Roman Missal

[YoungCatholic86]

I had heard someone say once (can’t remember when) that Pope Benedict XVI stated that during mass, we could follow along with our missals. Are we allowed to do this?

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

Yes. Why would this not be permitted? Though, I don’t understand why this is done at OF Masses when it’s said in the vernacular and the person following along is perfectly capable of hearing and understanding what is being said.

Using a Missal is common practice at the EF Mass.

 

[snowflakeinlove]

Yes. Why would this not be permitted? Though, I don’t understand why this is done at OF Masses when it’s said in the vernacular and the person following along is perfectly capable of hearing and understanding what is being said.

Using a Missal is common practice at the EF Mass.

I find it easier to pay attention when I have a missal in front of me. Or sometimes it’s just hard to hear what is being said.
Also, missals are really helpful if you are attending an OF Mass that isn’t in your native language! I stayed in Quebec for two months and I’m thankful the church I attended had missalettes- otherwise I would have been really confused

But yeah, using missals during mass is definitely allowed!

 

[777rak]

I find it easier to pay attention when I have a missal in front of me. Or sometimes it’s just hard to hear what is being said.
Also, missals are really helpful if you are attending an OF Mass that isn’t in your native language! I stayed in Quebec for two months and I’m thankful the church I attended had missalettes- otherwise I would have been really confused

But yeah, using missals during mass is definitely allowed!

Same here, look/reading the missal helps me pay attention as well as understand

 

[Theophorus]

I had heard someone say once (can’t remember when) that Pope Benedict XVI stated that during mass, we could follow along with our missals. Are we allowed to do this?

Yes we are and I generally do, at least for the readings and sometimes for the Eucharistic prayer

 

[Diana_Catherine]

I had heard someone say once (can’t remember when) that Pope Benedict XVI stated that during mass, we could follow along with our missals. Are we allowed to do this?

Yes. Why would this not be permitted? Though, I don’t understand why this is done at OF Masses when it’s said in the vernacular and the person following along is perfectly capable of hearing and understanding what is being said.

Using a Missal is common practice at the EF Mass.

I use a missal most always. I would be very uncomfortable without it. As a matter of fact, in the St. Joseph new Baltimore catechism it states the best way to participate in mass is to follow a long with your missal. Something I noticed because I do this, is those reading at the alter misread, skip or just read wrong sometimes. If you are just listening you may miss or misunderstand what is meant to be read.

I use my own St. Joseph missal and have found that there are prayers that the priest says quietly that I can quietly pray along with, especially prayers before and after the Eucharistic prayer. Of course, we should be praying along in the whole mass but these are said quietly. These prayers are very humbling and help me to really realize what is happening and the spirit I should be in. These prayers you can’t hear and you don’t know what is being said without a missal but are great to pray.

 

[smndtupidisaftr]

I use a Missal for the readings, and if the Missal contains the prayers and propers, will use it for those as well. But for the ordinaries of the Mass, there isn’t much of a point. Of course, if you’re going to a EF Mass, then it is indispensable.

 

[John_Lilburne]

I had heard someone say once (can’t remember when) that Pope Benedict XVI stated that during mass, we could follow along with our missals. Are we allowed to do this?

In the 2007 Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis he wrote:

"Respect for the liturgical books and the richness of signs

1. Emphasizing the importance of the ars celebrandi also leads to an appreciation of the value of the liturgical norms. (121) The ars celebrandi should foster a sense of the sacred and the use of outward signs which help to cultivate this sense, such as, for example, the harmony of the rite, the liturgical vestments, the furnishings and the sacred space. The eucharistic celebration is enhanced when priests and liturgical leaders are committed to making known the current liturgical texts and norms, making available the great riches found in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the Order of Readings for Mass. Perhaps we take it for granted that our ecclesial communities already know and appreciate these resources, but this is not always the case. These texts contain riches which have preserved and expressed the faith and experience of the People of God over its two-thousand-year history. Equally important for a correct ars celebrandi is an attentiveness to the various kinds of language that the liturgy employs: words and music, gestures and silence, movement, the liturgical colours of the vestments. By its very nature the liturgy operates on different levels of communication which enable it to engage the whole human person. The simplicity of its gestures and the sobriety of its orderly sequence of signs communicate and inspire more than any contrived and inappropriate additions. Attentiveness and fidelity to the specific structure of the rite express both a recognition of the nature of Eucharist as a gift and, on the part of the minister, a docile openness to receiving this ineffable gift."
   (From vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html ).

