The Qui Pridie
April 15, 2026 - The Second Wednesday of Easter
We now reach the height of the drama. Until now we have discussed the preliminary prayers that we are offering to God in the Roman Canon. We have directed our prayer to the Father. We have united ourselves to the whole of the Catholic Church. We have invoked the memory of the Saints, Apostles, and Martyrs significant to the Roman Church. We have recalled the mysteries of the Incarnation. We have included those recent converts to the faith into our prayers. And, we have asked God to accept this oblation that he has given us so that it might be a fitting offering. Now, after invoking all of this, we ask that Christ’s promise of spiritual food be made manifest to us and we do what he commanded.
The Qui pridie the dialogue of the Last Supper is invoked to effect the Command of Christ to keep his memorial. By these words we are immediately transported to that solemn moment prior to his Passion where he took bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. This is no mere pantomime. Rather, the priest, acting as an instrument of Christ himself manifests his primary charism of acting in persona Christi capitis and takes on the words and gestures of Christ to confect the Sacrament of Sacraments.
As Christ took bread, so too the priest. As Christ would raise his head in prayer to the Father, so too the priest. As Christ offered gratitude to the Father, so too the priest. As Christ blessed, so too the priest. As Christ gave, so too the priest. As Christ pronounced those words, “THIS IS MY BODY … THIS IS MY BLOOD,” so too the priest. At this moment we are granted access to the very moment of the Cross where Christ’s body was broken and his blood was shed for us. At this moment we sit, with the disciples, at the Last Supper. At this moment, we are at the Nativity of our Lord. At this moment we are at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb that is foretold in the Book of Revelations at the end of time. It is not so much that the mystery is made present to us, but that we are made present to the abiding mystery, the Pasch of Christ, by which all is consummated.
But what of the faithful? Is this merely a spectacle for those in the pews to behold? No! This is the moment of full, active, and conscious participation. Yes, we gaze upon the mystery. Yes, we hear the words spoken. Yes, we see the gesture, smell the incense, hear the bells. Yes, all of this. However, it is at this moment, with all the prayers that have preceded this moment that the Royal Priesthood of Christ is fully active in the baptized soul. Christ took upon himself all of our sins, all of our burdens, all of our needs, all of our desires, all of our petitions, all of our hopes, fears, dreams, and even those things that we cannot articulate to ourselves. Here, along with the priest, we take all of those things and we intentionally place them on the altar along with the oblata (the bread and wine) and know that our preceding prayers are joined to Christ as a fitting sacrifice to God.
This is the mystery of faith. This is the moment of our redemption. This is the moment of our greatest desires. Here we experience in word and sacrament the marriage between the things of heaven with the things of earth and like Thomas, who touched the glorified wounds of Christ, we proclaim, “My Lord, and my God.” We hear the words, and by God’s gift of faith in our recreated souls, by water and the Holy Spirit, we are not unbelieving, but, indeed, we believe.
Next week we will examine what we are to do now that we have been brought into this great mystery. We will reflect on our response to the gift of the very body and blood of Christ given for us. I continue, in this Paschal season to wish you all a very blessed Eastertide. Maintain the glory and hope of the resurrection in your hearts even when things seem difficult. Always recall that we are never separated from God’s loving providence.
