“The active participation of the faithful has been encouraged [in the OF] However, this must not mean that Mass is to be entirely dialogue-oriented. Mass must have moments of silence, of inwardness and personal prayer. Where there is **ceaseless **talking” [boy, is that the OF in a nutshell!], “man cannot be deeply penetrated by mystery. We are not to talk uninterruptedly before God, but to also let Him speak”.
Check out this article: thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com/
Don’t blame the OF !!
Blame the celebrants who rush through the Holy Mass as though they were running a marathon race.
I actually remember a time (yes, in the OF) when the celebrant sat down after the homily and closed his eyes, indicating that we should do the same, if only to reflect for a minute; when there wasn’t the how-many-EMHCs-can-we-use-at-one-Mass-contest so that one had time after receiving our Lord for quiet and personal thanksgiving and praise. Not only that, but after Communion was over, the celebrant again would sit down for a moment of quiet reflection.
I have yet to see any explanation (for, of course, there is none) for this frantic rush to speed through Mass.
For those who complain that Mass is too long, I say: “Don’t come!” Yes. “Don’t come!” Do you actually think you’re worshipping God while clock-watching?
If a Mass lasting 50 minutes instead of 40 is so bothersome, maybe some thought should be given to how long eternity will seem in hell.
We are put to shame by some Sunday services of our separated brethren who are not afraid to give God an hour or two on Sunday.
Keeping the OP in mind, I think it would be a good thing for all of us who love, attend and prefer the OF to start gently hinting to our pastors and priests that since time means nothing to God, we should not be rushed through Mass and we must be given a little more time to silently love, thank, worship and praise Him.
You did misquote the article (again) in your thread title. I do not think anyone said what you put in this title.
The Monsignor at our parish after he finishes his Homily always sits down for several min to let everyone reflect. I think it is great, but I have never seen any other priest do that.
Interesting you bring that up; both the pastor and the p.v. at my home (OF) parish also do that, and I was taking special notice of it today and thinking how much I appreciated it.
God bless them! So very few do so.
Funny you should mention that I only took special notice of it today at Mass. He does it all the time but we have Two other Priests who don’t do it. I do not always go his Mass, sometimes it is one of the other Priests, so for some reason today it really stood out.
Beg to differ – Our Rector always sits for a few minutes after the homily with head bowed. And, it is assumed that the congregation do this also.
But, some people in the congregation take this moment of silence by the Priest as an opportunity to talk to each other or make noise by kicking the kneeler, etc.
And it isn’t the Mass or the Priest at fault.
You beg to differ what?
There are moments for private prayer and meditation built into the Liturgy,
Any time the priest says “Let us pray” is a moment for silence and private prayer. The priest then says the Collect and we respond “Amen” to close the prayer. Do the priests in your parish respect that moment of silent prayer?
We allow a time of silence between the First Reading and the Psalm; between the Second Reading and the Gospel Acclamation and after the Homily.
The GIRM speaks of the moments for sacred silence:
- Sacred silence also, as part of the celebration, is to be observed at the designated times.54 Its purpose, however, depends on the time it occurs in each part of the celebration. Thus within the Act of Penitence and again after the invitation to pray, all recollect themselves; but at the conclusion of a reading or the homily, all meditate briefly on what they have heard; then after Communion, they praise and pray to God in their hearts.
Sorry, I should have been more specific.
I was responding to a poster who said that her pastor always sat in silence after the homily but she had never known of another Priest who also did this.
Just wanted the poster to know that there are other Priests who also sit in silence after the homily.
There are several periods of silence during our parish’s OF Masses on Sundays. Even during the daily masses there is usually a period of silence after the reading of the Gospel and again when Father or Deacon Michael returns to his seat after the purification of the vessels.
DaveBj
The moments for silence are built into the Liturgy. Unfortunately, too many priests don’t respect those moments and “Let us pray” is followed without pause by the Collect.
It’s great to hear that there are some priests out there who are doing this.
When a noisy congregation is the problem, I still fault the priest.
Don’t get me wrong. I love our priests, but they are our shepherds. Just as teachers need to quiet a noisy class, Father should remind people that silent times during Mass are for prayer, not chitchat. If he has to remind people every week, then let him.
If they need to be reminded twice in the same Mass, he should do so.
Put it in the bulletin also.
It seems that many people have forgotten why they’re in church in the first place. If the glares of others in the congregation don’t get through to them, then Father should say something.
I was that poster, I never said that no other Pastor did it,I said I had never seen another one do it. I am well aware that there must be others but I have never seen it.
Our does. And also after Communion. 
That’s great, I am glad to hear that there are Priests who do this:thumbsup:
God bless them! So very few do so
.
This has not been my experience at all in any of the churches where I have regularly attended Mass in many years. In my home parish, the pastor always sat for several minutes both after the homily and Communion. The same holds true at the daily Mass I attend at the Cathedral, although it depends on which priest is the celebrant. One of the younger priests only sits for a short time and he does tend to say Mass fairly quickly. I spend most of the summer months at a cottage up north and am fortunate that there is a small parish close-by that still has a regular Sunday Mass. There are two priests who take turns coming on Sunday for the Mass and both of them observe moments of silence after the homily and Communion.
These moments of silence have been so familiar to me that I never thought for a minute that they were not the custom until I started to read forums like this one and other Catholic blogs. It’s rather disheartening how negative comments can creep into one’s unconciousness. Today was the first Sunday back at my home parish since the middle of June. The pastor who had been with us for six years and did everything by the book was transferred the first of July and thus, this mornings’ Mass was my introduction to the new pastor. I found myself watching his every move like a hawk instead of focusing on what I was really there for. It wasn’t until the homily where Father was speaking about St. Peter’s profound confession of faith where he names Jesus as the “Son of God” and that this itself was a gift from God because Peter did not come to this knowledge all on his own, that I almost literally slapped myself for entertaining such distracting and spiritually dishabilitating thoughts when I ought to be renewing my faith and thanking God for His profound love. Yes, the new pastor oberserved several moments of silence after the homily and Communion. Actually, the silence after Communion lasted almost five minutes. The silence was so profound inside the church even with approximately six hundred parishoners in the pews that we could hear the faint cheering from a baseball diamond seven blocks away!
Nordar, I apologize - here I go again, saying I am sorry because I didn’t use the correct wording. I must take a class in semantics if I want to remain on this site long.
I did not mean to critize you - just adding my :twocents: .
Anyway, my church conducts tours several times a day and, on Sunday. My difficulty with the tours is not so much that they make noise but the fact that they generally just walk by the Blessed Sacrament with no sign of reverence.
On Friday we have an Adoration that begins with the Mass and goes until 3:40 p.m. This past Friday a tour was beginning as I was leaving after the Private Adoration period.
I asked the tour guide (there are usually several tours at the same time) if he could remind people to bow or genuflect while passing the Blessed Sacrament on view at the altar.
I understand that I should not have done that but I have watched people just walking back and forth in front of the Blessed Sacrament so I “cracked.” One man in the group said “we are here for the tour, not the devotion.”
I quickly turned on my heels and left - but I did feel as though I should head to another church and right to the confessional because I felt murder in my heart.
Our Rector would never make an announcement about style of dress (many tourists in shorts, etc.); nor anything else that may hurt the feelings of the visitors. And a notice in the bulletin would serve no purpose because many of these people are here only for one Mass and they act as though they are at a “tourist site” instead at Mass.
I am going to speak with him this week though and ask why they must conduct tours on Fridays during the Adoration.
No Problem:D Why do they have tours in your church?
I agree that must be really frustrating, I can’t understand why your pastor allows this during Mass or during adoration hr.