7th Reflection on Eucharistic Prayers: We Are Part of a Bigger Family

The Eucharist: The Gift That Keeps on Giving … and giving, and giving.

By Fr. Ron Will, CPPS

You have joined number seven in a series of videos on the Eucharistic prayers which we pray during Mass. This series is entitled “The Eucharist: The Gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving.”

The Mass is not an add-on to my prayer life. It is the center of our relationship with God.  We must come to the Mass with the proper dispositions, we must be fully aware of what we are doing, actively engaged and enriched by its effects.  We need to get off the bench, where we simply watch, and engage in the Mass, because God wants us to come close.

It’s helpful to have the whole Mass in mind as a backdrop as we celebrate individual parts. It’s also important that you sense that you are part of the “we” which the presider prays during certain points of the Mass. Using different Eucharistic Prayers is helpful. Monotony is deadly; variety is the solution.

I’ve chosen to look at Eucharistic Prayer II with you today. It may be the one you hear most often, so it may be easy to zone out and daydream through it.

Eucharistic Prayer II is based on the Anaphora of Hippolytus (an anaphora is a eucharistic prayer) from the Apostolic Tradition by St. Hippolytus of Rome around 215 A.D. It isn’t a direct translation of that prayer, but it was clearly inspired by it, so this prayer also has a long history in the Roman Church.

Even this history is a reminder that we are part of a bigger family than just us in this church for this Mass. The angels and the saints are in our presence, and we are praying together with them.

Fittingly, in Eucharistic Prayer II we pray “Remember also our brothers and sisters
who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy: welcome them into the light of your face.”

Our prayer includes those people we don’t even personally know. We ask that God invite them also into his heavenly embrace.

I hope that my reflections today will make you more attentive to the Eucharistic Prayer at the next Mass you attend, whichever Eucharistic Prayer is used. The prayers at Mass are not disconnected pieces thrown together. They are all related to one another forming one message. Start really listening to the readings and the prayers, and the pieces of the puzzle of the Mass will come together. You will only then begin to see the incredible vision God has for our lives, for His Church, and for the world.

Thank you for joining me today.

I invite you to join me again next month, as I continue this series on “The Eucharist: The Gift that just keeps on giving, and giving, and giving.” We will then reflect on another one of the 13 Eucharistic Prayers that may be used during Mass.

May God bless you today and throughout the week.

All of the videos in this series can be found here: Reflections on the Eucharistic Prayers.

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[Fr. Ron Will, a Precious Blood priest and spiritual director, is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union and Creighton University’s School of Christian Spirituality. He has a special interest in helping form intentional disciples of Jesus, encouraging others to go spiritually deep-sea diving to explore a deeper relationship with God, and walking with people as they dive into the ocean of God’s mystery actually experiencing God rather than simply dipping one’s toe into the water.]

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