The Mass: Liturgy of the Eucharist - Part XV

In our study of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we are at the point where we have just all prayed the Lord’s Prayer together.  The priest then continues to pray on our behalf, in a prayer known as the embolism (which is a short prayer put between two greater ones). It is a segue from the last line of the Lord’s Prayer, asking that we be delivered “from every evil” which leads us to a very important theme of the next section of prayers: that of peace.

We ask God in his mercy to grant us peace and keep us safe from sin and “all distress,” and all of this is done with the great hope that our Lord and Savior, whom we will shortly receive as his Real Presence in the Eucharist, will come again into the world.  Our response as an assembly (“For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever”) comes not from the words of Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:9-13) but from the Didache (see the column from 10/22/2023). This response in turn has New Testament roots in Rev. 5:12 and even Old Testament roots in 1 Chr. 29:10-11.

The priest then reminds us in prayer of what Jesus said to his Apostles in the upper room after his Resurrection, that he leaves us with his peace (Jn. 14:27). And then, in one of the most recognizable parts of the Mass, after the priest offers peace to the assembly, the deacon directs all to offer a sign of peace to each other. 

May we who gather to share in the Eucharist be reminded that we do so as the Body of Christ, joined together in Christ’s peace.

"Christ is our peace, that divine peace, announced by the prophets and by the angels, and which he brought to the world by means of his paschal mystery. This peace of the Risen Lord is invoked, preached and spread in the celebration ... " - The Ritual Expression of the Gift of Peace at Mass, June 8, 2014, Offices of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Contact me at eucharist@stmli.org.