Question about Pope St. Pius X instruction on the Mass

[blessed_wife]

This morning, before Mass, I was praying with the prayers in my 1962 Roman Missal and came across the words of Pope St. Pius X, “The Holy Mass is a prayer itself even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice, dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the Altar. If you wish to hear Mass as it should be heard, you must follow with eye, heart and mouth all that happens at the Altar. **Further, you must pray with the Priest the holy words said by him in the Name of Christ and which Christ says by him. You have to associate your heart with the holy feelings which are contained in these words and in this manner you ought to follow all that happens at the Altar. **When acting in this way you have prayed Holy Mass.”

The part that I bold faced, confused my husband as he said he thought a layman should not try to mimic the priest (his motions/actions, or words). What are your thoughts on it? To me, it seems that St. Pius was telling us to make our hearts aware and alive of the “holy feelings…contained in these words.”

Thanks!

 

[Cristiano]

My first comment is that I feel bad because most of the Mass I keep my eyes closed in order to avoid distractions and to better focus on the significance of the Mass.

My second comment is that there is a substantial difference between mimicking gestures and/or speaking words from silently praying along with the priest and the servers.

 

[yearnin]

I think the point is - is that you must participate by truly concentrating on what the Priest is doing at the Altar and reading the Mass Prayers at the same time, following the Mass as He says the Mass.

You do not by any way mimick the priest or do any of the actions.

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

You don’t say the words aloud, you pray them along with the priest in your heart, thus uniting your prayer to his (which is, of course, also that of the Church).

 

[bpbasilphx]

It would seem to me that he is also calliing for AUDIBLE responses from the Congregation.

 

[HOPEFUL_IN_UK]

You know, one thing I like about the EF is that I’m not expected to say anything. I have two small energetic little boys. My husband and I take turns staying in the back with them, so that on alternate Sundays each of us gets to read the missal. But, when it’s a NO Mass, I really feel bad for not being able to “hit all my cues.” When I’m at the EF, I know that just by being there I am praying. I can basically say, “God, I add my prayers to the priests” and then not worry about it. If I can, I will kneel during the consecration even if only for a little bit of it, but I often have to choose between walking the baby or having a lot of screaching during the consecration.

The way I see it, this Mass predates the time when all the faithful were assumed literate. They were probably catechized on some prayers to mentally say at certain times, but I think they were just there because being there was the important thing.

 

[blessed_wife]

You know, one thing I like about the EF is that I’m not expected to say anything. I have two small energetic little boys. My husband and I take turns staying in the back with them, so that on alternate Sundays each of us gets to read the missal. But, when it’s a NO Mass, I really feel bad for not being able to “hit all my cues.” When I’m at the EF, I know that just by being there I am praying. I can basically say, “God, I add my prayers to the priests” and then not worry about it. If I can, I will kneel during the consecration even if only for a little bit of it, but I often have to choose between walking the baby or having a lot of screaching during the consecration.

The way I see it, this Mass predates the time when all the faithful were assumed literate. They were probably catechized on some prayers to mentally say at certain times, but I think they were just there because being there was the important thing.

First of all, Pope St. Pius X predates the NO Mass, so he is instructing upon how to pray at the EF Mass. Second of all, I took his instruction to mean to pray along in your heart, so not audibley. Perhaps he wanted to address the need of the congregation to remain aware and attentive to the Sacrifice taking place on the Altar rather than just saying their own prayers for their families, etc.

 

[mschrank]

I think praying silently is probably a good idea to keep you focused

 

[HOPEFUL_IN_UK]

First of all, Pope St. Pius X predates the NO Mass, so he is instructing upon how to pray at the EF Mass. Second of all, I took his instruction to mean to pray along in your heart, so not audibley. Perhaps he wanted to address the need of the congregation to remain aware and attentive to the Sacrifice taking place on the Altar rather than just saying their own prayers for their families, etc.

I know that Pius X predated the NO Mass.

My remarks are tangental to this thread, perhaps, but I wanted to remark that I feel more comfortable bringing my very young children to an EF Mass because the NO seems to demand that I pray audibly on cue.