Prayer, Thanksgiving, Action
B. THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
The Eucharistic Prayer marks the summit of the Mass. This does not mean that the other parts of the Mass are less precious. They are important, too. But they find their center and climax in the Eucharistic Prayer.
Eucharist means thanksgiving. As the priest recites the Eucharistic Prayer, we should concentrate all our senses on the action—the mystery—taking place on the altar. We should join the priest and the entire Church in offering to God the redeeming sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and give thanks for God’s goodness and glory.
Prayer, Thanksgiving, Action
From the farthest east to farthest west my name is honored among the nations and everywhere a sacrifice is offered to my name, and a pure offering too, since my name is honored among the nations, says Yahweh Sabaoth (Mal 1:11).
* * *
The Eucharistic Prayer itself begins with a short dialogue between the priest and us, before the Preface, and ends with the doxology preceding the Lord’s Prayer. Throughout the prayer, the priest speaks in the first person plural; he repeatedly says “we,” which places him at the head of the body, which is the Church, in the person of Christ. Only when he pronounces the words of the Consecration does he slip into the first person singular, as he puts on Christ in a unique manner. The other pronoun to notice is “you,” addressed to the Father.
This central point of the Mass has received several names in history. Recently, it is usually called the Eucharistic Prayer, a name that aptly describes it. The term Canon, or Canon Actionis, is also used. This word, of Greek origin, means rule or standard. It points out the official text for the most important liturgical action. Hence, the expressions Liturgical Action or Sacred Action are also applied to the Eucharistic Prayer. So is the word Anaphora, which means offering.
It is really so, a prayer that the Son of God, with the Church forever united to him, directs to God the Father. The Eucharistic Prayer is Christocentric as well, because it makes constant references to the main actions of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, represented by the priest, the other Christ.
In the Gospels, the kingdom of God is compared to a wedding feast. Jesus is the bridegroom who loves and gives eternal life to his spouse, the Church, the “bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). The redemptive act of Christ the Bridegroom towards the Church the Bride is expressed in the Eucharist in a most excellent manner. The Mass then becomes like an anticipation and foretaste of the banquet of heaven.
This fact explains also why women are not to be ordained: Since priesthood is a sacrament, it is a sign that not only is effective but also should be intelligible to the faithful. “When Christ’s role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this ‘natural resemblance’ which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man.”[1]
We perceive in the different forms of Eucharistic Prayer clear expressions of praise to God, especially at the beginning. The reason for them is gratefulness, which explains another element in this prayer: thanksgiving. All of it is an act of thanksgiving, even though the word thanks hardly occurs.
The New Testament tradition of the institution of the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:23-25; Lk 22:14-20; Mk 14:22-25; Mt 26:26-29), uses two parallel and complementary words pointing to the prayer that introduces the actions and words of Jesus over the bread and wine. Paul and Luke speak of eucharistía (thanksgiving): “He took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it and gave it to them” (Lk 22:19). Mark and Matthew, on the other hand, emphasize the aspect of eulogia (blessing): “He took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them” (Mk 14:22). Both of the Greek words eucaristeìn and eulogein are included in the Jewish word berakah; that is, the Jewish tradition’s great prayer of thanksgiving that inaugurated the major feasts.
The two different Greek words indicate the two intrinsic and complementary directions of this prayer. The berakah, in fact, is first and foremost thanksgiving and praise that ascends to God for the gift received: In Jesus’ Last Supper, it is bread made from the wheat that God brings forth from the earth, and wine produced from the mature fruit of the vine. This prayer of praise and thanksgiving raised to God returns as a blessing that descends from God on the gift and enriches it. Thus, thanksgiving and praise of God become blessing, and the offering given to God returns to man blessed by the Almighty. The words of the institution of the Eucharist belong within this context of prayer; in them, the praise and blessing of the berakah become the blessing and transformation of the bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood.[2]
Words are not enough to express our feelings when the favor we receive is immeasurable. Perhaps, this explains why children refuse to say anything when they receive a gift. Very often, they show their gratefulness with the glint of their eyes or with a kiss. They give thanks with action, with deeds.
