The Service of the Table
The
service of the table includes the bringing of the bread
and wine to the altar, the care and ornamentation of the
altar, and the distribution of the eucharistic bread. One
might also add the ministry of the collection.
Bringing
of the Bread and Wine to the Altar
The
Rite and its meaning
At
one time or another, at all Masses it is necessary to bring
to the altar the bread and the wine for the Eucharist. It
may be doen in a way which would be insignificant on the
liturgical level. For instance: the priest may go to the
credence table to look for the bread and the wine, or he
may send an altar bor for it, or everything may already
be on the altar from the beginning of the Mass. I think
that none of these ways is fully satisfactory.
We
should give to this rite it full meaning. This is precisely
what the General Instruction of the roman Missal,
article 49, recommends when it states excellently:
.
. . it is desirable for the faithful to present the bread
and wine which are accepted by the priest or deacon at
a sutable place. . . . The rite of carrying up the gifts
continues the spiritual value and meaning of the ancient
custom whn the people brought bread and wine for the liturgy
from thier homes.
The
spiritual meaning of the rite is the following: the faithful
participate in the priesthood of Christ; as such, the present
the offerings which are going to become the body and blood
of the Lord. Hippolytus of Rome (215) already mentioned
that the catchumens who were going to be baptized had the
reght to bring the "oblations" to their baptismal
Mass. Inversely, the Council of Elvira in 305 forbids the
congregation to accept the offering of someone who was excluded
from Communion.
It
is good that the procession comes from the congregation
to the sanctuary in order to signify well that it is the
whole community which in engaged in this rite. it is normal
also that the congregation in some way "accompanies"
the procession with a song
The
Ministers of the Gifts
Everyone
without distinction -- men, women, elderly, children --
can be called to this ministry. Sometimes, it would be appropriate
to entrusxt it to a whole family -- parents and children--
or to those for who the Mass is celebrated in particular.
We rejoin then the tradion of the patristic ae.
It
the congregation is not too large, it is possible that those
who carry the bread have also baked and prepared it. At
a celebration of First Communion, the children, divide into
groups, had kneaded the dough, then baked the bread, That
was the occosion of an extraordinary practice lesson of
symbolism. (Let us add also that this caused the parents
of problems of cleaning clothes greatly sprinkled with flour!).
