Using handout one, invite each person in the room to identify which gifts they have to bring to the Liturgy.

The gifts we bring may be material, such as money or food for the hungry, but they may also be spiritual, such as memories, a desire to pray, and a love for our community, or a talent. The Offertory at Mass is an offering from US, not merely from those in the Offertory Procession. All of us bring what we have and offer it in these prayers.

The Eucharistic prayer is the greatest thanksgiving prayer of the Church. It begins with a dialogue between the priest and the people. This gets us involved in the action which is to take place. You know these responses by heart.
Join me now in responding with great feeling:
Priest/Leader: The Lord be with you.
All: And with your Spirit.
Priest/Leader: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest/Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
All: It is right and just.

Next, the priest prays an introductory prayer. It introduces the formal Eu- charistic prayer. The Church provides eighty-one different prefaces, many specifically written for a Feast or Holy Day. The priest may either read or sing this prayer.
▶ The words of the prayer tell us something about the feast we are celebrating and they remind us of the wonderful works of God. They tell the reason we are here: to give God thanks and praise!
▶ The format of this prayer follows a certain outline. [Read the preface found in handout two.] At the end of it, we rejoice and sing “Holy, holy, holy” with all the angels and saints who are with God.
Using handout two, allow each participant to write his or her own Preface as a way of learning how the Preface is structured. After this, turn to handout three and ask participants to identify the meaning of the words we now sing or pray in the Holy Holy Holy.

Please follow along in the Give Us This Day books, EP II

The Eucharistic Prayer is the center and summit of the entire celebration. The meaning of the prayer is that the entire congregation of the faithful should join itself with Christ in confessing the great deeds of God and in the offering of Sacrifice.
▶ In the Eucharistic Prayer, the Church offers Christ's sacrifice to the Father. The Church’s intention is that the faithful also learn to offer themselves in self-giving love, following Jesus' example.
▶ We remember. This is the opposite of amnesia, which means to forget. During this prayer we remember all that God has done for us: the Passion, Resurrection and glorious return of Christ Jesus. We listen especially for the words that Je- sus said: “Do this in remembrance of me.” We believe that Jesus continues his presence in our midst. To remember brings together the past, the present, and the future. The words remember, memorial, remembrance, memory, are used over and over.
▶ We call on the Holy Spirit to change these simple gifts of bread and wine into the Body and Blood—the continuing presence of Jesus—which our community of faith will share at Communion. The priest also calls on the Holy Spirit to change us, the people gathered. Taking part in the Eucharist forms us into the one body and spirit of Christ. WE are to be Christ Jesus in the world today.
▶ We repeat the words of Jesus, “This is my Body” and “This is the cup of my blood.” Christ is sacramentally present. The priest then asks us to make a me- morial acclamation of our own faith and so we say or sing: “We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again” or a similar acclamation. This IS the great mystery of our faith.
▶ We join with the entire church, living and dead. Gathered as we are here as God’s family, we join our hearts and prayers with all faithful people everywhere.
▶ At the conclusion of the Eucharistic prayer we sing the great AMEN. Sing this acclamation with high energy for we are saying YES, I believe, YES, I agree, YES, I want to follow Jesus.

Invite someone to read Luke 11:1–4.
▶ The “Our Father” is often prayed when Christians gather together for common prayer. This is one prayer that Christians of all denominations are able to pray together. Does everyone in each small group know this prayer?

Using handout four, invite participants to work together in order to match the phrases from the Our Father with their meaning.

Priest: Behold the Lamb of God,
Behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.
All: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
▶ We bow our heads in reverence and loudly proclaim AMEN when we receive communion. When we say Amen, we are saying Yes, I accept and take in, I receive and love, the very Body of Christ himself! It is very important to say Amen clearly, as a promise of our belief.

At the conclusion of the Mass, the priest sends us out to the world. What is our job there, now that we have received the Body of Christ? What are we sent to do?

Why do we say thanks be to God?