Letters to My Barber #16

Dear Lou,

Do I remember saying that all the eucharistic prayers do the same thing but in different words? Yes. So why not just have one eucharistic prayer like they used to have? Good question! A real short answer might be, "just to be different, to keep it from getting too routine." But the real reason is better. Each eucharistic prayer has a slightly different perspective or focus. (By the way, beside the four eucharistic prayers we normally use there are several others designed for Children's masses or for masses like those in Lent that stress reconciliation.) A couple of weeks ago I suggested that full active participation in the Mass involves close attention to the words of the eucharistic prayer-thinking about what they mean and what they demand of us. It isn't practical to do that with every word and phrase of the prayer; most of us can't be that focused. But we can focus on some distinctive theme of the prayer.

Each of the eucharistic prayers has several such themes that we may be able to concentrate on. Let's take a look at Eucharistic Prayer II. It's used a lot and is the one with the oldest "pedigree." This prayer is a modern adaptation of the oldest eucharistic text we have; it goes back to the third century.

One of the distinctive things about prayer is the preface designed to go with it. Instead of focusing on one mystery of salvation history to give thanks and praise for, this one presents a brief summary of the entire mystery of Christ as a motive for praise and thanksgiving: the Word through whom God created the world, the Incarnate Son of Mary by the Holy Spirit, the crucified and risen savior who gathered the people of God. "And so we join the angels and saints in proclaiming your glory."

Another distinctive element of this eucharistic prayer is its approach to Jesus' sacrificial death. It does not put the emphasis on Jesus' suffering and pain. Instead it reflects the ancient Christian view of the sacrifice of the cross as a victory! In the preface it hints at the voluntary character of Christ's death: "For our sake He opened his arms on the cross." And just before the story of the Last Supper it makes this point directly: "Before He was given up to death, a death He freely accepted..." Only in this Eucharistic prayer is there an explicit mention of the voluntary nature of the cross. At the time this prayer was first composed the ancient church looked beyond what Jesus had to suffer to what he had achieved through the passion. By accepting death in obedience to the will of the Father, He reversed the sin of Adam who brought death by preferring his own will to that of God. This was a great victory which we acknowledge in one of the acclamations, "Dying you destroyed our death, Rising you restored our life. Come Lord Jesus." That's why the ancient church never showed us a corpus on the cross. Instead, at the center of the cross they put a laurel wreath, the symbol of a victorious general or athlete. As one scholar put it, "They saw not only the grain of wheat which falls to the earth, but also the fruit which it bears." That's the core of our faith and this eucharistic prayer kind of invites us to think about it a bit. More next time.

Peace Lou. John Dealy