How to go to Mass (1)
Liturgy of the Eucharist
The greatest Event in the world, and in history is made present at every Mass.
At the Last Supper, Christ instituted the Paschal Sacrifice and banquet, by
which the Sacrifice of the Cross is continuously made present in the Church
whenever the priest, representing Christ the Lord, carries out what the Lord
himself did and handed over to his disciples to be done in his memory.
For Christ took the bread and the chalice and gave thanks; he broke the bread and
gave it to his disciples, saying 'Take, eat, and drink: this is my Body; this
is the cup of my Blood. Do this in memory of me.' Accordingly, the Church has
arranged the entire celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist in parts
corresponding to precisely these words and actions of Christ (GIRM 72).
The Preparation of the Altar and Gifts
Preparing the Altar
The altar—the Lord’s table—which is the center of the whole Liturgy of the Eucharist, is prepared by placing on it the:
- corporal,
- purificator
- missal
- chalice (GIRM 73)
At the Preparation of the Gifts, the bread and the wine are brought to the altar, the same elements that Christ took into his hands. (GIRM 72).
Collecting the Gifts
As we are all assembled together in one place, so many stories—whole lives— are being collected now and represented in the bread and wine (which are products not only of nature, but also the work of human hands, made in cooperation between the Creator and humans). The money collected represents our work, the hours of our lives, that we sacrifice for the work of the Church.
We offer our whole being through, with and in Christ’s offering for the glory of God "I urge you...to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1). We place everything into the Hands of God, our whole lives, to be transformed by the Paschal Mystery.
Bringing the gifts to the Priest
In procession, gifts are brought forward by the faithful to the priest,
but no matter how wonderful these gifts are, they are never worthy of the eternal
thanks we owe to the Father. Here Christ comes to meet us, and these gifts are
transformed into His own Body and Blood, our gifts
become the Word made Flesh, and they are rendered capable of being a perfect
offering to God the Father, expressive of thanksgiving and adoration, through
Christ’s very sacrifice on the cross.
Water Mixed with Wine
The deacon or priest pours a little water into the wine in the chalice, saying "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 wine represents divinity, and the water represents our poor humanity, which will be completely joined to Christ’s divinity.
Washing the Hands
Next the priest washes his hands saying "Lord, wash away my iniquity, cleanse me from my sins." Now his hands will be Christ’s hands, for there is only one priest, and the hands that will take up these gifts, transform them, and offer them to the Father are the hands of Christ.