Bishop asks parishioners to stand?

[tafan2]

If that is the case, I would say it is culturally or regionally conditioned.

Of course it’s culturally conditioned. That’s why the Vatican allows national Bishop’s conferences to determine posture. You should not lightly deviiate from such things, as the “reconditioning” is quite disruptive to many and often (this is a prime example) serves no apparent purpose.

 

[Prodigal1984]

I have only been to two Tridentine Masses in my life so I’m not real familiar with them… but isn’t there a LOT of silent prayer?

Yes. That is the point. We need sacred silence. People are so nervous today with silence when it is what this world needs to reflect and discern.

 

[Dovekin]

Anyone feel it’s disunifying when we kneel while the Communion line is still progressing??

Please do not be offended if I quote you to answer Jen’s question:

People need to respect that this is a personal time united with Christ.

for the purpose the whole congregation engaging in silent, personal praying,

“Leave me alone at this special and intimate time”.

 

[Prodigal1984]

People need to respect that this is a personal time united with Christ.

Exactly. These are the most logical answers possible. Leave me alone when I receive the Lord. All I ask for at Mass is during this time not to think of worldly things. I want an intimate prayer with the Lord. Not singing some song that totally ruins what Mass is about.
Do you get up and start singing at an adoration chapel too? That is equivalent to what you are proposing here.

 

[Dovekin]

the option for a little bit of quiet prayer after communion seems nice too. Didn’t we all learn back in CCD as kids that the time after Communion was for silent thanksgiving?

And that is appropriate for the time after Communion, which to priests comes after the distribution of communion has ended. Accordingly that is how bishops have structured the service.

 

[Jen7]

And that is appropriate for the time after Communion, which to priests comes after the distribution of communion has ended. Accordingly that is how bishops have structured the service

What time is that? Have you ever been to a Mass where the priest sits for more than 10 seconds??

 

[tafan2]

That makes absolutely zero sense. So after we personally receive, we should wait until everyone receives before we engage in personal prayers of thanksgiving? Why the period is disruption?

 

[Jen7]

And that is appropriate for the time after Communion, which to priests comes after the distribution of communion has ended. Accordingly that is how bishops have structured the service

Maybe you are thinking of during the purification of the sacred vessels? Many parishes do not purify during Mass. The vessels are whisked away and purified later. Mass ends within minutes of Communion ending.

 

[Jen7]

That makes absolutely zero sense. So after we personally receive, we should wait until everyone receives before we engage in personal prayers of thanksgiving? Why the period is disruption?

Agreed. At huge parishes like mine that is a long time! And we sit in the front so the kids can see, so it would literally be 10+ minutes of standing there…

 

[Dovekin]

Do you get up and start singing at an adoration chapel too? That is equivalent to what you are proposing here.

Private adoration alone in a chapel is different from corporate participation in the liturgy of the Eucharist.

And yes, I might start singing during if the Spirit moves me during private adoration. But that is personal, not the collective action of the Church as we commune together. It is the Spirit that impels both, but the congregational singing is part of liturgical prayer.

 

[Prodigal1984]

And yes, I might start singing during if the Spirit moves me during private adoration. But that is personal, not the collective action of the Church as we commune together. It is the Spirit that impels both, but the congregational singing is part of liturgical prayer.

I’m sorry. I’m not a Pentecostal.
There is nothing in the liturgy that says I have to stand and sing. Actually it goes against the GIRM. The only day this is prescribed is Maundy Thursday during the procession and the adoration of the cross on Good Friday for anything like this to occur. Even then we aren’t required to be standing. You kneel before the Lord. I kneel while receiving. I will kneel when I get back to my pew as well.

 

[Dovekin]

That makes absolutely zero sense. So after we personally receive, we should wait until everyone receives before we engage in personal prayers of thanksgiving? Why the period is disruption?

So you can receive the Holy Spirit that we prayed for during the Euchariatic prayer and add your spirit to all those of the Body of Christ around you.