The Eucharistic Prayer includes not only words but also action: the Consecration. For this reason, it is the model, root, and crown of the personal prayer of every Christian.
* * *
The hour of the sacrifice has come. The celebrant now moves more solemnly than before. All his motions are charged with a consciousness of their meaning as he progresses from action to action, now joining his hands, now raising them to heaven, after having made the sign of the cross over the offerings.
At the beginning of the sixth century, there was in the east a tendency for the priest to say the Canon in seclusion, in order to emphasize the idea of mystery. A partition, called iconostasis, adorned with icons, was set between the sanctuary and the people. Although it had windows, this structure hid the altar from the view of the congregation. The celebrant sung the Anaphora straight through.
However, that was not the custom in the Roman rite. The faithful always had the unique privilege of being direct witnesses of the mystery, as St Caesarius, the Bishop of Arlès (in the early sixth century), pointed out: “You can read the prophecies, the epistles and the Gospels at home; but only in the House of God—and nowhere else—can you hear and see the Consecration of the body and blood of the Lord.”[3]
St John tells us what happened in the Upper Room after the meal. Our Lord spoke; at first, he was interrupted by three of his apostles, but after that his hearers did not think of questioning him anymore. The Savior’s discourse moved them deeply. Jesus alone spoke, the disciples listened; they would listen to him forever. Before long, Jesus was speaking to them no longer, he was addressing the Father. They all held their breath. Jesus prayed.
Isn’t this situation almost exactly like that which is reproduced in the Mass? Only the priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer by virtue of his ordination.[4] We have heard the Lord’s teaching; we have prayed aloud together, beseeching his mediation. Now the priest speaks in persona Christi. All things considered, it would be better that no other human voice should make itself heard: Jesus is going to pray with us and for us.
In this prayer, we announce to the world the death and resurrection of the Lord. This is the paschal message that transforms us interiorly, turning us into heralds of the Good News.
* * *
Our faith seems to us too faint and our love too little to allow us to accompany our Lord in his oblation and hymn of praise to the Father. But we believe because it is Jesus Christ who has revealed to us this wonderful mystery. We believe in Christ’s word--nil hoc verbo Veritatis verius (there is no truer token than Truth’s own word), as we sing in that masterpiece of Eucharistic hymns, the Adoro Te Devote of St Thomas Aquinas.
St John Chrysostom had these most fitting words to offer on one occasion when he was instructing his faithful about the Eucharistic mystery:
Let us submit to God in all things and not contradict him, even if what he says seems to contradict our reason and intellect; let his words prevail over our reason and intellect. Let us act in this way with regard to the Eucharistic mysteries, and not limit our attention just to what can be perceived by the senses, but instead hold fast to his words. For his word cannot deceive.[5]
We believe and we want to love; we do not want to be like the disciples who fell asleep in the supreme moment when Jesus prepared himself for the holocaust. “I believe, Lord, but help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24), we should say with that man, the father of the boy who was possessed by the devil. “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you” (Jn 21:17), we should repeat once and again. In that way, we can go beyond the limited horizons of our egoism—as a person in love strives to overcome his personal limitations and sings when he wants to serenade his beloved. As Christ offers himself to the Father, we must join him, as a living part of the Church, his Mystical Body. What a pity if we allow Christ to go on without us, if we spurn him.
Therefore, we should “be awake and praying” (Mt 26:41), following Christ from the Upper Room to the cross, to realize “how little a life is to offer to God.”[6] Thus, we will finally shed our nasty habit of bargaining with God.
The elements of the Eucharistic Prayer
The chief elements of the Eucharistic Prayer are:
• Thanksgiving (expressed especially in the Preface): In the name of the entire people of God, the priest praises the Father and gives thanks to him for the whole work of salvation or for some special aspect of it that corresponds to the day, feast, or season.
