(The Nationalist, 31 January 2003)
At every Mass, the priest takes in his hands a piece of bread, and, through the act of consecration, by God’s power, changes it to become the Body and Blood of Christ. This act makes the presence of Christ real.
But before that can happen, other things must take place first. The bread has to be baked. And the baker needs flour. The flour is provided by the miller through his work. But the miller in turn needs the farmer to grow the wheat. And the farmer needs seed, soil, air, water and warmth to grow the wheat. I suppose I could add the postman who comes in later by delivering the baked altar breads to the church for use at Mass.
There is a chain of work in the process. The day-to-day work of the farmer, the miller, the baker and the postman each has its necessary part to play in preparing what is needed for Mass. Without them there could be no Eucharist. Their daily effort is part of what is offered at Mass, and this is expressed in a prayer that the priest says: ‘Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life’.
That prayer and a similar one over the wine which follows a little later were inserted into the Mass on the instruction of the late Pope Paul VI when its text was being revised. He saw those prayers as a way of expressing the idea that all human work can be offered to God. Work is a form of service to our fellow human beings, and it is our way of helping to bringing to completeness God’s work of creation. Through it we become, in a sense, co-creators with God.
Something like this was already said by Saint Paul. He wrote, ‘Whatever you do, whether in word or in work, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus’. (Colossians 3.17)
The cooperative work of the different partners in this work is an example of something else also, one of human interdependence. We humans need each other. We were never meant to be Lone Rangers; humanity is not a DIY enterprise. And when we work together we are the stronger and the better for it.
There’s a lot of meaning in a short action and prayer.