After we personally receive, we corporately continue to receive until everyone has received.

I am doing my best to present what the bishops’ have decided, not some idea of my own. Forgive me if I do not do it adequately. I treasure the unity of singing together while united as the body of Christ at communion; it is a real experience of the Holy Spirit for me.

 

[Dovekin]

There is nothing in the liturgy that says I have to stand and sing. Actually it goes against the GIRM.

I have already posted quotes from the GIRM that standing is the posture for receiving Holy Communion. I can add more on singing, though I think the handout from the bishops on he Reception of Holy Communion says it better.

If you think these things go against the GIRM, you should show me with some quotes.

 

[Jen7]

I am doing my best to present what the bishops’ have decided, not some idea of my own.

What some bishops have decided, yes? Some still allow kneeling. We are just talking about the ones who ask their parishioners to stand, right? I feel you’re speaking like the bishops themselves are united about this. I don’t feel they are. I’m my home parish everyone kneels after they receive. The choir sings a meditative piece conducive to quiet prayer. Then we all sing something together. By contrast, there is the parish where I traveled. Incidentally even there the choir did not sing in English, so the congregation listened but did not (could not!) join them as it was an ethnic choir singing in their native language. So again - I don’t see unity here! The bishops do not seem to be in agreement.

 

[Jen7]

I have already posted quotes from the GIRM that standing is the posture for receiving Holy Communion

I don’t think anyone is talking about how we receive… just what we do afterwards.

 

[Prodigal1984]

I have already posted quotes from the GIRM that standing is the posture for receiving Holy Communion. I can add more on singing, though I think the handout from the bishops on he Reception of Holy Communion says it better.

Pope Benedict XVl realized this is better on the knees.

From this perspective, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger assured that: “Communion only reaches its true depth when it is supported and surrounded by adoration” [ The Spirit of the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2000), p. 90]. For this reason, Cardinal Ratzinger maintained that “the practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor a centuries-old tradition, and it is a particularly expressive sign of adoration, completely appropriate in light of the true, real and substantial presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the consecrated species” [cited in the Letter “This Congregation” of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 1 July 1, 2002].

In continuity with the teaching of his Predecessor, starting with the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in the year 2008, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, began to distribute to the faithful the Body of the Lord, by placing it directly on the tongue of the faithful as they remain kneeling.

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/details/ns_lit_doc_20091117_comunione_en.html

 

[Jen7]

I just had a thought: say you are the last person in the Communion line. Aren’t we all kneeling after the Agnus? So until your row stands up to get in line, you are… kneeling, right? But the person I’m the front row doesn’t get to kneel for all that time?

For me this is problem solved. Next time I am in a church we I’m asked to stand after Communion, I’m just moving to the last pew.

 

[Jen95]

tafan2:

That makes absolutely zero sense. So after we personally receive, we should wait until everyone receives before we engage in personal prayers of thanksgiving? Why the period is disruption?

So you can receive the Holy Spirit that we prayed for during the Euchariatic prayer and add your spirit to all those of the Body of Christ around you.

After we personally receive, we corporately continue to receive until everyone has received.

I am doing my best to present what the bishops’ have decided, not some idea of my own. Forgive me if I do not do it adequately. I treasure the unity of singing together while united as the body of Christ at communion; it is a real experience of the Holy Spirit for me.

Everyone knows you can only receive the Holy Spirit when you are standing and singing corporately! And if one person is kneeling instead of standing it’s going to totally ruin it!

 

[RyanBlack]

You should not lightly deviiate from such things, as the “reconditioning” is quite disruptive to many and often (this is a prime example) serves no apparent purpose.

Well, I don’t disagree with that.

 

[Prodigal1984]

If you think these things go against the GIRM, you should show me with some quotes.

Everything you are pushing for is sadly why the percentage of Catholics who believe in the real presence is so abysmal.