• Acclamation: Joining with the angels, the congregation sings or recites the Sanctus. This acclamation is an intrinsic part of the Eucharistic Prayer, and all the people join with the priest in singing or reciting it.
• Epiclesis (invocation): In special invocations, the Church implores the power of the Holy Spirit that the gifts offered by human hands be consecrated, that is, become Christ’s body and blood, and that the spotless Victim to be received in Communion be the source of salvation for those who will partake of it.
• Narrative of the Institution and Consecration: In the words and actions of Christ, that sacrifice is celebrated which he himself instituted at the Last Supper, when he offered, under the appearances of bread and wine, his body and blood, gave them to his apostles to eat and drink, and then commanded that they perpetuate and reenact this mystery.
• Anamnesis (memorial): In fulfillment of the command received from Christ through the apostles, the Church keeps his memorial by recalling especially his passion, resurrection, and ascension.
• Oblation: The oblation or offering of the victim is part of a sacrifice. In this memorial, the Church, and in particular the Church here and now assembled, offers the spotless Victim to the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Church’s intention is that the faithful not only offer the Victim but also learn to offer themselves and so to surrender themselves, through Christ the Mediator, to an ever more complete union with the Father and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all.
• Intercessions: The intercessions make it clear that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the entire Church and all its members, living and dead, who are called to share in the salvation and redemption purchased by Christ’s body and blood. This part includes also the commemoration of the saints in whose glory we hope to share.
• Final Doxology: The praise of God is expressed in the doxology, to which the people’s acclamation is an assent and a conclusion.
In accordance with the rubrics, the priest selects a Eucharistic Prayer from those found in the Roman Missal or approved by the Apostolic See. The Eucharistic Prayer demands, by its very nature, that the priest say it in virtue of his ordination. The people, for their part, should associate themselves with the priest in faith and in silence, as well as through their parts as prescribed in the course of the Eucharistic Prayer: specifically the responses in the Preface dialogue, the Sanctus, the acclamation after the consecration, the acclamatory Amen after the final doxology, as well as other acclamations approved by the Conference of Bishops and recognized by the Holy See. It is very appropriate that the priest sing those parts of the Eucharistic Prayer for which musical notation is provided.[7]
Variety of Eucharistic Prayers
In the Roman rite, the first part of the Eucharistic Prayer, known as the Preface, has acquired many different texts in the course of the centuries. There were twenty Prefaces in the missal at the time of Pope John XXIII.
The second part, known as the Canon, assumed an unchanging form. By contrast, the oriental liturgies have admitted a certain variety in their Anaphoras. After the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI added three more Eucharistic Prayers, keeping the very venerable Roman Canon.
The Roman Canon is called Roman because it originated in Rome at the end of the fourth century. It developed its present form during the pontificate of Gregory the Great in the seventh century and has had no significant changes since then.
It consists of fifteen prayers often described as “tiles in a mosaic.” We may look at all fifteen and see their total effect, or we may go line by line and enjoy each prayer.
This Eucharistic Prayer may be used any day. It is particularly fitting on days when there are special texts for the prayers Communicantes…[In communion with those whose memory we venerate...] and the prayer Hanc igitur… [Therefore, Lord, we pray...].
The Second Eucharistic Prayer is the most ancient Anaphora. It follows closely the Anaphora of Saint Hippolytus, written at about the year 215. It is vigorous and clear, and has a solid biblical and theological background. Its features make it particularly suitable for weekdays. Although it has its Preface, it may also be used with other Prefaces.
The Third Eucharistic Prayer is rich with overtones of ancient Alexandrian, Byzantine, and Maronite Anaphoras. It expresses the doctrine of the Eucharist as the sacrifice of Christ in an especially clear way. It gives prominence to the Holy Spirit, naming him four times. Its use is particularly suited to Sundays and holidays. It may be said with any Preface.
