f the
common possessions to every one as he needed. [Acts 4:34, 35]
Even so the Apostle Paul teaches, that all food and whatsoever we
use shall be blessed with prayer and the Word of God, and thanks
be given to God therefor [Rom. 14:6, 7; 1 Cor. 10:30,31]; hence
we say the _Benedicite_ and _Gratias_[14] at table. Thus it was
the custom of the Old Testament, when men thanked God for gifts
received, that they lifted them up in their hands to God; as is
written in the law of Moses. [Exod. 34:26; Num.15:19, 20]
Therefore, the apostles also lifted up the offerings in this way,
thanked God, and blessed, with the Word of God, food and whatever
the Christians gathered. And Christ Himself, as St. Luke writes,
lifted up the cup, gave thanks to God, drank of it, and gave to
the others, before He instituted the sacrament and testament.
[Luke 22:17]

[Sidenote: The Collect and Offeratory]

22. Traces of this usage have survived in three customs. The
first, that the first and last prayer of the mass are called
"collects," that is, "collections"; which indicates that these
prayers were spoken as a blessing and thanksgiving over the food
which had been collected, to bless it and give thanks to God,
according to the teaching of St. Paul [1 Cor. 10:30, 31]. The
second, when the people after the Gospel proceed to the offering;
from which the chant which is sung at that time is called
"Offertory," that is, an offering. The third, that the priest
elevates in the paten and offers to God the still unblessed host,
at the same time that the offertory is being sung and the people
are making their offering; by which is shown that the sacrament
is not offered to God by us, but only these "collects" and
offerings of food and gifts that have been gathered, in order
that God may be thanked for them, and they may be blessed, to be
distributed to the needy.

For afterward, when the priest, in the "low mass," [15] elevates
the blessed host and cup, there is not a word said about the
sacrifice, where he should most of all make mention of the
sacrifice, if the mass were a sacrifice: but, as I have said
above,[16] he elevates it not toward God, but toward us, to
remind us of the testament, and to incite us to faith in the
same. In like manner, when he receives or administers the
sacrament, he does not mention the sacrifice by a single word;
which must and should be done were the sacrament a sacrifice.
Therefore, the mass dare not and cannot be calle