This Sunday’s parable of the servants receiving talents from their master is a
beautiful lens by which we can enter more fully in the Eucharistic Prayers at Mass—especially the First Eucharistic Prayer, sometimes referred to as the Roman Canon. The lens is the radical humility and generosity of self that God asks for us. The servants who received 5 and 2 talents were rewarded for being generous in striving to increase what their master had given them. These servants realized they received an unmerited gift, and the only fitting response was to humbly and radically give of themselves and what they had received. The third servant, motivated by self-preservation and fear, buried his talent, to which our Lord says the master called him “You wicked, lazy servant!”

As Christians, we are called to stand out—to look different—through modeling what the first two servants exemplified: the radical humility and generosity of self. Besides spending time with this parable of our Lord, we can also enter into the prayers the Holy Spirit gave us for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to help us grow in these virtues. The virtues of humility and generosity helps us grow in giving of ourselves to the Triune God who gave us the ultimate gifts of life and salvation. So many of the prayers are beautiful repetitive reminders that we are called to humbly give our lives back to Him.
 
At the point in the Mass right before the handwashing and after the altar has been prepared, the priest bows in humility and prays the following quietly on behalf of the people—”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.” With everything from the posture of the priest to the words, this prayer beautifully captures the reality that we are called to give our lives back to God as a living sacrifice.

Second, following Consecration, the priest once again bows and places his hands on the altar while praying, “In humble prayer we ask You, almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of Your Holy Angels to Your altar on high in the sight of Your divine majesty, so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar receive the most Holy Body and Blood of Your Son, may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.” Again, the posture of the priest is one of humility, as he gathers the prayers of the faithful and prays on their behalf. The priest is pleading that God may
accept our self-sacrifice, our humility, our generosity in uniting our sacrifices with our Lord’s on the Cross. If that wasn’t enough, God leads by example through the words “by the hands of Your Holy Angel to help us to grow in radical humility and generosity of self.”
 
The word angel means messenger, and which messenger would be the most fitting to carry the offering of Christ’s Presence in the Sacrifice of the Most Holy Eucharist to God the Father? It would be the Divine Word, the perfect messenger, Jesus Christ Himself—the only who humbled Himself to become like us in all things but sin. Jesus is showing and asking us through this prayer to join Him in His radical humility and generosity of self.  The theme of the parable, radical humility and generosity of self, shows up frequently within the Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass. This is not by accident, it intentionally reminds us of our call as Christians, but also pours out the graces we need to live out this challenging call in our world.