From St. Augustine's Prayer Book

from The Order for Holy Mass

The Order of the Holy Cross (Episcopal Church USA), 1957

THE COMMUNION

The most perfect of vocal prayers is now said, acting to close the Canon and to begin the Communion section of the rite.  The breaking of the Host, symbolizing the suffering of Christ, is the third traditional element of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

LET us pray.  And now, as our Saviour Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say,

OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, (R.) But deliver us from evil. (For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.)

The Priest continues secretly:

DELIVER us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present, and to come : and at the intercession of the blessed and glorious Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and with Andrew, and with all Saints, give peace graciously in our days, that we being holpen by the succour of thy mercy, may both always be free from sin and safe from all disquietude.

Here He Breaks the Host

Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord.  Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God,

V. World without end.

R. Amen.

Signing thrice over the cup with a small particle of the broken Host, he greets the People with our Lord's Resurrection salutation:

V. The peace of the Lord be always with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

He puts the particle of the Host into the Cup, saying secretly:

MAY this mingling and consecration of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord be unto us who receive it an approach to everlasting life. Amen.

Bowing and striking his breast, the Priest says with the People:

O LAMB of God, that takest away the sins of the world...

At Sung Masses, the "O Lamb of God" is sung by the People while the Priest continues the Communion prayers which follow.

O LORD Jesus Christ, who saidst unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you : regard not my sins, but the faith of thy Church ; and grant to it that peace and unity which is according to thy will. Who livest and reignest world without end.  Amen.

Here at High Mass, the Kiss of Peace is Given

O LORD Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, whom the Father with the Holy Ghost hath willed by death to make the world to live : by this most holy Body and Blood of thine, set me free from all my sins, and from all evil things : and make me in such wise ever to abide in thy commands that I may never be separated from thee.  Who livest and reignest, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

Here follows the Prayer of Humble Access.

THE COMMUNION OF THE PRIEST

The Priest now takes the Sacred Host, saying:

I WILL receive the bread of heaven and call upon the Name of the Lord.

Then, striking his breast, he says thrice:
LORD, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my soul shall be healed.

Here the bell is rung thrice to call attention to the fourth traditional element of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, viz. the Communion.  This bell also is a signal for intending Communicants to approach the altar.  If you are to receive, rise and go to the rail here without delay.

The Priest receives the Sacred Host, saying:

The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my body and soul unto everlasting life.

He gathers the crumbs from the coporal, saying:

What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?  I will receive the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.  I will call upon the Lord which is worthy to be praised, so shall I be safe from mine enemies.

He receives the Precious Blood, saying: 

The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, preserve my body and soul unto everlasting life.

+Deo gratias.

Of Liturgy & Priesthood: Archbishop Vincent Nichols

+
The Diocese of Westminster in England held its annual Celebration of the Priesthood, and on the Seventh of June, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of the Diocese of Westminster preached the following homily:

THE GOSPEL OF OUR MASS
Archbishop Vincent Nichols

The Gospel of our Mass today takes us into the heart of the relationship of Father and Son.   This is the wonder of our calling, the wonder of the mystery we minister: that we human beings are welcomed into the intimacy and love of Father and Son, which is the life of the Holy Spirit.

This mystery we enter most powerfully through our celebration of the Mass.  Here all is the gift of the Father.  Here all is to the glory of the Father and the Son.  Here is our sharing in that glory, conscious that it is expressed in and through the self-sacrificing love of the cross.

In the light and depth of this great mystery I would like to reflect on our priestly part in the celebration of the Mass.  I want to do so with a directness and immediacy for, when it comes to Liturgy, we are living in a sensitive and creative time. This is a time in which the Church is asking us to recover some of the richness and depth of our liturgical heritage and, at the same time, always to ensure that the Liturgy is the sign and good at that.  Among us priests Liturgy easily becomes a point of contention.  It should not be so.

