Thus we begin the canon, with the confidence of children of God, calling him our most loving Father. We pray for the Church and for all those who are a part of the Church — the pope, our families, our friends and companions. And a Catholic, with his heart open to all men, will pray for all men, because no one can be excluded from his love. We ask God to hear our prayers. We call on the memory of the glorious ever‑Virgin Mary and of a handful of men who were among the first to follow Christ and to die for Him, and we recall our union with them.

The moment of the consecration draws near. Now, in the Mass, it is Christ who acts again, through the priest: “This is my body”… “This is the cup of my blood.” Jesus is with us! The transubstantiation is a renewal of the miracle of God’s infinite love. When that moment takes place again today, let us tell our Lord, without any need for words, that nothing will be able to separate us from him; that, as he puts himself into our hands, defenceless, under the fragile appearances of bread and wine, he has made us his willing slaves. “Make me live always through you, and taste the sweetness of your love.”

More prayers, because we human beings almost always feel the need to ask for things — prayers for our deceased brothers, for ourselves. We have brought all our weaknesses, our lack of faithfulness. The weight is heavy, but he wants to bear it for us and with us. The canon ends with another invocation to the Blessed Trinity: Through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, who is all our love, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever. (Christ is passing by, 90)