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The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple

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In the Offertory, the priest asked the Lord to accept the bread and wine as a token of the gift of our persons. Now, the Consecration has taken place, and the bread and wine are no longer there; they have been changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This Christ we offer to God.

In this memorial, the Church -- and in particular we, here and now assembled -- offers the spotless Victim to the Father in the Holy Spirit.[1] The Church, through the priest, addresses herself to God the Father,

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The Roman Canon formulates the oblation or offering with words that echo the biblical sacrifices:

Look with favor on these offerings

and accept them as once you accepted

the gifts of your servant Abel,

the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith,

Bowing, with hands joined, the priest continues:

Almighty God,

we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice

to your altar in heaven.

Then, as we receive from this altar

the sacred body and blood of your Son,

He stands up straight and makes the sign of the cross, saying,

let us be filled with every grace and blessing.

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We read in the Bible how Abel the Just offered God "the first-born of his flock" and how "God looked with favor on Abel and his offering" (Gen 4:4). Abel's offering came from a clean and sincere heart. Unfortunately, his brother Cain could not stand his attitude and thus slew him. Our thoughts go to Jesus, the real Just Man, put to death on the Cross by his brothers out of hatred.

God was also well pleased with the sacrifice offered by Melchisedech, king of Jerusalem. He made a sudden and mysterious appearance to offer bread and wine to God Most High and to bless Abraham (Gen 14:17‑20). The Church has always recognized in this sacrifice a figure of Christ's sacrifice (see Heb 7).

We ask God to look favorably on this sacrifice and to accept it as he did the sacrifice of the patriarchs mentioned in the Roman Canon. But we actually offer much more than Melchisedech's symbolic offerings to God. Ours is a holy sacrifice, the purest of all victims, and one of much greater value. God will accept it because it is Christ's.

While we participate in the Mass, we think of a third sacrifice: that of Abraham. It was the most difficult and painful (Gen 22:1‑19). "Take your son," God told Abraham, "your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt offering." Rising early in the morning, Abraham loaded his donkey with the firewood to be used for the burnt offering and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. Upon reaching the place, Abraham took the wood, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together. Isaac spoke to Abraham, "Father, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "My son, God himself will provide the lamb."

When they arrived at the place God had pointed out to him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and seized his knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven, "Abraham, do not harm the boy. God knows you have not refused your son, your only son." Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. He took it and offered it in place of his son.

God's command was a severe test of Abraham's obedience and also of his faith. Abraham was justified and blessed by God. Another day, a different son, the Son of God no less, will offer himself on the cross, and he will not be spared. From his death we all receive life everlasting as we join his oblation.

However, a note of doubt comes when we focus on the human side of our personal offering which is added to Christ's and is incorporated into it. The Victim offered is infinitely holy, but what about the hands that proffer it? We will be more or less pleasing to God, depending on whether we are saints or mediocrities. It is by our correspondence to his grace through personal struggle that we humbly attract God's merciful gaze. We ask him to give us his grace to foster in ourselves those dispositions that he wants to find in each of us.

Notice the priest's attitude. He bows low, for his petition is bold. The same petition is repeated at the end of the oblation, for the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice on our own souls depends on our dispositions and perseverance. In this prayer, God's adoration on earth is united to that in heaven. It is a reminder that what we celebrate here in signs will find its fulfillment in heaven, our true homeland. We ask God to receive our sacrifice and to inspire us with fitting sentiments so that our participation through Communion may be fruitful.

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In the Second, Third, and Fourth Eucharistic Prayers we ask the help of the Holy Spirit to gather all who share this one bread and one cup, so that we may become one body with Christ, a living sacrifice of praise:

Look with favor on your Church's offering,

The Church's intention is that the faithful not only offer this Victim but also learn to offer themselves and so to surrender themselves, through Christ the Mediator, to an ever more complete union with the Father and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all.[4]

1. See GIRM, no. 55f.

2. Eucharistic Prayer IV.

3. Eucharistic Prayer III.

4. GIRM, no. 55f; see also SC, no. 48.

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