Where should lectors bow?!?

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melissa09

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This question has been bugging me for a few months and when I ask people I’ve heard it in several different ways. I’m a lector at my church, and it’s set up where the altar is in the center with the presider’s chair behind it and the crucifix on the wall, and then the tabernacle is on the left side and the baptismal font on the right side of the end of the sanctuary area. Because of this, when I go up to read I cannot bow to both the altar and the tabernacle at the same time! I have been bowing towards the tabernacle because that is where Jesus is present since the Liturgy of the Eucharist hasn’t begun. However, when I was originally trained they told me to bow towards the one that was the closest. I have also heard that you bow towards the altar when the Mass has begun, but in the procession at the beginning and end my priest always genuflects towards the tabernacle. What is the correct way to do this??
 
melissa09 said:
This question has been bugging me for a few months and when I ask people I’ve heard it in several different ways. I’m a lector at my church, and it’s set up where the altar is in the center with the presider’s chair behind it and the crucifix on the wall, and then the tabernacle is on the left side and the baptismal font on the right side of the end of the sanctuary area. Because of this, when I go up to read I cannot bow to both the altar and the tabernacle at the same time! I have been bowing towards the tabernacle because that is where Jesus is present since the Liturgy of the Eucharist hasn’t begun. However, when I was originally trained they told me to bow towards the one that was the closest. I have also heard that you bow towards the altar when the Mass has begun, but in the procession at the beginning and end my priest always genuflects towards the tabernacle. What is the correct way to do this??
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Ask your priest what he prefers you to do - there are a number of options available, as you’ve already noticed.
 
This is a confusing issue. Substantially we are talking about the reverence due to the altar of sacrifice and the reverence due to the Blessed Sacrament. We must also take into account the context of the action involved.

Upon entering or leaving the sanctuary, one always gives reverence to the altar of sacrifice by means of a profound bow. This is a deep bow at the waist which at its fullest extent the back is parallel to the floor. However, if the Blessed Sacrament is present within the sanctuary, then the proper reverence is to the Blessed Sacrament by means of a genuflection. Again, this in only when entering or leaving the sanctuary.

If one is already in the sanctuary, when moving the proper reverence is always to the altar of sacrifice. This is done with a simple bow of the head only.

Even after the consecration when the Body and Precious Blood are on the altar, any movement within the sanctuary generates only a bow to the altar. The only exception would be if any EMHC enter the sanctuary. They would have to genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament on the altar before assuming their places to receive communion from the priest or deacon.

How these reverential actions are performed really depend upon the layout of the sanctuary, the available space, and the number of ministers at a particular Mass.
 
If the reader is sitting in the sanctuary for the whole Mass there is no reverence, unless you pass in front of the altar or a bishop.

If the reader is entering the sanctuary to do the reading:

“72. A deep bow is made to the altar by all who enter the sanctuary (chancel), leave it, or pass before the altar.” (Ceremonial of Bishops, Liturgical Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1818-9, page 37.)

“76. The bishop is greeted with a deep bow by the ministers or others when they approach to assist him, when they leave after assisting him, or when they pass in front of him.” (Ceremonial of Bishops, Liturgical Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1818-9, page 38.)

A reader (as a minister) should not genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle during Mass. From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“274. … If, however, the tabernacle with the Most Blessed Sacrament is present in the sanctuary, the priest, the deacon, and the other ministers genuflect when they approach the altar and when they depart from it, but not during the celebration of Mass itself.
Otherwise all who pass before the Most Blessed Sacrament genuflect, unless they are moving in procession.”
 
At my parents’ church, the lector bows before they read from the stand, and bow after the response from the congregation.
 
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