Faith

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Formed in Christ

Friday, April 3, 2026Faith

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Even if the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer is not employed often in your parish, you can still pray it privately and experience the treasures it contains as it expresses the wonderful acts of God by which we are saved.

Father Robert M.
O'Grady

The last of the Eucharistic Prayers included in the Order of the Mass section of the Roman Missal, but not the last in the Roman Missal, as we shall see, this prayer is the second longest, about 100 words shorter than the Roman Canon.
Even with fewer words, it takes longer to proclaim because its style and content demand a different cadence.
The great span of salvation history -- think both Old and New Testaments and until the Lord's Second Coming -- is packed into less than 700 words. This alone makes it an amazing composition.
If you have ever been a participant in a Bible Study Group, or perhaps attended Lectio Divina, or you regularly read your own Bible, some of the phrases and concepts or elements of the Bible will be obvious.
In the preface, which must always be used -- no variations allowed -- we harken back to Genesis and hear God called "Creator."
The unfortunate free choice of Adam's fall and many others who followed reminds us that God continually, despite human frailty or sinfulness, offered covenants to humanity -- Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, for example.
The prayer continues to the greatest of all covenants, the one made in Christ Jesus, and to a concise narrative of the Lord's conception, birth, ministry, passion, death, and resurrection, and of his sending the Holy Spirit to sanctify us and to join us to his work and mission.

The narrative of the Last Supper with the Words of Institution begins with a forthright prayer for the sending of the Holy Spirit on the gifts of bread and wine so that, by the Spirit's power and the sacred ministry of the bishop or priest, they may become the real presence -- Body and Blood of Christ.
As usual, the priest invites us to announce the faith in what the Spirit accomplishes.
The prayer continues with a petition for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, this time on all those members of Christ's Body, the Church.
The change in the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is also to make a change in the assembly so that all members are more obviously the real presence of Christ in the world.
St. Augustine famously advised, "become what you receive" -- the Body of Christ by living it in charity.
Then there are three intercessions, one each for the Church, for the dead, and of the saints.
This intercession for the Church has the familiar naming of the current pope and diocesan bishop. The prayer expresses a much wider sense of the Church; it includes all those present, the entirety of the People of God, and an interesting "all who seek you with a sincere heart."
The intercession for the dead is a general one. However, it includes not only the baptized who have died but also the dead "whose faith you alone have known." There is no place in the prayer for the insertion of the name of one or several deceased, an indication that it cannot be used at Masses for the Dead.
Finally, there is an invocation of the Church in heaven, the saints. The petition asks that we be admitted into that company, naming the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph and then generally the apostles and saints. There is no indication that additional names of saints can be added. This is an indication that this prayer cannot be used on the feast or solemnity of a saint.
The prayer concludes, as do all Roman Eucharistic Prayers, with the doxology. It is sung or recited by the celebrant and, if there are any, the concelebrants. The prayer becomes that of the rest of the assembly by either singing or saying Amen.
As we are considering the Sunday Parish Mass in these columns, it is worth noting that this prayer can only be used at Masses in Ordinary Time or, for shorthand, when green vestments are the norm. That, however, means 32 or so Sundays in the liturgical year. Even with its restrictive composition -- the whole prayer or none of it -- there are plenty of opportunities to pray this prayer, including on the "green" weekdays in Ordinary Time.
Even if the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer is not employed often in your parish, you can still pray it privately and experience the treasures it contains as it expresses the wonderful acts of God by which we are saved. You can find the text in a worship aid you may bring to Mass or that your parish provides. It is also available here: catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/RM3-EP1-4.htm.