A Common Text For The Prayer Of Thanksgiving

The prayer of thanksgiving that follows was prepared for the plenary session of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches in Lima, Peru, in 1982. The liturgy of which this eucharistic prayer is a part was first celebrated on January 15, 1982. The aim of the liturgy was to illustrate the theological achievement of the Faith and Order document Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM). (Although the Roman Catholic Church, unlike the Orthodox churches, does not participate generally in the World Council of Churches, Roman Catholic theologians did participate in this project of the Faith and Order Commission.) This prayer is important because it offers a modern way of giving thanks that is tied to historical precedent. It is not presented here to be slavishly reproduced, but to serve as a guideline for the preparation of the prayer of thanksgiving in the local church. Each congregation should adapt it to its own worship practices.

The Basic Pattern: The Liturgy of the Eucharist The Lord's Supper. In nonliturgical traditions, the symbols of the Lord's Supper are usually a loaf of bread and a single cup or chalice. 17. PREPARATION Officiant: Blessed are you, Lord God of the universe, you are the giver of this bread, fruit of the earth and of human labor, let it become the bread of Life. Congregation: Blessed be God, now and for ever! Officiant: Blessed are you, Lord God of the universe, you are the giver of this wine, fruit of the vine and of human labor, let it become the wine of the eternal Kingdom. Congregation: Blessed be God, now and for ever! Officiant: As the grain once scattered in the fields and the grapes once dispersed on the hillside are now reunited on this table in bread and wine, so, Lord, may your whole Church soon be gathered together from the corners of the earth into your Kingdom. Congregation: Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!

18. DIALOGUE

Presider: The Lord be with you

Congregation: And also with you. Presider: Lift up your hearts. Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord. Presider: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. Congregation: It is right to give him thanks and praise. 19. PREFACE Presider: Truly it is right and good to glorify you, at all times and in all places, to offer you our thanksgiving O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and Everlasting God. Through your living Word you created all things, and pronounced them good. You made human beings in your own image, to share your life and reflect your glory. When the time had fully come, you gave Christ to us as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He accepted baptism and consecration as your Servant to announce the good news to the poor. At the last supper Christ bequeathed to us the Eucharist, that we should celebrate the memorial of the cross and resurrection, and receive his presence as food. To all the redeemed Christ gave the royal priesthood and, in loving his brothers and sisters, chooses those who share in the ministry, that they may feed the church with your Word and enable it to live by your sacraments. Wherefore, Lord, with the angels and all the saints, we proclaim and sing your glory: 20. SANCTUS Congregation: Holy, Holy, Holy .…

21. EPIKLESIS I

Presider: O God, Lord of the universe, you are holy and your glory is beyond measure. Upon your Eucharist send the life-giving Spirit, who spoke by Moses and the prophets, who overshadowed the Virgin Mary with grace, who descended upon Jesus in the river Jordan and upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost. May the outpouring of this Spirit of Fire transfigure this thanksgiving meal that this bread and wine may become for us the body and blood of Christ.

Congregation: Veni Creator Spiritus! 22. INSTITUTION Presider: May this Creator Spirit accomplish the words of your beloved Son, who, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks to you, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: "Take, eat: this is my body, which is given for you. Do this for remembrance of me." After supper he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and said: "Drink this, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this for the remembrance of me." Great is the mystery of faith. Congregation: Your death, Lord Jesus, we proclaim! Your resurrection we celebrate! Your coming in glory we await! 23. ANAMNESIS Presider: Wherefore, Lord, we celebrate today the memorial of our redemption: we recall the birth and life of your Son among us, his baptism by John, his last meal with the apostles, his death and descent to the abode of the dead: we proclaim Christ's resurrection and ascension in glory, where as our Great High Priest he ever intercedes for all people; and we look for his coming at the last. United in Christ's priesthood, we present to you this memorial: Remember the sacrifice of your Son and grant to people everywhere the benefits of Christ's redemptive work. Congregation: Maranatha, the Lord comes!

24. EPICLESIS II

Presider: Behold, Lord, this Eucharist which you yourself gave to the church and graciously receive it, as you accept the offering of your Son whereby we are reinstated in your covenant. As we partake of Christ's body and blood, fill us with the Holy Spirit that we may be one single body and one single spirit in Christ, a living sacrifice to the praise of your glory.

Congregation: Veni Creator Spiritus!

25. COMMEMORATION

Officiant: Remember, Lord, your one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, redeemed by the blood of Christ, reveal its unity, guard its faith, and preserve it in peace. Remember, Lord, all the servants of your church: bishops, presbyters, deacons, and all to whom you have given special gifts of ministry. (Remember especially … )

Remember also all our sisters and brothers who have died in the peace of Christ, and those whose faith is known to you alone: guide them to the joyful feast prepared for all peoples in your presence, with the blessed Virgin Mary, with the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and martyrs … and all the saints for whom your friendship was life. With all these we sing your praise and await the happiness of your kingdom where with the whole creation, finally delivered from sin and death, we shall be enabled to glorify you through Christ our Lord; Congregation: Maranatha, the Lord comes! 26. CONCLUSION Presider: Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God and Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Congregation: Amen. 27. THE LORD'S PRAYER Officiant: United by one baptism in the same Holy Spirit and the same body of Christ, we pray as God's sons and daughters: Congregation: Our Father …

28. THE PEACE

Officiant: Lord Jesus Christ, you told your apostles: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Look not on our sins but on the faith of your church. In order that your will be done, grant us always this peace and guide us towards the perfect unity of your kingdom for ever.

