As I have written in a previous article, the new English translation of the Roman Missal, 3rd Edition, introduced the First Sunday of Advent in 2011, brought to our ears new words that we had previously not heard in the prayers of the Mass. One such word is “oblation.” Simply translated, oblation means offering, but in terms of the Mass, the offering is connected with the notion of sacrifice.
We offer bread and wine as the offerings (or oblations) to be used in the Consecration. The Consecration at the Mass unites us to the sacrificial offering of Christ on the Cross for our salvation. But there is more to the oblation that just the bread and wine we offer. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal explains it this way as it addresses the next of the main elements of the Eucharistic Prayer:
The oblation, by which, in this very memorial, the Church, in particular that gathered here and now, offers the unblemished sacrificial Victim in the Holy Spirit to the Father. The Church’s intention, indeed, is that the faithful not only offer this unblemished sacrificial Victim but also learn to offer their very selves, and so day by day to be brought, through the mediation of Christ, into unity with God and with each other, so that God may at last be all in all.
(GIRM, 79f)
This is how we can participate most fully and fruitfully in the Mass, when we learn to offer our very selves to the Lord, which is at the service of deepening our communion with the Lord and with one another. I addressed this point in a previous article, but it is worth revisiting it again in the context of the Eucharistic Prayer.
As an interesting piece of trivia, Bishop Paprocki has shared with me that when the translation process was being undertaken, Cardinal Francis George was insistent that they use this word “oblation” in the Eucharistic Prayers instead of the more generic “offering”. Cardinal George belonged to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I), so that notion of oblation was central to his identity. It was also expressed by the way he lived his life. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who preached the funeral homily for Cardinal George, drew upon this theme of oblation, concluding with the following words about the late Cardinal:
From his heart’s abundance flowed not only his words, but also his very life’s oblation. What did Cardinal George offer to the Lord? What did he give away? He offered a life joined to the cross of Christ; a life of faith, hope, conviction and courage; a soul devoted to prayer; a brilliant mind in love with God; a vision of the New Jerusalem. Because he gave these things — and more — away, he took them with him to meet the Lord.
This is the type of oblation we are invited to offer when we come to Mass, and we are grateful for many who have gone before us leaving us examples of what that total offering can look like. In that regard, we can also turn to the example of those figures in the Scriptures who help us in praying the Mass better. We have heard several times throughout these reflections from A Biblical Way of Praying the Mass: The Eucharistic Wisdom of Venerable Bruno Lanteri, by Father Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V., and on this topic of oblation, we have another helpful suggestion. Lanteri invites us to take on the heart and sentiments of not just any biblical figure, but the central figure of the Scriptures, Jesus Christ Himself. Father Gallagher writes:
Venerable Bruno writes: “At the Consecration, I will seek the sentiments of the heart of Christ.” Let your heart be stilled. Let it reach the deep point. Let an awareness of Jesus’s self-offering arise in your heart. United your heart with Jesus’s, offering him your life, yourself, to the Father.
(Kindle edition, p. 62)
One of the ways I have tried to foster this sense of oblation to the Lord during the Eucharistic Prayer happens as I raise the newly consecrated host. In silent prayer, I repeat the words of St. Thomas the Apostle: “My Lord, and my God”, and I sometimes add the concluding petition of the Litany of the Sacred Heart: “Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.” I know that what I offer with my heart at Mass is far from perfect, but by uniting my heart to His Sacred Heart, I have faith that the burning love of His heart will purify my heart so as to make it a more acceptable offering to Him, not just in this intimate moment of the Mass, but with my whole life.
Father Alford