, which had seen his powerful deeds, especially his recent, miraculous feeding of them, would not go to the “how”, which, indeed, they did need to know.  They reject the “what” — eating the Lord’s Body and drinking his Blood — out of hand.  We might condone them if it were not for the miracles they had seen, which could only be done by divine power.

“It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.”  The Lord is telling them that they are rejecting the gift of faith brought to them by the Holy Spirit.  If they would only ask the question, “How, Lord?”  But they do not.  They refuse the gift of faith which would enable them to fully embrace what he has taught and to one day eat his Body and drink his Blood, when it was time.  Instead, they cling to their earthly understanding and turn away from eternal life.  “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”  All are called by God to his Son, but not all will accept the invitation: “How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7, 14).  Our pride puffs us up so much that many find the gate to heaven to narrow to squeeze through, if our eyes were not so clogged with it that we could find it.  And this is ultimately the failing of these people.  They could not accept that they were wrong about him as their earthly Messiah and would not accept him on any terms other than theirs.

“Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  The Lord was speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum where he had cast out demons, cured the sick, and where he had taught on many Sabbaths.  The defections of his followers may have begun them, with people leaving the synagogue to return to their old way of life, and then continued over time.  At some point Jesus drew the attention of the Apostles to these losses and asked them this question.  Peter’s answer shows how his faith has grown over the the period he has spent with the Lord, and he also speaks in the name of the other Apostles, who frequently discussed the Lord and his teachings among themselves: “We have come to believe,” he says, “and are convinced” that he is the Holy One of God.  Peter identifies Jesus as the “Holy One”, which is not yet “the Son”, as he will declare later, but the Son of man.  We should note that Peter does not call Jesus “the Messiah”, a title the Lord did not claim for himself.  It is a grace answer.  It is the answer of one who has accepted the Father’s invitation and the Holy Spirit’s gift.  May we persevere in the faith that we have received and accepted, and treasure it.

The eleventh article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Preface

The preface to the Eucharistic Prayer begins with the third greeting of the priest to the people in the Mass.  The purpose of the greeting is to establish between the priest and the congregation that it is “right and just” for Almighty God to be thanked and praised.  Following the greeting, the priest expands on the particular reason why, this day, God is to be rendered thanks and praise.  Having done this, he exhorts the congregation to join their thanks and praise to God with the eternal worship of the angels in heaven, and this introduces the Sanctus, the “Holy, Holy, Holy”, the hymn of the angels recorded by the Prophet in Isaiah 6, 3.  Since the reform of the Mass in 1970 a large number of prefaces are to be found in the Missal as opposed to the handful from the preceding centuries.  There are prefaces for each season of the Church year as well as for the various feast days.  These can be used with the first three Eucharistic Prayers, but not with the fourth, which has its own preface.  The preface is a very old part of the Holy Mass.  It marks the entrance of the priest and the people into the holiest part of the Mass in which the bread and wine are made the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and these are offered in Sacrifice to God the Father.  Because the preface, like the opening prayer, the offertory prayer, and the prayer after Holy Communion contain fairly complex theological statements and even use theological terms unfamiliar to most people, the preface should be spoken slowly by the priest.  There is much richness contained by these prefaces which are denied to the faithful when the words to them are breathlessly rushed through.

Next: The Sanctus

 Friday in the Third Week of Easter, April 19, 2024

John 6, 52-59

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

The Gospel reading for today’s Mass carries on from the readings of the last few days.  The Lord is speaking to the crowd in Capernaum about himself as the Bread of Life, and the necessity of eating this Bread for eternal life.

“The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?’ ”  While this is a perfectly legitimate question, the Jews go about answering it only by asking it of themselves.  This is a way of avoiding the answer that the Lord would give them.  Here, we see the terrible predicament of fallen man: unable to help himself to rise above his state, he turns to his fellow, who, in the same situation, cannot provide any but illusory aid.  This is shown graphically in the attempt to build the Tower of Babel: unable to look beyond the physical world, people attempt to attain a spiritual heaven through physical means.  Only God can help us, and yet we ignore him or fear to ask him or our pride forbids us to ask him.

The Lord watches them and listens to them struggle with each other as he also watches the struggle going on in their hearts.  He would help, but he is not asked.  After a time, he speaks again very loudly so that the crowd might hear him above their bickering.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you.”  Notice what he says here: “Unless you eat . . . you do not have.”  He does not say, You will not have.  He speaks in the present tense.  While he makes it clear that eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood will lead them to eternal life, there is no life within them in the present without this.  He is speaking of grace.  Grace makes us truly alive, especially in regards to the soul.  The person who has received grace is a very different kind of person from one who has not.  This person can think, understand, and act and live in ways an ungraced person cannot.  

