Modest changes in liturgical norms due Dec. 1

As we prepare to begin a new liturgical year on the First Sunday of Advent, we look back on the year that is ending. We recall our preparation for Christ’s Advent in the darkness of last winter, our celebration of the Incarnation at Christmas, our Lenten process of conversion as we prepared to unite with the Lord’s Passion, our joyous proclamation of Christ’s Resurrection and our celebration of the solemnities and feast days throughout the “ordinary time” of the year.

Appropriately, our central act of worship for all of these occasions and seasons is always the Sacrifice of the Mass, which “is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Vatican II). Since the Mass unites us with Our Lord and Savior and with each other as faithful followers of Christ, it is important that we all observe a commonalty in our way of praying the Mass. In the Latin Church, our way of celebrating Mass is governed by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and by the Order of Mass.

The simplification of the Roman Rite made after the Second Vatican Council (the novus ordo) was expressed in two interim editions of the Roman Missal. Last spring, the third and permanent Latin edition of the Roman Missal was published. The new English edition is not yet available, but the norms are effective already. While very similar, the new edition of the Roman Missal includes a number of new memorials, feast days and prayers. It also includes a Revised General Instruction, that is, the body of instructions and norms for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite, which I have referred to above. These include a number of clarifications, as well as some additions.

In the Diocese of Sacramento, I have given our parishes until the First Sunday of Advent, December 1, to implement any needed changes. While pastors will be giving explanations, let me list a few examples:

• Silence in the church is recommended so that people can pray in preparation for the sacred rites and in thanksgiving after them.

• A Genuflection is made by the people entering and leaving church, and by the celebrant and assisting ministers as they approach or depart the altar at the beginning and end of Mass, if the tabernacle is located in the sanctuary. (Those carrying the cross or candles, and the Bishop with the crozier bow rather than genuflect.)

• The Responsorial Psalm is not to be substituted by another song.

• Posture: In the United States, it is the norm that the faithful kneel from the conclusion of the Sanctus until after the Great Amen. The faithful also kneel after the Lamb of God, for: “This is the Lamb of God.....” For receiving Holy Communion, the norm is to stand. Upon returning to their places after Communion, the individual may either kneel or sit.

• Deacons kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer along with the faithful.

• For the Sign of Peace, the ministers ordinarily do not leave the sanctuary, nor the faithful their pew.

• Fraction Rite: The pouring of the Precious Blood into several cups is to be done by the deacon or, in his absence, by the priest himself, not by an Extraordinary Minister.

• Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist stand at a distance from the altar until after the priest has received Communion. They (and deacons, too) do not self-communicate, but receive from the celebrant. They receive before they give Communion to others, not after. They do not help themselves to the cup or ciborium which they will use to distribute Communion to the faithful, but receive it from the priest or deacon.

• Bow before Communion: A bow is made by the faithful before receiving the Host and again before receiving from the Cup.

While not specifically mentioned in the Roman Missal, I have made a couple of additional clarifications:

• The Preparation of the Gifts often is too prolonged and out of proportion to the other parts of the Mass. The procession with the gifts should not be unduly delayed. It is not necessary in all cases to wait until the collection is completed before the bread and wine are brought to the altar.

• The Announcements are not made until after the Post-Communion Prayer, which completes the Communion Rite. This also permits the priest celebrant to discern the length of the meditation time after Communion.

If, in your parish, the relatively minor adaptations have not been fully attended to by December 1, please be patient. All of us — priests, deacons, lay ministers and all the faithful — need to work together in a spirit of harmony to implement these norms so that our celebration of the Mass may truly be a unifying experience, through which we can enter more deeply into the sacrifice of the Son to the Father in the Holy Spirit.