If people are just doing it by themselves, I’d let them be. It’s nothing like congregational holding of hands at the Our Father or something like that. I myself even bow and make the sign of the Cross at the usual points at an OF Gloria and Creed (although since the rubrics are clear, I normally bow at an OF Creed, not genuflect as we would do regularly at the EF).
As a general rule, it’s not a real liturgical abuse unless it is done by the priest or encouraged by the priest for the consecration. In today’s multi-cultural world, you see lots of different gestures of personal piety and I wouldn’t worry about it.
No.
What’s that?
It’s a movement some people make with their hands and arms. It usually accompanies the words “and with your spirit” (formerly “and also with you”) but sometimes also used with the words “we lift them up to the Lord”. A person holds his/her hands in front of his/her body a little below waist hieght with the palms facing up. As they say the words, they swoop thier hands upward through the air, ending about chest high. It hard to paint a mental picture.
It seems to me that “liturgical abuse” is a pretty vague term. I instinctively associate it only with celebrants; it seems weird to accuse laymen, who have no real function in the liturgy, of “abusing” a liturgy at which they are merely witnesses.
Well, I once went to confession and as I was leaving the church, reached for the Holy Water. I then thought it superfluous because confession already wiped out all my venial sins and then-some!I was told that blessing yourself with holy water after leaving Mass undermined the final blessing. I was told that making the Sign of the Cross after receiving Communion was out of line. REALLY? There is a “wrong” time to pray the Sign of the Cross? I am all for a licit Mass and I stick to my guns when commenting on the many abuses that do take place. But the Sign of the Cross? I think that we need to pick our battles and focus on many obvious abuses that occur frequently. Just my two cents… not worth any more than a comment. God bless everyone here…teachccd
Yup, you have to see itIt’s a movement some people make with their hands and arms. It usually accompanies the words “and with your spirit” (formerly “and also with you”) but sometimes also used with the words “we lift them up to the Lord”. A person holds his/her hands in front of his/her body a little below waist hieght with the palms facing up. As they say the words, they swoop thier hands upward through the air, ending about chest high. It hard to paint a mental picture.
It really irritates me I must admit and it is a very popular gesture here. Why do they do that??I’m curious how it got so Popular. Vietnamese masses do it too. EF and Anglican Use Masses do not do this, but I see it in OF. I think they even did it while I attended Masses in Guatemala, although I cannot remember.Yup, you have to see it
I once thought the same thing after confession but then I reasoned that the Holy Water is a reminder of my baptism (which I can’t remember because I was an infant). And one’s baptism is something one wants to be reminded of because it is the day a person was admitted into the family…the Church.
Good point. And that would make it particularly appropriate after the sacrament of Confession.
We know that. We also understand that “absolution” is used informally here to refer to the point at Mass where the priest asks God to remit our sins. It’s colloquially called so because the Roman Mass traditionally had