“For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.”  The Lord insists on what he has already taught them, but he still does not answer their question because they have not asked him.  These words, then, are for those whose faith is already strong enough that they will accept them as true even though they do not fully understand what they mean.  They do this on the basis of their own experience of the Lord’s works.  Now, when the Lord says that his Flesh is “true food” and his Blood is “true drink”, he is not saying, My Flesh is truly food, and my Blood truly drink.  The latter statement simply means that his Flesh is edible and his Blood drinkable.  In fact, what he is saying is that his Flesh is the Food, that is, the model  or form for any other kind of food.  An apple, say, shares in some of the properties of the Lord’s Flesh: it is edible, it provides a certain nourishment, it leads to a certain level of health, and so on.  To the extent that it shares in the properties of the True Food of the Flesh of the Lord, we can call it food.  But it is not True Food because it only provides temporary benefits to the human body.  The True Food of the Fresh of Jesus Christ provides eternal benefits to both the human body and soul.  Nourished with this Bread from heaven, the human body becomes capable of rising on the last day, and of becoming spiritualized — capable of heaven.  In creating things that could be used as food by humans, God used the Flesh and Blood he knew his Son would possess as his model.  Everything that we eat and drink is in some way like this divine reality.  Just as the Father is the Father and all other fatherhood is based upon him, and all those who are fathers are to a certain degree like him, so the Flesh and Blood of the Lord is the Food and Drink, and all other foods and drinks are merely like them to some degree.

“Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.”  We consume him so that we might be consumed by him.  We receive him so that we might be received by him.  “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”  All life, human and divine, originates from the Father.  By consuming the Flesh and Blood of the Lord, we become like him and so we receive a share in the divine life the Father gives his Son.  “Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this Bread will live forever.”  Now, in speaking in this way, the Lord minimizes the death that all in this world must undergo.  For the one who has eaten his Flesh and drunk his Blood, the death of the body is merely a means to an end, that end being eternal life in the ecstatic bliss of heaven.  The knowledge of this is what provides strength of will to those suffering martyrdom, it is what fuels the zeal of the missionary, what fires the love of priests and religious, and what makes life in a fracturing world within a bitter and despairing society possible for all who believe.

The Prayers Before the Preface

After the priest washes his hands, asking Almighty God for the purity necessary to offer this most sacred Sacrifice, he turns to the congregation and says, “Pray, brethren, that my Sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.”  The Latin more precisely says, “may be made acceptable”: we are asking God to make the bread and wine acceptable to him through their change into the Body and Blood of his Son, who is most acceptable as a Sacrifice.  Now, the priest specifically asks the congregation to pray for his Sacrifice to be made acceptable, as distinct from theirs.  That is because the offering of the Body and Blood of Jesus is offered as atonement for our sins and for the salvation of the world at the hands of the priest.  He makes this offering as an official of the Church on the Church’s behalf.  This is separate from any personal prayers he may be offering.  The people in the congregation offer the sacrifices of their prayers in the Sacrifice offered by the priest by virtue of their being made “priest prophet, and king” through their baptism.  The congregation answers, “May the Lord accept the Sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and for the good of all his Holy Church.”  The people pray for the worthiness of the priest to make the Sacrifice.  

If we really thought about what was about to happen we would tremble and hide in fear because the Son of the Most High God is about to come down upon our altar and be broken for us sinners.  The priest, fainting, would have to be held up by the angels at the altar in order to do what Jesus himself commands him to do: “Do this in memory of me.”

The priest, encouraged by the prayers of the congregation and strengthened by Almighty God now prays what is now called “the offertory prayer” or “the prayer over the offerings”.  Here is the text from the offertory prayer for today’s Mass: “Graciously sanctify these gifts, O Lord, we pray, and, accepting the oblation of this spiritual sacrifice, make of us an eternal offering to you. Through Christ our Lord.”  The prayer asks God to sanctify and to accept the gifts we bring, the bread and wine which will changed into the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God will give us what we need in order to please him but we must ask for it, admitting our total dependence on him for all things.  

For nearly two millennia the offertory prayer has been called “the secret” (In Latin, secretum) because the priest, out of caution, said this prayer quietly: superstitious people in the congregation, knowing the power of the words of the Mass, used to take certain words and phrases and use them to practice magic and to cast spells or deliver curses.  In this most sacred part of the Mass, then, only the words “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood” were spoken aloud, for the benefit of the congregation, and these became vulgarized into “hocus-pocus”.

