Curious - Sunday Mass Mistake

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A curious thing happened today at the Sunday Mass I attended. The celebrant omitted an important part of the mass. I think because he misread the wording or something has been omitted. It wasn’t intentional since I know this priest has been saying Mass for over 20 years. He was saying the prayer leading up to the part where the proper begins with the words Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts - something that is usually sung. He then went immediately to the Consecration holding up the Bread and then the wine. He skipped the prayer that says, "Lord let your spirit come upon these gifts like the dewfall ……
Some people were wondering if the Consecration was valid and if the bread and wine were really transformed due to the slip up. Opinions???
 
joeybaggz said:
Some people were wondering if the Consecration was valid and if the bread and wine were really transformed due to the slip up. Opinions???
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So long as he said the parts “This is my body” and “This is my blood” and intended to consecrate the bread and wine, the consecration was valid.
 
Not if the epiclesis was omitted.

The species changing require both the epiclesis AND the consecratory formula.

Deacon Christopher
 
Okay, so now I have to ask, did the Lord, simply because a priest unintentionally forgot to say a certain prayer, be so offended that He said, “Nope, I’m not going to be present to those 400 people, because Mike just didn’t use the right formula?”
Seems kind of petty, don’t you think?
 
joeybaggz said:
Okay, so now I have to ask, did the Lord, simply because a priest unintentionally forgot to say a certain prayer, be so offended that He said, “Nope, I’m not going to be present to those 400 people, because Mike just didn’t use the right formula?”
Seems kind of petty, don’t you think?
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Don’t call God petty. We have rubrics in place to remove all doubt that the Eucharist is confected. Whether Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity were present in this Mass or not, all present fulfilled their Sunday obligation, and God won’t punish anyone because the priest slipped up.
 
God can do anything He wants. He may have transformed the species by a miracle.

The questioner asked if the priest changed the bread and wine; which he did not. The epiclesis (calling down of the Holy Spirit) is required.

In The Divine Liturgy the consecratory words occur before the epiclesis. Without both, the gifts are not changed.

As sacred ministers, we are bound to obey the Church and her directives. This includes the rubrics of the service books.

God can do anything He wants. Leave the miracles to him, and let the ministers obey Holy Mother Church.

A sinner I remain,
Deacon Christopher
 
joeybaggz said:
I actually said the epiclesis myself (silently of course). Did God hear my request, did he answer it? I don’t know, I’d like to think so, though. But I will bet you there are a bunch of trads that probably think I committed an act of blasphemy.
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It’s not blasphemy- but as you aren’t the minister, it wouldn’t have accomplished anything as far as the Church is concerned.

And referring to others as “trads” isn’t going to win you any friends.
 
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I have been at a couple of Masses where the priest forgot something, I simply pointed to the paragraph in the Missal and whispered, “you forgot this, Father.”

In the Divine Liturgy used by Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, the priest is supposed to be so consumed in prayer that he can easily forget his place. It is the deacon’s job to remind him and say, “bless, Master,” and show him where we are in the service book.

Deacons are not just window dressing, they serve an important function in the liturgy.

Blessed are the Council Fathers who restored the diaconate permanently,
Deacon Christopher
 
joeybaggz said:
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Thom18:
Don’t call God petty.
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Whoa, touchy, touchy. I didn’t ask anything about whether a Sunday obligation was fulfilled or not. I am just curious if all I received today was the same thing millions of protestants receive, an imitation or symbol and not the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there. I am having a bit of trouble seeing how everything depends on just the right words or gesture. I have to believe the Lord isn’t as inflexible as a lot of Catholics who seem to demand everything be done by formula.
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Would you have us throw out the rubrics and just hope that we receive Jesus while His priests throw caution to the wind? I already explained why we have these rules- to ensure that we are in fact receiving what we say we are. It’s for our benefit, not to be legalistic but to ensure that what we say and do grants us the results we seek.

All who have eyes to see and ears to hear, will.
 
Diaconia said:
God can do anything He wants. He may have transformed the species by a miracle.
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Spiritual communion can happen without receiving the consecrated host.

God can give the grace if the host is unconsecrated.

The Sacred Body is always one with the soul and divinity, but the divine is not limited by the sacrament. Grace is abundant.
 
Thom18 said:
while His priests throw caution to the wind?
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the guy made a mistake; probably didn’t get enough sleep last night. No wonder so many people leave the church and so many people ridicule and consider the CC a slave to rubrics, rules, and formulae, instead of a place of mercy and where Christ is truly present, as he promised.
 
PLEASE, THE CONSECRATION IS VALID.

Thomas Aquinas also explains this requirement in great detail in Summa Theologica (Third Part, Question 78, Articles 1 through 6). Changing the words of the preparatory parts of the Eucharistic prayer is illicit and gravely sinful for the priest, but would not invalidate the Eucharist as long as “This is My Body” and “This is … My Blood” are said.

There was indeed a very serious omission of the epiclesis (probably by error in flipping the missal pages or by the priest attempting to make the prayers by memory instead of directly from the book), but it does not invalidate the consecration.

There are 4 conditions for a valid consecration: 1. A validly ordained priest 2. The intention of the priest 3. Matter 4. Form.

You question clearly refers to condition 4 (Form). There is a reason why “take this all of you…” both at the consecration of the Body and again at the Blood is written very big and bold. That is the only part that can invalidate the consecration if omitted, mutilated or altered. Every other part of the eucharistic prayers is very important but cannot invalidate the consecration. (Already said above, quoting st Thomas Aquinas).

For further knowledge, you may also visit Is Your Mass Valid? Liturgical Abuse

(With deep regards and respect to all who have offered their responses already, I wish to note that in matters concerning rubrics and doctrines, when giving a response it is very necessary to cite sources especially church documents or sources that would indicate church documents, to avoid misleading personal opinions and diffusion of doubt and errors, despite the good intentions).

God bless you.
 
joeybaggz said:
I have to believe the Lord isn’t as inflexible as a lot of Catholics who seem to demand everything be done by formula.
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The Lord set up the Church for a reason. If he wanted sloppyness and disunity in the Liturgy he would’nt have bothered instituting the Eucharist.
 
TheLittleLady said:
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joeybaggz:
Lord let your spirit come upon these gifts like the dewfall
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Is it possible that he used a different prayer with words / phrase different than EP II you are accustomed to?
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Actually, no. We were all standing as he was reciting the prayer that leads up to the Holy, Holy, Holy acclamation, and he then genuflected and held up the host for the consecration. The whole church was trying to get to a kneeling position, the choir was dumbfounded, and it was, well not quite chaos, but there were kneelers banging and people scrambling to kneel; it was a whole lot of confusion. First time I’ve ever seen that at mass. Priest just made a mistake. Like I said, maybe he didn’t get much sleep Saturday night.
 
AdamP88 said:
The Lord set up the Church for a reason. If he wanted sloppyness and disunity in the Liturgy he would’nt have bothered instituting the Eucharist.
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And if he wanted absolute by the book perfection, he would have made us robots.
 
I wouldn’t look at the Eucharist as if it’s a spell or incantation.
 
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