Reflections on the Mass: The Preface Dialogue

The Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer opens with a short dialogue between the priest and the people. This can go by so quickly that we may miss its importance.

The priest begins with “The Lord be with you.” Think about this for a moment. This is a tremendous blessing, especially since our Lord is about to be with us in an unimaginably intimate way when we receive Him in the Eucharist. But He is always with us, of course. He dwells within us when we are in a state of grace. He holds us in being at every moment. So the priest says these words as a reminder of that reality and as a prayer that we may recognize God's presence and respond to Him by growing ever closer to Him.

We respond, “And with your spirit.” At this point, we should remember what the priest is about to do. He is about to act in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, to consecrate the Eucharist. Through the priest, Jesus becomes present in the Eucharist, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. What a gift this is! And what a responsibility. So as we say these words, we should mean them in a deep way. We should be praying that Jesus work in and through the priest and that the priest open himself up to the work of our Lord, that he make himself a channel of grace.

The priest then exhorts us, “Lift up your hearts,” and we reply, “We lift them up to the Lord.” As we say that, we should do it, as fully as we can. Our focus should be fully on God and on the prayer and worship we are offering in the Mass. We must prepare ourselves to welcome and receive Jesus in the Eucharist, and this requires a raised heart, a heart lifted up to God in love and adoration. We give God the hearts He has given to us and love Him with the love He so graciously provides.

Finally, the priest prays, “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” There is so much to be grateful for. God has given us everything we have and everything we are. And He is about to give us Himself in the Eucharist. We should be filled with wonder and gratitude. We reply, “It is right and just.” It is right and just indeed, for God deserves every bit of our gratitude. When we are thankful, we recognize all the gifts He has given us. We deserve none of them, yet He is generous beyond our wildest dreams. That's because He loves us.

Reflections on the Mass: The Preparation of the Gifts

At this point in the Mass, the priest prepares the gifts he is about to offer on the altar. We prepare our minds and hearts to join in the sacrifice.

The priest begins by praying either quietly or aloud a blessing over the bread, blessing God for His great gift to us that we now offer back to Him so that it can become the bread of life. If the priest is speaking out loud, we join our blessing to his by responding, “Blessed be God for ever.” We should mean it, too, for, in blessing God, we are recognizing His awesomeness, His perfection, His generosity toward His creatures, and His great love for us.

The priest then turns his attention to the wine. He (or the deacon) has already mixed the wine with a little water, speaking a quiet prayer that “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ Who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” The priest now prays the blessing over the wine, against blessing God for His gift that we offer back to Him that it may become our spiritual drink. We again respond, “Blessed be God for ever.”

Both of these preparation prayers mention that these gifts, the bread and the wine, are the work of human hands. We human beings are to use the natural gifts that God has given us, the wheat, the grapes, our bodies, our minds, to cooperate in His saving plan.

The priest prays quietly, asking that God accept us, with our “humble spirit and contrite heart,” and that our sacrifice may find favor in His sight and be pleasing to Him. Then he washes his hands, praying that God wash away his sins.

The priest then invites us to pray that this sacrifice, both his and ours, may be acceptable to God. We echo that prayer, adding that we wish to give praise and glory to God's name through our sacrifice and receive good for ourselves and for the Church. The priest extends his hands and says another prayer over the gifts. This one is seasonal, and we can find it in the missal. We should pay close attention to it and join in it with a firm “Amen.”

We are now ready to enter into the Eucharistic Prayer.

Reflections on the Mass: The Offeratory

When the Prayers of the Faithful are complete, we sit down for the Offeratory. We will often sing a hymn during this time, but we should not get distracted from the many things that are going on.

For one thing, on Sundays and Solemnities, the ushers come around to take up the collection. We should make an effort to give as much as we are able. Supporting the Church is an obligation for us, and while no one should ever dictate an amount for us to give, we should strive to be generous. After all, our parish provides us with Holy Mass and the other sacraments.

The deacon or priest prepares the altar during this time as well. We notice that he carefully places the corporal (the cloth that rests on top of the altar cloth) and sets out the sacred vessels. Then the priest brings or receives the gifts of bread and wine. On Sundays and Solemnities, parishioners carry these gifts forward and present them to the priest. We should join ourselves to them spiritually, for the bread and wine are offered by the entire congregation, and they symbolize the offering of everything we have and everything we are to God.

As the priest lays the bread and wine on the altar, we should place ourselves on the altar as well. We should give God our joys and sorrows, our worries and anxieties, our triumphs and trials, our families, our jobs, our leisure. And mostly, we must give Him ourselves, for we are His anyway. Without Him, we would not exist, and without His constant care, we would cease to exist. The Offeratory is the perfect time to recognize this and give everything back to God, for He has given it all to us.

Reflections on the Mass: Prayers of the Faithful

After the Creed, we remain standing for the Prayers of the Faithful or Universal Prayer. We pray as the Body of Christ, uniting ourselves as one as we cry out to God for our needs.

These prayers often follow a pattern. We pray for our Holy Father the Pope and for our bishop and other members of the clergy that they may lead us well and faithfully. We pray for civic leaders that they may be guided by truth and goodness. We pray for our sick that they may experience the grace and healing of God. We pray for our dead that they may see God's face. We pray for special needs, for an end to abortion perhaps or for relief from a natural disaster.

We bring all of these to God, praying the heartfelt response of “Lord, hear our prayer” or something similar after each petition. Usually, we also have a chance to silently add our own prayers, and we should offer our special intentions to God, lifting them up to Him with confidence, knowing that He hears us and loves us and will respond to us in the way that is best for us according to His perfect will.

Reflections on the Mass: The Creed

After the homily, we sit in silence for a few moments, reflecting on what we have learned and praying about it. Then, at least on Sundays and solemnities, we stand to pray the Creed, expressing our adherence to our Catholic faith.

Most of the time we pray the Nicene or Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed that was developed out of Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in 325 and 381. This Creed, also called a profession of faith or a symbol of faith, allows us to speak our faith out loud.

We proclaim our belief in God the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. We declare our belief in Jesus Christ the Son, Who is truly God yet became Man and died and rose and will come again. We pronounce our belief in the Holy Spirit, “Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” We declare that we believe in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” and in “one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” Then we end with an eager anticipation of “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

It is also legitimate to pray the shorter Apostles' Creed at Mass at the priest's discretion. This Creed, too, allows us to express and reflect on the basic beliefs of our Catholic faith, only in a more condensed fashion.

We must be careful not to recite the Creed out of mere habit but rather reflect on each word we speak, allowing our faith to grow as we proclaim it. We would do well, too, to pray the Creed privately, very slowly, and meditate on each statement of faith, making sure that we understand what we believe, at least as much as possible, and that we hold fast to this basic statement of our Catholicism.

Reflections on the Mass: The Homily

After the proclamation of the Gospel, we sit down and assume a position of open listening, for we are about to hear the homily. In the Catholic Church, the homily may only be given by a bishop, priest, or deacon. These men are ordained in the sacrament of Holy Orders, and they are provided with special graces to preach about the Sacred Scriptures and about our Catholic faith. It is not legitimate for anyone else to give the homily at Mass.

The priest (or bishop or deacon) usually uses the homily to explain the readings we have just heard and to help us apply their teachings to our own lives. He might present the historical context of some passages, interpret others in meaningful ways, offer tips for living out the messages, or often all of the above. Drawing on his own studies and prayer, he provides insights to help us better grasp the Scriptures and our faith.

We should frequently pray for our bishops, priests, and deacons so that their homilies can be edifying both for us and for themselves and so that they may be willing to be the instruments Jesus uses to speak to our hearts and minds.

Reflections on the Mass: The Gospel

After the Gospel Acclamation, we listen with great attention to the Word of God in the Gospel. This is one of the high points of the Mass, and we stand in reverence with our minds and hearts open because Jesus is speaking to us. The Gospel may be proclaimed at Mass only by a bishop, priest, or deacon, someone who has received the Holy Orders. Jesus speaks through this ordained man, using him as His instrument to proclaim His Word.

The Gospel begins with a brief dialogue between the priest (or bishop or deacon) and the people. “The Lord be with you.” “And with your spirit.” We should speak our part with sincerity and with a prayer for the one who will read the Gospel.

The Gospel is drawn from either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. The Sunday Lectionary works on a three-year cycle with Matthew read in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. The Gospel of John is read throughout, filling in as only this beautiful, theological Gospel can do.

We should focus carefully on the Gospel, following along in a missal if that helps. Again, it is best to read and meditate on the Gospel before Mass, for this opens us to what God wants to say to us.

At the end of the reading, the priest (or bishop or deacon) pauses briefly and then declares, “The Gospel of the Lord.” We respond with awe and gratitude: “Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.” For Jesus has spoken to us.

The priest (or bishop or deacon) then kisses the Gospel book as a sign of reverence and prays quietly, “Through the words of the Gospel may our sins be wiped away.” Amen. May it be so.