Today we use the text of the new English translation.  It symbolises so much.  We are sharply aware of the newness of the words we are using.  We need to concentrate on them.  We need a fresh approach in contrast to long-formed habits and familiarity.

I would like to reflect on our part in all this and offer you my convictions. Thereby I hope I might help to shape your responses.  I can but try.

There are four key points that shape my reflection, all in the context of the Gospel truth we have heard. They are, fundamentally, matters of the heart, of our disposition. As such they can shape what we do. We do well to examine what lies in our hearts.

1.    My first conviction is this: Liturgy is never my own possession, or my creation.  It is something we are given,  from the Father.  Therefore my own tastes, my own preferences, my own personality, my own view of ecclesiology, are marginal, of little importance, when it comes to the celebration of the Mass.  We don vestments to minimise our personal preferences, not to express or emphasise them.  Liturgy is not ours. It is never to be used as a form of self-expression.  Indeed the opposite is the truth. Within the diocese, when the priests of a parish change there should be clear continuity in the manner in which Mass is celebrated. The Mass is the action of the Church.  That’s what matters, not my opinion.  I once heard that Blessed Pope John Paul never commented on a Mass he had celebrated.  It’s the Mass.  My task is to be faithful.

2.    My second point flows from this: the Liturgy forms us, not us the Liturgy.  The words of the Mass form our faith and our prayer.  They are better than my spontaneous creativity.  At Mass my place is very clear: I am an instrument in the hand of the Lord.  I am not a conductor, still less a composer.  Ordained into the person of Christ the Head, I am just an instrumental cause of this great mystery.  This is so important.  My celebration of the Mass each morning shapes my heart for the day ahead.  At Mass I am the Lord’s instrument just as I hope to be in the day that follows.  In all the events of the day, in the decisions I make, the words I speak, my greatest, safest hope is that the Lord will use me and that I, personally, will not get in His way.  We are servants of the Liturgy through which God opens to us His saving life.

3.      My third conviction is this: our part is to offer the Mass as a service to the people. In doing so we make choices and judgements about how aspects of the Mass are to be done. In doing this we must always have upper most in our minds that the heart of Liturgy is the people’s encounter with the Lord. Everything about the Liturgy is to serve this purpose. So in the choices we make, which give a particular tone to the Liturgy, our positive criterion should be: will this serve the encounter of the people with the Lord? Of course, things old and new can serve. Our choices though are shaped both by the instruction of the Church in its norms and guidance and by our duty to serve our people.

It seems to me that one thing above all is needed for this precious, transforming encounter with the Lord to take place in: space, space which allows for the movement of the heart to the Lord and of Him to us. At Mass we need space – spaces of silence, spaces for the quiet recollection of the people, both before and during Mass. So, the fashion of our celebration of the Mass should never be dominating or overpowering of those taking part. It should be well judged, respectful of its congregation, sensitive to their spiritual needs.  

In my view one quality enhances this sense of divinely filled space in which we worship God: it is the beauty of the Liturgy and its reverence.  A beautiful, cared for church is the best preparation we can provide. I was recently reminded of the words of Cardinal Hume: that our churches are not simply buildings in which we worship the Lord, but buildings with which we worship Him. I thank you for all your efforts in this important regard.  The church as an arena of beauty for the Lord is, it seems to me, always a springboard of a vibrant parish.

4.    My fourth and final point follows: whenever the Liturgy of the Church, the celebration of the Mass, truly enters our heart and soul, then the result is a vibrant sense of mission. When we meet the Lord in all His love for us, then we are ready to respond, especially in the care we give to the poorest and those most in need, those closest to the Heart of our Saviour.  Our Diocesan ‘Conversation in Caritas’, about the social outreach of our parishes, has a Eucharistic centre. I thank you for your participation in it.  A profound celebration of the Mass inexorably gives rise to a practical expression of compassion and willing service.  It just is so.

