The third brief appendix listed by Moroni is the prayer used on the sacramental bread. This prayer is identical to the prayer in the Doctrine and Covenants 20:77. In the prayer the partakers of the sacrament covenant to do three things: (1) remember the body of Jesus Christ; (2) witness unto the Father that they are willing to take upon them the name of Christ; (3) witness unto the Father that they will always remember Christ and will keep his commandments. The Lord’s promise in the covenant is that if we do these things, he will bless us that we might always have his spirit to be with us.
Some readers of the Book of Mormon have wondered about Moroni’s statement that the elder or priest administering to the sacrament “did kneel down with the church.” (Moroni 4:2.) Some have assumed the meaning that everyone in the congregation knelt down. Although this interpretation is possible, at least one other possibility exists. The statement may mean that the elder or priest did kneel down “in the presence of the members of the church.” (See also D&C 20:76.)
Elder Delbert L. Stapley has indicated the importance of keeping the covenants we make with the Lord when we partake of the sacramental emblems:
Now my brothers and sisters—there are only three prayers that the Lord has revealed to the Church, and two of them have to do with the ordinance of the sacrament, the blessing of the bread and the blessing of the water. These prayers are found in the fourth and fifth chapters of Moroni in the Book of Mormon and also in the 20th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. While I will not attempt to repeat the sacramental prayers for you, I should like to point out, five important considerations to remember in the revealed sacramental prayers. First, we partake of the sacrament in remembrance of the broken body and spilled blood of Christ. Then we witness unto the Father, and I think we should take note of that, first, that we will take upon us the name of his Son… .If we take upon us the name of Christ, even as we pledge to do—when we partake of the emblems of his body and blood, we agree to keep all the commandments until the end of our days.
Second, we witness or pledge that we will always remember him. As President McKay said, “Always remember him in the home, in business, in society,” and I would assume wherever else we might be.
Third, we pledge to keep the commandments which he has given unto us, and last, we have a promise that if we do these things, and it is assumed that we do so worthily, that we shall always have his spirit to be with us… .
In partaking of the sacramental emblems, we should always call to mind Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, the death upon the cross, with faithful obedience to his appointed mission. The sacrament is so sacred that it is recommended during the sacramental services, that no music be played, nor should there be any distractions whatsoever during the service. It is a time for meditation, a time for resolve, not a time for visiting, nor the chewing of gum, as so many people do, nor permitting our minds to dwell upon other things foreign to the sacred ordinance of the sacrament itself.
We know that no one but a God could suffer or go through what Christ experienced to redeem men from the effects of the fall. His sacrifice was an infinite sacrifice and that sacrifice was required of a God to satisfy broken law. In the 19th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants the Savior said: [Quotes D&C 19:16-19.]
The Lord makes it very plain that if we keep the commandments that we shall not suffer as he suffered, because he assumed the burden of people’s sins, if they would repent, and also atoned for the fall of our first parents in Eden. When the Lord loves us enough to die for us, we should be willing to show our love for him by serving him and keeping all his commandments.
Another important purpose of the sacrament is to renew and keep in force the covenants and obligations which we have entered into with our God… . (“The Sacrament,” BYU Speeches of the Year, 1956.)