Private Prayer after Communion Introverted?

[mairegal]

This is what I have heard at my Parish. I always understood that we pray privately after Holy Communion because it is a special time for Jesus and the soul He is visiting. I object to coming back to my pew and standing and joining in the singing. I kneel and pray while the rest of the congregation stand and sing.
Am I wrong??
mg

 

[LilyM]

Absolutely not! Stand (or should that be kneel ) your ground! I imagine there are at least some in that congregation who wish they had your guts.

 

[tee_eff_em]

This is what I have heard at my Parish. I always understood that we pray privately after Holy Communion because it is a special time for Jesus and the soul He is visiting. I object to coming back to my pew and standing and joining in the singing. I kneel and pray while the rest of the congregation stand and sing.
Am I wrong??
mg

You are not wrong.

Neither, however, are those who sing, according the GIRM:

1. When the distribution of Communion is finished, as circumstances suggest, the priest and faithful spend some time praying privately. If desired, a psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may also be sung by the entire congregation.

tee

 

[decn2b]

Are you saying that at your parish people go to communion and return to their pew to stand and sing? I have NEVER heard of this. I find it offensive to Jesus to do so. The sense of “community” at commenuion time is Subordinate to the personal encounter with Christ. JPII mentions this in Ecclesia de Eucharistia refering to the Fraternal Banquet mentality that seems to have pushed the personal experience aside. Remember when you die you will be alone and Naked before the Just Judge. The particular judgement is NOT a communal experience.

 

[palmas85]

This is what I have heard at my Parish. I always understood that we pray privately after Holy Communion because it is a special time for Jesus and the soul He is visiting. I object to coming back to my pew and standing and joining in the singing. I kneel and pray while the rest of the congregation stand and sing.
Am I wrong??
mg

They’ve tried pushing the same thing out here in South California as well up in Los Angeles and a few other places. They say it re-enforces the idea of Christ being actually present in the Community. You see, to the modern enlightened way of thinking a private devotion is wrong because you are supposed to envision Christ in your fellow man,ie: the community, and not in some disembodied way that a private devotion or prayer would do. Its the same reason incidentally that kneeling is usually frowned upon in those same areas. It replaces the idea of Christ present in the community, with the same idea of a disembodied, historical and supernatural Christ. Their words, not mine.

All very modern, very humanist and man centered and in my mind very very wrong…

 

[decn2b]

All very modern, very humanist and man centered and in my mind very very wrong…

I am pretty certain this is just exactly what Adam and Eve did. They wanted to be God or the center of worship

 

[Cranch]

You are not wrong.

Neither, however, are those who sing, according the GIRM:

 Quote:
                88. When the distribution of Communion is finished, as circumstances suggest, the priest and faithful spend some time praying privately. If desired, a psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may also be sung by the entire congregation.

I don’t have a copy of the GIRM, so maybe their are more details, but your excerpt says once the Comminion distribution is finished. I think mairegal is talking about the period immediately after returning to the pew, presumably while others are still receiving Communion. And there is no mention in your excerpt of the congregation standing at this point.

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Are you saying that at your parish people go to communion and return to their pew to stand and sing? I have NEVER heard of this. I find it offensive to Jesus to do so. The sense of “community” at commenuion time is Subordinate to the personal encounter with Christ. JPII mentions this in Ecclesia de Eucharistia refering to the Fraternal Banquet mentality that seems to have pushed the personal experience aside. Remember when you die you will be alone and Naked before the Just Judge. The particular judgement is NOT a communal experience.

Dear decn2b,

Actually, it is not. In our theology the Mass is a communal gathering of the Body of Christ (those present and, by virtue of our presence, those not present) to celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Communion is not a “me-n-Jesus” experience, it is a “we-n-Jesus” experience. When we receive communion we are fully entering into the Body of Christ which is not just Jesus Himself, but all those who are also receiving Jesus through Holy Communion. It is within the communal experience of Christ that the personal experience of Christ takes place. It is not that one is superior to the other, but that they are supposed to be in harmony.

Remember, in our Catholic theology we are not saved in isolation but in community. We are all Christ to each other (or should be). The only place Pope John Paul II refers to the “Fraternal Banquet” does not seem to apply to this issue – it is, rather, in reference to the stripping away of the sacrificial nature of the Mass. I don’t believe that is the issue here. He does go on to cite from the Roman Missal the ideal: that we become one body, one spirit in Christ!

Deacon Ed

 

[scylla]

With all due respect, Deacon Ed.

Jesus does come first doesn’t He?

