Weekend Reflections for 11/7/14

Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, O God almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is Yours, forever and ever.

The above words, known as the Doxology are the conclusion to every Eucharistic Prayer.  They sum up what is taking place at Mass: we, the People of God, are giving God the Father all honor and glory.  The Mass is not a prayer to Jesus but rather to the Father.

We give all honor and glory to the Father by offering Him a gift: the gift of His Son, Jesus.  However, we offer the gift through, with, and in Jesus.  Each of these three prepositions- through, with and in is important; Each is saying something different. 

First, through Him: we make our gift, as we make every prayer, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  We do it by means of his life, death, and resurrection, even though we were not present at the time.  Second, with Him: now we are right beside Jesus; we are cooperating with Him in the making of our gift of Him to the Father; we are yoked to Him.  Third, in Him: we now move to much greater depth in our making of the gift; we are in Him.  The only metaphor I can think of that even approximates this closeness to Jesus is the closeness of the fetus in the womb of the mother; the infant in the womb, through a separate human being, shares the life-giving blood and oxygen of the mother.  We are in Christ, members of His Body in a union so intimate that we cannot make a gift of Him without, at the same time, making a gift of ourselves.

Making that gift of Jesus and of ourselves, we give all honor and glory to God the Father.