Orate Fratres

[Wannabe_Monk_16]

The priest at my parish says out loud the part: “May the Lord accept the sacrifice…” along with the congregation at Mass. Before we moved to our current parish, I had never heard a priest say this response out loud. I unfortunately haven’t been able to ask the priest himself why he does this, but has anyone else ever heard of this?

 

[LoyalViews]

Yes I have, especially after they implemented the new Roman Missal. It seems to be a habit, as people were learning the reformed responses that the priest took up without notice. He would often repeat the responses to inform the congregation.

I’ve also heard him say “accept this sacrifice at my hands” when the congregation say “your.”

 

[japhy]

GIRM 146 would lead me to believe that the priest shouldn’t be making this response, since the response belongs to the congregation:

1. Returning to the middle of the altar, and standing facing the people, the Priest extends and then joins his hands, and calls upon the people to pray, saying, Orate, fratres (Pray, brethren). The people rise and make the response May the Lord accept the sacrifice, etc. Then the Priest, with hands extended, says the Prayer over the Offerings. At the end the people acclaim, Amen.

A lot of the rest of what the priest prays during the Liturgy of the Eucharist – his quiet prayers and the Eucharistic Prayer itself – have to do with asking God to accept the sacrifice, so on the one hand, it’s a bit redundant for the priest to pray the “May the Lord accept” prayer… but on the other hand, the Roman Rite has a fair bit of redundancy in it: have you ever noticed how many times we ask God for peace? Try counting that sometime, if it doesn’t distract you too much.

But this is a small matter, the priest saying this response.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

GIRM 146 would lead me to believe that the priest shouldn’t be making this response, since the response belongs to the congregation:

1. Returning to the middle of the altar, and standing facing the people, the Priest extends and then joins his hands, and calls upon the people to pray, saying, Orate, fratres (Pray, brethren). The people rise and make the response May the Lord accept the sacrifice, etc. Then the Priest, with hands extended, says the Prayer over the Offerings. At the end the people acclaim, Amen.

A lot of the rest of what the priest prays during the Liturgy of the Eucharist – his quiet prayers and the Eucharistic Prayer itself – have to do with asking God to accept the sacrifice, so on the one hand, it’s a bit redundant for the priest to pray the “May the Lord accept” prayer… but on the other hand, the Roman Rite has a fair bit of redundancy in it: have you ever noticed how many times we ask God for peace? Try counting that sometime, if it doesn’t distract you too much.

But this is a small matter, the priest saying this response.

Frankly, it is often a purely practical matter.

If I am with a small group of Religious when I celebrate Eucharist, I never have to worry about the responses. In a similarly small group of laity, I often have to “lead the responses” lest they freeze and there is no response to the prayers at all, which would not be in the mind of the GIRM.

Above all I find this applies at weddings and funerals where even those who attend Mass regularly become either dazzled or otherwise insecure and need even basic prompts…such as a hand gesture to stand and to sit before and after the Gospel – as though one would hear the Gospel differently at a funeral than they do at a Sunday or daily Eucharist.