The Eucharistic Prayer: Offering
The next part of the Eucharistic Prayer is called the offering. One of the things I like about the liturgy is that there is a continual exchange between God and his people. We give Him thanks for all he has given and offer these gifts back to Him for blessing. He sends the Holy Spirit to change these gifts into the Body and Blood of Christ. We offer them back to Him. The GIRM describes this part of the liturgy in these words,
Offering: By which, in this very memorial, the Church–and in particular the Church here and now gathered–offers in the Holy Spirit the spotless Victim to the Father. The Church’s intention, however, is that the faithful not only offer this spotless Victim but also learn to offer themselves, and so day by day to be consummated, through Christ the Mediator, into unity with God and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all.
It is not only the bread and wine that has been transformed into Christ’s Body and Blood, but also those who have gathered as the Body of Christ who are transformed. First by the calling down of the Holy Spirit, and then by being offered back to the Father through the Holy Spirit, we are meant to be slowly transformed over our lifetimes to resemble more and more the person of Christ. Here again we see that the celebration of this sacrament is centered on theosis. The purpose of the Eucharist is both to give thanks for all that God has done for us and all that he has given to us as his children and then to offer it all back and more in return.
Perhaps one of the best responses that can be given once we come to realize the full measure of what God is offering to us in the Eucharist is to turn to this ancient prayer of the Old Testament:
How can I repay the Lord for all the good done for me? I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. (Psalm 116: 12-13)
May it be a prayer that echoes in our hearts during every celebration of the Eucharist, as we offer ourselves along with Christ to the Father.
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