Apr 9 Thu
Why do we pray the Lord’s Prayer before Communion?
We approach the very same body and blood of Christ that, by being immolated, restored our friendship with God. Christ’s sacrifice and the paschal meal (communion) are intimately linked. Our Mother the Church encourages us to participate in one and in the other, if we are properly disposed, by receiving our Lord’s body and blood. These will be our nourishment for the journey to our Father’s home. And this is what the Communion Rite is going to do: to prepare our souls to receive our Lord.
In the early Church, the Communion rite was simple. The Eucharistic Prayer (Anaphora) was followed by the Breaking of the Bread, and then by the Lord’s Prayer and Communion. Other prayers and ceremonies were added through the centuries.
Nowadays, the Communion rite is ordained thus:
- Lord’s Prayer, preceded by the invitation to pray and followed by the embolism and the people’s acclamation.
- Rite of Peace.
- Breaking of the Bread, with the commingling, while the Agnus Dei is said or sung.
- Personal preparation of the priest.
- Invitation to the sacred banquet by showing the host to the faithful.
- Communion of the priest and the faithful.
- Communion song.
- Silent prayer, if opportune.
- Prayer after Communion.
The Lord’s Prayer begins with the priest’s invitation to pray, and all of us continue the prayer with him. The priest raises his hands. No special gesture is indicated for the people during this prayer.
This invitation is a very touching and most ancient formula (one alluded to as early as the fourth century by St Jerome). It states that we should not dare (audemus) to utter what we are about to say, were it not for the express command of our Lord. He taught us to approach God as a son talks to his father.
The profound religious atmosphere pervading the Canon is increased here with the great reverence rendered to this prayer. We are so miserable, and our minds are so limited, that we do not even know what we should ask of God. Jesus Christ himself deigned to compose this prayer to indicate how we should address God. It is our Savior’s own prayer, and, therefore, the prayer of the Christian.
In the early Church, the Lord’s Prayer was taught to the catechumens only a few weeks before baptism. Outside the Mass, it was always said in a low voice. It seemed that the faithful recited it before Communion. They brought Communion home on Sundays, kept it there, and received it on ordinary days. Then, it may have been introduced into the Mass.
Many are the allusions made to this custom in the writings of the Fathers of the Church, and St Augustine regarded it as something well established in his own time.
When teaching us the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus used the Aramaic word Abba. It was how children called their father; the best translation could be Daddy.
God wants us to deal with him with full confidence, as his little children. This fact nourishes all our prayers; we are children of God.