Eucharistic Prayers and their prefaces: which is your favorite and why?

[Lepanto]

Eucharistic Prayers and their prefaces: which is your favorite and why?

(From the “Ordinary Form” of the Mass)

 

[James0235]

I love the Roman Canon (EP I). It should really be the norm.

I can go without hearing EP II ever again. It seems to be the norm.

EP III is pretty good and gets lots of use.

And I like EP IV but have never actually heard it used.

James

 

[THurifer2]

Roman Canon…why? Well…um well its …the Roman Canon.

Pretty much eliminates the need to decide a favorite preface.

 

[AJV]

Roman Canon…why? Well…um well its …the Roman Canon.

Pretty much eliminates the need to decide a favorite preface.

How so?

 

[Claire_from_DE]

Eucharistic Prayers and their prefaces: which is your favorite and why?

(From the “Ordinary Form” of the Mass)

Sometimes a phrase will strike me. I was wondering why God loves us and it came to me, “You see and love in us what You see and love in Him.” It is from one of the eucharistic prayers. I don’t read them from the missal so I don’t know which it is but whenever I hear it I think that grace doesn’t just cover up our sins but actually makes us like Jesus and lovable to the Father.

 

[benedictgal]

I personally love the Roman Canon. My PV gave us the best Christmas present of all when, during the bilingual Mass, he launched into the Roman Canon in Latin! :extrahappy: :bowdown2:

It threw off the choir when he chanted, “Mysterium Fidei” and it took them a bit to figure out that they needed to sing the Memorial Acclamation. The choir director was a little uncomfortable and said that he should have told her what he was doing.

I explained to her that in Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI said that in bilingual Masses (or, multi-lingual, for that matter) Latin should be used for the Eucharistic Prayer. She still thought she should have been told. Go figure.

By the way, he didn’t chop off the saints. He included all of them in both references. It was wonderful!

I also love Eucharistic Prayer IV and the Reconcilliation Eucharistic Prayer I. Inasmuch as the Reconcilliation Prayer should only be used with its own Preface, I do wish that they could be used during Lent.

Even though St. Hipolytus is ascribed as the composer of Eucharistic Prayer II, it does get tiring after awhile.

My favorite Prefaces are the ones for the Fourth Sunday of Lent (woman at the well) and the Lord’s Passion. I also love the ones for the Chrism Mass and Holy Thursday.

 

[AJV]

Sometimes a phrase will strike me. I was wondering why God loves us and it came to me, “You see and love in us what You see and love in Him.” It is from one of the eucharistic prayers. I don’t read them from the missal so I don’t know which it is but whenever I hear it I think that grace doesn’t just cover up our sins but actually makes us like Jesus and lovable to the Father.

Preface of Sundays of the Year, VII

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.

So great was your love
that you gave us your Son as our redeemer.
You sent him as one like ourselves,
though free from sin,
that you might see and love in us
what you see and love in Christ.
Your gifts of grace, lost by disobedience,
are now restored by the obedience of your Son.

We praise you, Lord,
with all the angels and saints
in their song of joy:

Holy, holy, holy Lord…

I’ll just add a previous English version that was closer to the Latin:

It is indeed right and fitting,
it is our duty and leads to our salvation
that we should praise you always and everywhere,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God:

In your mercy you so loved the world
that you sent us a Redeemer.
You willed him to be like us in all things but sin,
so that you might love in in him,
and by the obedience of your Son,
you might restore to us those gifts,
which our disobedience had forfeited.

And therefore, O Lord, we praise you,
with all the angels and saints a
s we joyfully proclaim:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts…

 

[benedictgal]

Of the threeChristmas Prefaces, my favorite is the first one:

Father, all powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the wonder of the Incarnation
your eternal Word has brought to the eyes of faith
a new and radiant vision of your glory.
In Him, we see our God made visible
and are so caught up in love of the God we cannot see.

And so, with all fhe choirs of angels in heaven
we proclaim your glory
and join in their unending hymn of praise…

While we’re at it, of the four Memorial Acclamations, I like this one:

Salvator mundi, salvanos. Qui per crucem et resurrectionem, tuam liberastinos.

Savior of the world, save us. By your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. The current translation of the English Roman Missal reads: Lord, by your cross and resuurection, you have set us free. You are the savior of the world. This is the one they use most of the time during Papal Masses.

I am tired of Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. The Memorial Acclamation is supposed to be in the second person because we are directing this prayer to Christ. How someone came up with Christ has died, etc., is beyond me.

 

[fodda23]

Eucharistic Prayer I
Eucharistic Prayer IV (usually on daily mass, when there isn’t a designated preface to use… as IV has it’s own preface and is not to be used otherwise)
Eucharistic Prayer III
Eucharistic Prayer II

All are beautiful in their own right, but II is overused and we shouldn’t have to ever apologize for the lengthy and glorious history of the Roman Catholic Church contained in EPI.
I use EP I all the time and nobody ever complains. I do enjoy the beautiful language of EP IV… it is a shame that the preface isn’t interchangeable. For on Sundays there is always a designated group of prefaces to choose from.

 

[Rose_Maniple]

I’m quite partial to Eucharistic Prayer II, it pains me to admit. I also like EP III.

 

[Joannm]

My favorite is EP I for Masses of Reconciliation. My favorite preface is Weekdays IV

 

[japhy]

This is my personal preference. (If I could get my pastor to go along with this, I would.)

EP I for all solemnities and their vigils; preferred for all feasts and memorials; suggested for any Mass.

EP III is acceptable on weekdays, as well as feasts and memorials.

EP IV and the Reconciliation EPs are acceptable on weekdays during Lent and Advent, and during Reconciliation-oriented Masses.

EP II is acceptable if the parish has caught fire.

I’ll have to look through the Sacramentary and see if there’s a particular preface I like.

 

[Lepanto]

EP II is acceptable if the parish has caught fire.

My parish is on fire every day then.