... oblation means a complete and whole offering,... the Holiest of Oblations is inclusive of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Son, to the Father.
In fact, a Holy Oblation, in my mind and for my part is a total relinquishment of self to the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit that is then joined to the Oblation of the Son, eternally offerd to the Father, in the glory and power of the Holy Spirit, which is Divine Caritas.
Oblation is kenosis. It is the emptying of self. It is the self-conscious willed offering of one's whole being poured out, according to the divine will, in memory of the redemptive actions of our Lord.
How does this fit with your understanding?
This fits very well with my understanding.
And the understanding of our father among the saints, Augustine of Hippo, who tells us: �If you then are the Body and members of Christ, the mystery of yourselves is laid upon the table of the Lord, the mystery of yourselves you receive.[St. Augustine, Sermons 272, as quoted in Ramsey,
The Gospel of the Catholic Church, 112. See
Sermon 272, In die Pentecostes postremus, PL 38:1247: Si ergo vos estis corpus Christi et membra, mysterium vestrum in mensa Dominica positum est: mysterium vestrum accipitis. See also Bell,
A Cloud of Witnesses, 193.]
And the understanding of Latern IV [with emphasis added]:
There is one Universal Church of the faithful, outside of which there is absolutely no salvation. In which there is
the same priest and sacrifice, Jesus Christ, whose body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine; the bread being changed (transsubstantiatis) by divine power into the body, and the wine into the blood, so that
to realize the mystery of unity we may receive of Him what He has received of us. [H. R. Schroeder,
Disiplinary Decrees of the General Councils (St. Louis: B.Herder Book Co., 1950), English, 238-39; Latin, 560-61: Latern IV Canon 1, Firmiter: Una vero est fidelium universalis ecclesia, extra quam nullus omnino salvatur. In qua idem ipse sacerdos, et sacrificium Jesus Christus; cujus corpus et sanguis in sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis et vini veraciter continentur; transsubstantiatis pane in corpus et vino in sanguinem, potestate divina, ut ad perficiendum mysterium unitatis accipiamus ipsi de suo quod accepit ipse de nostro...]
A further note on biblical allusions. I had written:
I had wanted to comment on this thread for some time but was delayed because I wanted to review the scriptural uses (LXX and NT) of the roots prospher* and anapher* etc. (the use of verb forms is much richer than the noun forms). The result is almost self evident: one does not find the usage of prayers and actions that are a part of a sacred liturgy but rather in the basic sense of carrying/taking and offering (as in a sacrifice).
The following is just a start.
While the RDL liturgicon gives a number of biblical (and other) reference indicators there is none for the phrase in question: Let us stand well/aright, let us stand in awe/fear, let us be attentive, to offer the holy Anaphora/oblation in peace.
To give an indication of this liturgical and some scriptural usages, however, let me use terms for the roots
prospher* and
anapher* etc.; the verb forms and noun forms will I trust be clear from the context. Recall that the basic meanings are
to carry before/up and
to offer.
prospher*
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2390306
anapher*
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%237725
So, to rephrase the deacon�s intonation: Let us stand well/aright, let us stand in awe/fear, let us be attentive,
to prospher the holy
anaphora in peace.
Note that in the liturgy the gifts (
prosphora) have (recently) been
carried to the altar in the great entrance.
As other posts have noted, one obvious biblical reference is
Psalm 50: 21 (51:19). Then you will delight in right sacrifices, in
burnt offerings (
anaphora) and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be
offered (
anaphered) on your altar.
The other instance of anaphora as a noun is:
Numbers 4:19 but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to what he
carries (
anaphoras),
Both words in verb forms:
Ezekiel 43:24 You shall
prospher them before the LORD, and the priests shall sprinkle salt upon them and
anapher them up as a burnt offering to the LORD.
Hebrews 9:28 so Christ,
having been prosphered once to
anapher the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Perhaps one of the most poignant sacrificial and typological uses:
Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take your son, the beloved one, whom you have loved-- Isaac, and go into the high land, and
anapher him there for a whole-burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.
And many others.
Dn Anthony
