Pastoral Reflection: Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026
Within the Anaphora, there is a focused moment called the epiclesis, when we explicitly call upon the Holy Spirit to come and “make this Bread the precious Body of Christ, and that which is in this Cup the precious Blood of Christ.” The Church believes that it is by the power of the Holy Spirit, not through human worthiness, that the gifts are changed and the faithful are sanctified.
It is always the Holy Spirit who constitutes the Body of Christ in the world. At Pentecost, the Church—the Body of Christ—was constituted by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In the Incarnation, Christ’s human body was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. And at every Divine Liturgy, it is the Holy Spirit who changes the bread and wine into the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ.
The epiclesis is not magic; it is the Church’s humble confession that only God can transform ordinary elements and ordinary people into bearers of divine life. The priest prays that God sends his Holy Spirit, not only upon the bread and wine, but "upon us and upon these gifts here offered." The fruits of this blessing are the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the real transformation of the people into His Body.
With love in Christ,
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