The Gregorian Eucharistic Prayer may be used at any time. Upon the Great Feasts, and upon ritual occasions, it must be used with the Preface appointed in the Proper of the Day.
On other occasions, one of the following Prefaces may be used:
COMMON FESTAL PREFACE COMMON TRINITYTIDE PREFACE
After the Sanctus, the Eucharistic Prayer continues:
Most merciful Father, we give you thanks for this bread and this wine; gifts of your own creation which we now offer you as our sacrifice.
The Celebrant's hands are spread over the Gifts.
We ask you to bless and approve them, to purify them in every respect, and to send your Holy Spirit upon them with power, that they may + become for us the Body and Blood of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
The Celebrant takes the bread.
On the night before he suffered, Jesus took bread into his sacred hands, and looking heavenward, to you, his almighty Father, he gave thanks and said the blessing. He then broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
The Celebrant takes the cup.
In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the cup into his sacred hands. Once again, he gave thanks and said the blessing. He then gave the cup to his disciples and said:
We – your people and your ministers – recall his blessed Passion, his Resurrection from the Dead, and his glorious Ascension into Heaven, and we offer to you – from the many gifts you have given to us – this pure, holy, and spotless sacrifice: the Eternal Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation. In your goodness, look with favor on our offering and accept it, just as you graciously accepted the gifts of your righteous servant, Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your high priest Melchizedek.
The Celebrant briefly joins hands and bows, touching the edge of the Altar,
before standing upright and making the sign of the cross.
We humbly pray that you would command your holy angel to carry this sacrifice to your altar in heaven, so that we who receive from this altar on earth the sacred Body and Blood of your Son may be filled with your grace, and receive your heavenly + blessing, through the power of your holy and life-giving Spirit.
The Celebrant briefly bows and strikes the breast.
And though we are unworthy – on account of our fallen nature and our many sins – to offer you any sacrifice, we humbly beseech you to accept this, our bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offenses, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Elevating the Consecrated Gifts, the Celebrant concludes: