Sunday in the Fourth Week of Lent

We slow down at the offertory and see why it is not a filler moment but a real invitation to offer our whole selves with Christ. We reflect on baptismal priesthood, active participation in the liturgy, and the personal intentions we bring to the altar alongside bread and wine.
• the offertory as a moment of preparation rather than waiting
• bringing personal Mass intentions alongside the priest’s intention
• active participation as conscious, prayerful collaboration in the rites
• baptism as the source of our shared priesthood and duty to engage
• offering ourselves with Christ, not only the gifts of bread and wine
• how our hearts and prayers are meant to be transformed through the Mass
• questions for self-examination about duty, sacrifice, and intention
If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith this land, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our Lenten Reflection booklet, now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.

Transcript

Why The Offertory Matters

Active Participation And Baptismal Priesthood

Offering Yourself With Christ

Self-Examination And Personal Intentions

Closing Prayer And How To Go Deeper

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Sunday, in the fourth week of Lent. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the remission of my sins, for the intentions of my family and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. But this too takes some preparation, and we can therefore take a moment to examine the offertory. After the intercessions on a Sunday, the priest and ministers go to the altar to prepare the sacrifice. Bread and wine are brought forth to be offered to God. These cannot be the only things offered, however. This is another moment for you to exercise your baptismal priesthood and to pray for all of your own intentions and desires. Yes, you can and should have your own mass intentions, distinct from those of the priest. What the church says of the liturgy as a whole applies, therefore, in a specific way to the offertory. Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people, is their right and duty by reason of their baptism. The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ's faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators. On the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers, they should take part in the sacred actions, conscious of what they are doing, with devotion and full collaboration. They should be instructed by God's word and be nourished at the table of the Lord's body. They should give thanks to God by offering the immaculate victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him. They should learn also to offer themselves through Christ the mediator. They should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all. At this moment, then, we are not only offering the bread and wine alone, that which will become the Eucharist. We are also offering ourselves. We are giving ourselves to God to be sacrificed with Christ. This means that the offertory is not simply a quiet moment in which we wait for the priest to get on with it. It is rather a time when we are to offer our hearts to die and rise with Christ. And much like the bread that is given to God and later received in a much more glorious state, that of the body and blood of Christ. So too our offerings, our hearts, our prayers, and our very selves are transformed by the prayers of Mass, and in a sense we receive ourselves back at communion time, along with Jesus, in a much more glorious state. Please, Lord, make it so. Do you offer yourself at Mass? Are you at Mass only to fulfill a duty or to be sacrificed with Christ? Do you have your own personal intentions for which you pray at Mass? All that I have, and all that I am, I give to your hands, Jesus, through the heart of Mary, your blessed mother. Amen. Pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith this land, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our Lenten Reflection booklet, now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.