The Firstfruits of God and Man
The Mass of the Catholic Church is divided into two key parts: the Liturgy of the Word, where the priest proclaims the scripture and gives his sermon, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where Christ’s Passion and Resurrection is both memorialized and perpetuated through all time in the Lord’s Supper. But as the mass transitions from the first liturgy to the second in a flurry of activity, it is easy to miss one of the richest contributions of the congregation to the celebration. As an offertory hymn or chant is sung, several congregants proceed from the back of the church in what is called the Presentation of the Gifts. These worshippers carry with them the gifts which are to become the Blessed Sacrament – the bread and the wine that will become the most holy Body and Blood of Christ.
Fr. Josef Jungmann, in his book Mass of the Roman Rite, writes that the “the whole life of Christ, the whole history of Redemption is seen represented in the Mass.” But while history details Humanity’s repeated succumbing to sin, the Mass presents a sanctified reflection of this reality. The meal which we are about to partake in is not a rejection of God’s word, as it was when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree and brought sin and death upon themselves and the world, but instead is following Christ’s command to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) and His teaching that “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:54). We are preparing ourselves for the life of the world to come.
As the Mass proceeds towards this restoration of the fall, the Presentation of the Gifts calls one back to the story of Genesis 4, of Cain and Abel and the first murder. When the brothers present the work of their labor to God, only one is pleasing to Him. Despite Cain’s status as the firstborn, God’s preference is for Abel and his offering because “by faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did” (Hebrews 11:4). Whereas Abel is said to have offered the fatty firstborn of his animals, the best of his flocks, Cain is simply recorded as having offered the fruits of the field. St. Ephrem the Syrian writes that “Abel was very discerning in his choice of offerings, whereas Cain showed no such discernment.” As St. John Chrysostom once explained, God does not need our gifts, but rather, “He wants our gratitude to be demonstrated through them… our Lord does not recognize differences in appearance but takes account of intentions and rewards the will.” Abel is like the widow who donated only two bronze coins but was praised by Christ above all other donors: It is not the magnitude of our gifts which matter to God, but their importance to us. And why should this not be the case? God himself has offered to us His most precious firstborn son as the means of our redemption and reconciliation to Him.
In the presentation of the gifts, we redeem the sacrifices of Cain by offering not only the fruits of the field as Cain did, but also ourselves as a congregation. As they bring forth the bread from the threshed wheat and the wine of the picked vine, these representatives of the Church present not only the form by which Christ will become present, but also “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, our spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). They approach the altar with these gifts as the Church humbly seeks forgiveness for the sins we, and all our fathers in the faith, have committed. This act of the Church, united in our gift, calls to mind the second-century petitions of the Didache, that “even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom.”
In doing so, the fruit of the ground, which in Cain’s sacrifice were without intent, now prepare to be host to the ultimate sacrifice. The firstlings of Abel’s flock will be united with the produce of Cain’s fields as the bread and wine become the true Flesh and Blood of Christ the Paschal Lamb. While Adam’s first-born killed his righteous brother, the Firstborn of All Creation has freely chosen to suffer and die for the sons of God who are not righteous or deserving in the least. And just as these gifts presented to God come only from His love, at the end of the liturgy they will be returned to us to partake in as His Body and Blood, the ultimate gift of His love and desire for the redemption of the world. The lacking sacrifice of Cain inspired pride and jealousy and rage; the perfect sacrifice of Christ we now await “strengthens our charity, revives our love, enables us to break our disordered attachments and wipes away venial sin” (CCC 1394).
Catechism of the Catholic Church. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1993, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM, Accessed 29 Nov. 2022.
General Instruction of the Roman Missal. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2002, https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20030317_ordinamento-messale_en.html#C._The_Liturgy_of_the_Eucharist, Accessed 29 Nov. 2022.
Hill, Robert, translator. St. John Chrysostom: Homilies on Genesis. Vol. 2, The Catholic University of America Press, 1990. https://books.google.com/books?id=gotzFP73EAIC&printsec=copyright#v=onepage&q&f=false, Accessed 29 Nov. 2022.
Jungmann, Josef A. Mass of the Roman Rite. Translated by Francis A. Brunner, Herder Verlag, 1951. https://archive.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/14/02/12/14-47-14_0.pdf, Accessed 29 Nov. 2022.
Kleist, James A., translator. The Didache. Newman Press, 1948.
New American Bible. Saint Mary's Press, 2012.
Title image photographed at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily, by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.