The liturgy of the Eucharist follows the structure established by Jesus at the Last Supper. It includes the preparation of gifts, the Eucharistic prayer, and communion rite. During the liturgy, the priest repeats the actions of Jesus by taking bread and wine, saying the words of consecration to transform them into Christ's body and blood, and sharing them with the congregation. The liturgy aims to make the sacrifice of the mass present again and allow Christians to unite themselves with Christ's offering to the Father.

1. Liturgy of the Eucharist
•Priest does what Jesus did
during the Last Supper and
what He commanded the
apostles do in His memory.

2. Structural Elements of the liturgy of the Eucharist
1. Preparation of the gifts
2. The Eucharistic prayer
3. Communion Rite.

3. FOUR(4) basic actions take place
1. The taking of bread and wine
2. Blessing
3. Breaking of the bread
4. Sharing of the body and blood.

6. Mixing Water and Wine
Has an important meaning for us Christians. The words that go with this
ritual are “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to
share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share in our
humanity.”
Jesus = represented by the wine
Humankind = represented by water
Shows that our Lord humbled Himself by taking on the form of man to
be united with us. -- the mystery of God becoming Man.
This is also a call to us to become more like Jesus, to follow His
teachings and to grow in holiness.

7. Preparation of the Gifts
This part is also known as “Offertory” – We offer the
bread and wine and sometimes other things like oil,
wax, flowers.
These “gifts” represent an offering of ourselves to our
Lord.
The Presentation Songs
The Order of the Mass, require that singing
accompanied the gifts until the gifts have been placed
on the altar. The song may always be associated with
the offertory rites.

8. PRAYERS SAID BY THE PRIEST
•Blessed are you Lord God of all creation….
•This is borrowed from Jewish Meal setting.
•There was an obligatory hand washing,
followed by drinking of the first cup with the
blessing; “Blessed be thou, Yahweh, our
God, King of the universe, who gives us this
fruit of the vine.”

9. •The Father of the house breaks bread and says
“Blessed be thou, Yahweh, our God, King of the
universe, who brings forth bread from the earth”
•After the cup of wine mixed with water is given
and the leader says: Let us give thanks to the Lord
our God, and those present respond: “Blessed be
he whose generosity has given us food and whose
kindness had given us life.”

10. Presentation of the Gifts
“Fruit of the earth and work of human hands” –
 In the Bread and Wine, we offer back to God the gifts
of creation and the result of our labors.
Money we contribute: This is more than just money. It
represents the hours and days of our lives that we do
hard work. The money represents the results of our
hard work which we present to God as an offering of
our lives to Him.
Giving collection is a real way of dying to ourselves.
We proclaim our faith is in God and not material wealth

11. Does God need these offerings of bread, wine and money?
 It is not God who needs these things.
It is a statement of our obedience and
surrender of all that we are and all that we
have to our Lord.
It is a statement of humility, recognizing
that all that we have are not ours but
these ultimately belong to God.

12. Silent prayer of the priest
With humble spirit and contrite heart, may we be accepted
by you, O Lord, and may our sacrifice in your sight this day
be pleasing to you, Lord God.
Daniel 3:39-40
“Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be
accepted, as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and
bulls, or with tens of thousands of fat lambs; such may our
sacrifice be in your sight today, and may we unreservedly
follow you, for no shame will come to those who trust in
you.”

13. Incensation
The original Roman practices was to burn incense in a
basin/pot during the entrance procession and reading
of the gospel.
Today the bread and wine, and the presider and the
people or congregation are all incensed.
Incense is a traditional symbol of prayer rising to God
(cf Rev.8: 3-4; Ps 141 :2),
 A sign of peoples act of prayer- rising to God.

14. Priest washes his hands
This is a ritual cleansing which dates back to the Old
Testament. Priests during that time had to do ritual washings
before they could perform their duties. (Nm 8:7)
“Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of
the tent of meeting and wash them with water.” Ex. 29:4
Priests washed their hands and feet in a bronze basin of
water before entering the tabernacle or coming close to the
altar (Ex 30:17-21)
Today’s priest washes his hands before he enters “the holy of
holies "and says David’s humble prayer: “Wash me, O Lord,
from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” (Ps 51:2)

17. Preparing for the Eucharistic Prayer
P. “Pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to
God, the almighty Father“
A. May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and
glory of His name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.”
In biblical history some offerings were unacceptable…Gen 4; Mal
1:6-11
In this prayer we unite the sacrifice of our ourselves with Jesus’
sacrifice of Himself to the Father through the hands of the priest.
The ‘My Sacrifice affirms the role of the priest as another Christ’ and
‘yours’ tells us that we the congregation unite ourselves with Christ
to offer the sacrifice.

