The lay faithful "consecrate the world to the Father!" The people of God really are a priestly people. The ordained, ministerial priest consecrates the bread and wine to be the Body and Blood of Christ and the lay faithful, by means of the presence of the Eucharistic body and Blood of Christ, now consecrate the world–and their lives, their families, their works and possessions. The lay faithful transform the world, that all may be divinized in Christ.

The lay faithful are charged with "living" the Eucharistic sacrifice so that Christ may be all in all. The Council Fathers conclude Section #48 of Sacrosanctum Concilium ... with this sweeping picture of the daily transformation of the world:

Through Christ the Mediator, [the Christian laity] should be drawn day by day into even closer union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all.

This means in practice that every one of our actions and desires, pains and joys, disappointments and hopes, loves and frustrations–all that we are, all that we do and think, all that we have–everything can be offered in– "spiritual sacrifice" in union with the Eucharist sacrifice for the sake of others.

Your pain and joy is precious, don't waste it! Offer it! Offer it for the members of your family, for families of the whole church and world in order that in Christ we may be one family, one Body of Christ to the glory of God the Father.

Living Eucharist: Counter-Sign To Our Age And Answer To Crisis
Rev. George W. Kosicki, C.S.B.

Reprinted from Witness Ministries, a lay apostolate dedicated to renewing appreciation for the Mass as the greatest gift which God has given to His beloved spouse, the Church. Their mission is to show how, in the Eucharistic Liturgy, Jesus renews and transforms us–and the world–in His life and love.