Should Mass be offered Ad Orientem?

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alexl437 said:
Absolutely! I wish that every priest offered mass Ad Orientem. I have noticed that when I attend mass Versus Populum I implicitly have a desire to be “closer to the action” in order to see everything that is going on, which is how it shouldn’t be. When I attend mass AO, I find that I am completely focused on the sacred mysteries and the majesty of almighty God, and am free to prayerfully participate in the liturgy without the distraction of concerning myself with the priest as a man, rather as the priest in persona Christi.
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Have you attended an OF Mass ad orientam or a Divine Liturgy, or is this phenomenon specific to the EF?
 
Do those who feel distracted by seeing Mass offered in a way they don’t prefer ever think of it as a challenge to teach themselves to pray and focus through the distraction?

When I get distracted at Mass, usually by a kid screaming or kicking the pew or running/ doing acrobatics on the pew, or at Adoration when people decide to converse in the chapel or just outside the door loud enough to hear, I try to offer it up and use it as a challenge to train myself to focus more in prayer and notice the distraction less.
 
Tbh I enjoy the ”into the east” things bc that allows me to meditate on the imagery on the chasuble.

And to be prideful, I do meditate on how I could embroider a prettier one!
 
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I have to agree with all the good Deacon has stated.

I found myself becoming increasingly obsessed with and my soul in a constant state of unease because I was spending way too much time worrying about things like Ad Orientem, incense, chant, ways to improve the OF Mass, etc.

Then I realized that for a layman like me to spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about this stuff was a totally fruitless fools errand - in fact, I’m convinced it was the devil influencing me to dwell on these things.

Unless you’re an ordained clergy, a consecrated religious, an academic specializing in liturgy, or a parish liturgist, spending time worrying about this stuff is utterly pointless.

If we all spent as much time praying, fasting, and doing almsdeeds beeseeching God to give us holy priests who will celebrate the Liturgy with reverence and devotion as we do worrying and wondering, then the Liturgy would be much improved.

I begged God to free me from my incessant worrying and wondering about things liturgical, and by his Grace I haven’t spent much time thinking about it the past few days.
 
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I would love if the OF at my parish were offered as orientem, as it was meant to be.
 
I predominantly attend EF, but my Oratory celebrates all masses Ad Orientem. I have also attend a Divine Liturgy once as well.
 
I never thought of that. I’m new to this parish, so I haven’t built a rapport with him yet.
 
The option should certainly remain. I don’t for one moment buy the idea that conducting the liturgy of the Eucharist ad orientem is un-pastoral or ipso facto incompatible with the liturgical reform. I find that different Masses better suit one option than the other. An intimate low Mass on a weekday in a small church, it seems more natural to be versus populum, while a solemn high mass at a larger Church or Cathedral, it seems more natural - though by no means essential - for it to be ad orientem. But this has no theological backing and I can’t even really back it up with any solid argumentation (and nor would I seek to impose it as a universal norm, in any case) it’s more just my preference based on ‘feeling’.
 
Yes, I think Mass would be better offered ad orientum. I think we sometimes get the focus wrong and we can end up thinking that we, the community, are the centre and the core of our faith. In my opinion, celebrating the Mass ad orientum helps to show us that we are not what Mass is about.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
The reason for Ad Orientem had to do with the Emperor Constantine, when he wrote the edict of religious tolerance for Christianity, he donated Roman public buildings.
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Err, no.

The priest faces East not “to face Christ”, nor because an emperor donated buildings, but because that is the direction from which Christ is return.

There has never been a time in the church, East or West, in which the priest “faces the altar”. He has always been facing East, and efforts have been made so that people also faced east.

This hasn’t always been possible. In churches in Rome itself, it has only been possible to place the altar at the west end. In these churches, the priest has always, including prior to VII, faced the people. And in these churches, the people turn at multiple times to face East.

Whether this is important, or whether ad populem is more important than this, is another issue.

hawk
 
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AndrewAxland said:
Oh, no it wasn’t. Don’t make stuff up. The basilica was laid out in direct imitation of the Temple of Solomon, with the sanctuary in the west. It was no accident.
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True. And just as the High Priest in the temple would face east, so does the Pope. In this case, he faces both east and towards the people.
 
Right.

But, at the time if the Roman Canon, everyone turned around to face east.
 
Instead of asking whether the mass should be said Ad Orientem, we should be asking why these subjects are regurgitated Ad Nauseam…
 
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Have you ever noticed that when we agree with a subject, we don’t really care how often it is brought up? How patient we are with people asking something for the umpteenth time because we feel that the subject hasn’t been adequately taught or expressed, has been distorted by ‘haters’, needs further understanding? We engage enthusiastically in the discussion and if we’re dismissive, it is dismissal of those who are trying to STOP discussion.

But when we don’t agree with a subject, how quick we are to try to dismiss it as ‘not important’, ‘already explained’, ‘if there’s a problem, it’s YOU", ‘shut up about this’, "beating a dead horse’, "go away’, etc.
 
First, once Mass starts, the focal point is the altar, not the tabernacle. Secondly, if you believe the priest is acting in persona Christi, then Christ is facing us and we him.
 
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