It's time for the Eucharistic Prayer.
This is part six of my series on the Mass, Guided Missal.
Part 1: Opening the Doors
Part 2: A Rite for Wrongs
Part 3: Word.
Part 4: I've Got Good News
Part 5: Offer It Up
With the Offertory over, we are ready to move into the drama of the Eucharistic Prayer. This is not only the holiest part of the Mass, but it should be the holiest part of your week. The God that we read about in the Liturgy of the Word is about to become present to us. He's not just a story anymore. He is here.
We begin with the Preface, in which the priest gives glory to God for all the good things He's done. We take everything we just read and we remember it. We give thanks for the events of the week, for all the good (and bad) in our lives, and for whatever the particular feast day is.
Take note of the words the priest uses here:
"P: Lift up your hearts.
C: We lift them up to the Lord"
The Mass is communion with God...it's not only like heaven, it IS heaven. When we call down the Holy Spirit on the altar, we are calling down heaven itself. We are not just spectators in this divine drama taking place in front of us - we must be active participants. We have to put in some effort as well - we must "lift up our hearts"
This means not being distracted. This means not being focused on what the people around us are wearing, or doing. This means being solely focused on the miracle that is about to take place.
We lift our hearts to God, but since we are fallible humans we can never reach. God sees our effort, though, and reaches down as we reach up. It's like we are the toddler reaching up with all his might wanting to be carried, but can never reach. His father sees him reaching and bends down to his level to scoop him up in his arms.
This is what God does for us - he reaches to where we are because we can never get to where he is by ourselves. From this moment, when we "lift up our hearts" we are no longer in a large building on a Sunday morning: We are in heaven.
Holy, Holy, Holy
After this decision to lift up our hearts, the priest continues thanking God, now with us as participants. If you listen before the "Holy, Holy, Holy", you'll catch some variation of this line:
"So with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominions, and with all the Hosts and Powers of Heaven, with one voice we acclaim"
We know that nothing said in the Mass is for "fluff". Nothing is added just to make it sound cool, or dramatic, or ceremonial. There are no "extra" words. Every word of the liturgy is there because it serves a purpose. So when we say we worship with the angels, can we literally mean it??
Yes. Yes we can.
The hymn that we sing (often called the Holy, Holy, Holy, the Sanctus, or the Thrice-Holy Hymn) mirrors the worship of the angels found in Revelation:
"The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, were covered with eyes inside and out. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.'" - Revelation 4:8
Heaven has been lowered to us, and we have been raised to heaven. We don't just worship "like" angels, we worship with them. There have been saints and mystics throughout history with the ability to see angels, and they affirm that it is not just "fluff" - they are actually present, singing with us as they did the Gloria.
Most may see the Mass as a boring ceremony - they don't recognize the supernatural drama taking place right in front of them. They don't see prayers that echo through time to the very beginnings of civilization. They don't see the armies of angels shouting hymns to God's glory with the force of heaven. They don't see the weight of all the prophecies fulfilled in this sacrament.
And they definitely don't see what's coming next.
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