With the “amen” of the people signifying their desire also for the accomplishment of that which the priest asked in the prayer, the priest begins the words of the Preface, which we will consider tomorrow.

 Thursday in the Third Week of Easter, April 18, 2024

John 6, 44-51

Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

Having declared that he is the Bread of life who came down from heaven, the Lord teaches that “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.”  The Lord introduces the matter of Divine Providence.  Only those who are drawn by the Father to the Son will be raised on the last day.  The Father loves all his human creatures and so draws them all to his Son.  Not all will go to the Son, however.  Many will reject him, as we will see in John 6, 66.  But that all should have the opportunity to learn from what is necessary for salvation the Lord quotes from Isaiah 54, 13: “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”  This teaching is found in other places as well, such as in the Prophet Micah.  “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”  That is, everyone who studies the Law and the Prophets and is devoted to doing the will of God will recognize the Son by his resemblance to the Father.  This resemblance could be seen in how the Son completes or fulfills the Mosaic Law and through his miracles, which the Son could only perform at the Father’s pleasure.  To make clear that it would be through the Law and the Prophets that they would hear the voice of God and come to him, Jesus adds, “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.”  He further reveals to the people that he has seen the Father, though it was known that human one could see God and live (cf. Exodus 33, 20).  

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”  Whoever believes in the One the Father has sent into the world.  But what are we to believe.  “I am the bread of life.”  That Jesus, the Son of God, is the only way into eternal life and so we follow his commandments as a most certain guide.

“Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.”  The Lord returns to the theme of the manna in the desert which the crowd had raised, comparing the bread he had multiplied for them earlier with the manna that came down from heaven.  The Lord now answers them.  They were saying that the manna was superior to the Lord’s bread and he reminds them that their ancestors ate this bread and still died, and teaches them that the true Bread that the Father gives — the Son — will give eternal life to those who consume it.  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”  “Living bread” can be compared to “living water”.  Water is said to be “living” when it is fresh and flows in a stream so that many different forms of life may live in it and be nourished by it.  It is not the water of a stagnant pool which is full of death and decay.  This “living” bread then should be understood as giving life beyond the life that common bread could convey, which would not prevent him from perishing one day.

“And the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”  Up to this time we could think that the Lord Jesus was speaking of himself as bread as the teaching which a student could consume and profit by.  By teaching that this bread is his Flesh we can no longer do this.  The Lord is saying that we must eat his flesh, not only follow his teachings and commandments.  The Jews who listened to him must have been profoundly shocked.  It is a shocking statement worth a lifetime of pondering.  But only with grace can we understand a little of what this means, and only with grace can we eat the Flesh he gives us.

The ninth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Washing of the Hands

There are two basic kinds of actions, the functional and the ritual.  A function is an action which has no meaning in itself. A ritual does have meaning in itself.  A function may be done without much thought, especially if it has been done repeatedly.  A ritual must be done with great attention and devotion.  It must be carried out just so.  A function is practical and serves a practical purpose.  A ritual is not concerned with what is practical and serves a purpose beyond the obvious. The Mass is a ritual.  It is a ritual composed of rituals all governed by a rite.  Each action within it must be done with great devotion for each action goes beyond the obvious and serves a higher purpose than the same action would if it were only performed as a function.

When the priest washes his hands at Mass, preparatory to the sacrificial part of the Mass, he is not cleansing his hands from exterior dirt but performing a sign.  In the modern Mass the priest prays as he washes his hands, “Lord, wash me from my iniquity; cleanse me from my sin.”  The prayer echoes the words of David in Psalm 51.  In the ancient form of the Mass, the priest prayed the second half of Psalm 26 while washing his hands: “I shall wash my hands among the innocent and I shall walk about your altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of your praise: and tell of all your wondrous works. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house; and the place where your glory dwells.  Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men in whose hands are iniquities.  I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot has stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless you, O Lord.”  In the modern prayer of this ritual the priest asks God to forgive his sins so that he may be pure to offer the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God to the Father, and in this respect may be likened to the ceremonial washings carried out by the Temple priests before they began their work.  The action accompanying the prayer emphasizes his great desire to be free from sin and signifies that God does so free him.  He says this prayer quietly for it concerns only himself and God, but seeing it, the worshipper should be aware of the need to be free from sin and any attachment to sin in order to worthily receive a share in the One whom the priest will shortly offer.