My brothers, I am conscious of the length of these words and their strained character as a homily.  But these are important matters, now, in the months ahead, in our hearts.

In the Mass all that we receive is a gift of the Father.  It is never ours to use or shape as we please.  In the Mass all is to the glory of the Son.  In this we are no more than instruments, humble and delighted to play our part.  In the Mass all is for the sake of our people: that they may encounter the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.  In the Mass we who know Him also know that we are in this world to serve its humanity in His name, until He comes again. These are the hallmarks of our Liturgy, the measures against which we can test our hearts, our intentions and our actions.

Among us let there be a humble, joyful service of the Lord.  Let us accept with joy the search for a renewal in our celebration of the Mass guided solely by the Church and let our own faith and prayer be tutored daily by what is asked of us.  Amen.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols

+Laus Deo!

Papal Homily at Closing Mass in Sydney

"May This 23rd World Youth Day Be Experienced as a New Upper Room"

"Jesus is always present in our hearts, quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his love, and to receive "power from on high", enabling us to be salt and light for our world."

Image © WYD 2008

Here is the text of the homily Benedict XVI gave at the World Youth Day closing Mass:

+ + +

Dear Friends,

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you" (Acts 1:8). We have seen this promise fulfilled! On the day of Pentecost, as we heard in the first reading, the Risen Lord, seated at the right hand of the Father, sent the Spirit upon the disciples gathered in the Upper Room. In the power of that Spirit, Peter and the Apostles went forth to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In every age, and in every language, the Church throughout the world continues to proclaim the marvels of God and to call all nations and peoples to faith, hope and new life in Christ.

In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia. I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christ's Spirit and the richness of his gifts. I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people "from every nation under heaven" (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room. May the fire of God's love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ! "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you". These words of the Risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at today's Mass. But they are also addressed to each of us - to all those who have received the Spirit's gift of reconciliation and new life at Baptism, who have welcomed him into their hearts as their helper and guide at Confirmation, and who daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist. At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lord's body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, "one body, one spirit in Christ".

But what is this "power" of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God's life! It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God. In today's Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21). He himself, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, came among us to bring us that Spirit. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God's grace.

Here in Australia, this "great south land of the Holy Spirit", all of us have had an unforgettable experience of the Spirit's presence and power in the beauty of nature. Our eyes have been opened to see the world around us as it truly is: "charged", as the poet says, "with the grandeur of God", filled with the glory of his creative love. Here too, in this great assembly of young Christians from all over the world, we have had a vivid experience of the Spirit's presence and power in the life of the Church. We have seen the Church for what she truly is: the Body of Christ, a living community of love, embracing people of every race, nation and tongue, of every time and place, in the unity born of our faith in the Risen Lord. The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life! Through the grace of the Church's sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a splendid description of the Spirit's power dwelling within us. He spoke of the Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whispering: "Come, come to the Father" (cf. Ad Rom., 6:1-9).

Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift. God's love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure receptivity to God's grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, in the Church, to our heavenly Father. In the power of his Spirit, Jesus is always present in our hearts, quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his love, and to receive "power from on high", enabling us to be salt and light for our world.

At his Ascension, the Risen Lord told his disciples: "You will be my witnesses ... to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Here, in Australia, let us thank the Lord for the gift of faith, which has come down to us like a treasure passed on from generation to generation in the communion of the Church. Here, in Oceania, let us give thanks in a special way for all those heroic missionaries, dedicated priests and religious, Christian parents and grandparents, teachers and catechists who built up the Church in these lands - witnesses like Blessed Mary MacKillop, Saint Peter Chanel, Blessed Peter To Rot, and so many others! The power of the Spirit, revealed in their lives, is still at work in the good they left behind, in the society which they shaped and which is being handed on to you.

Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom? How are you using the gifts you have been given, the "power" which the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to release within you? What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come? What difference will you make? The power of the Holy Spirit does not only enlighten and console us. It also points us to the future, to the coming of God's Kingdom. What a magnificent vision of a humanity redeemed and renewed we see in the new age promised by today's Gospel! Saint Luke tells us that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of all God's promises, the Messiah who fully possesses the Holy Spirit in order to bestow that gift upon all mankind. The outpouring of Christ's Spirit upon humanity is a pledge of hope and deliverance from everything that impoverishes us. It gives the blind new sight; it sets the downtrodden free, and it creates unity in and through diversity (cf. Lk 4:18-19; Is 61:1-2). This power can create a new world: it can "renew the face of the earth" (cf. Ps 104:30)!

Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith's rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished - not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships.

Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.

The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning - the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity's sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.

The Church also needs this renewal! She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit! (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4) In today's second reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us that each and every Christian has received a gift meant for building up the Body of Christ. The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people. She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness. Open your hearts to that power! I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Do not be afraid to say "yes" to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!

In a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation. The Holy Spirit will descend upon the confirmands; they will be "sealed" with the gift of the Spirit and sent forth to be Christ's witnesses. What does it mean to receive the "seal" of the Holy Spirit? It means being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation. For those who have received this gift, nothing can ever be the same! Being "baptized" in the one Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12:13) means being set on fire with the love of God. Being "given to drink" of the Spirit means being refreshed by the beauty of the Lord's plan for us and for the world, and becoming in turn a source of spiritual refreshment for others. Being "sealed with the Spirit" means not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.

As we pray for the confirmands, let us ask that the power of the Holy Spirit will revive the grace of our own Confirmation. May he pour out his gifts in abundance on all present, on this city of Sydney, on this land of Australia and on all its people! May each of us be renewed in the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of wonder and awe in God's presence!

Through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, may this Twenty-third World Youth Day be experienced as a new Upper Room, from which all of us, burning with the fire and love of the Holy Spirit, go forth to proclaim the Risen Christ and to draw every heart to him! Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI
Sydney, Australia, 19 July A.D. 2008

© Copyright 2008 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Looking toward Ascension Day [Thursday]

APPEAR, O Lord, make thyself known, O Lord, as thou didst appear manifest in the flesh; born of a Virgin, found by the shepherds, recognised in power, proclaimed by the Star, adored with gifts, manifest in the river, believed on in faith, received up in the cloud and promised again by him that announced it: that by the grace of this holy festival thy Church may now receive thy joys, as once it made known thy mysteries.

Mozarabic Missal

WORTHY of glory from every mouth, and of confession by every tongue, and of adoration and exaltation from all ceatures, is the adorable Name of thy glorious Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: thou who didst create the world in thy grace and its inhabitants in thy pitifulness: who didst save mankind by thy compassion and hast shown great grace unto mortals. Thousand thousands of those on high bless and adore thy Majesty, O my Lord; and ten thousand times ten thousand holy angels, and hosts of spiritual beings, ministers of fire and spirit, glorify thy name: thy holy cherubim and spiritual seraphim, offering adoration, crying and praising without ceasing, calling one to another and saying "Holy, holy holy."

Liturgy of SS. Adai and Mari

BEFORE the glorious seat of thy majesty, O Lord, and the exalted throne of thine honour, and the awful judgment-seat of thy burning love, and the absolving altar which thy command hath set up, and the place where thy glory dwelleth, we, thy people and the sheep of thy fold, do kneel with thousands of the cherubim singing ALLELUIA, and many times ten thousand seraphim and archangels, acclaiming thine holiness, worshipping, confessing and praising thee at all times, O Lord of all, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for ever.

Chaldean Liturgy

Our Lady, Guardian of Plants, pray for all of us upon the earth.

