The Mass: Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Blessing of Bread and Wine

When the bread and wine are placed on the altar, the Prayers of Blessing are said over our offerings of bread and wine. These echo traditional Jewish prayers for blessing bread and wine. They praise and thank God for His goodness in providing bread and wine - and acknowledge that human beings worked in partnership with God to bring these things to our table.

Our offering of bread and wine speaks even more deeply of our offering of ourselves. At the end of this time, we say “May the Lord accept this sacrifice” ... by which we mean ourselves too. This is explained in the Vatican II document: Lumen Gentium

“Christ gives the (the laity) a share in His own priesthood so that they can offer spiritual sacrifices for God’s glory and the salvation of men and women. These spiritual sacrifices lie in their work, their prayer, their apostolate, their family life and leisure, if these are carried out in the Spirit. Then they can fittingly be offered in the Mass, joined to Christ’s own offering.”

Grail

Take Time Out

In some churches, people put their own altar bread in the bowl in readiness for the procession and offering of gifts.

If you do this, what is it a sign of - what are the spiritual sacrifices that are offering?

If your parish does not do this - and even if they do - use the prayer “May the Lord, accept this sacrifice...” to offer the spiritual sacrifices of your life.