The Historical and the Mystical

Today we examine two parts or the Roman Canon that follow the prayer of anamesis (remembering). Each in its elegant languages provides insight into what is happening at the altar.
           
The first part provides a window into the historical foundation of the offering of sacrifice to God. It says,

Be pleased to look upon these offerings
with a serene and kindly countenance,
and to accept them,
as once you were pleased to accept
the gifts of your servant Abel the just,
the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith,
and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek,
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.
           
In a very real way, this beautiful prayer calls upon God the Father to “look upon these offerings.” It speaks of a relationship between God and those who offer sacrifice. It is not mythical or imaginary. That God does look upon the sacrifice offered on the altar is accepted as true. To emphasize this truth, three examples of sacrifice to God are taken from the Old Testament.
           
The prayer asks to look upon the offerings with “a serene and kindly countenance” and to accept them as God accepted the sacrifices of Abel, Abraham and the priest-king Melchizedek.
           
Abel, son of Adam and Eve, our first parents, offered to God the firstlings of his flock, for he was a shepherd. The Lord looked with favor upon his offering. His older brother Cain was a tiller of the earth and offered to God an offering of the fruit of the fields. God was not pleased with Cain’s offering. This made Cain jealous of his brother Abel. Cain rose up against his brother and killed him. The Lord, as a result, in His anger, cursed Cain.
           
We can find some a prefigurement of Christ in the story of Abel. He was a shepherd. Christ is the Good Shepherd. Abel offered the firstlings or firstborn of the flock. Christ is also the Lamb of Sacrifice, and as both Priest and Victim offers Himself to the Father. Abel suffers death, or we might say, martyrdom, at the hand of his brother. Our Lord suffers His Passion and Death, “His martyrdom,” at the hands of the people of His time and at our hands because of our sins.
           
Likewise, in the story of Abraham, also mentioned in this prayer, we find a pointing toward Christ. (Gen 22:1-19) Abraham is asked by God to offer in sacrifice Isaac, his son, as a test.  Abraham complies trusting in the Lord.  He placed the wood for the burning on the sacrifice on the shoulders of Isaac and they went to the designated place.  Isaac, not knowing that he was to be the sacrifice, asked his father where the animal for the sacrifice was.  Abraham replied that God would provide the lamb for the sacrifice.  Then he bound Isaac and placed him upon the altar that he had built.  He took the knife to complete the sacrifice when he heard the voice of Lord telling him not to harm his only-begotten son.  Abraham then saw a ram whose horns were caught in a thicket.  God had indeed provided the sacrifice.  This points to the incredible mercy of God who would send His only-begotten Son who would become the sacrifice for our sins.  He, too, carried the wood to the place of His sacrifice on Calvary in His Cross.
           
Finally we hear of the offering the high priest Melchizedek.  In the 14th chapter of Genesis we hear of Melchizedek, king of Salem, who blessed Abram.  Melkizedek brought out bread and wine for an offering for he was a priest of God Most High.  The offering of bread and wine anticipates Jesus, our Great High Priest, taking bread and wine at the Last Supper and making it into His Body and Blood and commanding priests who would come after Him in the Church to do the same at every Mass.  In the Letter to the Hebrews we read that “another priest arises in the order of Mechizedek, who has become a priest, not according to a legal requirement concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life.” (Heb 7:15)  This other priest is none other than Jesus Himself.
           
The next part of the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I) speaks of angelic intervention.

In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God:
command that these gifts be borne
by the hands of your holy Angel
to your altar on high
in the sight of your divine majesty,
so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar
receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son,
may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.
           
These words may seem somewhat perplexing to us who live in a world where the materialistic view of created reality prevails. We are so accustomed to seeing only with the eyes of the body that we can be blind when it comes to the eyes of faith. We see the altar in the sanctuary of the church but we are called to see with our eyes of faith how the Sacred Liturgy here on earth is joined to the Heavenly Liturgy that St. John wrote of in the Book of Revelation. “I saw a Lamb, standing, as though it had been slain…” (Rev 5:6).
           
This reminds us that when we come to the altar in church, we are united with the adoration of the Triune God in heaven. It is through the offering of these gifts, the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that we worship the Father. It is because the Son of God became man in the Incarnation that each one of us can come before the altar and be united in this perfect sacrifice of praise.
           
As the priest prays the prayer asking that the angel take this offering to the altar on high, he bows down low before Christ Himself present on the altar asking that “all of us, who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son, may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.” Every person at Mass is united with the priest in this prayer. Every baptized person must benefit from the manifold grace and blessing that is given by the offering of this awesome sacrifice.
           
Dear friends, we see that what happens at Mass is founded in the historical acts of Abel, Abraham, Melchizedek and Jesus Himself. Following the command of the Lord to “Do this in memory of me” leads us beyond this world to the Kingdom He won for us!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh