Feb 5 Thu
Why does the priest invoke the Holy Spirit during the Mass?
The Epiclesis is the invocation to the Holy Spirit in the Eucharistic Prayer where the priest requests God the Father to send the Holy Spirit so that the bread and wine offered may become Christ’s body and blood, and so we may be able to celebrate the Eucharistic mystery, and to make all the effects of the sacrament operative in us.
At the same time, the priest extends his hands, palms downward, over the chalice and host, and traces the sign of the cross over them. With this gesture, he asks God to pour his blessing over the gifts offered and to turn them into his Son’s body and blood.
“Why does the priest ask for what he positively knows will happen at the Consecration?” How many times did Jesus Christ ask for what he well knew would infallibly happen? The priest seems to pray, not so much for the miracle of transubstantiation as for the happy fruits it may produce in our souls.
After the last notes of the Sanctus, the people again fall silent. For it is how man should approach God –in silence.
In the Old Testament, the high priest, carrying the blood of the victims, entered the Holy of Holies alone once a year. Leaving the people behind, he offered a sacrifice to God in an atmosphere of awe and respect for God.
In the early Middle Ages, the priest entered the sanctuary, and curtains were drawn, thus isolating him from the people. To accentuate the importance of this part of the Mass, clerics carrying candles placed themselves on either side of the altar. The people attended these ceremonies kneeling.
The First Eucharistic Prayer acknowledges God the Father as our most merciful Father so that we may deal with him with the confidence of children:
- To you, therefore, most merciful Father,
we make humble prayer and petition
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord:
that you accept
and bless ✠ these gifts, these offerings,
these holy and unblemished sacrifices,
We find the Epiclesis at the beginning of the Second and Third Eucharistic Prayers.
The Fourth Eucharistic Prayer, which has its own Preface, links it, after the Sanctus, with a narrative of the history of salvation in the form of anamnesis (remembrance). The Epiclesis comes after:
- Therefore, O Lord, we pray:
may this same Holy Spirit
graciously sanctify these offerings,
that they may become
the Body and ✠ Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
for the celebration of this great mystery,
which he himself left us
as an eternal covenant.
How often have we relegated the Holy Spirit to a secondary role! We now promise him we shall be more docile to his sanctifying action. “That means we should be aware of the work of the Holy Spirit all around us, and in our own selves we should recognize the gifts he distributes, the movements and institutions he inspires, the affections and decisions he provokes in our hearts.”