"Canon" means "rule," for here we have prayer that does not change from day to day (as, for example, the Collects do), but is a constant feature of the service.

The prayer is addressed to God the Father, who gave his Son to die on the Cross to redeem us. By that death, Our Lord has done something for man that no other could do, offering an all-sufficient Sacrifice. To this Sacrifice we are united by the will of Our Lord himself, as on the night before he died he instituted the Holy Eucharist to be a perpetual memorial of his death on Calvary, until his coming again (I Cor. 11:26). Our offering of the Holy Sacrifice is not something apart from his offering on the Cross, but rather the means by which we are made to take part in his offering, as it is also the means by which we take part in his life.

The blessed Eucharist is therefore the heart of Christian worship. From the earliest days, the Catholic Church in all its branches has expected its children to be "steadfast in the breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42), for it is in this offering that they are united to the redemptive activity of their Lord. As he continues the prayer, the Priest spreads his hands over the oblations, indicating by his action the desire of the Church that God will send his blessing on the gifts of the altar. The gift of man to God is that of bread and wine, themselves the creatures of the God to whom they are offered. God's gift to man is his Son, the Bread of life and the true Vine. As our bodies are nourished by bread, so our souls are nourished by the Body of the Lord in the most Holy Sacrament; as our bodies are refreshed by "wine that maketh glad the heart of man," so our souls are refreshed by the precious Blood of the Savior.

The Sacrifice of Christ was the offering of perfect obedience; he came into the world to do the will of his Father.