1st Post - Breaking of Bread Questions

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My little girl has asked me why the priests breaks off a peice from half of the host and drops this peice into the chalice. He does a prayer something like: May the body and blood of Christ bring ME to everlasting life. Which I would think that it would include all those who receive Holy Communion would have eternal life.I am guessing that when he says ME it would mean or represent all of us?? So, I guess there are two questions:
  1. Explanation why he drops a piece of the host into the chalice?
  1. Even if the priest says"ME" in his eternal life prayer, Is he praying for himself only or does it include all of us there?
This is really great to be able to post questions. Thanks… dig
 
dig said:
My little girl has asked me why the priests breaks off a peice from half of the host and drops this peice into the chalice. He does a prayer something like: May the body and blood of Christ bring ME to everlasting life. Which I would think that it would include all those who receive Holy Communion would have eternal life.I am guessing that when he says ME it would mean or represent all of us?? So, I guess there are two questions:
  1. Explanation why he drops a piece of the host into the chalice?
  1. Even if the priest says"ME" in his eternal life prayer, Is he praying for himself only or does it include all of us there?
This is really great to be able to post questions. Thanks… dig
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The breaking of a small piece of the host into the chalice goes back to an ancient tradition in Rome. Pieces of the host consecrated by the Pope would be carried to other churches in Rome by deacons, and these would be dropped into the chalices symbolizing unity with the Pope’s Mass.

The prayer the priest says is supposed to be inaudible. He is praying for himself at this point.
 
dig said:
My little girl has asked me why the priests breaks off a peice from half of the host and drops this peice into the chalice. He does a prayer something like: May the body and blood of Christ bring ME to everlasting life. Which I would think that it would include all those who receive Holy Communion would have eternal life.I am guessing that when he says ME it would mean or represent all of us?? So, I guess there are two questions:
  1. Explanation why he drops a piece of the host into the chalice?
  1. Even if the priest says"ME" in his eternal life prayer, Is he praying for himself only or does it include all of us there?
This is really great to be able to post questions. Thanks… dig
Click to expand...
My PV addressed this very same issue in a recent homily he preached. He said that at the Fraction Rite, we witness the death of Jesus. We are present at the moment of His death in a very real way and are just as much witnesses as were Mary and Sts. John and Mary Magdalene. When he “drops” a piece of the host into the chalice, the Body and Blood of Christ are reunited, meaning that we are made present at the moment of His Resurrection.

Now, the prayer that the priest says before he communicates is supposed to be inaudible. It’s one of those rare “secret prayers” that was retained from the TLM. Notice how he also silently prays after he offers the cup and ritually purifies his hands during the offertory. These prayers are the prayers of the priest. Unfortunately, many priests say these prayers aloud and the faithful wind up praying the “Amen.”

I hope this helps.
 
Hello,

This is called the Fraction. The GIRM says this:

The Fraction
  1. The priest breaks the Eucharistic Bread, assisted, if the case calls for it, by the deacon or a concelebrant. Christ’s gesture of breaking bread at the Last Supper, which gave the entire Eucharistic Action its name in apostolic times, signifies that the many faithful are made one body (1 Cor 10:17) by receiving Communion from the one Bread of Life which is Christ, who died and rose for the salvation of the world. The fraction or breaking of bread is begun after the sign of peace and is carried out with proper reverence, though it should not be unnecessarily prolonged, nor should it be accorded undue importance. This rite is reserved to the priest and the deacon.
The priest breaks the Bread and puts a piece of the host into the chalice to signify the unity of the Body and Blood of the Lord in the work of salvation, namely, of the living and glorious Body of Jesus Christ. The supplication Agnus Dei, is, as a rule, sung by the choir or cantor with the congregation responding; or it is, at least, recited aloud. This invocation accompanies the fraction and, for this reason, may be repeated as many times as necessary until the rite has reached its conclusion, the last time ending with the words dona nobis pacem (grant us peace).

[Edited by Moderator]
 
**Priest reverently breaks the Lamb into four parts and says:

Priest (silently): Broken and distributed is the Lamb of God, broken yet not divided, ever eaten yet never consumed, but sanctifying the communicants.**

A portion of the Lamb (with the abbreviation IC) is dropped into the Chalice with the words, "The fullness of the Holy Spirit."
 
