Unde et Memores
April 22, 2026 - The Third Wednesday of Easter
Last week we examined the height of the liturgical drama in the qui pridie, also known as the “Institution Narrative.” From this point we look forward to the moment where we might partake of this mystery ourselves. However, we are not ungrateful children who receive a gift without a word of thanks. Rather, we pause, recognize the gift, and offer gratitude for it.
The words unde et memores are used to describe the part of the Roman Canon that immediately follows the institution narrative. This is a sort of exclamation of the heart. God has no need to be told what we do or what we have done. He already knows. But, at this moment, following the central mystery of our faith being made present to us we declare with a full heart what we are doing by his grace. What, then, are we doing? What have we done?
Consider the mystical reality of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. During the qui pridie we are made present to the Sacrifice of the Cross. It is from that vantage point, witnessing the measure of Divine Love we exclaim that we are fulfilling the command of the Lord to celebrate this memorial. However, it is not merely the mystery of the Passion of the Lord that we are celebrating. As this section of the Mass states, we “celebrate the memorial of the blessed Passion, the Resurrection from the dead, and the glorious Ascension into heaven of Christ.” All of these mysteries are present here. As we witness them with the eyes of faith our heart rejoices at the goodness of God’s generosity toward us and we are compelled to make this exclamation of pure and unadulterated faith.
There is also a change in our offering. Previous to this we were offering ourselves, our needs, our desires in communion with all of the faithful throughout all time. Now, our language shifts because the reality of the oblation has shifted. “We your servants,” meaning the clergy, “and your holy people,” that is, the lay faithful, offer back to God what he has given us. There is a reciprocity of generosity. We ask for a gift, God gives the gift. In gratitude we give the gift back to God. He, then, in turn gives it back to us in a never ending economy of gifting and receiving. But what is this gift? It is Christ himself.
In asking for our needs to be fulfilled we did not know what God was going to give us. Our amazement at this moment is that he again and again gives himself to us. This is why our language concerning the oblation tat we are offering changes. We cease speaking of mere bread and wine, but instead we speak now of “this pure victim, this holy victim, this spotless victim, the holy Bread of eternal life and the Chalice of everlasting salvation.” He is pure because he is like us in all ways but sin. He is holy because he is God. He is spotless because he is innocent and undefiled. He is the true lamb, the Lamb of God, who lays down his life for us. He feeds us with that supersubstantial bread that is his very body, and gives us to drink of that living water that is his very blood. He gives this to us so that we might have his life in us and not merely the earthly life of our birth.
At this moment of the Mass, our hearts should be filled with unparalleled jubilation as we recognize precisely the nature of the gift that God has given to us. He has not merely fulfilled our hopes, desires, and needs. Instead he has done more, so much more. He has sent his only begotten son, begotten from all ages, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, into the world through the fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary, taking to himself our very nature, to dwell among us, to teach us, to communicate himself to us, to suffer, die, rise, and ascend for us, so that we might have eternal life. What greater cause of joy could possibly exist!
