13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Send Down Your Spirit upon these gifts. 

Sometimes our feet are so firmly planted in this earth,

That it is hard to reach up to Heaven. 

So Heaven has to come down to us. 

And this is exactly what happens at Mass!

At Mass, we ask the Father to send down His Spirit

upon the gift of bread and wine like the dewfall, 

So that they might become the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Why the Dewfall?

When the People of Israel were wandering in the desert, 

they were hungry and they cried out to God for food,

Who sent them Manna from Heaven. 

In the morning, Dew lay all around the camp;

And when it lifted there was Manna from Heaven for them to eat. 

When the priest puts His hand over the gifts,

He is calling down the Holy Spirit;

To come upon the gifts once again like the dewfall

So that we can eat Bread from Heaven. 

But this is not the Bread that the Jews ate and then died. 

This is the Living Bread that comes down from Heaven,

And whoever eats this Bread will never die but live forever. 

This Bread is the Flesh of Jesus!

Whoever eats His Flesh and drinks His Blood will never die,

But will be raised up on the Last Day.

Just as the Holy Spirit came down upon the Virgin Mary

And the Word became flesh within her,

So the Holy Spirit comes down upon the bread and wine

And the Word becomes flesh once again. 

So that at this Mass

Heaven comes to earth.

When the priest puts his hands over the bread and wine,

The Holy Spirit comes down to this very altar 

And by the power of the Holy Spirit

And the words of the priest

They Become the Body and Blood of Christ. 

And we are fed with Bread from Heaven. 

And then even when our feet are planted firmly in the grave,

On the Last Day, We will be raised up to the Heights of Heaven!