“You have prepared a table before me,
and how precious is the chalice that quenches my thirst.”
(Cf . Ps 23[22]:5)
The Veil is to the Chalice, what the appearance of Bread and Wine are to our Eucharistic Lord.
When the priest removes the veil, the Chalice is revealed and we then see the sacred vessel that will hold the Eucharistic Miracle of our Lord, in His veiled Presence.
He is veiled, and hidden within the Eucharistic Miracle of Transubstantiation.
We believe that, through the words of the priest during the Consecration,
the bread and wine no longer remain, but become the ‘totus Christus’,
the whole humanity of our Risen Christ,
Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
These spoken, priestly words ‘change’
these two things of bread and wine into the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity:
“TAKE THIS , ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT,
FOR THIS IS MY BODY,
WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.
†
TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT.
FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD,
THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT,
WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY
FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.
How precious is the Sacred Chalice, veiled to remind us to believe in,
Who it is that we can not see, but may receive because He wanted to remain with us,
always, until the end of time.
When DOVES serve in this Eucharistic Stewardship as apprentices to the sacristan ministry,
they also veil, as a witness to the hidden Presence of our Eucharistic Lord,
veiled in the appearances of bread and wine.
I am including this well researched article on the history of the chalice veil,
published in the February 1997 edition in the Adoramus Bulletin.
Father Pokorsky notes that the chalice veil is a mysterious garment,
often dismissed as a kind of decoration.
He cites the General Instruction for the Roman Missal, (GIRM) 80C
on why the recommendation to veil the chalice is suggested,
especially to assist the faithful in being mindful the hidden Eucharistic Sacred Mysteries.
The Veil, The Chalice and the Dignity of Man
Like the Sacred Vessels at Mass, we were made to receive Christ
by Father Jerry Pokorsky
Adoramus Bulletin February 1997, Vol II, No. 9