Archdiocese of Palo

ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY PARISH

Tanauan, Leyte

Jesus Unites Us in the Table of the

Eucharist

MODULE 3

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WALKING TOGETHER THROUGH THE MASS

MODULE 3 Jesus Unites Us in the Table of

the Eucharist
Preparation of the Gifts

Soon after the

Prayers of the
Faithful, the priest
collects the
contribution and
sacrifices of the
people. The
priest prays that
these be
transformed into
the gift of Jesus.

The Offertory
In the Offertory, we offer something for the poor and the needs of
the parish. They can be in form of material gifts like fruits from the
garden or money. In silence, we also bring to God our concerns
and worries in life. We, too, offer our hopes for a better world.
With bread and wine, the offerings are brought to the altar in the
procession as the symbol of our being part of the sacrifice of
Jesus.
The priest places the bread and wine on the table. He washes his
hands with water. This is a symbol of purifying himself as a
preparation for the sacrifice of Jesus at the altar. He
then mixes water with the wine. This act tells us that
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Christ’s – being God and a person like us. This helps us think of
the Last Supper.
The priest makes a bow before the altar. He prays that the gifts
become offerings that are pleasing to God. The priest invites us
to pray over the sacrifice in these words:

May the Lord accept the

sacrifice at your hands for
the praise and glory of his
name, for our good and the
good of all his holy Church.
We respond “Amen” to the
Prayer Over the Gifts.

In silent prayer, we offer to God ourselves. We join the sacrifice

of Jesus. We pray that we may become new persons. We entrust
all that we are and everything we offer to the priest. The priest
takes all our prayers before God

The Eucharistic Prayer

The Eucharistic prayer is the most important part of the Mass. It
is the heart of what we
believe in Christ. It recalls
the wonderful things God
has done for us - our love
story with God.

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The main part of that story is the Last Supper- the night before
Jesus died. Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection come alive
again. The long prayer is all about thanksgiving. This is why this
sacrament can be called the Eucharist. Eucharist means
thanksgiving.
The Eucharist has other names: The Lord’s Supper, The Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, and The Memorial of Jesus’s Resurrection
Who is the center of the celebration?
Jesus gave himself to us in the form of Bread and Wine.
Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins (Paschal
Mystery)
Jesus became the food of our spirit in the Holy Eucharist.
Jesus gave us the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist during
the Last Supper

The prayer begins with a dialogue between the priest and the people.
The priest greets us again:
“The Lord be with you

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The Priest asks if we are ready and willing to approach the table
and offer ourselves to God with these words:
“Lift up your hearts.”
And we say that we are prepared to do so:
“We lift them up to the Lord.”
We are invited to give thanks to the Lord our God.
And we respond:
“It is right and just.”

Preface and Acclamation.

The priest prays to prepare us to come before the face of
God.
How wonderful God has been to us! So, we cannot hold back our
joy and sing aloud:
What a God we have!” or we acclaim:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of

hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your
glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
This prayer of praise reminds us
of the Story when Jesus Enters
Jerusalem before his death.

Mark 11:1–11

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After the singing of the Sanctus, we kneel for the rest of the
Eucharistic Prayer.

Institution Narrative: Consecration.

The priest continues the prayer, giving praise and thanks to
God. He calls upon the Holy Spirit to change our gifts of bread
and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. He recalls the events
of the Last Supper—in these words:
TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU,
AND EAT IT, FOR THIS IS
MY BODY, WHICH WILL
BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.
TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU,
AND DRINK FROM IT,
FOR THIS IS THE
CHALICE OF MY BLOOD,
THE BLOOD OF THE NEW
AND ETERNAL
COVENANT,
WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY
FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS DO THIS IN MEMORY OF
ME
The priest retells the story of the Last Supper. The priest does not
imitate Jesus. The priest acts like Jesus himself. With the words
of Jesus spoken by the priest, we join the sacrifice of Jesus on
the cross at Mount Calvary. The priest prays to the Father on our
behalf. Jesus offers himself to the father in the form of bread and
wine.

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How is The Body and Blood of Jesus transformed?
The bread and wine at consecration become the real body and
blood of Christ. With the action of the Holy Spirit, the bread and
wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus. This
magnificent act is called “Transubstantiation”.

