One of my favorite prayers in the Mass occurs as the priest finishes preparing the altar:
Pray, brethren,
that my sacrifice and yours
may be acceptable to God,
the almighty Father.
It’s easy to overlook this part of the Mass; it’s at the transition point between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Sometimes it’s obscured as the congregation stands up. (As a parent, I’m often wrastlin’ with a squirmy toddler at this point!) But it’s a crucial moment in the liturgy that bears reflection.
With this prayer the priest invites us to offer our sacrifices alongside the bread and wine which will become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. When we hear this prayer we should ask ourselves: what joys, sorrows, works of mercy, and prayers from the last week do I have to spiritually offer on the altar? What are my gifts to give back to the Lord at this Mass?
We can offer these sacrifices because we have been baptized into the priesthood of Jesus. This “priesthood of the faithful,” as the Second Vatican Council calls it, differs in kind from the ordained priesthood but is no less real. Through it we have the ability, like the priests of the Old Testament, to offer our prayers and sacrifices to God.
This is part of what Jesus means when he says that we are to worship “in spirit and truth” (cf. John 4:21-24). In the Old Testament the Israelites worshiped at the temple by offering sheep, oxen, and doves. Today we offer our spiritual sacrifices through the work of our lives. The parent who stays up with a sick child; the neighbor who helps cut the grass of the elderly in the community; the cloistered sister who prays day and night for the world; the boss who offers encouragement instead of condemnation when an employee makes a mistake. All of them are doing God’s will and rightly offer these works on the altar as the sacrifice of their lives.
The next time you’re at Mass, pay attention to this prayer. Take a moment to reflect on the past week and identify how you have cooperated with God’s will and made a sacrifice of your life, no matter how small it may seem. Offer those sacrifices on the altar and pray that, through the grace you receive in the Mass, you will be emboldened to greater works of sacrifice and holiness.
