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To: gbcdoj; ultima ratio
The 1970 Missal has the "In spiritu humilitatis" and the "Orate fratres", which both express the sacrificial nature of the Mass. Admittedly, there is no prayer as exact as the "Suscipe sancta", but this is made up for by the Canon which clearly shows that the "sacrifice" referred to is that of Christ.

Really, who cares what the offertory says or if there is even a significant offertory at all?

There certainly wasn't one worth writing home about for the first 1000 years of the Roman Rite, since the offertory in the early liturgical books was nothing more than the Offertory Procession, Chant and Secret.

I certainly like the Tridentine Offertory prayers, but it is hardly an essential of the Mass, unlike the Canon. No reason to get hung up on such minor details and nuances.

591 posted on 07/18/2004 2:49:52 PM PDT by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: Hermann the Cherusker

You know, this is the same argument used by Martin Luther in his attempt to return to what he believed was a more primitive rite. The first thing he did was dump the Offertory. He hated the concept of liturgical sacrifice.

Your claim that there wasn't an Offertory the first thousand years, moreover, is pointless. First of all, we don't know this. The only proof for what you claim is the fragment by Justin Martyr--and there is no evidence that liturgy was typical. On the other hand, there's loads and loads of proof the liturgy was intended from the outset as a sacrifice. Not only this, but it is also evident that the Church saw a need to spell things out more fully as the ages wore on and as the actual experience of the Crucifixion of Christ became a dimmer and dimmer memory. There is no reason at all to accept that the more primitive rite is somehow superior to what had evolved under the aegis of the Holy Spirit.

Besides, it's known that the sacrificial structure of the Mass appeared early in the Church and had been patterned after the Jewish sacrifices of the Temple--which obviously antedated even Justin Martyr. This structure would have included an Offertory (oblation), a Consecration (immolation), and a Communion (consummation). What is most important about a proper Offertory is that it sets the stage for what follows and makes clear what's happening--a propitiatory sacrifice of a Victim, Jesus, offered to the Father in expiation for our sins.

The Novus Ordo, on the other hand, only offers bread and wine to the Father in a before-meal blessing, and says nothing whatsoever about propitiation. In fact, it does just the opposite. It offers the bread which will become "the Bread of life" for us and then the wine which will become "our spiritual drink." In other words--the focus is primarily on ourselves, not on the Victim offered to the Father.


607 posted on 07/18/2004 7:48:31 PM PDT by ultima ratio
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