Do You Know Your Faith?

10-07-2018Weekly ReflectionRev. Emmanuel I. Ihemedu

Do you know why we go from Sitting to Standing to Kneeling through Mass? We stand during Mass as a sign of reverence. In the same way that we stand in respect when introduced to an important person, we also stand when meeting Christ in the gospel, when receiving the Eucharist and when we are in an important conversation with God. A time for sitting is usually a time for listening and reflecting. Bowing for blessing was practiced for many years in the Church. It was replaced by kneeling in the Western rite.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist: The prayer of the faithful ends the Liturgy of the Word, and ushers us into the presence of our God. We now enter into an equally remarkable union with our saving Lord in the liturgy of the Eucharist which begins with the preparation of the gifts in which the bread and wine are brought to the altar and readied for offering. In the early church, goods were brought forward and given to the priest or fellow believers for sustenance. Eventually, these items of support became what we know today as the collection.

The gifts offered in the Eucharist become for us the Body and Blood of Christ. God, who is never outdone in generosity, returns to us more than we could ever give. As the priest prepares the gifts, he says some prayers that have Jewish origin. In it, the priest praises God the creator for all good gifts and offers to God what we have made of them through the work of human hands. The priest offers the gifts of bread and wine as a symbolic return to God of all we are and ask that they be transformed into the “Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation.”

In preparing the cup the priest pours a drop of water into the wine and prays, “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 mingling of the water and wine symbolizes the union of Jesus with his people.

As you offer yourself to Jesus in today’s Eucharist, may He return to you more than you could ever give, amen!

Fr. Emmanuel

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