The Mass is a sacrifice: the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the entire Church. With the Offertory properly begins the Mass of the Faithful, that is, the sacrificial part of the celebration. After the profession of faith expressed in the Creed, the Church passes from doctrinal assent to the offering, from believing to offering. This chapter of Claves — IRP introduces the historical and theological meaning of the Offertory, before dwelling, in the following ones, on the concrete gestures and prayers that accompany it.
The Offertory from the Origins of the Mass
Although some prayers of the Offertory as we know them today are relatively late—they develop especially from the ninth century onward—the Offertory exists from the very origins of the Mass. Already in the early times of the Church, the faithful brought to the altar the bread and wine intended for the sacrifice. These gifts were separated, set apart, with a view to becoming the Body and Blood of Christ through the words of consecration.
The Fathers of the Church, such as St. Clement of Rome or St. Justin, already speak of this offering of the faithful. For this reason, the bread and wine receive the name of oblatas: realities offered to be consecrated. After a prayer of intercession, the priest pronounced the oratio super oblata, the prayer over the offerings, which survives to this day under the name of Secret.
From the Material Offering to Sacrificial Participation
With the generalization of the use of unleavened bread in the celebration of the Mass, the faithful stopped bringing the oblatas directly to the altar. However, their participation in the sacrifice did not disappear, but was expressed in another way: the collection, which takes place precisely during the Offertory. According to some historians, even the shape of the small hosts recalls the coins offered by the faithful, underscoring the link between the material offering and the Eucharistic sacrifice.
In the solemn Mass, an echo of the ancient Offertory procession still survives, when the subdeacon approaches the altar carrying the hosts in the sacred vessels. In this way, the liturgy preserves, even in its details, the living memory of its origins.
A Liturgical Development Linked to the Doctrine of Sacrifice
The gestures of the Offertory were initially silent and only later accompanied by the prayers we know today, recited in a low voice by the priest. This evolution culminates around the year 1000, making the Offertory the last major part of the Mass to reach its current form. This development is not the fruit of chance. Just as the Gloria and the Creed were progressively integrated into the liturgy to affirm the faith against heresies, the enrichment of the Offertory accompanies a profound development of the theology of sacrifice.
The Mass, the catechism teaches, is the unbloody re-presentation of the sacrifice of the Cross. By attending the Mass, time folds back: the two thousand years that separate us from Calvary are abolished. Christ offers himself today to save this instant of history, so that the overflowing love of the Cross may reach all times and all places.
The Sacrifice of Christ and the Ministry of the Priest
The Mass is, above all, the sacrifice of Christ. He is the principal priest who acts really. The ordained priest is nothing more than his minister, his visible instrument. For this reason, it is said that he acts in persona Christi, lending his voice to Christ so that it is He who offers his sacrifice to the Father.
This sacrifice becomes present in a precise way at the moment of the consecration, when, through the words of the priest, the sacramental separation of the Body and Blood of Christ takes place, image and re-presentation of the real separation of Calvary, when the Lord shed his Blood for our salvation. Only the ordained priest can perform this act, in accordance with Christ’s command to the Apostles: «Do this in memory of me».
The Sacrifice of the Church: Offering Oneself with Christ
But the Mass is not only the sacrifice of Christ: it is also the sacrifice of the entire Church. All the baptized, incorporated into the mystical Body of Christ, are called to offer themselves with Him. Without being able to pronounce the words of consecration, they nevertheless participate in the sacrifice through what the tradition calls the common priesthood of the faithful. This is clearly expressed when, at the end of the Offertory, the priest turns to the people and says: Orate, fratres, inviting them to pray that his sacrifice, which is also that of the faithful, may be acceptable to God the Father almighty.
The Profound Meaning of Sacrifice
To understand this participation, it is necessary to recover the true meaning of sacrifice. Today, the word “sacrifice” is easily associated with pain or suffering. However, in its original sense, sacrifice is the supreme act of the virtue of religion: the acknowledgment of God as Creator and Father, and of our total dependence on Him. Man offers himself through a visible sign, a created reality that represents him.
The ends of sacrifice are adoration, thanksgiving, petition and, after sin, reparation. Even before original sin, Adam and Eve were called to offer a sacrifice of adoration and communion. But sin broke this relationship: by rejecting his dependence on God, man became incapable of offering a truly acceptable sacrifice on his own.
The Response of the Cross and the Meaning of the Offertory
Here lies the drama of original sin and the divine response: the Cross. By offering himself to the Father, Christ accomplishes the only fully acceptable sacrifice from original sin until the end of the world. But his intention is not to replace man, but to restore to him the possibility of offering. This is realized in the Mass.
In the Offertory, the faithful symbolically offer their entire life—work, joys, sufferings, hopes—represented by the bread and wine. This offering, poor in itself, is assumed by Christ. When the bread becomes his Body and the wine his Blood, the offering of the faithful is transformed into the one sacrifice of the Son, acceptable to the Father. There are no longer two sacrifices, but only one: that of Christ, which arises from our offering.
Like the drop of water that mixes with the wine in the chalice, our offering disappears to subsist in his. And thus, the grace of the Father descends abundantly upon us, especially in the Eucharistic Communion, which saves us.