Congregation: Amen. Presider: The peace of the Lord be with you always. Congregation: And also with you. Officiant: Let us give one another a sign of reconciliation and peace. 29. THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD Presider: The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ, the cup of blessing for which we give thanks is the communion in the blood of Christ. 30. LAMB OF GOD Congregation: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace. 31. COMMUNION 32. THANKSGIVING PRAYER In peace let us pray to the Lord: O Lord our God, we give you thanks for uniting us by baptism in the body of Christ and for filling us with joy in the Eucharist. Lead us towards the full visible unity of your church and help us to treasure all the signs of reconciliation you have granted us. Now that we have tasted of the banquet you have prepared for us in the world to come, may we all one day share together the inheritance of the saints in the life of your heavenly city, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Congregation: Amen. 33. FINAL HYMN 34. WORD OF MISSION 35. BLESSING Presider: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever. Congregation: Amen.

Commentary

A first step in understanding the prayer of thanksgiving is a knowledge of its constitutive elements and their arrangement. Although there is much diversity in contemporary eucharistic prayers, it is possible to give a general overview of their elements and at the same time take into account variations. After the Table has been prepared with bread and wine, the presider and the congregation engage in a traditional brief dialogue, which in many recent prayers goes: The Lord be with you And also with you; Lift up your hearts We have lifted them up; Let us give thanks to the Lord our God It is right to give our thanks and praise. The form and probably many of the words of this very old dialogue go back to Jewish table prayer. Its function at the Lord's Supper is to alert the congregation to a new phase in its worship and unite it as the priestly people, who offer praise and thanksgiving to God. The presider begins the prayer by taking the congregation's response and expanding it into a prayer of thanksgiving to God. It is customary to see this part of the prayer, called a preface, in conjunction with the congregational response that follows it, the "Holy, holy, holy …" Many prayers of thanksgiving have variable prefaces and other variable parts within a fixed framework. It is not uncommon to find in the contemporary reform a prayer into which one of dozens of variable prefaces may be inserted to accommodate it to a feast day, a liturgical season, or a church service such as a wedding or a funeral. The specific content of the preface varies from prayer to prayer. Some prayers begin with a sort of contemplation of the greatness and mercies of God; others start with thanking God for creating the universe and those who inhabit it; and still others praise God through recalling what God has accomplished through the prophets and through Jesus Christ. The congregational response to this acknowledgment of God's greatness is the "Holy, holy, holy …" inspired by Isaiah 6:3, the basis for Revelation 4:8. Added to this is a verse from Matthew 21:9, whose source is Psalm 118:26, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosannah in the highest!" These responses bring together both the worship of the most Holy God and God's messenger, Jesus the Savior, while at the same time joining the time-bound earthly celebration to the eternal heavenly celebration of the angels and saints. This Sanctus/Benedictus unit is preceded by a customary introductory formula and is often followed by a brief prayer that takes up one of its words such as holy or full and gives it a theological development, however brief. In some prayers of thanksgiving, this development serves as a transition to a recollection of the deeds of Jesus Christ, which culminates in the account of the institution of the Eucharist the night before he died. Often this institution narrative is a conflated version, rather than a direct importation of any of the four scriptural accounts. In many prayers of thanksgiving, the institution narrative is followed immediately by a congregational acclamation of remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, prompted by the phrase, "Do this in memory of me." The presider also briefly continues in this mode of remembrance, called in Greek the anamnesis, which in many prayers is accompanied by some expression of offering the bread and the cup, as in the third-century eucharistic prayer of the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus. The Roman Rite's Eucharistic Prayer II adapts the eucharistic prayer of Hippolytus as "?this life-giving bread, this saving cup.?" Other contemporary prayers pointedly omit such offering, although the Lima Liturgy has, "?We present to you this memorial.?" The invocation of the Holy Spirit, often known by its Greek name of epiklesis, follows. In general, the Holy Spirit may be invoked upon the presider, the congregation, and the gifts of bread and wine. In some prayers of thanksgiving, notably in the Roman and Alexandrian traditions but also in the Lima Liturgy, the Holy Spirit is invoked upon the gifts of bread and wine before the institution narrative and upon those who will partake of them only after the institution narrative. However, the Byzantine prayers of thanksgiving, called anaphoras (prayers of offering), and most prayers of thanksgiving of contemporary Reformation churches, have a single unified epiklesis after the anamnesis. The fundamental purpose of the epiklesis is to ensure that the action of the congregation is the action of the Holy Spirit, who is the agent of spiritual transformation of the congregation and its gifts. The Faith and Order Commission speaks of this when it refers above to the consecration of the faithful to God. In most contemporary prayers of thanksgiving, intercessions for the living and the dead, the church and the world, together with some reference to the communion of saints follow the epiklesis. Older prayers of thanksgiving, notably the Roman canon, situate some of these intercessory prayers following the Sanctus. In some anaphoras, these prayers receive an extended development. The modern tendency is toward brevity, not duplicating intercessions that take place at other parts of the service. The prayer closes with a doxology, a short hymn of praise, and an expression of glory to God, usually expressed in a Trinitarian fashion. The congregational response to all this is called the great amen. In this way the prayer is rounded out, since it begins in praise and ends in praise. In many orders, the prayer of thanksgiving may be preceded by some Table setting prayers or prayers of approach. After the prayer of thanksgiving, some or all of the following elements are customary: the Lord's Prayer, the exchange of peace (in some orders done after the liturgy of the Word), the fraction rite, and the invitation to Holy Communion. In the ongoing liturgical reform, efforts are being made in several areas. Having recovered the prayer of thanksgiving, some churches are attempting to recover it as a sung prayer. Musicians have composed music for the entire prayer. Other churches, notably in Africa and Asia, see a need for inculturating the prayer of thanksgiving so that it may not seem to be imported from an alien tradition. Finally, under the impetus of feminist studies, others are experimenting with divesting the prayer of its patriarchal language so that it may be radically inclusive. This is perhaps the most difficult task to be achieved.