Taking up Jack Rakosky’s point (in the “More about the ‘offering’” thread) about the rites surrounding the presentation of the gifts being a confused mess:
Sacrosanctum Concilium 34:
The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity; they should be short, clear, and unencumbered by useless repetitions…
In the rites following the presentation of the gifts, we have the following:
(1) This prayer:
With humble spirit and contrite heart
may we be accepted by you, O Lord,
and may our sacrifice in your sight this day
be pleasing to you, Lord God.
(Order of Mass #26)
Can be boiled down to: May these gifts be pleasing to you, O Lord.
(2) This invitation:
Pray, brethren (brothers and sisters),
that my sacrifice and yours
may be acceptable to God,
the almighty Father.
(Order of Mass #29)
Roughly equivalent to: Pray that these gifts may be pleasing to the Lord.
(3) A prayer over the offerings:
Be pleased, O Lord, with our humble prayers and offerings,
and, since we have no merits to plead our cause,
come, we pray, to our rescue
with the protection of your mercy.
(Sample Prayer over the Offerings, Friday of the 1st Week of Advent)
These prayers can mostly be boiled down to: May these gifts be pleasing to you, O Lord.
It seems to me that all of this comes very close to doing the same thing three times over. Does this then qualify as one of the “useless repetitions” referred to in SC 34?
I first wrote about this in the early 1970s. In the meantime, a variety of proposals have been made for possible different formats in this part of the rite, by Talley, Gelineau and others. Can we hope that a future revision of the Missal will sort all this out?
