This is Jesus' first big sermon in the Gospel of Luke. It is His inaugural address. And it shocks everyone.  The topic is happiness (being blessed), and in a total reversal of conventional standards, Jesus links true happiness with struggle, hardship, suffering and opposition, not with the prosperity, popularity, and pleasure that we normally associate with happiness. 

What does he mean by this?

Jesus is teaching us that the true path to happiness in this fallen world is paved with life's challenges and hardships – The Cross…

  • Our hardships remind us that this world is passing and imperfect, that the only dependable thing in life is our friendship with God. 

  • Hardships and challenges teach us to root our lives in the rich soil of knowing, loving, and serving him; then our lives will be like a flourishing tree, with strong roots and luscious fruits. 

This lesson has to be re-learned continually. Because of our fallen nature, we always tend to think we can find heaven on earth by putting together just the right combination of possessions and power. But we can't, as our Lord makes perfectly clear. There is only one place we can encounter heaven on earth -  the Mass and the Eucharist.  

Last week I began reviewing the parts of the Mass through the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah.  Today, let’s look at the structure of the Eucharistic Prayer and the words of Eucharistic Prayer number four.   I love this Eucharistic Prayer because of the covenant theology presented.  

The Eucharistic Prayer always begins with Preface.  The preface is comprised of three parts – we know the Dialogue – The Lord be with you…and with your spirit.  Lift up your hearts…we life them up the Lord.  Let us give thanks to the Lord our God…It is right and just.  

The dialogue is followed by the theology of the celebration for why we are praising God.  There are 50 prefaces.  They are written to be appropriate for the season: Advent, Ordinary time, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and for the all feast days of the saints (whether pastors, popes, bishops, virgins and religious, Mary, Joseph, and All Saints).  Eucharistic prayer Four has its own preface.  And when you use Eucharistic Prayer #4, I am required to use its corresponding preface.  

The Third part of the preface is the Holy, Holy, Holy - the Sanctus.  I mentioned last week from the reading from the Prophet Isaiah the scriptural foundation found in that first reading about the seraphim giving praise to God around the throne of the king of heaven.  

And then we solemnly enter into the Eucharistic Prayer.  It is so holy, that we take on a different posture.  We kneel.  We join in kneeling in adoration of the Holy Trinity, with all the Angels in Heaven.  Kneeling we come to adore the majesty of the Lord.  

The Eucharistic Prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving, and a prayer of petition, in which we ask that our heavenly Father accepts the gifts of bread and wine to be offered for the Holy Catholic Church.  Eucharistic Prayer #4 begins like this…

We give you praise, Father most holy, for you are great and you have fashioned all your works in wisdom and in love.  You formed man in your own image and entrusted the whole world to his care, so that in serving you alone, the Creator, he might have dominion over all creatures.  And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the domain of death.  For you came in mercy to the aid of all, so that those who seek might find you.  Time and again you offered them covenants and through the prophets taught them to look forward to salvation.  

And you so loved the world, Father most holy, that in the fullness of time you sent your Only Begotten Son to be our Savior.  Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he shared our human nature in all things but sin.  To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to the sorrowful of heart, joy.  To accomplish your plan, he gave himself up to death, and, rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life.

And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose again for us, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe, so that, bringing to perfection his work in the world, he might sanctify creation to the full.

You notice right away this is a lengthy prayer of praises to God and his activity in history.  First, there is the praise of God for the creation of humanity up to the coming of Jesus.  Second, is a recounting of the incarnation and the saving activity of Jesus.  And third, a recalling of human history since the coming of Jesus marked by the coming the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  

The opening of the Eucharistic Prayer comes from Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image after our own likeness.”  God has entrusted the care of all creation to us.  He has made us stewards.  But not just stewards, also friends.  The metaphor of friendship is used to describe the need for reconciliation after humanity has strayed.  Covenants are made with prophets to being back humanity.  And ultimately, it is Jesus who comes to proclaim the good news to the poor, freedom to prisoners, joy to the sorrowful, by living, dying, and being raised from the dead.  Continuing on…

Therefore, O Lord, we pray: may this same Holy Spirit graciously sanctify these offerings, that they may become the Body and + Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the celebration of this great mystery, which he himself left us as an eternal covenant.  