In Christ
Scylla

 

[Deacon_Ed]

With all due respect, Deacon Ed.

Jesus does come first doesn’t He?

In Christ
Scylla

Your questions seems to be of the “which would you rather be or a banana?” sort. That is, it is incomplete and out of context. In one sense Jesus comes first and last (He Himself said He was the Alpha and the Omega – the first and the last). But in another sense He comes to each of us equally in communion and we are united in the one bread and the one cup that we share. St. Paul makes much of the image of the loaf of bread being made of many grains of wheat – yet there is only one loaf.

The term that St. Paul uses for Church is the Greek word ekklesia which literally means “the community called out” – we are called to be community, to be THE Body of Christ. How can the toe say to the rest of the body – shut up, I’m busy?

Yes, personal prayer is both important and necessary. Yet the time after communion is not just a personal time since we are united through Christ to all those who are also receiving Communion. We cannot ignore that reality. The communion song is, in fact, “communal prayer.”

As a deacon I don’t get to stop and pray after receiving communion as I must share what I have received. On priest I know put it this way: “the Body of Christ is given to the Body of Christ by the Body of Christ.” How does that make Jesus anything but first?

Deacon Ed

 

[John_Lilburne]

This is what I have heard at my Parish. I always understood that we pray privately after Holy Communion because it is a special time for Jesus and the soul He is visiting. I object to coming back to my pew and standing and joining in the singing. I kneel and pray while the rest of the congregation stand and sing.
Am I wrong??
mg

If the congregation are standing and singing, then it is clearly wrong for someone not to be joining this. The Roman Missal describes a period of silence after Communion, and it is wrong if the priest is not following this.

From the 2002 General Introduction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :

“45. Sacred silence also, as part of the celebration, is to be observed at the designated times. Its purpose, however, depends on the time it occurs in each part of the celebration. Thus within the Act of Penitence and again after the invitation to pray, all recollect themselves; but at the conclusion of a reading or the homily, all meditate briefly on what they have heard; then after Communion, they praise and pray to God in their hearts.”

“42. … A common posture, to be observed by all participants, is a sign of the unity of the members of the Christian community gathered for the Sacred Liturgy: it both expresses and fosters the intention and spiritual attitude of the participants.”

“86. While the priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion chant is begun. Its purpose is to express the communicants’ union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to show joy of heart, and to highlight more clearly the “communitarian” nature of the procession to receive Communion. The singing is continued for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful. If, however, there is to be a hymn after Communion, the Communion chant should be ended in a timely manner. …”

“43. … and, as circumstances allow, they may sit or kneel while the period of sacred silence after Communion is observed.”

It is saying in n. 43 to stand except for this “period of sacred silence after Communion”. If people are singing that is clearly not the “period of sacred silence”. If the priest is saying “The body of Christ” that is not the time of sacred silence either. So while people are receiving Communion I believe the 2002 GIRM is directing everyone to stand.

For a Stational Mass of the Diocesan Bishop the instruction seems to be for all to sit, rather than any option of kneeling:

“166 When the bishop returns to the chair after communion, he puts on the skullcap and, if need be, washes his hands. All are seated and a period of prayerful silence may follow, or a song of praise or a psalm may be sung.”
Ceremonial of Bishops, Liturgical Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1818-9, page 60.

 

[Prague]

I kneel after Communion and just about everyone else is standing and singing. We don’t even have kneelers! Good thing I have strong knees.
Prague

 

[decn2b]

. How can the toe say to the rest of the body – shut up, I’m busy?

Yes, personal prayer is both important and necessary. Yet the time after communion is not just a personal time since we are united through Christ to all those who are also receiving Communion.
Deacon Ed

Deacon Ed,

It is when the body tells the toe that he is no longer a toe just part of the body is what I am getting at.

Redemption is PERSONAL. I am Certain that I am only accountable for MY sins. I am not big into cooporate sin. Jesus the pascal Lamb was not sacrificed for all of our sins thrown into a big pot together…his sacrifice is applied to our individual sins (which may or may not make up corporate sin). My relationship with Jesus is the first step I can take…that has to be a personal step. If I do not make that personal step then I am really not part of the community. I agree this is not an either or but it does seem like when we reduce the worship ( remember lex orandi lex credendi) to a mere communal gathering shoving off any personal essence of it, we are reducing the sacrificial nature of the Mass. Which is the whole core of its existance. The sacrifice is applied to our INDIVIDUAL SINS. When we have over-emphasis of the coroporate in our worship…it tends to move us laterally and horizontally in our focus. And that focus is subordinate to the vertical nature Mass. The focuse is on God, and his relationship to us as individuals first and displayed by our relationships with others. The spectacular gift of uniqueness is in every human being. We are made in the image of god and given the gift of individuality. This the greatest aspect of our individuality is the free will of each and every human being. This free will is a personal matter first and it relates to Jesus in our individuality first… which then may or may not affect others directly. Remember Jesus died for our individual sins and our particular judgement is alone and personal.

