A Look at the Mass: The Offertory Procession

The Mass began with a procession and will end with one. To highlight the importance of the Gospel reading, the Book of the Gospels is taken in solemn procession to the place it will be read from. It is only fitting, then, this shift in the focus of the Mass from Word to Altar should be accompanied by a procession. In fact, this procession is the most ancient and notable of the processions in the course of the Mass. This may be accounted for because this procession served a twofold purpose - practically to provide the matter requisite for the celebration of the Eucharist and spiritually to show the union of the Faithful with the priest in the offering of the Sacrifice.

In the early Church, the offering here by the people was of the actual matter of the bread and wine used for the Sacrifice. Jungmann points out that this was to emphasize the "earthly origins," of what would become the Body and Blood of Christ, for here we can see a reference to the Incarnation. He Who was purely spiritual, deigned to take on a human nature and become man, and consequently corporeal. In the Eucharist, that which is purely corporeal is given a spiritual Nature by becoming God, truly present!

But there is also emphasis to be made on the Sacrifice being offered on behalf of the people. Here we may see the bread and wine as symbolizing the prayers the Faithful present, to be united with the Sacrifice of Christ, which the very bread and wine will become. Within this understanding, we see the greatest unity between the Faithful and the Sacred Ministers. The priest is offering all of the prayers of the people, some of which were just formulated in the General Intercessions, to God the Father, through the Sacrifice of the Son on the Cross, in the Holy Spirit!

The foregoing is a reason there can never be such a thing as a "private Mass," for the priest is always praying for the prayers of the Universal Church, and the Faithful in union with the Church are thus implicitly spiritually present for the Mass.
 
However, as a perceived disconnect between the Faithful and the Sacred Ministers grew in certain regions, over time, this practice of the Offertory Procession fell into disuse. It is important to note, though, in those regions where the disconnect was less prominent, the offering of the people simply changed, for there remained a sense of its importance. Following the Second Vatican Council's liturgical reforms, the Offertory Procession found a revival in many places.

It the exact lack of a disconnect between what the Priest is doing and the people that this Procession signifies! Throughout the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we must remember that the Eucharist is both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament. St. Thomas Aquinas observed that the Eucharist, "is a sacrifice insofar as it is offered, and a Sacrament insofar as it is received." Thus, it is offered on behalf of the Faithful and for the Faithful to God, but it is also a Gift of Grace for the Faithful from God. Consequently, there are two processions, we may say, associated with the Eucharist. The first is now, i.e. the Offertory Procession, when the Faithful present the gifts for the Sacrifice. The second will be when the Faithful proceed forward to receive our Lord, who comes to them in Holy Communion.

Let us now look at a brief history of the offerings by the people, at least in the Roman Liturgy. Although the offering by the people, or the oblatio, were originally exclusively the matter for the Eucharist, i.e. bread and wine, it became customary to make other offerings for the church at this time. Thus, it became common to offer gifts such as chalices and the like by the nobility, or simply money, for the normal Faithful, to provide for the Church's needs, especially as increased reverence for the Blessed Sacrament made it more difficult for the Faithful to procure the bread used for Communion. This also became the customary part of the Mass to even give titles for land and buildings. Even today, we continue to take up the collection at this part of the Mass, and we should not in any way think less of this offering, for as Jungmann points out:

"There is no reason why this [the offertory collection instead of the offering of bread] should not be permitted to serve a more than merely utilitarian purpose, no reason why it should not be given a deeper spirit and a more vivid form than it ordinarily presents - a spirit, by harking back to the living roots of this contribution which is primarily intended as a gift to God and which is destined for the earthly recipient only through and over the altar . . . . Even though this is a collection and not an offertory procession, the basic idea of a genuine oblation is not excluded any more than it was at the rite in vogue in the stational services in the city of Rome (25-26)."

The use of this spot for rituals and for the exchanging of goods for the service of God may find reflection in today's Ordinary Form of the Mass, for we should remember that the use of the General Intercessions were out of use in the Church by the time many of these more ornate offerings and rites were included here. Thus, the sequence would be Gospel, homily, Creed, and Offertory Procession. Thus, the various ceremonies we do after the homily, which are many, would find no strange part being done at the Offertory in the Medieval Church. However, in our day, it has been deemed more fitting to perform these blessings, consecrations, and exchanges, immediately after the homily to better preserve the flow of the Mass.

The symbolism remains intact in either regard, however, and should not be overlooked. Before the rituals of the Sacrifice begin, which will be with the prayers offering the host to God, it is deemed necessary that all lesser ceremonies be concluded, and since the Eucharist is the greatest of all rituals, all things fall under this category, although many rites do have small commemorations and prayers which follow upon the Eucharist. Nevertheless, the essential part of any rite is completed by this point. Therefore, the Faithful, or the items, are sufficiently prepared to enter into the Mystery which is the Consummation, for through participation in the Eucharist, Heaven and earth are wed, and man is made one with God, which every ritual in the Church some way mirrors.

In conclusion, then, when the offerings for the Mass are brought forward to be accepted by the celebrant, generally by two or three representatives of the entire Faithful, we must unite ourselves spiritually with the offering. We must present ourselves as an offering to God, for we read in the Prophet Hosea, "Come, let us return to the LORD. . . . Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD (Hosea 6:1, 3)," and there is no more intimate way to know Him than through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Indeed, the sacrifice of ourselves is the sacrifice the Lord desires, for He says, "I desire steadfast love. . . the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6)." We must offer our entire selves throughout the course of the Sacrifice to take place during the Offertory and Eucharistic Prayer, so that we may be perfectly transformed by the Sacrament to come!

All historical information taken from:
Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J. The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development. Volume 2. Part IV: The Offertory Procession of the Faithful, 1-26; The Offertory Chant, 26-31; The Matter for the Sacrifice, 31-41. Translated by Rev. Francis A. Brunner, C.SS.R. (Christian Classics: Notre Dame, Indiana, 1951).