This article by Juan
José Silvestre Valór,
professor of liturgy
at the Pontifical
University of the
Holy Cross and
consultor to the
Office of the
Liturgical
Celebrations of the
Supreme Pontiff,
describes the
priest's role in the
Offertory of the
Holy Mass.
This deepening of
the gesture of the
presentation of the
gifts stems from the
logic of the
external form that
the Holy Mass itself
presents.[13] Its
primordial element,
the radical "novum"
that Jesus inserts
into the Jewish
sacrificial supper,
is precisely the
"Eucharist," that
is, that it is a
memorial prayer of
thanksgiving. This
prayer, the solemn
Eucharistic Prayer,
is something more
than a series of
words:
it is a divine
action that is
realized through
human discourse.
Through it the
elements of the
earth are
transubstantiated,
wrested, so to
speak, from their
creaturely reality,
taken into something
more profound and
transformed into the
Body and Blood of
the Lord.
We ourselves,
participating in
this action, are
transformed and
converted into the
true Body of Christ.
Thus, we
understand that
"[the] remembrance
of his perfect gift
consists not in the
mere repetition of
the Last Supper,
but in the Eucharist
itself, that
is, in the radical
newness of Christian
worship. In this
way, Jesus left us
the task of entering
into his 'hour.'
'The Eucharist draws
us into Jesus' act
of self-oblation.
More than just
statically receiving
the incarnate Logos,
we enter into the
very dynamic of his
self-giving.' Jesus
'draws us into
himself'."[14]
It is God himself
who is at work in
the Eucharistic
Prayer and we feel
ourselves drawn by
this action of God.[15]
In this journey,
which begins with
the presentation of
the gifts, the
priest plays a
mediating role, as
happens in the Canon
or in the
administering of
Communion. Although
in the current
offertorial
procession the task
of the faithful is
above all in
evidence, the
mediation of the
priest always
remains because the
priest receives the
gifts and places
them on the
altar.[16]
In this movement
toward the "oratio,"
which carries the
offering of self
with it, the
external gestures
are secondary. With
the "oratio" man's
action takes a
backseat. What is
essential is God's
action.
Through the
Eucharistic Prayer
he wants to
transform us and the
world.
Because of this, it
is logical that we
draw near to the
Eucharistic Prayer
in silence. And it
remains necessary
that corresponding
to the external
procession of the
presentation of the
gifts there is an
interior procession.
In "the preparation
of ourselves we
place ourselves on a
journey, we present
ourselves to the
Lord: we ask him
that he prepare us
for the
transformation. The
community's silence
is therefore the
community's prayer,
and ultimately its
common action; it is
the beginning of a
journey toward the
Lord in our daily
life, making
ourselves his
contemporaries."[17]
Thus, the moment of
the "oblatio donorum,"
while it is a
"humble and simple
gesture, [it] is
actually very
significant: in the
bread and wine that
we bring to the
altar, all creation
is taken up by
Christ the Redeemer
to be transformed
and presented to the
Father."[18] This is
what we can call the
cosmic and universal
character of the
eucharistic
celebration. The
offertory prepares
the celebration and
we place ourselves
within "the 'mysterium
fidei' which is
accomplished in the
Eucharist: the world
which came forth
from the hands of
God the Creator now
returns to him
redeemed by
Christ."[19]