The Fourth Eucharistic Prayer provides a fuller summary of the history of salvation. It borrows some elements from the Eastern liturgies, and even from the liturgy of the synagogue. It is a profoundly biblical prayer that recounts the main events in the history of salvation and links this history to its center: Christ. This Eucharistic Prayer has a fixed Preface; therefore, it cannot be used when a Mass has its own proper Preface.[8]
There are other Eucharistic Prayers for especial occasions: three Eucharistic Prayers for Masses of children, two for Masses of reconciliation, and the so‑called Eucharistic Prayer of the Swiss Synod for Masses of ecclesial gatherings, and, in English, the Eucharistic Prayers for use in Masses for Various Needs (four versions).
Footnotes:
[1]Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Concerning the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood, Inter Insigniores, 15 October 1976. See also John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 15 August 1988, no. 26.
[2]Benedict XVI, General Audience, Jan. 11, 2012.
[3]Sermon, 281.
[4]“It is reserved to the priest, by virtue of his ordination, to proclaim the Eucharistic Prayer, which of its nature is the high point of the whole celebration. It is therefore an abuse to have some parts of the Eucharistic Prayer said by the deacon, by a lower minister, or by the faithful. On the other hand the assembly does not remain passive and inert: it unites itself to the priest in faith and silence and shows its concurrence by the various interventions provided for in the course of the Eucharistic Prayer: the responses to the Preface dialogue, the Sanctus, the acclamation after the Consecration, and the final Amen after the Per Ipsum [Through him...]. The Per Ipsum itself is reserved to the priest. This Amen especially should be emphasized by being sung, since it is the most important in the whole Mass.” (ID, no. 4). Cf. GIRM3, no. 147.
[5]Homily on Matthew, 82.4: PG 58:743.
[6]St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, The Way, no. 420.
[7]GIRM3, no. 147.
[8]GIRM, no. 322d; GIRM3, no. 365d. A Preface is considered “proper” in a strict sense when it is attached to Masses celebrated on the very day of the feast or during its octave. There are Prefaces indicated for entire Seasons of the year, but these are not to be regarded as “proper” in a strict sense: Notitiae 5 (1969) 323, no.1.
The Eucharistic Prayer marks the summit of the Mass. This does not mean that the other parts of the Mass are less precious. They are important, too. But they find their center and climax in the Eucharistic Prayer.
Eucharist means thanksgiving. As the priest recites the Eucharistic Prayer, we should concentrate all our senses on the action—the mystery—taking place on the altar. We should join the priest and the entire Church in offering to God the redeeming sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and give thanks for God’s goodness and glory.
Prayer, Thanksgiving, Action
From the farthest east to farthest west my name is honored among the nations and everywhere a sacrifice is offered to my name, and a pure offering too, since my name is honored among the nations, says Yahweh Sabaoth (Mal 1:11).
* * *
The Eucharistic Prayer itself begins with a short dialogue between the priest and us, before the Preface, and ends with the doxology preceding the Lord’s Prayer. Throughout the prayer, the priest speaks in the first person plural; he repeatedly says “we,” which places him at the head of the body, which is the Church, in the person of Christ. Only when he pronounces the words of the Consecration does he slip into the first person singular, as he puts on Christ in a unique manner. The other pronoun to notice is “you,” addressed to the Father.
This central point of the Mass has received several names in history. Recently, it is usually called the Eucharistic Prayer, a name that aptly describes it. The term Canon, or Canon Actionis, is also used. This word, of Greek origin, means rule or standard. It points out the official text for the most important liturgical action. Hence, the expressions Liturgical Action or Sacred Action are also applied to the Eucharistic Prayer. So is the word Anaphora, which means offering.
It is really so, a prayer that the Son of God, with the Church forever united to him, directs to God the Father. The Eucharistic Prayer is Christocentric as well, because it makes constant references to the main actions of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, represented by the priest, the other Christ.
In the Gospels, the kingdom of God is compared to a wedding feast. Jesus is the bridegroom who loves and gives eternal life to his spouse, the Church, the “bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). The redemptive act of Christ the Bridegroom towards the Church the Bride is expressed in the Eucharist in a most excellent manner. The Mass then becomes like an anticipation and foretaste of the banquet of heaven.
