A Brief Meditation on the beginning of The Offertory Form One of Divine Worship: Part II

Divine Worship: The Offertory (Form I)

Then he takes the chalice, and offers it, slightly elevating it and saying in a low voice:

We offer unto thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, beseeching thy mercy, that it may ascend in the sight of thy divine majesty as a sweet smelling savour for our salvation, and for that of the whole world. Amen.

Commentary

The priest offers God, on our behalf, the wine that God will be changed into the very Blood of Christ. Aware of the truly awesome reality at his hands, the priest calls upon God to extend His mercy so that the offering will be accepted by God and transformed by Him, becoming the "sweet smelling savour for our salvation". Though, not only for us, but for the salvation of the whole world.

Our hope is in the Lord.

Later in the Mass we will hear: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. Jesus offers Himself for all. We hope that all people will take up God's offer of eternal life. Sadly, not all will accept His offer of salvation. The number of souls who accept or reject His offer is known only to God. A sobering thought. Here we pause, mindful of our need to approach the altar of God in a state of grace. It would be right for our thoughts to rapidly turn to the Sacrament of Penance. God accompanies us with His mercy, awaiting our response. God is already there waiting in the confessional, ready to absolve us of our sins through His priest.

He makes the Sign of the Cross with the chalice and places it upon the corporal, and covers it with the pall. Then with hands joined upon the altar, bowing he says in a low voice:

In a humble spirit, and with a contrite heart, may we be accepted of thee, O Lord, and so let our sacrifice be offered in thy sight this day, that it may be pleasing unto thee, O Lord our God.

Commentary

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux said that three most important virtues are "humility, humility and humility." We bring all that we are to the altar of God. He knows the content of our hearts. The priest, bowed in humility on our behalf, images the interior disposition of the faithful assembled.

Saint Matthew 5:23-24 Christ speaks to us. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Standing upright, he extends his hands, raises them and joins them, and lifting his eyes to heaven and then lowering them, says in a low voice:

Come, thou O sanctifier, almighty, everlasting God, and + bless this sacrifice, made ready for thy holy Name.

Commentary

Now upright again and directing his and our gaze heavenward, the priest in a low voice - which is of an appropriately intimate character - requests of God, as he lowers his gesture, the blessing of the gifts that symbolize us and all that we bring before God. It will be in the Name of God that the gifts will be blessed, the Name above all other names. The priest is collecting all our intentions made ready on the altar for God to bless and transform. We are being drawn by the Holy Ghost into the one Sacrifice of Jesus made upon Calvary.

CCC1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory." Council of Trent (1562): Doctrina de ss. Missae sacrificio, c. 2: DS 1743; cf. Heb 9:14, 27.

In a few moments the Holy Ghost will unite heaven and earth, and the Heavenly altar and earthly altar will become one. Time and eternity will meet. Jesus, in His mercy and glory, will become really and truly present upon the earthly altar!

If incense is used, the Priest places some in the thurible, saying in a low voice:

Through the intercession of blessed Michael the Archangel standing at the right hand of the altar of incense, and of all his elect, may the Lord vouchsafe to + bless this incense, and to receive it for a sweet smelling savour; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Commentary

The priest calls upon Michael, מִיכָאֵל, whose name means "Who is like God?" (Who is like El?). Recall the angel descending to purify the Prophet Isaiah's lips with a burning coal from the altar of God.

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Note how the purification of Isaiah is closely allied to mission, the mission of God. Our mission among men, given to us by God, requires that we live in humility, docile to the Spirit, mindful that a contrite heart freed by God serves best the calling to which God calls us. Having heard the word of God in the Liturgy of the Word, and having acknowledged our dependence upon God in the Penitential Rite, soon we will feast on the Body and Blood of Christ during the Communion Rite. If that last phrase sounds shocking, it is or should be. The humble communicant bears witness to his unworthiness to receive such a priceless gift of the very life of God: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed. 

Saint Michael, Thurifer

The incense draws us into the holiness of the approaching moment when the crucified and risen Lord reveals Himself in a most vulnerable state, as vulnerable as the day He was born, as vulnerable as the day He died. Jesus our Lord and Saviour does this for us. Pray that we may receive Him and, with the confidence of Isaiah, be sent to witness to Him for the salvation of souls.

God asks 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?'. 'I' and 'we'. Do we hear in that question the Oneness and Threeness of God, the Divine Unity and the Holy Trinity? "Who is like El?", asks Michael, whose very name - Quis ut Deus? - invites men to encounter the mystery of God. 'El', as in 'Elohim', a word cholk full of meaning.

וּמַלְכִּי-צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם, הוֹצִיא לֶחֶם וָיָיִן; וְהוּא כֹהֵן, לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן

וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ, וַיֹּאמַר: בָּרוּךְ אַבְרָם לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן, קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ

Genesis 14:19 | And Melchiz′edek king of Salem brought out bread and wine;

he was priest of God Most High (El).

And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth(.)"

We are standing before the altar, soon to be the altar where heaven and earth meet. We hear in the Eucharistic Prayer the sacrifice of Melchisedech, the type that anticipates and points to the Eucharist. 

Vouchsafe to look upon them with a merciful and pleasant countenance; and to accept them, even as thou didst vouchsafe to accept the gifts of thy servant Abel the righteous, and the sacrifice of our patriarch Abraham; and the holy sacrifice, the immaculate victim, which thy high priest Melchisedech offered unto thee.

"A merciful and pleasant countenance." The mercy of God is a leitmotif reoccurring throughout the Liturgy to help us shed any temptation to pride that may distract us from the most magnificent gift that God offers us in Jesus Christ.

Readied by contrition, we await the coming of the Lord (El). In the Old Testament, 'El' is employed with both a singular verb and plural verb. Tucked away in some remote corner of our memories, we might also hear another passage from Genesis, 1:26 "Then Elohim (translated as God) said (singular verb), 'Let us (plural) make (plural verb) man in our (plural) image, after our (plural) likeness'".

Christ speaks to His identity and to our dignity by directing our attention to He Who Is:

Saint John 10: 34-41 | Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken), do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

Jesus draws our attention to a passage in Psalm 82. Verse six reads: “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you(.)" Jesus, the Lord God, comes to dwell with His people. If we are uncertain about our dignity, we would do well to reflect on the preceding passages and rejoice that the Lord calls us into the sublime mission to share the Gospel for the salvation of souls.

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Part I - https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-brief-meditation-on-beginning-of.html