The version in the new Missal is more faithful to the Scriptures.
The Eucharistic Prayer is “the center and summit” of the entire Mass. In this prayer “the Last Supper is recounted; the mystery of Christ’s passion, saving death, resurrection, and ascension is recalled; the memorial sacrifice of his Body and Blood is offered to the Father; and the Holy Spirit is invoked to sanctify the gifts and transform those who partake of them into the body of Christ.” “The meaning of the Prayer is that the entire congregation of the faithful should join itself with Christ in confessing the great deeds of God and in the offering of Sacrifice” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 78).
Eucharistic Prayer II is an adaptation of the eucharistic prayer found in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome, which dates from the early part of the third century. According to the GIRM, “on account of its particular features, is “more appropriately used on weekdays or in special circumstances” (No. 365).
One of the notable characteristics of Eucharistic Prayer II in the new Roman Missal is its faithfulness to the scriptural references. There are several examples of this. In the anamnesis (the memorial) the priest will now say, “we offer you, Lord, the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation.” “Bread of life” is a reference to Jesus’ assertion, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35, 48). “The Chalice of salvation” is a quotation from Psalm 116:13: “I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.”
Another important scriptural allusion is found in the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine (the epiclesis): “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall.”
The reference to dewfall recalls the miraculous gift of manna in the wilderness, described in Exodus 16:13-14: “In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.” When they ask Moses what it is, he replies, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”
This miracle is cited in John’s Gospel by the crowd that asks Jesus for a sign: “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Jesus answers that this miracle was a sign pointing to him, explaining that “it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:31-33).
This illustrates an important liturgical principle. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols” (No. 1145, emphasis added). Ultimately, these signs and symbols find their fulfillment in Jesus, who “gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover, for he himself is the meaning of all these signs” (No. 1151, emphasis added). The signs and symbols that make up the Mass point to, are fulfilled by, and make present Christ himself.
So when the priest asks God to send his Spirit “like the dewfall” upon the gifts of bread and wine, think of the miracle in the desert and its fulfillment in Christ, the true bread from heaven who gives life to the world at each Mass.
According to the Second Vatican Council, the biblical nature of the liturgy is one of the sources of its power: “Sacred Scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. . . . It is from the Scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force and that actions and signs derive their meaning” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 24, emphasis added).
Knowing these scriptural references enables us to enter more fully into the Mass for, as Pope John Paul II taught, “Through these signs the mystery in some way opens up before the eyes of the believer” (Mane Nobiscum Domine, No. 14).
Father Stice is the director of the Worship and Liturgy Office. He may be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.
