We shall not attempt here a thorough analysis of the Eucharistic Prayers. Rather, we shall concentrate on that part of the four prayers which is common to all, but which has been made different from the True Canon, the prayer which begins "Qui pridie," with the Consecration Forms which follow. We will base our investigation mainly on (1) the Epiclesis itself, together with the three phrases: (2) "mysterium fidei," (3) "Haec Quotiescumque," (4) "pro multis." Below, we will give these phrases in their proper context. Let me summarize the whole argument before presenting it in detail.

    The main purpose of the changes made in the Canon was to transform the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ present on the altar into a mere memorial supper, which recalls Our Lord's last meal with His disciples before His death. This was done by the simple expedient of fusing the Consecratory formulae into the preparatory prayer, Qui Pridie. This was the unadmitted reason behind the removal of the words "mysterium fidei" from the Consecration Form of the wine. The replacement of the sentence which begins "Haec Quotiescumque" was part of the same tactic.

    The reason for mistranslating the words "pro multis" to mean "for all men" was to implant the Lutheran error (held by almost all Protestants) that through the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, all will be saved who have faith in that Sacrifice, regardless of their own moral goodness, regardless of their acceptance of other revealed truths, regardless of membership in the Church. But this idea is only an intermediary one, meant to suggest a still more heterodox idea, that eventually all men will be saved - taken to Heaven - even the damned.

    Here I give first, on the left, the Latin of the prayer, Qui Pridie, as found in the Missale Romanum. (In liturgical parlance it is called an epiclesis; it can also be spelled, epiklesis.) Next to it is the correct English translation of the prayer. Then comes the altered Latin version given in the "Novus Ordo", which most people think is the same thing as that found in Missale Romanum. Last, appears the faulty (what else?) English rendering of the "Novus Ordo's" altered version.

    The numbers in parenthesis indicate what phrases will be under discussion; notice the order in which they will be taken. The choice of these phrases is dictated by the need we have of understanding clearly the true nature of the Consecration, the very center of the Mass. We must have this understanding if we are to perceive how, with a few cunning strokes, the manipulators have been able to set at naught the sacramental import of the words and to disrupt the careful balance of ideas, guarded so jealously by all former Catholic generations, but relinquished so unconcernedly by this present one.