While the Mass is primarily focused on the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, there is also a recognition of God's creative goodness in the midst of the Eucharistic celebration.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights this spiritual reality when reflecting on the symbolism of the bread and wine that is brought to the priest:
The signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to signify the goodness of creation. Thus in the Offertory we give thanks to the Creator for bread and wine, fruit of the "work of human hands," but above all as "fruit of the earth" and "of the vine" - gifts of the Creator. The Church sees in the gesture of the king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread and wine," a prefiguring of her own offering.
Prior to the institution of the Eucharist, the Jewish people offered to God the fruits of the earth in their liturgical celebrations, as the Catechism points out:
In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator.
Thanksgiving to God
This point is further highlighted in the fact that the Eucharist means "thanksgiving":
Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein and eulogein recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: creation, redemption, and sanctification.
Whenever we participate in the Mass, we are invited to give thanks to God for all the blessings he has given to us.
This includes the many material blessings we have received, including the food that we eat and the physical place where we live.
It can also include an act of thanksgiving for the goodness and beauty of creation.
The celebration of Mass is a most fitting way to give thanks to God whenever we recognize the beauty of nature and recall the extraordinary intricacies of the world God created.
