Given Up for You

The prayers of the Church are always with us. In our private and communal prayer, the words we pray find their origin in Scripture and tradition, echoing through our lives. It’s not uncommon for a word or phrase so familiar to us to strike us, at a particular time and place, in an entirely new way.

During the Eucharistic Prayer at every Mass, the formula that Jesus spoke at the first Mass is prayed by the priest. Before the host is elevated, after the Holy Spirit has been called down, the words ...