I am taking a break for the next two posts from my series on “Living the Gospel as a Way of Life” to reflect a little on the prayers I have been saying every day now for the last year and a half since I returned to priestly ministry.
My reflection starts from a question that I always have when I pray Eucharistic Prayer II at Mass. Although some people love “the short one” and other people lament that it takes out so many important elements of the Eucharistic Prayer (especially compared to the Roman Canon), it is a fact that this Eucharistic Prayer is very common, especially at daily Mass.
When I was younger and started to attend Mass regularly, I was always struck when this Eucharistic Prayer came up to point where it names the Pope and the Bishop. Some priests would say “together with N. our Pope and N. our Bishop and all the clergy” while others would add something to the end like “and all your people” or “and all our sisters and brothers.” It got me wondering if the Church was being overly “clerical” in just naming “all the clergy” and not other people as well.
As opposed to Eucharistic Prayer II clericalism (so I thought), there was Eucharistic Prayer III which said “with your servant N. our Pope and N. our Bishop, the Order of Bishops, all the clergy, and the entire people you have gained for your own.” Much more inclusive!
But why the difference in these two Eucharistic Prayers precisely at this point? I point out the difference between Prayer II and Prayer III because the formulas are so alike. In Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon) it says “together with N. our Pope, N. our Bishop, and all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith.” That is quite a bit different, but similarly “inclusive” like Eucharistic Prayer III.
So why say “all the clergy” and stop there in Eucharistic Prayer II? It’s time to bust out the Latin!
Recordáre, Dómine, Ecclésiae tuae
toto orbe diffúsae,
ut eam in caritáte perfícias
una cum Papa nostro N.
et Epíscopo nostro N.
et univérso clero.
“Remember, Lord, your Church spread throughout the world.” The whole Church is mentioned right at the beginning of this section of the Prayer. And the whole Church means everyone! When we say Church, sometimes, we tend to focus just on the hierarchy or the people who work for the Church or the people who run the Vatican. But the Church does not believe that about herself. The Church is the People of God, as Vatican II taught. And the People of God includes widows and babies and moms and dads and plumbers and bishops and patients in mental hospitals and movie stars. The whole section is a prayer for the whole Church.
And what are we praying for the Church? “That it may be made perfect in charity.” Wow! The priest is praying that everyone who is baptized may be saints. The universal call to holiness is the call to perfection in charity, and charity is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (Cf. Romans 5:5).
And in order to stress that this charity is not just a feeling or an individual matter, the Prayer goes on to define an essential condition of this charity: “together with N. our Pope and N. our Bishop and all the clergy.” A charity that was not united with the priest, the bishop, and the pope would not be a true charity, would not be “ecclesial” charity. We are called to the perfection of charity in the Church, and to be “in the Church” is something concrete—it is made up of unity with the clergy and the bishop and the pope.
So, there is a whole theology of the Church, what is technically called “ecclesiology” in the formula that at first seemed overly clerical. It is nothing of the sort. The whole Church, every member, is called to the perfection of charity. That means you, whatever your role in the Church is.
So what about the other formula, the one from Eucharistic Prayer III that mentions the clergy but also “the entire people you have gained for your own”? To the Latin!
Ecclesiam tuam, peregrinantem in terra,
in fide et caritate firmare
digneris cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N.
et Episcopo nostro N., cum episcopali ordine
et universo clero
et omni populo
acquisitionis tuae.
The verb is “digneris”, “be pleased” or “grant” to “confirm in faith and charity your Church, a pilgrim on the earth.” Again, the whole Church is a pilgrim on this earth. The People of God is on the move! Where to? To the heavenly kingdom! And who is going on this journey? Now it time to name all the people going on the journey. First, “your servant N. our Pope” and “N. our Bishop” and “the Order of Bishops” and “all the clergy” and “the entire people you have gained for your own.”
The image that comes to my mind is like a big caravan setting out from Egypt toward the Promise Land. I remember the picture of the caravan leaving Egypt that I had in my picture Bible as a boy. As we journey together (that is what the word synod means, by the way), we are asking God to confirm our faith and our charity. Our faith and our charity, to be authentically Catholic, must be united to the Pope and the Bishop and the whole Order of Bishops (that is some wonderfully technical theology—read Lumen Gentium from Vatican II) and the entire people God has gained for His own.
There is a new element here that I think is important. Most of the time, unless we read Church documents, we are confirmed in faith and charity not so much through our contact with popes and bishops and priests but through our contact with people whom God has made His own. How many people have you met in your life that have confirmed you in faith and charity, have strengthened your hope, have encouraged you to keep walking toward the Promise Land?
Again, there is a whole theology in a little prayer. The emphasis is different between Eucharistic Prayer II and Eucharistic Prayer II, as it is between the Roman Canon and Eucharistic Prayer IV (which we didn’t discuss today, but which is a real doozy). But these prayers are like different instruments in a symphony. Eucharistic Prayer II reminds us that the whole Church is called to be holy by being perfect in charity and that this charity is never abstract. Eucharistic Prayer III reminds us that we need to be strengthened and confirmed on the journey of faith and that this strength comes, in addition to the hierarchy, from all those whom God has gained for His own.
Let us pray that God will make us His own as we understand more and more deeply the prayers we have been given through the Church. Praying these prayers day after day, with attention and faith, can truly transform us. My reflection here is only pointing out one aspect of one part of two prayers. The liturgy of the Church is full of such gems. And even if we don’t always unpack the theology of each aspect, we are being shaped by them anyway.
May the Lord confirm you in faith and charity so that you may become perfect in holiness!