It can be confusing to listen to Eucharistic Prayer I at Mass because its structure does not seem to make sense to us. For example, there are two lists of saints, one before the consecration and one after. Why doesn’t one list simply follow the other? The prayer for the living, “Remember, Lord, your servants,” comes before the consecration, and the prayer for the dead, “Remember also, Lord, your servants,” comes after. Why aren’t they grouped together? Eucharistic Prayer I doesn’t sound to our ears like Eucharistic Prayers II, III, or even IV. Rather, the Roman canon seems to have many repetitions and lots of stopping and starting over. Why is that?

Beginning after the preface and the Holy, Holy, the 12 individual prayers that make up the rest of Eucharistic Prayer I are not designed to tell one, consistent narrative or story. They are arranged according to a different principle. Rather than thinking of these 12 prayers as telling a story, think of them instead as building blocks of a very important building.

Important buildings like the U.S. Capitol or the U.S. Supreme Court or Notre Dame Cathedral highlight in some way the center of the building with columns, arches, domes, or steeples. Architects also accentuate the center of the building with symmetrical structures on either side of the center. These could be matching doors, arches, or more columns. Eucharist Prayer I is constructed like a beautiful building, with the words of the Lord Jesus, “This is my body … This is the chalice of my blood…,” at the center. These most important words are framed on either side by what comes immediately before, “On the day before He was to suffer,” and by what comes immediately after the memorial acclamation and the prayer, “Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed Passion.” Every other section of Eucharistic Prayer I follows this same pattern of forming matching units before and after the words of Jesus as you extend out from the words of consecration at the center of the prayer to its beginning and to its end.

Moving beyond the immediate core of the Roman canon come two sets of prayers for acceptance of the offering and prayers of blessing upon the bread and wine. Before the words of consecration, the section “Therefore, Lord, we pray, graciously accept this oblation of our service” asks God the Father to accept the spiritual offering of praise and thanksgiving we make to Him, as well as the bread and wine that are destined to become for us the body and blood of Jesus: “Be pleased, O God, we pray, to bless … this offering.” After the consecration, as if to match what came before, are the prayers “Be pleased to look upon these offerings” and “In humble prayer, we ask you, almighty God,” referring to the bread and wine we offered, which have just become the body and blood of Christ, given up on the cross for us. 

As we extend even further out from the center of the prayer, there are once again two matching sets of prayers. Before the consecration, we pray for the living members of the Church, clergy, and laity. This is followed by a list of 25 saints, headed by the Blessed Virgin Mary, “In communion with those whose memory we venerate.” The name of St. Joseph was added to the Roman canon in 1961 but was not included historically. The remaining 24 saints are made up of two sets of 12. First, there are the apostles, the 11 plus St. Paul. Then there are the names of another 12 martyrs, all venerated in a special way in the city of Rome. Together, these 24 saints are reminiscent of the 24 elders in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 4:4,10; 5:5,6,8,11,14; 7:11; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4), who stand around the throne of the Lamb once slain in heaven. These 24 are mentioned just before the Lamb of God takes up His throne on the altar at the consecration. In the corresponding position after the consecration is the prayer for the dead and a list of another 14 martyrs, seven men and seven women. This list is headed by St. John the Baptist. In many depictions of Christ seated in glory in the dome of ancient churches, both the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist appear next to Him with hands raised, offering prayers of intercession on our behalf.

Finally, the first of the 12 distinct prayers that make up the Roman canon, “To you, therefore, most merciful Father,” and the last of the 12, “Through whom you continue to make all these good things,” state for the first time and restate for the final time our purpose for coming into the presence of God the Father: so that the bread and wine and prayers we offer can be transformed by God’s grace into blessings for us in time and in eternity.

When listening to Eucharistic Prayer I, it can be helpful to remember the architectural design of the prayer. What comes before the center of the prayer and everything that comes after it all frame the high point of the Roman canon, the words of Jesus Himself on the night before He died.