Fr Erasto Fernandez: Self-absorption inhibits pure praise in Mass

Eucharistic Prayer: Renowned Blessed Sacrament Father continues his series for The Record on the Eucharist in this, the Year for Priests

Having reviewed the first action of Jesus, we take up the second: “He said the blessing.”  This phrase refers to the special kind of Jewish prayer called Berakah. Habituated to frequent sacrifices, the Jews found themselves at a total loss during the Babylonian captivity, where they were without Temple, Prophet, Priest, sacrifice or any other means of approaching Yahweh (Dan 3:37-40). They overcame this serious deprivation by resorting to prayers of praise to Yahweh recalling his past deeds and his present goodness to them in spite of their failings. These berakoth were later termed, ‘the sacrifice of praise’ since they enabled the people to effectively ‘commune’ with God. 
Since the exile, every devout Jew was expected to make at least a hundred berakoth each day, praising God for every incident of his life, good or bad.
Special Format
As they got more adept in praying the Berakah, they gave it a definite shape comprising four steps:
1 Invitation – ‘Come praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord’,  ‘Bless  the Lord, O my soul; let all that is within me bless his holy name…’
2 Reasons – ‘O give thanks to the Lord for he is good…’
3 The praise itself – ‘You cause the grass to grow for the cattle…’
4 Concluding burst of praise –  ‘Blessed be God, forever.’
We note that praise indicates a selfless extolling of God’s good qualities as such and is different from thanksgiving for favours received. In praise, we focus on God’s qualities without reference to ourselves – his goodness in Himself. Whereas in thanksgiving we thank him for his favours. It is not easy to make a prayer of pure praise, primarily because we are absorbed in ourselves. It takes great spiritual growth to selflessly praise God for Himself, even when we haven’t specifically benefited from his goodness. Jesus Himself prayed the berakah prayer several times, eg at the grave of Lazarus (Jn 11:41-42), or, when the Disciples returned after their trial mission (Lk10:21-22). 
However, Jesus did not always tie himself down to the pattern mentioned above yet kept the basic elements of the prayer whenever he used this form.
In the Eucharist, the berakah pattern is seen in the Eucharistic Prayer that begins with the dialogue of the Preface – a call to praise. In the Preface itself we have various reasons listed, followed by the praise itself in the Eucharistic Prayer.
To get the maximum benefit of this prayer one would need to elaborate on each of these points and perhaps even personalise them. The greatest reason we have for praising God is recalled in the Institution Narrative, viz that Christ freely chose to die out of love for us. 
A burst of grateful praise follows this narration in the Memorial Acclamation. After recalling further aspects of Christ’s self-gift, especially his resurrection, ascension and sending of the Spirit, we move into the “tefillah” or intercessions. 
These express our firm belief that God will continue to bless us as he has in the past and so with supreme confidence we place our needs before him.  The final burst of praise is seen in the Doxology, especially when it is sung together with the Great Amen. As we repeatedly yet consciously and gratefully enter into the praise dynamic of the Eucharist, it develops in us the art and habit of praising and thanking God at every moment. 
Even without our being aware of it we become grateful people, deeply conscious of our giftedness before the Lord, ever ready to share his blessings with others.