This fact explains also why women are not to be ordained: Since priesthood is a sacrament, it is a sign that not only is effective but also should be intelligible to the faithful. “When Christ’s role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this ‘natural resemblance’ which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man.”[1]
We perceive in the different forms of Eucharistic Prayer clear expressions of praise to God, especially at the beginning. The reason for them is gratefulness, which explains another element in this prayer: thanksgiving. All of it is an act of thanksgiving, even though the word thanks hardly occurs.
The New Testament tradition of the institution of the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:23-25; Lk 22:14-20; Mk 14:22-25; Mt 26:26-29), uses two parallel and complementary words pointing to the prayer that introduces the actions and words of Jesus over the bread and wine. Paul and Luke speak of eucharistía (thanksgiving): “He took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it and gave it to them” (Lk 22:19). Mark and Matthew, on the other hand, emphasize the aspect of eulogia (blessing): “He took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them” (Mk 14:22). Both of the Greek words eucaristeìn and eulogein are included in the Jewish word berakah; that is, the Jewish tradition’s great prayer of thanksgiving that inaugurated the major feasts.
The two different Greek words indicate the two intrinsic and complementary directions of this prayer. The berakah, in fact, is first and foremost thanksgiving and praise that ascends to God for the gift received: In Jesus’ Last Supper, it is bread made from the wheat that God brings forth from the earth, and wine produced from the mature fruit of the vine. This prayer of praise and thanksgiving raised to God returns as a blessing that descends from God on the gift and enriches it. Thus, thanksgiving and praise of God become blessing, and the offering given to God returns to man blessed by the Almighty. The words of the institution of the Eucharist belong within this context of prayer; in them, the praise and blessing of the berakah become the blessing and transformation of the bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood.[2]
Words are not enough to express our feelings when the favor we receive is immeasurable. Perhaps, this explains why children refuse to say anything when they receive a gift. Very often, they show their gratefulness with the glint of their eyes or with a kiss. They give thanks with action, with deeds.
The Eucharistic Prayer includes not only words but also action: the Consecration. For this reason, it is the model, root, and crown of the personal prayer of every Christian.
* * *
The hour of the sacrifice has come. The celebrant now moves more solemnly than before. All his motions are charged with a consciousness of their meaning as he progresses from action to action, now joining his hands, now raising them to heaven, after having made the sign of the cross over the offerings.
At the beginning of the sixth century, there was in the east a tendency for the priest to say the Canon in seclusion, in order to emphasize the idea of mystery. A partition, called iconostasis, adorned with icons, was set between the sanctuary and the people. Although it had windows, this structure hid the altar from the view of the congregation. The celebrant sung the Anaphora straight through.
However, that was not the custom in the Roman rite. The faithful always had the unique privilege of being direct witnesses of the mystery, as St Caesarius, the Bishop of Arlès (in the early sixth century), pointed out: “You can read the prophecies, the epistles and the Gospels at home; but only in the House of God—and nowhere else—can you hear and see the Consecration of the body and blood of the Lord.”[3]
St John tells us what happened in the Upper Room after the meal. Our Lord spoke; at first, he was interrupted by three of his apostles, but after that his hearers did not think of questioning him anymore. The Savior’s discourse moved them deeply. Jesus alone spoke, the disciples listened; they would listen to him forever. Before long, Jesus was speaking to them no longer, he was addressing the Father. They all held their breath. Jesus prayed.
Isn’t this situation almost exactly like that which is reproduced in the Mass? Only the priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer by virtue of his ordination.[4] We have heard the Lord’s teaching; we have prayed aloud together, beseeching his mediation. Now the priest speaks in persona Christi. All things considered, it would be better that no other human voice should make itself heard: Jesus is going to pray with us and for us.
In this prayer, we announce to the world the death and resurrection of the Lord. This is the paschal message that transforms us interiorly, turning us into heralds of the Good News.
