The Remember Prayer
That’s what some of my vicars called it aeons ago. Studying the way the Swedish Red Book of King John III (pictured below) adapted itself to the traditional language of the Roman Canon, it hit me: the Canon might be a lousy Eucharistic prayer (see Luther’s dismantling of it in AE 36:311ff), but separated from the Consecration it actually has the kernel of a fine intercession. That should hardly be surprising, for, of course, when the Roman Canon was adopted, it swallowed the more ancient Prayer of the Church into itself; and the Roman rite henceforth (well, till Vatican II) lost the intercessions as a separate prayer, save for on Good Friday (when the Bidding Prayer still is used; a left-over of the ancient way that the Romans prayed corporately at each Mass before the days of the Canon. And, of course, on Good Friday they do not pray the Canon, so the older intercession was left intact).
So I wondered if the Roman Canon might have some form of Lutheran reappropriation via restoration to intercession all the while keeping it clear of the Consecration? I offer this reconstruction here for your consideration. I’ve published it before, but not here, I think. I’ve used it many a time at St. Paul’s, at various Synodical gatherings, and it’s also been published in LetUsPray.
As an intercession, it honors our “nothing new in ceremonies” from AC, and yet also respects the very valid critiques of Dr. Luther referenced above about the Canon.
We come to You, Holy Father, with praise and thanksgiving, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Through Him we beg You to accept and bless the prayers, gifts, and tithes we bring You in thanksgiving and in token of the offering of our entire lives to Your will.
Remember, Lord, Your holy church. Watch over her and guide her. Grant her peace and unity throughout the world.
Remember, Lord, our Synod President N., our District President N., our Circuit Visitor N., all pastors, teachers, deaconesses and servants of the Church. Grant them to hold and teach the faith that comes to us from the blessed apostles.
Remember, Lord, our President [or Queen and our Prime Minister], our public servants, and all in our armed forces. Guide, bless, protect and uphold them in honor. Bring all nations into the ways of peace and justice. In Your kindness and love, grant us seasonable weather, an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and peace in our times.
Remember, Lord, all who suffer for Your name, all who are in prison, the hungry and ill-clad, the poor and the lonely, all mothers with child, those who travel, and those who cry out to You in their time of need: especially N. And N. Take them all under Your tender care and grant them Your peace and a happy release from every affliction.
Remember, Lord, all who are gathered here before You, our living and true God. We pray for our well-being and redemption. Order our days in your peace, deliver us from the danger of eternal death, and number us among Your chosen flock, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offenses.
Holy Father, in communion with Your whole Church we remember before You and give You thanks for Your saints, in whom You have given us a mirror of Your mercy and grace. [We praise You especially for…]. Give us grace to walk before You with faith like theirs and grant us some share in their heavenly fellowship.
Lord God, in Your unfailing mercy and love You graciously give us the holy and venerable Supper of Your Son. As now we prepare to receive His gifts, stir up our minds to the salutary remembrance of His benefits and to true and perpetual thanksgiving. Aid us, Your ministers and Your people, that by this Mystery of the new and eternal Testament, we may recall how Your Son once offered Himself upon the altar of the cross for us—a Ransom pure, holy, and undefiled. And we beg You to bless and sanctify by Your Holy Spirit’s power this bread and wine, that they may become for us, through our Lord’s own omnipotent Words, His true Body and Blood, the food and drink of eternal life. Fill all who partake of Your mysteries today with every heavenly benediction and grace, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom You ever create, sanctify, bless and bestow upon us all good things.
Through Him and with Him and in Him all honor and glory is Yours, O God the Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen!
Although I am not a fan in general of treating the Prayer of the Church as a Proper rather an an Ordinary, I do think a prayer along these lines might well be employed and prove a blessing to any Church who takes to heart that “we gladly keep the traditions set up in the church because they are useful and promote tranquility, and we interpret them in an evangelical way, excluding the opinion that holds they justify.” (Ap xv.38).
