Sacrament Prayers Part One

I have begun to think in immense detail about the prayers that are said over the emblems of the Savior's sacrifice every week. They are short, sometimes even shorter depending on how nervous the Priest is who happens to be blessing it that week. Sometimes they have to be repeated. But they are always the same and they always make me think.

The first thing I realized about the Sacrament Prayers may sound fairly obvious. The Sacrament Prayers are prayers. There, I said it. But think about it. I have always thought of them as special words that are set apart from any others I send Heavenward. But they are prayers, just like the ones I say at my bedside. They may be said on my behalf, by the authority of the Priesthood, but they are prayers nonetheless. The Bible Dictionary says that "prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them." The blessings promised in these prayers are ones that God is already willing to grant. But God wants us to ask. Not for Him, He already knows our hearts. Partaking of the Sacrament and participating in those prayers is for us, so that we know that we indeed want what has been promised. We are also reminded of our part. Prayer itself is a form of work, and partaking of the Sacrament is quite possibly the most important work of our week. So the next time you listen to those words the Priest is saying, remember, they're not just words. It's a prayer.