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The Holy Family of Nazareth

After Communion, the priest returns to the altar and collects any remaining particles. Then, standing at the side of the altar or at a side table, he purifies the paten or ciborium over the chalice, and then the chalice itself. In silence he prays:

The vessels are then taken to a side table by a server. It is also permitted, especially if there are several vessels to be purified, to leave them, properly covered and on a corporal, either at the altar or at a side table and to purify them after the Mass.

Afterwards, the priest and the people may spend some time in silent prayer. If desired, a hymn, psalm, or some other song of praise may be sung by the entire congregation.[1]

* * *

On some days, during this period of silent prayer, we will find it easy to tell our Lord how much we love him. At other times, however, we will feel as if God is hiding from us. In such moments, we will have to advance like blind men feeling their way, like little children learning to walk. Sometimes, it will be our own fault, even though our mistakes may seem to us to be nothing at all. Our pride then leads us to justify what has no justification. Perhaps the things we have thought, said, or done are grave faults, all the graver the closer we are to God. Perhaps, we may have lacked charity, and have forgotten that to hurt one of God's children is to hurt God himself.[2]

* * *

Then, standing at the altar or at the chair and facing the people, the priest, with hands outstretched, says, "Let us pray." There may be a brief period of silence, unless this has been already observed immediately after Communion. The priest recites the Prayer after Communion, at the end of which the people respond, "Amen."[3]

The greeting is now made real in its highest sense: The Lord is with us, with those who have received Communion.

* * *

In the Prayers after Communion, we find, once again, the characteristic features of the Roman Collects: a restrained style and an unobtrusive and quietly lyrical quality. They are often very well composed, indeed, and from them a theology of the effects of the Eucharist can be compiled: graces for the soul, an increase in the theological virtues, and in the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit; a remedy for the body; the unity of the Mystical Body; and eternal life. The expressions used ("bread of life," "life‑giving food," "spiritual food," etc.) state formally the doctrine of the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist.[4] Consider these examples:

We have been nourished with the "bread of life", the food which is the source of our fortitude. This virtue of fortitude enables us to sustain the daily combat against our passions and weaknesses.

According to the teachings of St Thomas, the virtue of fortitude is found in the man,

The virtue of fortitude goes hand in hand with the capacity of sacrificing oneself. This virtue had already a well-defined contour among the ancients. With Christ it acquired an evangelical Christian contour. The Gospel is addressed to weak, poor, meek and humble men, peacemakers and to the merciful, but, at the same time, it contains a constant appeal to fortitude. The Gospel often repeats: "Fear not" (Mt 14:27). It teaches man that, for a just cause, for truth, for justice, one must be able to "lay down one's life" (Jn 15:13).

Allow me to draw your attention to examples that are generally not well known, but which bear witness in themselves to great, sometimes even heroic, virtue. I am thinking, for example, of a woman, already mother of a large family, who is "advised" by so many to suppress a new life conceived in her womb, by undergoing "the operation" of interruption of pregnancy; and she replies firmly: "no." She certainly feels all the difficulty that this "no" brings with it, difficulty for herself, for her husband, for the whole family, and yet she replies "no." The new human life conceived in her is a value too great, too "sacred," for her to be able to give in to such pressure.

Another example: a man who is promised freedom and also an easy career provided he denies his own principles, or approves of something that is against his sense of honesty toward others. And he, too, replies "no," though faced by threats on the one side, and attractions on the other. Here we have a courageous man!

Let us pray for this gift of the Holy Spirit, which is called the "gift of fortitude." When a man lacks the strength to "transcend" himself, in view of higher values, such as truth, justice, vocation, faithfulness in marriage, this "gift from above" must make each of us a strong man and, at the right moment, say to us "deep down": Courage! [10]

We can profit a lot from the Prayers over the Gifts by using them as inspiration for personal reflection during the course of the day.

When it seems fitting, some brief concluding words can be addressed after the Prayer after Communion. [11]

1. GIRM, no. 56j.

2. Bernard Vasconcelos, Your Mass, p. 130.

3. GIRM, no. 122.

4. F. Amiot, History of the Mass (New York: Hawthorn, 1959), p. 129.

5. Saturday, fourth week of Lent.

6. Friday, fourth week of Lent.

7. Saturday after Ash Wednesday.

8. Masses for Various Occasions and Needs; for Any Need, B.

9. Thursday, second week of Lent.

10. John Paul II, Courage! (Address on the General Audience of November 15, 1978).

11. GIRM, 123.

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