 

[scylla]

Your questions seems to be of the “which would you rather be or a banana?” sort. That is, it is incomplete and out of context. In one sense Jesus comes first and last (He Himself said He was the Alpha and the Omega – the first and the last). But in another sense He comes to each of us equally in communion and we are united in the one bread and the one cup that we share. St. Paul makes much of the image of the loaf of bread being made of many grains of wheat – yet there is only one loaf.

The term that St. Paul uses for Church is the Greek word ekklesia which literally means “the community called out” – we are called to be community, to be THE Body of Christ. How can the toe say to the rest of the body – shut up, I’m busy?

Yes, personal prayer is both important and necessary. Yet the time after communion is not just a personal time since we are united through Christ to all those who are also receiving Communion. We cannot ignore that reality. The communion song is, in fact, “communal prayer.”

As a deacon I don’t get to stop and pray after receiving communion as I must share what I have received. On priest I know put it this way: “the Body of Christ is given to the Body of Christ by the Body of Christ.” How does that make Jesus anything but first?

Deacon Ed

I understand how Jesus unites us and that we celebrate communion as one body.
Yet above that is Jesus who in addition to that is truly present. Since Jesus is truly present then I first give my attention to Him then to the rest of the body worshipping with me. It is not just me and Jesus but Jesus and us, but if I do not pay extra attention to Him it becomes us as Jesus which is true but secondary.

This is like Jesus walking in the door and saying “peace be with you” and I look around to everyone and say hi to everyone else around me.
What do you think?

In Christ
Scylla

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

I have been receiving the Eucharist since 1965. In all that time, I have never been in a circumstance where it was considered wrong to kneel and converse with Jesus as my Guest after having received, and returned to my pew.

 

[SMHW]

This whole issue strikes me as another of those cases where a change was suggested to force people to look at things from a different perspective. But the ‘old way’ of doing things is so precious that most of us can’t see why it should change.

I certainly agree that private prayer time after communion is a necessity. The question is whether that time should be directly after receiving or after all have received or both. I certainly understand the desire to spend that immediate time with Our Savior. But it is important to remember that this time is a luxury.

Those of us who find it necessary to ‘do something’ immediately after receiving communion quickly forget why others are so bothered. (In my case I sing in the choir. It was determined that logistically it is better for the choir to receive communion before the general congregation. As a result we have no time for private prayer before singing other than what we get walking back to our places.) Deacons, priests, EMHC, altar servers? and probably others don’t have the luxury of private prayer time immediately after receiving.

Our deacons have cited the GIRM. Communal time before private time is proper. Immediate private time is permitted.

 

[Katie1723]

I prefer praying after I have received communion. SOrta brings the whole point of Mass home to me
Kathy

 

[Myangel]

Since I frequently fall into sin and do not get to confession as much as I should, when I do go to confession and receive communion the following day I am so overwhelmed, I go back to my pew, kneel down and start crying (for some reason I just cant stop the tears from falling), they are my personal/private tears for Jesus. I could not imagine standing up and singing and crying at the same time.

 

[Andruschak]

This is what I have heard at my Parish. I always understood that we pray privately after Holy Communion because it is a special time for Jesus and the soul He is visiting. I object to coming back to my pew and standing and joining in the singing. I kneel and pray while the rest of the congregation stand and sing.
Am I wrong??
mg

Although I am an RCIA Candidate, last Sunday my Church had no dismissal for RCIA. So I stayed through the Communion. Of course I did not take the bread, instead saying a prayer of spiritual communion. (Learned about that in this forum! )

The entire congregation seems to have remained standing throughout the distribution, and singing. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention? In any case, I didn’t bother singing, just silently praying whilst standing (Mostly for the poor souls in Purgatory)

I wish we didn’t stand so much, my feet hurt. (Yes, I have orthotics and special shoes. My flat feet still pain me at times.)

 

[decn2b]

. Of course I did not take the bread, instead saying a prayer of spiritual communion.

Strange, they don’t offer bread at the Mass I attend.

Funny thing though, at the begining of Mass there is a whole bunch of bread then poof its gone!