Final Catechesis from our parish

Here is the final bit of catechesis we did at Mass last Sunday. Feel free to use it as you wish. As people use the text new questions may arise. After all, we can prepare for something but in the experience different questions come forward and we would like some follow up. Why not ask your parish leadership groups to reflect on the new translation after it has been used for a couple of weeks. Is there additional catechesis that would be helpful?

Next week we begin using our new translation of the prayers for Mass. We have been reflecting on the changes over the past few months. This week we would like to conclude these reflections with a few words on the changes to the Introduction to Communion. The priest will introduce Communion with the invitation, “Behold the Lamb of God, Behold him who take away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.” The most significant change here comes in the invitation to “the Supper of the Lamb” instead of “his Supper.” The new terminology reminds us that what we gather to celebrate is both rooted in history as we fulfill the Lord’s command at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me” and is a foretaste of what is to come. The Book of Revelation speaks of the Supper of the Lamb as the Banquet at which the faithful will gather at the end of time. So our Eucharist in the present both reflects the Last Supper and the future banquet. All time is united in the Mass.
Your response will become, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” This response is based in the response of a Biblical story in which a centurion asks Jesus to cure his servant. When Jesus tells the centurion that he will come and do so the centurion responds that he is not worthy that Jesus should come to his house but that he has confidence that whatever Jesus asks of God will be done. This simple statement of faith by a pagan is a powerful indication of where we place our trust. It is a fitting way for those of us who believe to prepare ourselves to receive our Lord and Savior under the forms of bread and wine.
Finally, a word about the new response, “And with your spirit” which will replace, “And also with you.” Narsai of Nisibis tells us that this does not refer to the soul of the priest but to the Spirit which he received in ordination. It is by virtue of this ordination that we are given the power to preside at the Mass and, through the power of the Spirit, transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. So the response is an acknowledgement of the special function of the priest as celebrant when we gather to worship.