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Offertory at Mass?
From earliest times in the Roman liturgy, the offering of
various kinds of gifts have been brought forward after the
Gospel has been read and homily delivered.
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In an attempt to restrict “the
gifts of your people”, the
Governor of Galatia in 303
A.D. at the time of the
martyrdom of Theodotus
from Ancyra, ordered that all
bread and wine be polluted
by contact with things
offered to idols, “so that not
even to God, the Lord of all,
could a pure offering be
made”.
Council of Mascon
The Council of Mascon in 585 A.D. decreed that “on
every Lord’s day an oblation of the altar should be
offered by all, men and women: both of bread and
wine”.
“You are wealthy and rich,
and do you think that you
celebrate the Lord’s
Supper, not at all
considering the offering?
Who comes to the Lord’s
Supper without a sacrifice,
and yet take part of the
sacrifice which the poor
man has offered? Consider
in the Gospel the widow…”
“From the very beginning, Christians
have brought, along with the bread and
wine for the Eucharist,
gifts to share with those in need”
(CCC 1351).
Tithing and almsgiving are acts of
worship (2 Cor 9:10-15) and express
not only our desire to help those in need
but also our generosity to God.
The Church uses
unleavened bread
made only of pure
wheat flour and
water,
and wine only from
grapes
Bread and wine symbolize a wonderful cooperation
between God and humans. We lay upon the altar not
only creation’s goods but ours, too.
The gifts are not mere wheat and grapes, but “the work
of human hands.” Symbolically, that’s us on the altar,
offering ourselves to God.
In the presentation of the
gifts (or the offertory) the
priest (and we with him)
offers the hosts some
small particles of
unleavened bread and
small quantity of wine.
• This aspect of offering Christ to the
Father is intimately united to the
memorial of the cross.
St. Augustine has numerous writings that reflect this reality. Christ,
Head, has united Himself to His Body, which is the Church, and has
associated her to His sacrifice. He does so in such a way that now
only the “Christus totus”, the Total Christ, Head and ecclesial Body,
is offered to the Father.
One of the writings that is most known is this one: “Christ wanted
us to be a sacrifice; it follows that the whole redeemed city, that
is to say, the congregation or community of the saints, is offered
to God as our sacrifice through the great High Priest, who offered
Himself to God in His passion for us, that we might be members
of this glorious head… This is the sacrifice of Christians: we,
being many, are one body in Christ. And this also is the sacrifice
which the Church continually celebrates in the sacrament of the
altar in which she teaches that she herself is offered in the
offering she makes to God.” (City of God 10:6).
Our actions must be consistent
with the offering we make.