The Anamnesis: Memorial of Christ’s Passion and Death
Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death (1 Cor 11:26).
* * *
The Anamnesis is a prayer of remembrance in which the Church calls to mind the Lord’s passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.
This part of the Canon, called Anamnesis (memorial), comes after the acclamation of the Consecration. We have just been asked to “proclaim the mystery of faith.” And what is this mystery? Precisely the redeeming sacrifice of Christ celebrated in these rites. We are now reminded that the Church is acting in memory of our Lord and obeying his explicit command: “Do this in memory of me.” We are mindful of Christ’s mandate and nothing is moving than this assertion of fidelity to Christ’s express indication. It is against this background that the Church declares that the Eucharist is a sacramental reenactment of Christ’s death on Calvary and not an attempt to “add to” the sacrifice of the Cross.
***
The Roman Canon mentions our share in Christ’s sacrifice explicitly:
We, your servants and your holy people,…
offer to your glorious majesty…
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim[1]
In other words, we are not mere spectators; rather, we play an active part: we offer. But we should make a distinction here. The common priesthood of all baptized persons empowers us to offer the Mass. On the other hand, the priest, having received the sacrament of Holy Orders, possesses the ministerial priesthood that empowers him to celebrate the Mass.
Lay people are members of the laos, the people of God, which is ‘holy.’ The epistle of St Peter[2] provides us the frame of mind to recall the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. United to the entire Church, as well as to our brothers who have been faithful to their Christian vocation, we now offer Christ’s sacrifice with the desire that it become the center of our daily life and apostolic eagerness. Meanwhile, “the Church presses forwards amid persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, announcing the cross and death of the Lord until he comes.”[3]
We not only announce what happened in the past but also prophesy what is to come: the final fulfillment of the kingdom, the light that knows no setting.
* * *
The Anamnesis of the Second Eucharistic Prayer is both vigorous and clear:
Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection,
we offer you, Lord,
the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation,
giving thanks that you have held us worthy
to be in your presence and minister to you.
It takes us back to the times of the martyrs; it reproduces the text of the Anaphora of St Hippolytus (dating from about the year 215 AD) with almost no variations:
Remembering, therefore, His death
and resurrection,
we offer to you the bread and the cup,
giving thanks to you, because of
your having accounted us as worthy
to stand before you and minister to you.
* * *
In the Third and Fourth Eucharistic Prayers, we find the following characteristics:
• The expectation of the coming of the Lord is explicitly stated.
• The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is stressed, showing that Christ is the direct object of the offering.
• An element of thanksgiving has been added to that of memorial.
This is the Anamnesis of the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer:
Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption.
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.
* * *
Following the footprints of Jesus, our life becomes a prolonged Mass. Here is a summary or program of life by which we can achieve this ideal:
• To remember Christ’s passion and death. It delivered us from the real evil, sin; and merited for us all true good.
• To experience constantly the joy of his resurrection.
• To proclaim his resurrection and ascension, through our words and deeds.
• To center our day on this holy sacrifice, while we look forward to Christ’s coming.
Footnotes:
[1]‘Nos servi tui sed et plebs tua sancta...offerimus praeclarae maiestati tuae..sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam.”
[2]“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9).
[3]LG, no. 8.
* * *
The Anamnesis is a prayer of remembrance in which the Church calls to mind the Lord’s passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.
This part of the Canon, called Anamnesis (memorial), comes after the acclamation of the Consecration. We have just been asked to “proclaim the mystery of faith.” And what is this mystery? Precisely the redeeming sacrifice of Christ celebrated in these rites. We are now reminded that the Church is acting in memory of our Lord and obeying his explicit command: “Do this in memory of me.” We are mindful of Christ’s mandate and nothing is moving than this assertion of fidelity to Christ’s express indication. It is against this background that the Church declares that the Eucharist is a sacramental reenactment of Christ’s death on Calvary and not an attempt to “add to” the sacrifice of the Cross.
***
The Roman Canon mentions our share in Christ’s sacrifice explicitly:
We, your servants and your holy people,…
offer to your glorious majesty…
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim[1]
In other words, we are not mere spectators; rather, we play an active part: we offer. But we should make a distinction here. The common priesthood of all baptized persons empowers us to offer the Mass. On the other hand, the priest, having received the sacrament of Holy Orders, possesses the ministerial priesthood that empowers him to celebrate the Mass.
Lay people are members of the laos, the people of God, which is ‘holy.’ The epistle of St Peter[2] provides us the frame of mind to recall the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. United to the entire Church, as well as to our brothers who have been faithful to their Christian vocation, we now offer Christ’s sacrifice with the desire that it become the center of our daily life and apostolic eagerness. Meanwhile, “the Church presses forwards amid persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, announcing the cross and death of the Lord until he comes.”[3]
We not only announce what happened in the past but also prophesy what is to come: the final fulfillment of the kingdom, the light that knows no setting.
* * *
The Anamnesis of the Second Eucharistic Prayer is both vigorous and clear:
Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection,
we offer you, Lord,
the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation,
giving thanks that you have held us worthy
to be in your presence and minister to you.
It takes us back to the times of the martyrs; it reproduces the text of the Anaphora of St Hippolytus (dating from about the year 215 AD) with almost no variations:
Remembering, therefore, His death
and resurrection,
we offer to you the bread and the cup,
giving thanks to you, because of
your having accounted us as worthy
to stand before you and minister to you.
* * *
In the Third and Fourth Eucharistic Prayers, we find the following characteristics:
• The expectation of the coming of the Lord is explicitly stated.
• The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is stressed, showing that Christ is the direct object of the offering.
• An element of thanksgiving has been added to that of memorial.
This is the Anamnesis of the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer:
Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption.
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.
* * *
Following the footprints of Jesus, our life becomes a prolonged Mass. Here is a summary or program of life by which we can achieve this ideal:
• To remember Christ’s passion and death. It delivered us from the real evil, sin; and merited for us all true good.
• To experience constantly the joy of his resurrection.
• To proclaim his resurrection and ascension, through our words and deeds.
• To center our day on this holy sacrifice, while we look forward to Christ’s coming.
Footnotes:
[1]‘Nos servi tui sed et plebs tua sancta...offerimus praeclarae maiestati tuae..sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam.”
[2]“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9).
[3]LG, no. 8.