The Liturgy Corner - The Dialogue of the Mass Part 6: The Offertory

When the people rise after the setting of the altar (this is still part of the ‘offertory’), there is an exchange between the priest and the people. In case you need your memory jogged, here is that exchange:

“Pray brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the almighty Father.”

“May the Lord accept this sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his Holy Church.”

Ok, let’s dig in to the people’s response.

First, let me remind you all of what it means for the Mass to be a sacrifice (I’ve said it before, but it is important enough to say again.) We call the Mass a “sacrifice” because it is the re-presentation of Christ’s perfect self sacrifice on the Cross. It is not a representation in the way of a painting. Rather, it perpetuates the sacrifice of Christ, but in an un-bloody way.

We are not re-crucifying Christ, but participating in the original offering of Christ as it is made present anew. The most ancient understanding of a “memory” of God’s saving work was as a re-presentation of the saving event to which we are invited again and again in all times.

But what of this distinction made by the priest? My Sacrifice and yours? And why are we praying that they be acceptable? The Catechism explains the meaning of this text beautifully. “The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. The Church which is the Body of Christ participates in the offering of...

her Head. With Him, she herself is offered whole and entire. She unites herself to His intercession with the Father for all men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of His Body” (CCC 1368).

The Catechism continues, “The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with His total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with His offering” (1368). (emphasis added.)

Yes, the priest stands in persona Christi (in the place of Christ who is the head) and so offers the Sacrifice of the Mass on behalf of the whole people in a unique way. But the congregation, the body, participates in a unique way in that they bring their lives to be placed on that altar. And their lives, each its own unique alloy of struggles, joys, experiences, are made acceptable by being united to the perfect Sacrifice of Christ. This whole dynamic is always worth pondering more, because it is, in fact, the true heart of what it means to fully, actively, and consciously participate in the Mass.

And so, the congregation responds to the priest, praying that the Sacrifice may indeed be acceptable. Note that the priest makes the distinction of “mine” and “yours” to emphasize the unique aspects of each party’s participation and offering that is brought, the people’s response...

(…May the Lord accept the Sacrifice...) highlights the fact that it is still a single, unified Sacrifice.

The second part of the congregation’s response reminds us of the two-fold purpose of this Sacrifice: “the praise and Glory of His Name” and the sanctification of all (cf. Psalm 49(50):23). These days, because of widespread disillusionment, some people falter at the use of the phrase “Holy Church.’ Is the Church holy? It seems like there is constantly new evidence to show that it is a conglomerate of flawed leaders and followers who are quite sinful. That is true. But that does not mean that the Church is not Holy. While its individual members are quite imperfect, the mystical unified Church, the body of Christ, also called his bride of Christ, is Holy because Christ has made it so. “….Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25b-27.

It is worth reading the Catechism on what it means for the Church to be called ‘Holy.’ (Paragraphs 823-829).