The Offertory
The Prayer of the Prothesis
Priest (Inaudible)
O Master, Lord Jesus Christ, the coeternal and undefiled Word of the Father; Who is coessential with the Father and the Holy Spirit; You are the Living Bread which came down from heaven, and made Yourself a lamb without spot for the life of the world.
We ask and entreat Your goodness, O Lover of mankind:
The Priest points with his hand to the bread set before him on the paten:
Priest
cause Your face to shine upon this bread,
The Priest point to the wine set before him in the chalice:
Priest
and upon this cup, which we have set upon this,
The Priest points to the altar.
Priest
Your priestly table;
The Priest makes the sign of the cross three times over the bread and wine together.
Priest
Bless them,
Sanctify them,
Purify them and change them, so that this bread may become Your holy Body, and the mixture in this cup, Your precious Blood, and that they may become to us all for partaking and healing, and for the salvation of our souls, bodies and spirits.
For You are our God, and glory is due unto You with Your good Father and the Holy Spirit, the Life-giver, Who is coessential with You, both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
After the Prayer of Thanksgiving, the Priest places the Lamb in the paten and covers it with a cloth. The wine and water in the cup are also covered with an altar cloth. He then covers the altar with a veil.
The covering indicates that a significant part of the life of the Lord Jesus on earth was hidden, and that His life is a holiness that cannot be approached.
It also indicates the period of the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb, which ended with the resurrection from the dead. This resurrection is signified when the veil is lifted during the Prayer of Reconciliation in the Liturgy of the Faithful.
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
— Matthew 11:27
The personality of the Lord Jesus, not just His life, is a puzzle that bewilders minds, a hidden treasure of knowledge revealed only in a few words. None of us can fully trust in our own knowledge as we are still growing in the knowledge of God, which is eternal life.
The hiding of the offerings is like the hiding of Christ's reality and His mystery of His redeeming work until the time of His resurrection. After His resurrection He opened the eyes of the two disciples near Emmaus to understand Scripture and breathed unto His disciples' faces to accept the Holy Spirit; the spirit of understanding and wisdom. The divinity of the Lord Jesus was veiled and not clearly announced except by the resurrection from the dead.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
— John 17:3
concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
— Romans 1:3-4
This inaudible prayer declares also that partaking the Holy Communion is for healing and salvation of our souls, our bodies and our spirits.
Another Priest or Deacon stands on the opposite end of the altar and together with the celebrant Priest cover the altar with the veil. The veil symbolises the shrouding of the Lord Jesus Christ after His death on the Cross.
The Priest then places atop of the chalice a triangular cloth, representing the tomb's seal, the stone that was rolled against the entrance of the tomb in which our Lord was buried.
The two Priests (or Priest or Deacon), both in white garments, together represent the two angels that St Mary Magdalene saw in the tomb where the body of our Lord was laid; one standing at His head and the other at His feet.
But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.
— John 20:11