This moment in the Eucharistic Prayer is called the epiclesis.  It is the moment when the Holy Spirit is called down upon the gifts of bread and wine, that they may be transformed in the Body and Blood of Christ.  The priest extends his hands over the offerings and makes the sign of the cross.  

The gestures of the Mass, particularly the Eucharistic Prayer are so important.  The priest is remembering and inviting the congregation to recount the great deeds that God has done, focusing on Jesus Christ on the night before he died.  The priest is not addressing the bread and wine.  His prayer is directed to the Father.  And at this moment the priest is “alter christus” standing in the place of Jesus at the Last Supper.  

For when the hour had come or him to be glorified by you, Father most holy, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end: and while they were at supper, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

In a similar way, taking the chalice filled with the fruit of the vine, he gave thanks, and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

The mystery of faith.

We proclaim your Death, 0 Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again. Or: When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, 0 Lord, until you come again. Or: Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.

“The Mystery of Faith,” signals a cue.  This memorial acclamation is a moment of contemplative awe and surrender. The words “The Mystery of Faith,” are not a declaration, rather an exclamation.  The three options are all addressed specifically to Jesus.  Take note, throughout the entire Eucharist Prayer, the Priest addresses the Father.  But in this moment, we specifically turn to the Son.  Jesus is present on the altar, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Therefore, O Lord, as we now celebrate the memorial of our redemption, we remember Christ's Death and his descent to the realm of the dead, we proclaim his Resurrection and his Ascension to your right hand, and, as we await his coming in glory, we offer you his Body and Blood, the sacrifice acceptable to you which brings salvation to the whole world.

This paragraph begins the final section of the Eucharistic Prayer known as the anamnesis.  We hear phrases like, “The memorial of our redemption…”  “We remember…”  It brings to mind the Paschal Mystery and offers to the Father the sacrifice of the Cross. 

Look, O Lord, upon the Sacrifice which you yourself have provided for your Church, and grant in your loving kindness to all who partake of this one Bread and one Chalice that, gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit, they may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your glory.

This paragraph is a second epiclesis (a calling down of the Holy Spirit) on the community itself; praying for those who receive the Holy Eucharist are also united with the Holy Spirit.  

Therefore, Lord, remember now all for whom we offer this sacrifice: especially your servant N. our Pope, N. our Bishop,' and the whole Order of Bishops, all the clergy, those who take part in this offering, those gathered here before you, your entire people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart.

This third part of the Anamnesis is a prayer for unity, especially for the Church’s leadership and all her people – and all who seek God with a sincere heart.  

Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ and all the dead, whose faith you alone have known.

To all of us, your children, grant, O merciful Father, that we may enter into a heavenly inheritance with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and with your Apostles and Saints in your kingdom. There, with the whole of creation, freed from the corruption of sin and death, may we glorify you through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.

In this last paragraph we pray for ourselves, that we may enter into the Communion of the Saints.  And it terminates where we began – with creation.  The whole of creation – redeemed in Jesus – in whose name we glorify – is the one who has bestowed all that is good on us.  

Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Each Eucharistic Prayer concludes with the Doxology.  The Doxology sums up the themes of the Eucharistic Prayer in a proclamation of the Divine Name.  Everything belongs to God, and all honor and glory ascend to him in a Christological movement – through him, with him and in him.  The paten and the chalice are lifted off the altar and given to the Father, as Jesus was raised up on the Cross; as Jesus ascended into heaven.  

At this moment we enter the Communion Rite.  I will focus on this later. But as we enter into the holiest of holies of the Mass, the Eucharistic Prayer reminds us that here is heaven on earth.  Here is Jesus present among us.  This is why we do what we do day in and day out.  This is the true path to happiness and holiness.  It is a good opportunity for prayer and working on our daily 1% - great words for prayer and meditation.