18. The Eucharistic Prayer- The Preface
Priest: The Lord be with you. All: And with your spirit.
Priest: Lift up your hearts. All: We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. All: It is right and
just.
“Lifting up of hearts” - The heart is the center of all our
intentions, desires, and commitments. Lifting up of our hearts
means giving our full attention to what is about to take place.
“Set your minds on things that above, not on things that are
on earth.” Col 3:1-2
Lamentations 3:41: “Let us lift up our hearts as well as our
hands to God in heaven.”

19. The Great Thanksgiving
“Let us give thanks...” “It is right and just.” - St. Paul
says we should be “abounding in thanksgiving,” (Col
2:7),
“giving thanks to God in all we do” (Col. 3:17)
“and in all circumstances” (1 Thes 5:18)
“in worship” (1 Cor. 14: 16-19; Eph 5: 19-20; Col 3:16)
The preface continues with God’s work in creation
and redemption.

20. Sanctus: Holy, Holy
Isaiah 6:3: “A Heavenly King in the divine throne room with a
host
of seraphim, 6-winged angels adoring Him and singing “Holy,
Holy”-- “And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy,
holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Revelation 4:8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings
and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings.
Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.“

21. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your
glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

22. Epiclesis- Invocation of the Holy Spirit
Priest lays his hands over the gifts and asks the Father to
send the Holy Spirit to turn the bread and wine --- Priests and
all clergy have “consecrated hands” and have the unique
ability to invoke the Holy Spirit because of their ordination as
priests. (a holy sacrament).
“Make holy, therefore, these gifts we pray, by sending down
Your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may
become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
- Eucharistic Prayer II

23. The Pope, the Bishops and priests have consecrated
hands.

24. Institutional narrative
At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his Passion, he took bread and, giving
thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH
WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.
In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice and, once more giving thanks, he
gave it to his disciples, saying:
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.

25. Priest repeats the words that Jesus spoke during the Last
Supper which happened at the same time that Passover was
being celebrated.
Passover sacrificial lamb of the OT that delivered the
Israelites from slavery to Egypt = Jesus is the Passover
sacrificial lamb of the NT that delivered us from slavery to sin
and restored us to God’s family.
Why “For Many” and no longer “For All” -- closer to Jesus’
actual words and emphasizes that although Jesus died for all,
not all accept this gift of salvation. Each person must welcome
this gift of salvation.

26. The Mystery of Faith
After the priest gives the words of Consecration, he
genuflects and stands up.
Priest expresses his awe at what has just taken place.
The bread and wine are now the Body and Blood of
Jesus.
Priest: The Mystery of Faith.
All: "We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess Your
Resurrection until You come again.”

27. The intercessions
•The rest of the
Eucharistic prayer
offers prayers of
intercession to God

28. Doxology: The Great Amen
The Eucharistic prayer ends with an expression of
praise for God and the people respond with the Great
Amen.
Whenever prophets praised God, their followers would
say “Amen,
Amen!” St. Paul used “Amen” a lot, too. In the Book of
Revelations, the angels and saints in heaven are said to
cry out “Amen” as they sing their part in the heavenly
chorus praising God. (Rev 7:12, 5:14, 19:4)

29. The Communion Rite
Now time for the final preparations. Bread
and Wine have been consecrated. Our Lord is
now present before us.
This part helps to bring us to the sacred
point of Holy Communion, preparing our
hearts and minds to receive the Body and
Blood of our Lord.

30. The Lord’s Prayer

31. The Rite of Peace
Priest now invokes Jesus’ promise: Jesus said “Peace I leave
with you,
My peace I give to you.”
Jesus explains that the peace that He gives is a kind of peace
that the world does not understand and cannot give.
We often look for peace and security in the world, a peace
that is based on success, on everything going well, on
avoidance of problems, pain and suffering. But this kind of
peace does not last. When we lose our success, our friends,
our financial security, our health, our peace is lost.

32. Agnus Dei: Lamb of God
Commingling - Breaking a piece of the Host, the priest puts it in the
Chalice (cup of wine) to mix with the wine. This represents the unity
of the Church.
While the priest “commingles” the Host/bread and Wine, the people
sing the Lamb of God:
When we sing the Agnus Dei at Mass, we join the choirs of angels in
their heavenly praise of God. (Heaven and earth are united in praising
God.)
We address Jesus as “Lamb of God” because Jesus is the Passover
Lamb of the New Testament -- God’s Son who He sacrificed for the
forgiveness of our sins.

34. LAMB OF GOD

36. We become a living tabernacle when we receive
the Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion.

37. CONCLUDING RITES

38. The Priest concludes by saying “The Lord be with you.”
All: “And with Your spirit.”
Priest: “Go forth, the Mass is ended.”
All: “Thanks be to God.”
The “Mass” comes from the Latin word “Missa” which
means “dismissal”
or “sending”.
Jesus said “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
(Jn 20:21)