Hello,
bpbasilphx said:
**Priest reverently breaks the Lamb into four parts and says:

Priest (silently): Broken and distributed is the Lamb of God, broken yet not divided, ever eaten yet never consumed, but sanctifying the communicants.**

A portion of the Lamb (with the abbreviation IC) is dropped into the Chalice with the words, "The fullness of the Holy Spirit."
Click to expand...
Thanks - I just had the text of the Liturgy. I don’t have all the rubrics for all the Rites (though I’d like to).
 
dig said:
  1. Explanation why he drops a piece of the host into the chalice?
  2. Even if the priest says"ME" in his eternal life prayer, Is he praying for himself only or does it include all of us there?
Click to expand...
  1. The bread and wine are consecrated individually, to symbolize the physical separation, at death, of the Body of Christ from His Blood. Just after the Fraction Rite (when the priest breaks the primary host into smaller pieces, or just breaks his own host in half) the priest takes a small portion of a host and places it in the Chalice; as he does this, he says inaudibly: “May the mingling of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.” This action of mixing the two symbolizes the glorified Christ, in whom there is no separation of Body from Blood. This also reinforces the doctrine of concomitance, which means that in the Host is present both the Body and Blood (and Soul and Divinity) of the Lord, just as in the Chalice are present both the Body and Blood (and Soul and Divinity). This is opposed to the heretical notion that the Host is only the Body, and the Chalice contains only the Blood, and that you must therefore receive both the Host and the Chalice to have received the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
  2. The priest says his own prayers of preparation before he receives his communion; he says these silently (if he’s following the directions in the Missal). After he has dropped a portion of the Host into the Chalice, he prays either: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit your death brought life to the world. By your Holy Body and Blood free me from all my sins, and from every evil. Keep me faithful to your teaching, and never let me be parted from you.” or “Lord Jesus Christ, with faith in your love and mercy I eat your Body and drink your Blood. Let it not bring me condemnation, but health in mind and body.” Then he genuflects, and shows us the Host (and Chalice, optionally) and says “This is the Lamb of God…” Before he receives the Host himself, he prays silently “May the Body of Christ bring me to everlasting life.” Before he receives the Chalice himself, he prays silently “May the Blood of Christ bring me to everlasting life.”
There is no reason you (nor your children) should not pray something similar, silently to yourselves, before receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord. I would even encourage a private post-communion prayer along the lines of what the priest himself says: “Lord, may I receive these gifts in purity of heart. May they bring me healing and strength, now and for ever.”

If you would like to say more traditional translations/versions of these prayers, I offer these:

(Before receiving Communion…)
“O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Who, by the will of the Father, with the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, have by Your death given life to the world, deliver me by this Your most sacred Body and Blood from all my sins and from every evil. Make me always cling to Your commandments, and never permit me to be separated from You. Who with the same God the Father and the Holy Spirit, live and reign, God, world without end. Amen.”

“Let not the partaking of Your Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgment and condemnation; but through Your goodness, may it become a safeguard and an effective remedy, both of soul and body. Who live and reign with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.”

(While waiting to receive…)
“May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul unto everlasting life.”

“May the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul unto everlasting life.”

(After receiving…)
“What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what is given to us in time, be our healing for eternity.”

“May Your Body, O Lord, which I have eaten, and Your Blood which I have drunk, cleave to my very soul, and grant that no trace of sin be found in me, whom these pure and holy mysteries have refreshed. Who live and reign, world without end. Amen.”
 
dig said:
… 2. Even if the priest says"ME" in his eternal life prayer, Is he praying for himself only or does it include all of us there? …
Click to expand...
This prayer is said quietly by the priest: “May this mingling of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.”

From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“33. The priest, in fact, as the one who presides, prays in the name of the Church and of the assembled community; but at times he prays only in his own name, asking that he may exercise his ministry with greater attention and devotion. Prayers of this kind, which occur before the reading of the Gospel, at the Preparation of the Gifts, and also before and after the Communion of the priest, are said quietly.”

I think here the prayer is said quietly for another reason. The Agnus Dei is being said or sung at the same time. From the GIRM:
“155. The priest then takes the host and breaks it over the paten. He places a small piece in the chalice, saying quietly, Haec commixtio (May the mingling). Meanwhile the Agnus Dei is sung or said by the choir and congregation (cf. above, no. 83).”

The prayer is for “us”. So saying it quietly seems to be an exception to the general rule about Presidential Prayers, as described in the GIRM, n. 30 and 32.
 
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