The Liturgy forms man in wakefulness

Dietrich von Hildebrand:

The man formed by the Liturgy is the man who is awake in the highest sense of the word. He is not only inwardly open to hearing the voice of God; he is not only aware of the ultimate Truth, but he also looks on all earthly goods in their true light. Far removed from all bluntness, indifference, stoic insensibility, and passiveness, his awakened ear is open to every created thing in its mysterious message from above and in its God-given meaning. His heart is open to the precious and noble character of created things such as water, for instance, as disclosed in the blessing of the baptismal water.

What a contrast to the blunt, obvious conceptions of earthly goods received from God's paternal hand is found int he liturgical "Benedicite!" What constantly awakened gratitude! "The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest them their meat in due season (Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine, et tu das escam illorum in tempore opportuno )." "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty (Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona, quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi )." "We give Thee thanks, O almighty God, for all Thy mercies (Agimus tibi gratias omnipotens Deus, pro universis beneficiis tuis )." At the same time, everything is organically placed into relation with the supernatural so that our spirit can rejoin again and again the unique and eternal, the goal of our hope: "May the King of eternal glory make us participate in the divine banquet (Mensae caelestis participes faciat nos Rex aeternae gloriae )."

The man formed by the Liturgy watches, so to speak, with a "burning lamp in his hand," and "with girt loins," for the advent of the Lord. His life is a life of longing, hope, gratitude, solemn emotion, and openness to the mysteries of being. We see how deeply wakefulness is linked with reverence, with the consciousness that an adequate response is due to value, and with the sense of the right gradation of values. The awakened man is also conscious of the ultimate tie which binds him to all men before God; he sees Christ in his neighbor; he lives in the truth of the Mystical Body of Christ. To the extent that a man is awakened in this sense, he exists fully as a person; he genuinely lives; his life is true; he is a personality in the original sense of the word.

Today it is particularly important to stress this point. In a legitimate reaction against an analytical, self-reflective consciousness, many have fallen into the cult of a naive unconsciousness, a childish unwakefulness. This is a falling into Charybdis in order to avoid Scylla. A wrong self-consciousness is, of course, disastrous, whether it takes the form of a squinting at the accomplishment of our life (in a curious looking backward at our actions and attitudes just in the living moment instead of focusing on the object) or whether it takes the form of an intellectual analysis and dissection of the world and ourselves in which we no longer see the woods for the trees. In either case, it is a hypertrophy of the analytical attitude which leaves no room for a contemplative possession of an obejct. But the unconscious man also is incomplete; he is an inauthentic half-man.

True consciousness, an indispensable element of personality and an essential part of transformation in Christ, is nothing but wakefulness. It means emerging from all the mists of the vital and the unconscious into the brightness of the logos; it means being irradiated by the lumen Christi. It also means the ripening toward that full wakefulness which we shall actually possess only in eternity when we shall be flooded by the lumen gloriae, when we no longer see through a glass in an obscure manner but face to face, and when we no longer know in part but know as we have been known.

The great motto of this earthly life must be, "Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!"

Dietrich von Hildebrand
1943
Liturgy and Personality:
The Healing Power of Formal Prayer
Sophia Institute Press, 1993
pp. 101-103

Save the Liturgy! Save the World!

With thanks to Father Z. for sharing this!

As for me and my house,
We pray for a Motu Proprio for the Sarum Use!

The Prayer of Humble Access

The Prayer of Humble Access in the Book of Common Prayer, 1549, read as follows:

We do not presume to come to this thy table (o mercifull lord) trusting in our owne righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies: we be not woorthie so much as to gather up the cromes under thy table: but thou art the same lorde whose propertie is alwayes to haue mercie: Graunt us therefore (gracious lorde) so to eate the flesh of thy dere sonne Jesus Christ, and to drynke his bloud in these holy Misteries that we may continuallye dwell in hym, and he in us, that our synfull bodyes may bee made cleane by his body, and our soules washed through hys most precious bloud. Amen.

