Time to Pray or Sing?

[JennieMc]

My parish has a weekly Tuesday evening Mass. There are about 35 regulars that attend. Typically we do have an organist/musician to perform the hymns. For some reason, this week, he decided to make a statement after communion that the Church requests that we sing the communion song and not pray after receiving communion. He stated that we can pray after the song is completed. Well, I am one of those people to try and have deep prayer with the Lord after receiving communion and I don’t typically sing the communion song. I do sing the song while going up to communion. I was so angry that he made this comment and feel he is very wrong. Please help! I would like to confront him but I need some info to reply to him that this is not the Church teaching. I do not take anything he says seriously especially after he had a Liturgical dancer come up at the end of Mass one Sunday but this one really got me upset.

God Bless,

JennieMc

 

[MichiganTrumbul]

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal has a paragraph that should answer your question:

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.
GIRM Paragraph 88

I do not know if you have typed the exact wording of your organist’s statement, so I will comment as if you did.

It should be incorrect to say that the Church “requests” that a hymn be sung after communion, since the above paragraph from the GIRM presents it merely as an option.

Praying and singing should also not be considered an “either/or” proposition. There is plenty of time for prayers of thanksgiving after the hymn and indeed, after the mass (I am pleased to hear you say that you do make such prayers; judging by the “chatterbugs” at the churches I have attended in the last six years, many do not).

As for the liturgical dancer, that is way out of bounds.

MT

 

[FrCorey]

gregorian chant! you can pray and sing.

 

[kaj3]

Maybe try talking to this person. Maybe he hasn’t heard any complaints, so does not know this bothers some people. Maybe suggest a compromise of a few minutes of silence after everyone has received, and then a SHORT Communion hymn.

If that doesn’t work, it may be that God is asking more of you. We are parishoners at an fairly orthodox parish, but it is far away and sometimes it works better for us to attend a parish closer to home. I used to (and sometimes still do, but it’s gotten better) get so mad about things like this because that is not how my parish does it. But, I just have to continually remind myself that what is going on at the altar is Calvary – here and now – not 2000 years ago, but right now. And that is more important than all of the little distractions this world offers.

It’s hard because it’s so distracting, but it could be the devil trying to shift your focus from what’s actually taking place, albeit very subtely and in the name of reverance (but isn’t that how he works? “here, look at this good over here, not the true good on the altar”). I know that has happened to me. I just will the distraction away…it’s not always easy.

 

[hilde_the_dog]

Was it St Augustine who wrote that singing is prayer twice, or something like that.

 

[homewardbound]

My RCIA teacher says the same thing. She says that Mass is about community and not about personal time with God so everyone shouls sing and praying during Mass, especially after recieving the host, is wrong.

I completely disagree. Yes, during Mass we are all there worshipping together, but God is there working in each heart. Since I cannot receive communion yet I spend that time in prayer with God, asking for a spiritual communion and for patience because all through this past summer during communion I would always burst into tears out of my longing to recieve it. Its a special, holy, time. Its a sacred sacrament and should be deemed as such. Mass is a time for prayer! Whether as a group or personally. If people want everyone particpating in only singing and such and expect everyone to do so then they should have their own worship meetings outside of Mass. That way us prayerful people won’t be distracted by the alter and whats going on spiritually and can merely sing with them as they request.

 

[mercygate]

My parish has a weekly Tuesday evening Mass. There are about 35 regulars that attend. Typically we do have an organist/musician to perform the hymns. For some reason, this week, **he decided to make a statement **after communion that the Church requests that we sing the communion song and not pray after receiving communion. He stated that we can pray after the song is completed. Well, I am one of those people to try and have deep prayer with the Lord after receiving communion and I don’t typically sing the communion song. I do sing the song while going up to communion. I was so angry that he made this comment and feel he is very wrong. Please help! I would like to confront him but I need some info to reply to him that this is not the Church teaching. I do not take anything he says seriously especially after he had a Liturgical dancer come up at the end of Mass one Sunday but this one really got me upset.

God Bless,

JennieMc

This is not his call. It is the Pastor’s call. And perhaps not even his. If the music director is going to claim “Church request”, you may “request” the evidence. You are not under obedience to the music director.

Liturgical dancer? Can he show you the “Church teaching” that requests that we have liturgical dancers? You can certainly show him the “Church teaching” that we not have them (Redemptionis Sacramentum).

 

[RC1960]

The organist was out of order and it comes close to an unathorized change to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Since this is an allowable option, the option should have been announced by the priest after his due reflection and agreement. (Perhaps the organist was seeking more involvement for their own efforts. When I hear the organ, I must admit, I often don’t consider the organist-I could allow for a sense of detachment if “stuck” at the keyboard.)

The Mass is neither about individuals nor community, it’s about fullfilling an obligation to God through our Lord, so good on you homewardbound for not blindly accepting personal interpretations of the CCC in your RCIA class.

:twocents: Should you decide to bring it up to your RCIA “teacher”, do so in an enthusiastic “Look what I found!” attitude letting it reflect your love for the Church so as to mitigate any sense of confrontation in her mind, but I’d do so after your classes are completed.

Liturgical dancer? What Liturgical instruction is required to be one of those?

 

[FrCorey]

sounds like those teachers need to go buy a approved
church teaching text. or atleast for God’s sakes, go buy
a copy of catholicism for dummies…
Ave Maria Press also has some nice books for teaching.

 

[John_Lilburne]

My parish has a weekly Tuesday evening Mass. There are about 35 regulars that attend. Typically we do have an organist/musician to perform the hymns. For some reason, this week, he decided to make a statement after communion that the Church requests that we sing the communion song and not pray after receiving communion. He stated that we can pray after the song is completed. Well, I am one of those people to try and have deep prayer with the Lord after receiving communion and I don’t typically sing the communion song. I do sing the song while going up to communion. I was so angry that he made this comment and feel he is very wrong. Please help! I would like to confront him but I need some info to reply to him that this is not the Church teaching. I do not take anything he says seriously especially after he had a Liturgical dancer come up at the end of Mass one Sunday but this one really got me upset.

God Bless,

JennieMc

I think the priest is correct, so try to understand what he is saying. According to the 2002 General Introduction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“86. While the priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion chant is begun. Its purpose is to express the communicants’ union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to show joy of heart, and to highlight more clearly the “communitarian” nature of the procession to receive Communion. The singing is continued for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful.
[Footnote 74: 74. Cf. Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, Instruction Inaestimabile donum, 3 April 1980, no. 17: AAS 72 (1980), p. 338.]
If, however, there is to be a hymn after Communion, the Communion chant should be ended in a timely manner.”

You wrote “I do sing the song while going up to communion.” Then why not support those who are still singing, still going up to communion?

Liturgy is “public worship” (from the Compendium of the Catechism, n. 218 at vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html .)

So I suggest: trying to sing after receiving Communion, making use of times of silence in the Mass, and praying privately a thanksgiving after Mass.