Set your table: A reflection for the offertory

I don’t know about you, but it has always been difficult for me to focus during the offertory when I’m at Mass. Between the homily ending and the Eucharistic prayer beginning, it is incredibly tough for me to concentrate on what is taking place, since up to this point, I’ve been so focused on the readings and the homily. I’ve tried multiple things to help me focus, yet nothing has seemed to work. I recently thought of a meditation technique that I hope will help my brothers and sisters focus on the miracle of the Mass.

While at Mass one day, as I watched the altar servers prepare the altar, I finally found a solution to this lack of focus. The altar is being readied for the time-shattering meal that is about to take place, I thought, I should do that with the altar of my heart! With my fellow church-goers singing the offertory all around me, I became quiet. I decided to picture how I would ready my heart’s altar. I closed my eyes and imagined on what kind of altar I would receive my King. But the altar of my heart turned out to be one of those fancy, circular cocktail tables. I was perplexed, but kept going. I covered it with a brilliant white table cloth and placed a vase of fresh red roses in the center. The chalice was merely a small tin cup and the unleavened bread was set out on a shallow, wooden dish. Once the table was set, I imagined that Jesus arrived and offered His body and blood to me as the priest said the words of consecration.

Just as a family communicates on a communal and individual basis during a meal, so too is the Mass both a communal and individual prayer. This is an easy fact to forget, especially when one gets distracted by what’s going on communally during the Mass. Yet we must not forget the individual aspect, since it is through allowing Jesus to transform us uniquely that we become more like Him. This meditation might seem like a practice that might distract one further from the Mass and I’m not going to lie, it can be distracting. But in the weeks since I began doing this, it has helped me be more fully aware of the miracle of the Eucharist and in what disposition I should have in order to receive Him worthily. It has also helped me grow in my relationship with Jesus since there is nothing quite like imagining how He would look at you while offering you the bread that is His body.

So next time you’re struggling through the offertory, set the table of your heart. Picture everything. Prepare your heart to receive its most honored Guest. I pray that this little meditation helps you more fully understand and appreciate the Eucharist as the food of love that it is.