The prayer was docked by degree (putting "Holy Mysteries" to the axe) until in the American Episcopalian Prayer Book of 1979 it was finally shorn of some very important phrases involving the Body and Precious Blood of Our Lord -- and sadly it is that version that finds its way into the current Book of Divine Worship. HOWEVER, there will come a day for The Book of Divine Worship 2.0, and when it comes I hope The Prayer of Humble Access will look a great deal more like the 1549 Prayer or my suggested revision which follows:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness
but in thy manifold and great mercies.
We are not worthy
so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table,
but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord,
in these Holy Mysteries,
so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ
and to drink his Blood
that, made clean by his Body
and washed through by his most Precious Blood,
we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

Protestant Text, Catholic Use

The Lutherans in the USA had a 'Common Eucharistic Prayer' once upon a time, and it was shaped in Book of Common Prayer language but its content was judged very Catholic by a number of scholars of an earlier period. I have always thought the prayer astonishingly captivating and was even more astonished by the number of Lutheran clergy who never used it! Be that as it may, I would like to illustrate how a Protestant text might find its way into the Catholic Church when Protestants as a group unite with Rome and are allowed to keep elements of their tradition that are consistent with the Catholic truth.

While it is perhaps doubtful today that this Lutheran 'Common Eucharistic Prayer' would ever serve as the Canon of the Mass in a Catholic context, elements of this beautiful prayer certainly can be drawn together to create a prayer of approach for the Priest and Assembly analogous to the Prayer of Humble Access in the Book of Divine Worship -- that miraculous Book of liturgies for Roman Catholics coming from the Anglican tradition. So here is the prayer as I have edited it, and who can say whether or not such a prayer might not have a future in a revised edition of the Book of Divine Worship ... with broader application in mind:

Priest and People
Holy art thou, Almighty and Merciful God.
Holy art thou, and great is the Majesty of thy Glory.
Thou didst so love the world
as to give thine only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him might not perish,
but have everlasting life.
Having come into the world
to fulfill for us thy holy will,
he accomplished all things for our salvation.
Remembering therefore his salutary precept,
his life-giving Passion and Death,
his glorious Resurrection and Ascension
and the promise of his coming again,
we give thanks to thee, O Lord God Almighty,
not as we ought, but as we are able;
and we beseech thee mercifully
to accept our praise and thanksgiving,
and with thy Word and Holy Spirit to bless us thy servants,
so that we and all who partake of Christ’s Body and Blood
may be filled with heavenly benediction and grace,
and, receiving the remission of sins,
be sanctified in soul and body,
and have our portion with all thy saints.
And unto thee, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be all honour and glory in thy holy Church,
world without end. Amen.

It may well be argued that this prayer in part repeats what has already been said by the Priest in the Canon. Well, precisely so! Here I might insert some reference to Christifidelis laici but instead let me simply claim the need for repetition of the truths of the Catholic Faith within the Mass itself. Through these internal repetitions and the repeated participation in the Mass, such truths are comprehended and such prayers become not only learnt by heart but also prayers of the heart.

Lift up your hearts today

Lift up your hearts today!
Rise Up! Behold the Way,
The Truth, the Life.
Christ Jesus calls to you,
Opens his heart for you,
Pours out his love anew,
The joy of life.

The peace of Christ we share
With mercy everywhere
For everyone.
God offers all to us
Through Christ and by his Cross.
He has forgiven us,
And made us one.

Welcome are we above,
The Spirit of God's love
Lifts us on high.
Unto the throne of grace
We now behold his face.
As angels fill this place
'Holy!' we cry.

The Supper of the Lord,
Body and Blood outpoured,
God's Bread and Wine.
Heaven and earth are one,
Reconciled in the Son,
Joined in Communion,
Spirit divine.

Here we declare our love
For our great Lord above
God with us all.
Father of lights we praise,
And Comforter always,
To Christ our thanks we raise -
One God of all!

Words: Copyright © 1996 Vincent Uher. All rights reserved.
Tune: Moscow
Meter: 664 6664