The Lord be with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
A proper preface is said, found on pp. 218-226 of the Book of Alternative Services.
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed + is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!
We laud and glorify your name, O God, for the gracious favour you have shown to your children. Wondrously you created us in love, and still more wondrously you redeemed us by the sending and sacrifice of your only Son. He shattered the hardness of human hearts and proclaimed an eternal kingdom of justice and love.
When the time came for him to be glorified by a death he willingly embraced, he shared supper with his disciples. He took this bread into his sacred and caring hands; he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them saying:
“All of you, take and eat of this, for this is my body, which will be broken for your sake. Do this for the remembrance of me.”
After supper, he took this cup of wine: he blessed it and gave it to them saying:
“All of you take and drink from this, for this is my blood of the new and eternal covenant, the mystery of faith; it will be shed for you and for the multitude, so that sin may be blotted out. Whenever you drink it, do so for the remembrance of me.”
Now, O God, we gather to fulfil his command. We plead his sacrifice before you, and though we can add nothing to it, we offer you these gifts of bread and wine, in obedience to our Lord’s ordinance. Accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, by the hand of your holy angels, and let it ascend to your heavenly throne as a pleasing offering, looking beyond our shortcomings through your infinite mercy. Send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts and upon us, transforming them by your power that they may be for us the Body and Blood of Christ, and that we receiving them may be sanctified + for your service. Grant also to all who have gone before us the healing comfort of your eternal presence. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord:
Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.
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9 comments:
So where's this from Geoff? Is it your creation or is it from a regular source?
This is my own.
Quite good I'd say...
Two things I don't like about it: (1) "the multitude" - for the same reason that I usually prefer "drink" over "imbibe" or "eat" over "ingest"; (2) "in memory of me" - this might mean the same as "in remembrance of me," but for some reason seems to stress the memorial aspect of Eucharist for my taste.
Full disclosure: I'm a stodgy, Rite I, Eucharistic Prayer I kind of guy.
I think English-speaking Roman Catholics would be surprised at the suggestion that they "stress the memorial aspect of Eucharist."
Well, Geoff, if you're writing it for English-speaking RC's I suppose that's a point in its favor. No one's going to think that there's even a remote chance that RC's are trying to downplay the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Anglican context is different, though - it includes things like Clown Masses done in pantomime and Sydney lay-led communion services, and I think that it pays to be careful about liturgy. For me, it conjures up memories of Baptist communion tables with "In Memory of Me" carved in gothic lettering.
It is regarded by the Nine Ecumenical councils of the Church as necessary to put the invocation to the Holy Ghost before the consecration. And I dislike the dual 'wondrously', it would sound quite ugly, I think.
Geoff, I went to Mass at an RC parish while visiting my sister (the local TEC parish having gone all Southern Cone) and it would have been a great opportunity to see how "in memory of me" struck me in that context, but the way that the celebrant said the Words of Institution (bending low over the elements and speaking veerry sloow and INTENSELY) kept me focused on the action, not the wording.
Andrew, in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom the Epiclesis comes after the Words of Institution, doesn't it?
I have, on reflection, changed "memory" but have retained the position of the epiclesis to conform to Anglican practice. The Ecumenical Councils surely do not require any such thing, since the Eastern churches place the epiclesis after the Words.
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