So here he is certainly encouraging making known what is in the Roman Missal, “making known the current liturgical texts”. He is suggesting that this could be done better. So people may decide that to do this they will follow the Roman Missal during Mass.

 

[smndtupidisaftr]

I once heard during the hoopla before the new translation that reading the readings during Mass was discouraged because it detracted from “active listening”.

I’m still not quite sure what that means, or why you would want people to be subject to people saying the wrong thing (a little missed “no” can make a huge difference in interpretation).

 

[Diana_Catherine]

I once heard during the hoopla before the new translation that reading the readings during Mass was discouraged because it detracted from “active listening”.

I’m still not quite sure what that means, or why you would want people to be subject to people saying the wrong thing (a little missed “no” can make a huge difference in interpretation).

Yeah, I don’t understand that but I did hear someone else say that here on CAF but for me and I am sure others, active listening is following along.

 

[Theophorus]

Yeah, I don’t understand that but I did hear someone else say that here on CAF but for me and I am sure others, active listening is following along.

Wouldn’t “active listening” be supported by actively reading the texts at the same time?

 

[superamazingman]

Yeah, I don’t understand that but I did hear someone else say that here on CAF but for me and I am sure others, active listening is following along.

Same here. They shouldn’t be trying to put everyone in the same box. Some people simply comprehend it better when they read and hear it.

 

[Phemie]

I ‘listen’ to the readings and the EP, usually with my eyes closed. I use my missal to make sure I can recite the new responses properly as I’m still struggling with the Gloria, Creed & Sanctus.

That said, I remember a workshop I attended about 30 years ago. We were being trained to be readers and Fr. was demonstrating. He started to read and everyone’s head bent to read from their missalettes. Suddenly, there was a change in Fr.'s voice. We all looked up and he had his back to us. He gave it a few more sentences then turned around and said, “If you’re not going to look at me, why should I look at you?” That was my first experience with the 'We must not follow along," mentality.

I’ve since learned more about how people learn and some simply must follow along to get anything out of it. I’m more of a listener – I did notes AFTER class, not during, I preferred to listen. I’m also the type who prefers to learn how to do things before I attempt them so having a manual embedded in a computer program just frustrates me, I want a paper manual that I can read and learn how the program works before sit down in front of the computer. That means that I usually read the readings before Mass – Prefaces & EP not so much because never sure which one Fr. will use.

 

[superamazingman]

He started to read and everyone’s head bent to read from their missalettes. Suddenly, there was a change in Fr.'s voice. We all looked up and he had his back to us. He gave it a few more sentences then turned around and said, “If you’re not going to look at me, why should I look at you?”

That’s a very good point. Maybe it’d be better for him to look downward. In the rubrics of the EF, and according to GIRM no. 42, the priest is to keep his eyes on the text.

 

[Phemie]

That’s a very good point. Maybe it’d be better for him to look downward. In the rubrics of the EF, and according to GIRM no. 42, the priest is to keep his eyes on the text.

Don’t know where you see that in GIRM 42.

 

[superamazingman]

Don’t know where you see that in GIRM 42.

Sorry, that was really unclear. Here’s what I meant:

GIRM 42 said attention should be paid to what is in the GIRM and to the “traditional practice of the roman rite.” Since the GIRM doesn’t address where to look, the previous rubrics should be followed, which would be looking at the text, not the congregation.

Make more sense?

 

[odile53]

I have, from time to time, seen a few threads about missals on this forum, and someone usually states their opinion that we should be listening to the Gospel being proclaimed, etc. If following along in your missal helps you understand the Mass better than merely listening, by all means do so. You will probably want to look up at the altar from time to time at least, to correlate what you are reading with what is going on.

I treated myself to a Daily Roman Missal when they first came out last year (I bought the Midwest Theological Forum edition.) I like using it, both for attending Mass, and to read the readings at home myself at my leisure. I have a 1962 Missal, Baronius Press, Motu Proprio edition, for when I attend an Extraordinary Form Mass. Both are thick books, but their size isn’t ostentatious.