OFFERTORY (continued)
(Taken from Notes Made at the Conferences of Dom Prosper Guéranger).
The Water and Wine being mingled in the Chalice, the Priest offers this Chalice to God saying these words: Offerimus tibi, Domine, Calicem salutaris, tuam deprecantes clementiam, ut in conspectu Divinae majestatis tuae, pro nostra et totius mundi salute, cum odore suavitatis ascendat. Amen. We offer to Thee, O Lord, the Chalice of Salvation, invoking Thy clemency, that it may ascend as an odour of sweet fragrance, before Thy Divine Majesty, for our salvation and that of the whole world. Amen.
In this prayer, Holy Church is thinking, in advance, of that which this Chalice is to be come. As yet it holds only Wine; but, later on, there will remain of this Wine only the accidents, the species or appearances; the Substance will give place to the very Blood of Our Lord Himself. Holy Church, therefore, prays God to vouchsafe to look beyond that which she is actually offering to Him at this moment - and she begs that this Chalice may be in His sight as an odour of sweetness, that is to say, that it may be agreeable to His Divine Majesty, so as to operate the salvation of us all.
The Prayer of the Offertory being ended, the Priest places the Chalice on the Corporal, making the sign of the Cross with the Paten, first of all, on the spot whereon it is to stand, in order, thereby, to show, yet once again, that this Sacrifice is truly that of the Cross. In the Latin Church, the Bread is placed on the Altar in front of the Priest, the Chalice between the Bread and the Altar-cross: thus, the two offerings are in a line, one in front of the other. The Greeks, on the contrary, place them one beside the other, in a parallel line, the Host to the left, the Chalice to the right. The Chalice once placed on the Corporal is again covered with the Pall. The Pall is a linen cloth, stiffened so as to give it a certain degree of consistence, and which is placed on the Chalice to prevent anything falling into it, specially after consecration. Formerly, the Pall was not used, the Corporal being then large enough to be drawn up over the Chalice. This custom is still observed by the Carthusians. Convenience and economy led to the adoption of the Pall; but in order to show that it is really no other than a part of the Corporal itself, the Pall is treated with the very same degree of dignity. The blessing which it receives puts it in a rank apart from such common things as may be handled by anyone; and what shows further that it is one and the same with the Corporal, is that the same form of blessing is used for both. At Rome, the Pall is made of two pieces of linen sewn together and starched. In our countries it is more usual to put thin cardboard between the two pieces of linen. |