Yes; I do this every week. We start the communion antiphon as the priest takes the host. When almost all of the congregation has received communion, we move to a hymn or some other appropriate meditation piece.
I do a communion hymn in my parish. Once the hymn is done, I usually play something instrumental until the priest has finished purifying the vessels. Sometimes, though rarely, I will do a second hymn if it is a full church.
I sometimes do that as well, if the antiphon and hymn do not fill up all the time I will do some quiet organ improvisation. Often, I will chant the seasonal Marian antiphon as a post-communion meditation.
Silence gives God a chance to get a word in edgewise. At least, that is what a priest friend of mine told me.
Maybe, you might ask yourself, what would St. John Bosco have said about the list. I am one of his spiritual daughters, having been educated by the Salesian sisters. If there was anything that I remember from my nine years with them (as a girl), it was the imense love that he had for the Church and for the liturgy. I mention Don Bosco because of your username and, assume, that you might, like me, be a product of Salesian education.
Just because something is in Spirit and Song (the OCP book), that does not necessarily mean that it is fit for the Mass. The musical genres of these songs “fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy”. Pope Benedict cautions us to avoid these types. If you want to use these songs, these are better employed for youth gatherings apart and away from the liturgy (Mass and Benediction).
God bless you, but you’re going to be roasted alive by a few people here for posting this information.
My previous Assoc. Pastor did that too. I explained it to him many times, and his response was always “Everyone should know what the priest is saying.”
Oh, that’s not good, BenedictGal, not good at all. The author of that song did not have any authentic Sensus Fidei of the Catholic Church. Seriously, what are you thinking? This is a highly suspect piece of music at best, steeped in creeping Protestantism. It was not created for Catholic worship. It is a Protestant song, through and through, and simply not at all appropriate for the Catholic liturgy. You surprise me, you really do. Does your pastor know what kind of music you are choosing? With all due respect, our Mass is not the place for moral relativism. If you don’t understand where you’ve gone wrong, let me know, and I can supply lots of quotations from liturgical documents that are absolutely irrefutable.
The rule from our Bishop is one verse for a meditation hymn and then silence. It was not a hard rule. Two verses for a short song. I try to leave at least half of the time for purification in silence.
Assumption. I only said this because I was wondering why you used Marian hymns. Then I snapped on the date.
I don’t like complete silence during the purification, and neither do my current Pastor or new Assoc. Pastor. Instrumental music (as I was told by a Diocesan director) during the purification helps to not only calm the mind, but limit the amount of “clanging” heard by the glasses.
One must always do as the priest directs. I have always appreciated the moments of silence that we find in Mass, after the readings, after the homily and after communion. I know each preist is different. We had one priest fill in once that was ex-USAF. He was used to being flown to a carrier with a limited amount of time to say Mass before he caught his plane off to the next Mass. There was no pause with that fella.
Can’t say I’ve been to a Mass that was quite THAT fast. But my Pastor does tend to fly through certain parts.One must always do as the priest directs. I have always appreciated the moments of silence that we find in Mass, after the readings, after the homily and after communion. I know each preist is different. We had one priest fill in once that was ex-USAF. He was used to being flown to a carrier with a limited amount of time to say Mass before he caught his plane off to the next Mass. There was no pause with that fella.
My bad. The 15th is the Assumption, the 6th is the Ascension.
