A Special Moment in the Mass

One of the first times I was at Mass at Gethsemani, I was struck by a particular part of the Mass.

All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Priest: Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
All: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

This portion of the Mass occurs during the Communion Rite itself. As the Church moves closer to receiving the body and blood of Christ, we pray the words of the Lord's Prayer together. Then the priest prays this beautiful prayer:

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I love that prayer. It strikes close to home for me. It speaks to me every single time I hear it. It's a prayer worth wrestling with. I find it interesting that it asks the Lord to grant us peace and to protect us from all anxiety as we wait for Jesus to return. Let me tell you, when the priest utters that prayer, I pray it as hard as I can. I mouth those words. As I walk down front and receive the bread and wine, I'm reminded again that He is the one who brings healing. I take Him inside of me and pray that I may be able to rest in His peace.

Pax.

Comments

[+ Alan]

I love that little prayer too. I always pray it along with the Priest. I probably like it for part of the same reason you do - that "anxiety" part - I try to ask Him to protect me from that. Little things sometimes, you know.

[Bryan]

Alan,

Ya know, we have a lot in common. Unfortunately this anxiety thing seems to be one of things we share. Hopefully, not forever, though.

Pax.

[beisasse]

it's good to hear that some prayers which irritate me are meaningful for others. liturgy is for all of us, not just for me.

[Brandon]

This is a irksome point in the Australian Anglican eucharistic liturgy for me. I won't find this in there at all unless I go to a high-church Anglo-Catholic parish which uses the Anglican Missal and thus has a variant of the RC Missal as its service book.

I find that whenever I'm at the Roman Catholic St. Stephen's Cathedral for Mass, I too find myself praying along with the priest as he prays those words for all who are present at Mass. It's a beautiful prayer that comes at the right point during the "Pater noster" for me.

+ Pax