We have referred to the Eucharistic Prayer as the "heart of the mass."  Because it is so important and so rich, various Level III presentations support meditation on the Eucharistic Prayer. One such presentation is "the Preface."

First, children either have learned or will learn that the word "Eucharist" comes from Greek, meaning "thanksgiving."  Throughout the Catechesis, many presentations help the child recognize that absolutely everything we have and that surrounds us is gift from God.  And when we receive a gift, we respond.  We give thanks through our words and through our actions.  This dynamic of gift and response is central to the Catechesis because it is absolutely central to the relationship between God and humankind, called covenant.

The Eucharistic Prayer, and in fact the whole celebration of Eucharist, gives praise to God for all of the beautiful gift of Creation from God to humanity.  The central part of the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer expresses the principal reasons for which the community of the faithful wants to thank God on this day in a particular way.

The Preface begins with an invitation to prayer:

The Lord be with you.

And with your spirit.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right and just.

The middle part of the Preface includes a prayer by the priest which is of a type called a "proper."  Propers are prayers that change depending on the season or occasion because they are "proper" to the day or season or occasion.  So, the principal reason for thanksgiving differs in Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time, just to name a few seasons.  Propers are in contrast to other prayers in the mass that don't change.  For instance, we always say the Our Father, and this doesn't vary depending on the season.

In Level III, we talk a lot about bridges, or connections, throughout Salvation History.  "Horizontal bridges" connect people-to-people, inventions-to-inventions, events-to-events, even ones seemingly separated by vast linear time.

With our reflection on the "Holy, Holy, Holy," we experience more bridges or connections, this time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, or between Jewish study and worship and our Catholic worship today.  This is because various of the words in the "Holy, Holy, Holy" connect to words in the Old Testament, words that the Jewish people in Jesus' time would have studied and known. The beginning of the prayer mirrors words in Isaiah 6:3.

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other.

"All the earth is filled with his glory!"   

Toward the end of the prayer, we hear words which connect to Palm Sunday, as we read in Matthew 21:9.

The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest."   

Where did the crowds get those words, those thoughts?  We can read similar words in Psalm 118:26.  Because this Psalm is beautifully connected to thanksgiving, here I copy verses 24-29:

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad.

LORD, grant salvation! LORD, grant good fortune!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.

We bless you from the LORD'S house.

The LORD is God and has given us light.

Join in procession with leafy branches up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, I give you thanks; my God, I offer you praise.

Give thanks to the LORD, who is good, whose love endures forever.