Reverence

  • Thread starter Thread starter quiet52
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Q

quiet52

Guest
I know that gestures and body positions during parts of the mass vary somewhat from diocese to diocese, and even from parish to parish.

In my diocese, we generally stand after receiving Holy Communion (although many kneel briefly after receiving, for private prayer, then stand). Then, after the remaining consecrated hosts are returned to the tabernacle and the tabernacle is closed, we sit and usually pray silently for a short amount of time.

This practice helps the congregation to remain more reverent, I believe, than if they were to sit during Holy Communion as is done in some dioceses. This waiting until the tabernacle is closed is not addressed in the G.I.R.M. – I’m wondering if anyone can shed some light on how this custom was developed.

We have a new associate pastor who just arrived from another diocese and who doesn’t seem to aware of this practice. I’d like to talk to him about it.
 
My personal take is that the Blessed Sacrament is exposed until the tabernacle is closed and the ablution is done, and because of that I stay down on my knees. I do not like to see people sitting down.
 
It is common in the upper Midwest to be on the knees until the tabernacle closes and/or priest sits down in his chair. It does vary a bit from parish to parish of course.
 
In NE Florida, it is customary to kneel after communion until the tabernacle is closed.
 
In my parish in NC we kneel until the priest has finished purfiying the vessels and sits down.

In most other parishes in the area people stand after receiving Communion until the priest sits down.
 
Going to the tabernacle is optional. All of the Body of Chirst may be consumed. Mass can be celebrated without a tabernacle.

So it is not surprising that the GIRM does not have an instruction “all are to stand until the door of the tabernacle is closed”.

So it seems to me that it is better to follow the posture of the one using the Episcopal or Presidential Chair (the celebrant). I see this in closer accord with the 2002 GIRM:
“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. …
43. … With a view to a uniformity in gestures and postures during one and the same celebration, the faithful should follow the directions which the deacon, lay minister, or priest gives according to whatever is indicated in the Missal.”

So if the priest or bishop indicates what he wants by doing it, there should be both clear communication and unity of posture.

The Ceremonial of Bishops seems to encourage this approach:
“166 When the bishop returns to the chair after the 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).
 
At my parish in NV we kneel until the remaining blessed Hosts are in the Tabernacle and the priest sits down. I think the whole standing thing is an innovation that is more recent. Some priests encourage it to make people feel like it is a community thing. I believe we should kneel in thanksgiving and prayer after recieving Christ.
All I could find in the G.I.R.M. was not very specific except that we are to have a time of private prayer:
  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.
 
At Sunday Mass and at daily Mass, we all remain kneeling until either the tabernacle is closed or Father says “Let us Pray”.
 
On Sundays, we kneel after communion until the priest sits. When he sits, we sit, and there is usually a song.

At daily Mass, we kneel until the priest says “let us pray” and then we stand for the final blessing.
 
I remember when there was no sitting after Communion…huh.

At the Mass I attend, we knell till “Let us pray”, but at some other churches in our Diocese (lafayette, LA) they sit after they close the Tabernacle.
 
Thank you, all, for your replies. The remaining consecrated hosts are always placed in the tabernacle after Holy Communion and I think sitting before it’s done diminishes the expression of reverence, I will simply ask our new associate pastor to help honor our tradition by not gesturing to the congregation to sit while he’s purifying the vessels, before the tabernacle is closed. I was hoping someone could share a document, or more knowledge, about this tradition that I could pass on to the priest.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top