How are we transformed with Jesus?

God is so good to us.
We have nothing to
offer to the Father
except who we are.
With Jesus, we also
offer all that we are to
the Father in response
to his great love for
us. What we offer to
the Father comes
back to us in form of
gifts - goodness,
peace, joy, and
happiness. The
Eucharist can also
change us as the bread and wine turn into Christ’s body and
blood. The Holy Spirit can fill us with good things of Jesus’s
sacrifice for us. The fruit of the Holy Spirit brings us all together
into the one family of God – the body of Christ.
Soon after the words of consecration, the priest leads us to
proclaim the mystery of faith.
Our experience of Jesus at this point of the Mass is very
powerful. We sing out altogether, not alone, who Jesus is for us –
in the past, today, and future toward our heavenly home. God
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loves us. He died for each one of us. Words are not enough to tell
the wonders he has done for us- like the one body of Christ
We may use any of these acclamations of Jesus:

We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your

Resurrection until you come again.

When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim

your Death, O Lord, until you come again

Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and

Resurrection you have set us free
To end the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest raises above the altar
table the consecrated bread and wine. He alone prays in full,
giving glory to the Holy Trinity – the doxology

“Through him, and with him, and in him,

O God, almighty
Father,
in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, all glory and
honor are yours, forever
and ever.” Then all we say,
AMEN.
We call this the GREAT AMEN. Here we say a BIG YES to all
that had been said and done in the entire celebration of the
Eucharist is TRUE.

The Communion Rite

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Our Father and Sign of Peace
As we get ready to eat and drink at the Lord’s Table, we pray the
prayer that Jesus taught us:
In OUR FATHER, we pray
We pray in the words of Jesus. “Give
us this day our daily bread, and forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us.” Give us
today our daily bread and forgive us
our sins as we forgive those who
trespass against us….
Jesus tells us that we can come to
Father We ask God to provide us for
our needs. We also ask you to forgive
our sins. As God forgives our sins, we
ask him to help us forgive others.

Rite of Peace:
We pray to God who is our Lord and king. Prayer is the time we
can be who we are before God. We can tell God anything and
everything. God wants us to spend time with him in prayer.
Prayer makes our faith strong, we know that everything depends
on God. God alone satisfies all kinds of hunger. The Eucharist is
the food of the spirit. It binds us closer to God
In prayer, we ask God to bring us the joy
of heaven and the peace of Christ. We
cannot be one with God if we are not
united with one another. We make a
gesture of union and forgiveness with
those around us
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We know now that the Holy Spirit helps change the bread and
wine into the body of Christ. The fruit of this great action is peace.
Peace comes from the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Having
been forgiven by God and one another, we now share the signed
peace.
Jesus gives his peace to the Apostles as we see in the Story of
Jesus’ appearance after his resurrection (The Promise of the
Holy Spirit -John 14:15-31)

Invitation to Communion.
The priest shows us the Body of Christ and invites us to
come to the table:
“Behold the Lamb of God…
Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”

We now
approach the
altar in
procession.
During the
procession, we
are one in
minds and
thoughts in
song. We are
united with
Christ and with
one another. When we were baptized we became members of
the Body of Christ. As we receive the same baptism, the
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Eucharist feeds our souls from the same table of the Lord. The
Eucharist makes us fully part of one another in the One Body of
Christ.

Communion.
We approach the priest
who gives us the Eucharistic
bread with the words
“The Body of Christ,”
and we respond,
“Amen.”
Sometimes we may also
receive the blood of Christ with a priest saying the words
“The Blood of Christ,”
we respond again “Amen.”

Then we pray in silence after

receiving Jesus in the Holy
communion. We spend a few
minutes closely united with Jesus.
Then we thank and praise God for
being with us in a special way. We
ask God for all the blessings that
the Eucharist brings to us.

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 ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES
Learning Songs
Offertory songs
Communion Song
Lamb of God

Learning prayers
Our Father
Glory Be
Hail Mary

Naming things used on the Altar

Sacred Vessels

Bible Stories
Mark 11:1–11 Jesus Entry to Jerusalem
Matthew 26:17–29Last Supper

Writing Letters

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Thank you letter to Jesus for the gift of the Eucharist
A Letter of petition to the Holy Spirit for the gift of newness

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