For many priests and laypeople alike, Eucharistic Prayer III settles as a nice middle ground between the Roman Canon and Eucharistic Prayer II. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) suggests that Eucharistic Prayer III is most appropriately used on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation and many priests follow that suggestion. Here are some unique features of this Eucharistic Prayer:
The very first paragraph after the Sanctus states that the Lord “never cease[s] to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.” The acknowledgement that it is the Lord’s initiative to gather people to himself is an important one. No matter how persuasive you or I may be, it is the Lord who must act if a person is going to be drawn to him. Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). What’s the purpose of being drawn to the Lord? People of all nations are gathered to God for the purpose of offering a pure sacrifice to his name. This is a direct connection to a passage from the Book of Malachi in the Old Testament. As the Lord scolds the Temple priests, he says, “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:11). This is significant: the Lord is prophesying that a day will come when people from “the nations” will offer sacrifice to his name. It’s not just any sacrifice, but the minchah sacrifice, which was a grain offering. Normally the sacrifices could only be offered in the Temple, but here the Lord is suggesting that the sacrifices will be offered around the world. It sure sounds like the Mass, an offering of the Bread of Life around the world, is the fulfillment of this passage!
As you can tell, Eucharistic Prayer III heavily emphasizes the sacrificial nature of the Mass. There are several instances of mentioning the nature of our worship with several mentions of the sacrifice or the One being offered as we participate in the Sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary for the forgiveness of sins.
One more point about the Prayer itself: EPIII is the only Eucharistic Prayer that allows the priest to insert the specific name of the Saint of the day or the Patron Saint of the place where Mass is being offered. EPI includes those two lists of saints and EPs II and IV have the basic listing of Mary, Joseph, the Apostles, and all the Saints, but EPIII adds the general category of Martyrs and offers as an option the particular Saint of the day or place. Unfortunately, some priests like to insert the specific Saint of the day into EPII, but they should not do so. That is part of what makes EPIII unique.
Eucharistic Prayer III is uniquely crafted from a combination of historical Eucharistic Prayers from history. The beautiful prayers were taken from a wide range of ancient Eucharistic Prayers: Mozarabic Liturgy, Anaphora of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Anaphora of St. Basil, Anaphora of St. Clement, and the Leonine Sacramentary. My point in bringing this up is to connect with history - these names listed here go back several centuries into the early days of the Church. Like with Eucharistic Prayer II, the Church is endorsing a return to historical worship as a way to join the Heavenly worship of the Mass.
