18 Sunday OT Prayer over the Offering

Imagine walking in to your church this weekend and at each entrance you see a table with a basket on it. The attached sign says “Oblations.” There is just one catch to this oblations basket. The sign also reads, “No money or other physical items accepted.” What will your oblation be?

This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Prayer Over the Offerings for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Graciously sanctify these gifts, O Lord, we pray, and, accepting the oblation of this spiritual sacrifice, make of us an eternal offering to you. Through Christ our Lord.

This prayer opens with us asking the grace of God to draw near to the oblations we offer and to sanctify them. Let’s begin with a definition of “oblation.” According to New Advent, an oblation is an offering, gift, or sacrifice that is presented to God in worship, or for the service of the Temple or priest. If you think about it, the most valuable oblation you could give to God is yourself.

I love the way this prayer echoes our Eucharistic prayers. In Eucharistic Prayer II, we ask God to sanctify when we pray, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall.” The Holy Spirit is in our midst, and just like the temperature and humidity bring forth dewfall in the morning, the action of the Holy Spirit makes Jesus present in the bread and wine.

To sanctify, or to make holy, is the primary work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who consecrates and bestows God’s gifts to us and in us. The Holy Spirit, who completely imbued Jesus at the Resurrection, is the same Holy Spirit who permeates not only us and the oblations we offer, but the bread and wine as well.

Let’s go back to our baskets of oblations. What happened to them? They were spiritually brought to the altar, placed there with the bread and wine, and were offered as an eternal offering to the Father. Actually, we make this same request in Eucharistic Prayer III, “May He make of us an eternal offering to You …” To be an offering to God is holding up our part of the sacrifice of Jesus.

Jesus offers himself, always and forever, to the Father, to the Church, and to the world. When we offer ourselves in union with Him, we become an oblation so pleasing to the Father, we are an offer he cannot refuse.

Thanks for praying with me,
Julie