Eucharistic Prayer

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I was reading an email that I receive about Catholic news. In the email the person being interviewed notes that in the mid 100s there was a letter by St. Justin Martyr that said the "president of the congregation" should say a long prayer over the bread and wine.

I thought that this was incredibly interesting since a common attack by Protestants is that the current form of the mass was not used in the early Church. However, it seems that this could truly be the opposite.

The article can be found at Zenit.org under the liturgy section.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), July 08, 2004

Answers

Sorry that link didn't work.

Zenit.org under the liturgy section.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), July 08, 2004.


That "the current form of the Mass was not used in the early Church" is a historical fact. I don't see why it should be the basis of an attack. The form of the Mass has evolved over the centuries, and there are a great many differences in form between the approved Mass of today and the approved form of Mass in the first century. So what? The essence of the Mass never changes.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), July 08, 2004.

I am not doubting what you say Paul. I just thought it was interesting to see that the present mass might not be as different as we think.

-- s (papasquat10@hotmail.com), July 08, 2004.

In reading Justin and comparing with the Ordinary of the Mass since the Second Vatican Council you may find that several changes in the Mass actually helped restore the liturgy to the liturgy of the early church. In this regard, Vatican II and many of the revised Rites that resulted from it were nothing new; in fact, many persists had lobbied for some of them nearly a hundred years before the Council.

-- Dan Webster (danweb@comcast.net), August 20, 2004.

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