* * *
Our faith seems to us too faint and our love too little to allow us to accompany our Lord in his oblation and hymn of praise to the Father. But we believe because it is Jesus Christ who has revealed to us this wonderful mystery. We believe in Christ’s word--nil hoc verbo Veritatis verius (there is no truer token than Truth’s own word), as we sing in that masterpiece of Eucharistic hymns, the Adoro Te Devote of St Thomas Aquinas.
St John Chrysostom had these most fitting words to offer on one occasion when he was instructing his faithful about the Eucharistic mystery:
Let us submit to God in all things and not contradict him, even if what he says seems to contradict our reason and intellect; let his words prevail over our reason and intellect. Let us act in this way with regard to the Eucharistic mysteries, and not limit our attention just to what can be perceived by the senses, but instead hold fast to his words. For his word cannot deceive.[5]
We believe and we want to love; we do not want to be like the disciples who fell asleep in the supreme moment when Jesus prepared himself for the holocaust. “I believe, Lord, but help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24), we should say with that man, the father of the boy who was possessed by the devil. “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you” (Jn 21:17), we should repeat once and again. In that way, we can go beyond the limited horizons of our egoism—as a person in love strives to overcome his personal limitations and sings when he wants to serenade his beloved. As Christ offers himself to the Father, we must join him, as a living part of the Church, his Mystical Body. What a pity if we allow Christ to go on without us, if we spurn him.
Therefore, we should “be awake and praying” (Mt 26:41), following Christ from the Upper Room to the cross, to realize “how little a life is to offer to God.”[6] Thus, we will finally shed our nasty habit of bargaining with God.
The elements of the Eucharistic Prayer
The chief elements of the Eucharistic Prayer are:
• Thanksgiving (expressed especially in the Preface): In the name of the entire people of God, the priest praises the Father and gives thanks to him for the whole work of salvation or for some special aspect of it that corresponds to the day, feast, or season.
• Acclamation: Joining with the angels, the congregation sings or recites the Sanctus. This acclamation is an intrinsic part of the Eucharistic Prayer, and all the people join with the priest in singing or reciting it.
• Epiclesis (invocation): In special invocations, the Church implores the power of the Holy Spirit that the gifts offered by human hands be consecrated, that is, become Christ’s body and blood, and that the spotless Victim to be received in Communion be the source of salvation for those who will partake of it.
• Narrative of the Institution and Consecration: In the words and actions of Christ, that sacrifice is celebrated which he himself instituted at the Last Supper, when he offered, under the appearances of bread and wine, his body and blood, gave them to his apostles to eat and drink, and then commanded that they perpetuate and reenact this mystery.
• Anamnesis (memorial): In fulfillment of the command received from Christ through the apostles, the Church keeps his memorial by recalling especially his passion, resurrection, and ascension.
• Oblation: The oblation or offering of the victim is part of a sacrifice. In this memorial, the Church, and in particular the Church here and now assembled, offers the spotless Victim to the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Church’s intention is that the faithful not only offer the Victim but also learn to offer themselves and so to surrender themselves, through Christ the Mediator, to an ever more complete union with the Father and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all.
• Intercessions: The intercessions make it clear that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the entire Church and all its members, living and dead, who are called to share in the salvation and redemption purchased by Christ’s body and blood. This part includes also the commemoration of the saints in whose glory we hope to share.
• Final Doxology: The praise of God is expressed in the doxology, to which the people’s acclamation is an assent and a conclusion.
In accordance with the rubrics, the priest selects a Eucharistic Prayer from those found in the Roman Missal or approved by the Apostolic See. The Eucharistic Prayer demands, by its very nature, that the priest say it in virtue of his ordination. The people, for their part, should associate themselves with the priest in faith and in silence, as well as through their parts as prescribed in the course of the Eucharistic Prayer: specifically the responses in the Preface dialogue, the Sanctus, the acclamation after the consecration, the acclamatory Amen after the final doxology, as well as other acclamations approved by the Conference of Bishops and recognized by the Holy See. It is very appropriate that the priest sing those parts of the Eucharistic Prayer for which musical notation is provided.[7]
Variety of Eucharistic Prayers
In the Roman rite, the first part of the Eucharistic Prayer, known as the Preface, has acquired many different texts in the course of the centuries. There were twenty Prefaces in the missal at the time of Pope John XXIII.
