(“Praying the Mass: The Prayers of the People” continued)
Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., of Denver, wrote about the Offertory prayers in a weekly column in December 2002: “This part of the Mass is another invitation for us to offer our lives in a sacrifice of praise to God. Here the common priesthood actively engages in the sacrifice taking place.” This common or baptismal priesthood is part of our identity in Christ. In a sermon from the fifth century, St. Peter Chrysologus, the Bishop of Ravenna (in northern Italy) spoke to his flock about St. Paul’s words in Romans 12:1.
Listen now to what the Apostle urges us to do: “I appeal to you,” he says, “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” By this exhortation of his, Paul has raised all men to priestly status. How marvelous is the priesthood of the Christian, for he is both the victim that is offered on his own behalf, and the priest who makes the offering. He does not need to go beyond himself to seek what he is to immolate to God: with himself and in himself he brings the sacrifice he is to offer God for himself.
In a Christian’s self-offering to God, he is following the pattern of Christ Who is both priest and victim. Because Christ is both priest and victim, our share in His priesthood (exercised in intercessory prayer, as well as in this offering of ourselves as living sacrifices of praise) must also include a share in His victimhood. This does not mean that we should expect to undergo a persecution and death as grievous as His, but we should unite the suffering we encounter in our lives to the suffering that Christ endured for our sake. The words of St. Paul to the Colossians are particularly meaningful in this regard: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church.” (Col. 1:24) St. Paul is not saying that Christ’s sufferings were imperfect or incomplete, but that our participation in Christ’s sufferings has yet to be fulfilled; in St. Paul’s suffering for the sake of the Church, he is completing his participation in Christ’s life, which he began in his baptism. Heed the Lord’s words that call us to a life of self-offering:
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If any one serves me, he must follow me.” (John 12:24-26)
Jesus is the true Bread from Heaven, the very “grain” of Heaven. The model He gave us is one of voluntary sacrifice for the good of others. That concern for the good of others is the motivation behind the words we say.
We pray that the Lord will accept the sacrifice for three goods: for the increase of praise and glory to His own holy name, for our good (we who are making this offering), and for the good of all His holy Church; the old translation omitted the word “holy,” but this word has been restored in the new translation. The praise and glory of God and His name is one of the four ends for which Mass is celebrated, and it is particularly by the offering of the Eucharist that He is perfectly glorified. The priest offering the sacrifice, and we who unite ourselves to it and offer it through his hands, benefit by means of that union with the Lord and especially by the graces received in Holy Communion.
As for the good of all the Church, a person need not be present at Mass to receive graces from it. Some Masses are offered particularly for some person or group of people. In addition, remember that the Church is not just made up of those living on earth, but includes those who are undergoing purification in Purgatory. The sacrifice of the Mass is offered for their benefit as well as our own, and each Eucharistic Prayer includes a prayer for the dead. Finally, when the Mass commemorates saints or angels, they are sure to rejoice in God by Whose grace they merited the honor we give them. In this way, not only is the Mass offered for the good of the whole Church, but we again carry out our priestly duty of interceding by offering the Mass for the good of others.
