Special intentions

At the Eucharist, then, when we offer ourselves and Our Lord to God, we can also offer our work, our games and friendships, in fact everything except what is wrong and sinful.

Besides that, we can offer our special prayers and thanksgivings for the people and things in which we are interested.  It may be our prayers for a relation who has died, or for an examination we are going to take; or our thanks for the recovery of a sick friend, or for our birthday.  These special prayers and thanksgivings are called ‘special intentions’.  It is impossible to say for how many objects or in how many different circumstances the Eucharist has been offered through the centuries.  We will take just two examples.  First, the Coronation of the Queen. 

Coronation of the Queen

The crowning of the Queen in Westminster Abbey was not a separate service but took place during the Eucharist.  And amid all the splendour and pageantry of the State trumpeters and the gorgeous robes and uniforms, bread and wine were offered to God and with them the nation’s prayers. 

After she had been crowned, the Queen came down from her throne and went and knelt at the altar.  She offered the bread and wine with her own hands on behalf of everyone and the Offertory prayer included these words: “Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, these thy gifts, and sanctify them unto this use, that by them we may be made partakers of the Body and Blood of thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, and fed unto everlasting life of soul and body: And that thy servant Queen ELIZABETH may be enabled to the discharge of her weighty office, whereunto of thy great goodness thou hast called and appointed her”. (1) And at the Communion, the Queen received Our Lord’s Heavenly Body in the Blessed Sacrament.

With that we may compare a very different Eucharist held, during one of the persecutions in the Early Church.