As we get to the last of the six prefaces which are labelled “Common” in the Roman Missal, Third Edition, a reminder that each of these is accompanied by a rubric which states:
The following Preface is said in Masses that have no proper Preface, and for which a Preface related to a specific liturgical time is not indicated.
On the last preface, Devin queried about their history. Many of them quote Scripture, so the roots are as old as it gets. I suspect they are far more recent than the oldest Eucharistic Prayers.
This preface is the longest of the six. Here is the MR2:
Here is the current Missal, which has joined the first two sentences above into the introduction to the text:
… your Word through whom you made all things,
whom you sent as our Saviour and Redeemer,
incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin.Fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people,
he stretched out his hands as he endured his Passion,
so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection.
And so “The mystery of salvation in Christ” is described briefly. I think that ordinary time is a good place to refer to Annunciation through Easter as the anchor of our Eucharistic Prayer. Of all the common prefaces, I find I favor this one most. If I had a go-to ribbon in a Missal, it might stick on section number 77 in the Order of Mass.
Catholic Sensibility 