The second part, known as the Canon, assumed an unchanging form. By contrast, the oriental liturgies have admitted a certain variety in their Anaphoras. After the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI added three more Eucharistic Prayers, keeping the very venerable Roman Canon.
The Roman Canon is called Roman because it originated in Rome at the end of the fourth century. It developed its present form during the pontificate of Gregory the Great in the seventh century and has had no significant changes since then.
It consists of fifteen prayers often described as “tiles in a mosaic.” We may look at all fifteen and see their total effect, or we may go line by line and enjoy each prayer.
This Eucharistic Prayer may be used any day. It is particularly fitting on days when there are special texts for the prayers Communicantes…[In communion with those whose memory we venerate...] and the prayer Hanc igitur… [Therefore, Lord, we pray...].
The Second Eucharistic Prayer is the most ancient Anaphora. It follows closely the Anaphora of Saint Hippolytus, written at about the year 215. It is vigorous and clear, and has a solid biblical and theological background. Its features make it particularly suitable for weekdays. Although it has its Preface, it may also be used with other Prefaces.
The Third Eucharistic Prayer is rich with overtones of ancient Alexandrian, Byzantine, and Maronite Anaphoras. It expresses the doctrine of the Eucharist as the sacrifice of Christ in an especially clear way. It gives prominence to the Holy Spirit, naming him four times. Its use is particularly suited to Sundays and holidays. It may be said with any Preface.
The Fourth Eucharistic Prayer provides a fuller summary of the history of salvation. It borrows some elements from the Eastern liturgies, and even from the liturgy of the synagogue. It is a profoundly biblical prayer that recounts the main events in the history of salvation and links this history to its center: Christ. This Eucharistic Prayer has a fixed Preface; therefore, it cannot be used when a Mass has its own proper Preface.[8]
There are other Eucharistic Prayers for especial occasions: three Eucharistic Prayers for Masses of children, two for Masses of reconciliation, and the so‑called Eucharistic Prayer of the Swiss Synod for Masses of ecclesial gatherings, and, in English, the Eucharistic Prayers for use in Masses for Various Needs (four versions).
Footnotes:
[1]Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Concerning the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood, Inter Insigniores, 15 October 1976. See also John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 15 August 1988, no. 26.
[2]Benedict XVI, General Audience, Jan. 11, 2012.
[3]Sermon, 281.
[4]“It is reserved to the priest, by virtue of his ordination, to proclaim the Eucharistic Prayer, which of its nature is the high point of the whole celebration. It is therefore an abuse to have some parts of the Eucharistic Prayer said by the deacon, by a lower minister, or by the faithful. On the other hand the assembly does not remain passive and inert: it unites itself to the priest in faith and silence and shows its concurrence by the various interventions provided for in the course of the Eucharistic Prayer: the responses to the Preface dialogue, the Sanctus, the acclamation after the Consecration, and the final Amen after the Per Ipsum [Through him...]. The Per Ipsum itself is reserved to the priest. This Amen especially should be emphasized by being sung, since it is the most important in the whole Mass.” (ID, no. 4). Cf. GIRM3, no. 147.
[5]Homily on Matthew, 82.4: PG 58:743.
[6]St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, The Way, no. 420.
[7]GIRM3, no. 147.
[8]GIRM, no. 322d; GIRM3, no. 365d. A Preface is considered “proper” in a strict sense when it is attached to Masses celebrated on the very day of the feast or during its octave. There are Prefaces indicated for entire Seasons of the year, but these are not to be regarded as “proper” in a strict sense: Notitiae 5 (1969) 323, no.1.