The Greek word for memorial is found in the earliest account by St. Paul of the Last Supper
By Father Randy Stice
In the Eucharistic Prayer (EP), following the consecration we hear these words: “Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the saving passion of your Son, His wondrous resurrection and ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to His second coming…” (EP III). This prayer is the anamnesis, in which the Church recalls Christ’s “blessed passion, glorious resurrection, and ascension into heaven.”1 Every Eucharistic Prayer has an anamnesis prayer, and in this column I want to explore this element of the Eucharistic Prayer, beginning with the origin of the word anamnesis.
Anamnesis is a Greek word found in the earliest account of the Last Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:23–26, written by St. Paul in the mid-50s. Jesus concludes His words over the bread (11:24) and the cup (11:25) with the command to “do this . . . in remembrance [anamnesis] of me.” The Greek word that is translated “remembrance” is anamnesis and has been taken over into English as the name of this element of the Eucharistic Prayer. In the EPs, anamnesis is translated “memorial.”
Memorial has a special meaning when it is used in the liturgy. “In the sense of sacred Scripture, the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time the Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.”2 For the Israelites, the Passover and other major festivals like Weeks and Tents were “reenactments of Yahweh’s saving deeds, and by their celebration the saving power and will of Yahweh are experienced anew.”3
The Old Testament understanding of memorial received its definitive meaning in the New Testament. At the Last Supper, Christ “instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of His death and resurrection, and commanded His apostles to celebrate it until His return.”4 Christ “wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which He loved us ‘to the end,’ even to the giving of His life.”5 Christ’s entire earthly ministry, culminating in His suffering, death, and resurrection, abides forever and is made present until His return. “All that Christ is—all that He did and suffered for all men—participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all.”6
The anamnesis is the work of the Holy Spirit. I have noted in previous columns that the Holy Spirit makes present the events of Christ’s life, that “in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.”7 In addition to making each mystery present, the Holy Spirit brings about remembering. When the Scriptures are read in Mass, “the Holy Spirit ‘recalls’ to the assembly all that Christ has done for us.” In the anamnesis, in which “the celebration ‘makes a remembrance’ of the marvelous works of God… The Holy Spirit…thus awakens the memory of the Church.”8
The anamnesis prayer is closely linked to the sacrificial aspect of the Mass, which I discussed last month. From the early centuries of the Church, two elements, anamnesis and oblation/offering, “are used to define the mystery, the two being placed side by side.”9 The Catechism explains it thus: “The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of His unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church, which is His body.” In the Eucharistic Prayer these two elements, the anamnesis and the offering, always have this basic form: “we celebrate the memorial…we offer you,” as in EP II: “Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of His death and resurrection, we offer you, Lord, the bread of life and the chalice of salvation.”
The anamnesis is an element “at the heart of each sacramental celebration, most especially of the Eucharist.”10 In the anamnesis, under the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church makes remembrance of Christ’s saving work. It is intrinsically linked to the sacrificial offering—recalling Christ’s Paschal Mystery, the Church “presents to the Father the offering of His Son which reconciles us with Him.”11 Understanding the anamnesis deepens our understanding of the Eucharist as “the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of [Christ] Himself, of His person in His sacred humanity, as well as the gift of His saving work,” transcending all times.12
1 General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 79e.
2 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1363.
3 Raymond E. Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, and Roland Murphy, eds., New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 1300.
4 CCC, no.1337. The Church uses the term “memorial” in two ways: to refer to the anamnesis prayer “we celebrate the memorial…” following the Consecration; and to the entire celebration, as when St. John Paul II wrote, “When the Church celebrates Eucharist, the memorial of her Lord’s death and resurrection, this central event of salvation becomes really present” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 11).
5 CCC, no. 1380
6 CCC, no. 1085.
7 CCC, no. 1104.
8 CCC, no. 1103.
9 Joseph A. Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite, vol. II, p. 218.
10 CCC, no. 1106.
11 CCC, no. 1354.
12 St. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 11.
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.
