Gospel carried in the begining, but not at end of mass

[brianjmc1]

During the start of the mass, the procession carries the Gospel, usually the deacon to the alter. Why don’t they carry the Gospel out at end of mass with procession?

Very non-important, but wondered. Forgot to ask my priest yesterday…
Thanks,
Brian

 

[Vico]

During the start of the mass, the procession carries the Gospel, usually the deacon to the alter. Why don’t they carry the Gospel out at end of mass with procession?

Very non-important, but wondered. Forgot to ask my priest yesterday…
Thanks,
Brian

Do you mean the procession with the Book of the Gospels from the altar to the ambo when that takes place at more solemn liturgies?

That is part of the Liturgy of the Word.

 

[CilladeRoma]

I think he means why is the Book of the Gospels not carried out during the recessional.

OP, it’s a good question and one that I often wondered about too, but I also always forget to ask.

Maybe one of our resident priests can answer.

 

[paperwight]

brianjmc1:

During the start of the mass, the procession carries the Gospel, usually the deacon to the alter. Why don’t they carry the Gospel out at end of mass with procession?

Very non-important, but wondered. Forgot to ask my priest yesterday…
Thanks,
Brian

Do you mean the procession with the Book of the Gospels from the altar to the ambo when that takes place at more solemn liturgies?

That is part of the Liturgy of the Word.

No, he means the actual procession at the start of Mass. The Deacon carries it in at the most formal of our Sunday Masses. I’d imagine it’s not done at the end, because the procession goes to the door and the clergy including the Deacon chat to people on their way out.

 

[brianjmc1]

Yes, its carried into the start of Mass and not carried out…
Thanks,
brian

 

[Evan]

The Word of God comes to the people at the entrance in procession. At the reading, the Word is broken open and given to the people. At the end of mass the Word is found in the People of God. The Word then processes out, not in a book, but in the hearts of the people. The mass ends with “ite missa est” = “Go you are sent”. We become missionaries (those sent) into the world. That is where the Word “mass” comes from.

 

[Dovekin]

:
Archdiocese of Baltimore has a helpful page.

Zenit quotes most of the passages from the GIRM.

@Evan has the explanation I have heard somewhere. It sounds good to me even if I cannot document it. I would add that it is like what happens with the Eucharist, which we carry out with us to the world. The Gospel and the Eucharist are given to us to take to others.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

As a rubrical matter, the GIRM details the procession, but technically speaking, there’s not even a recession mentioned… simply that the ministers leave.

 

[on_the_hill]

Weird. I noticed this for the first time yesterday.

 

[Gorgias]

No, he means the actual procession at the start of Mass. The Deacon carries it in at the most formal of our Sunday Masses. I’d imagine it’s not done at the end, because the procession goes to the door and the clergy including the Deacon chat to people on their way out.

As I recall it, having had this conversation with the diocesan master of ceremonies a number of years ago, The Book of the Gospels is carried in, because it’s part of the Liturgy of the Word. That liturgy is completed, and then the Liturgy of the Eucharist begins. Since it’s already completed, we don’t process out with the book (and, strictly speaking, the reader who carried it in shouldn’t be part of the recessional).

 

[Glennon_P]

the reader who carried it in shouldn’t be part of the recessional

Years ago in our parish the lector would process out with the priest, acolyte, and servers.

Our pastor said that the rubrics didn’t not allow for that so the lector now remains in the sanctuary until the recessional hymn and the “O Sacrament most holy” is complete.

 

[Gorgias]

Our pastor said that the rubrics didn’t not allow for that so the lector now remains in the sanctuary until the recessional hymn and the “O Sacrament most holy” is complete.

That’s my understanding, too. Not all priests will follow the rubrics that precisely, however. Sometimes, it’s an unwillingness to risk “offending” a reader who is accustomed to recessing out.

 

[JohnLilburne]

The last instruction in the Introduction to the Book of the Gospels is:

“22. The Book of the Gospels is not to be carried in the procession at the end of Mass.”

[Excerpt from the English translation of the Book of the Gospels © International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved. I am unsure of the copyright year for this, but is was approved by the Vatican for the USA on 23 May 2000.]

 

[AngelusDomini]

Slightly off topic but related - Does anyone attend a parish which has a Gospel procession into the body/nave of the church? It was common Anglican practice to take the Gospel in a solemn fashion into the midst of the people. This is still allowed in the Ordinariate Use but it seems to be the norm in most Latin Rite Catholic churches to read the Gospel from the ambo.

 

[CilladeRoma]

My understanding is the the recessional is not at all governed by the GIRM.
Once the priest or deacon has pronounced, “Mass is over…”, the rubrics cease, as anything that happens from that point is not an actual part of the liturgy.

 

[Glennon_P]

That’s my understanding, too. Not all priests will follow the rubrics that precisely, however. Sometimes, it’s an unwillingness to risk “offending” a reader who is accustomed to recessing out.

Our pastor at the time was a “by the book” guy, although he didn’t beat people over the head with it. He instituted that change with a few other modifications for the lectors and acolytes during Mass, and there wasn’t any pushback over it as I recall. We all knew then - and still know now - that we are there to serve and that serving is a privilege and not a right.

 

[JohnLilburne]

From the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:

“193. After the celebration of Mass, the acolyte and other ministers return together with the Deacon and the Priest in procession to the sacristy, in the same manner and in the same order in which they entered.”

So clearly the reader should be in both the entrance procession (GIRM 120) and the one at the end of Mass.

[Excerpt from the English translation of The Roman Missal, © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.]

 

[Gorgias]

So clearly the reader should be in both the entrance procession (GIRM 120) and the one at the end of Mass.

I’m not certain it’s so “clear.” It’s not a magisterial source, but Turner’s “Let Us Pray: A Guide to the Rubrics of Sunday Mass” is a good resource. In this book, he states,

[t]he GIRM notes that the acolyte leaves in procession, but it never calls for the lector to do so. If this is an instituted lector who vested and sat in the sanctuary throughout the service, he would leave with the other ministers. The Book of the Gospels has already been set aside. It is not retrieved for the recession.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

I would have to disagree with Turner here. He mentions an instituted lector would be in the procession out, so it stands to reason then that the extraordinary minister of the word (the substitution for the lector) would do likewise, since the rubric simply says “ministers”. If there’s another rubric elsewhere (I’m not aware of one) governing the specific behaviors of readers vs instituted lectors that shows specific innate differences, then I would concede to Turner’s point.

 

[Phemie]

I would have to disagree with Turner here. He mentions an instituted lector would be in the procession out, so it stands to reason then that the extraordinary minister of the word (the substitution for the lector) would do likewise, since the rubric simply says “ministers”. If there’s another rubric elsewhere (I’m not aware of one) governing the specific behaviors of readers vs instituted lectors that shows specific innate differences, then I would concede to Turner’s point.

The one difference I can see is that instituted lector is in the sanctuary and leaves with the rest.

In most parishes the readers come from the assembly to read and return to the assembly when they are finished. It makes no sense to have them return to the sanctuary at the end of Mass just so they can leave in procession.