Gestures: The Offering or Doxology

Last year I posted about the gestures of the Preparation of the Chalice and the Epiclesis. Those entries continue with the following regarding the Offering…

During the Mass, the Gesture of Offering (also referred to as the “Eucharistic Doxology”) comes after the Epiclesis and the words of the Last Supper. As we kneel in awe of the greatest of gifts, Jesus Christ, really, truly present in our midst, how do we respond? What could we say or do? The first response to the greatest of gifts is to open and enjoy…and then to give thanks, both verbally and through offering a gift in response. During the Doxology, the priest raises up Jesus as a gift of thanks to God, an offering of our greatest gift, along with our own little gifts, in praise of the one who deserves “all glory and honor forever and ever.” And we show our union with the priest in this gesture through our vibrant, heartfelt, resounding AMEN!