GENERAL INSTRUCTION, insert 1
A new General Instruction for a new Missal
The new General Instruction of the Roman Missal, which has now been published in English and is being initiated in the Salina diocese, is actually the introduction to the third edition of the Roman Missal since Vatican II. The first edition appeared in 1969 and the second edition in 1975.
The purpose of the General Instruction is to give directives for the proper celebration of the Mass. Each edition initiates a few changes, and so the faithful will need to make some minor adjustments.
Bishop Fitzsimons wishes us to make the most of this situation by renewing our understanding and appreciation of the liturgy, this great gift that our Lord gave to his Church. This and succeeding bulletin inserts, are intended to explain the meaning of the various actions we perform during the liturgy.
Postures and Gestures
Catholic liturgy is very corporeal; that is to say, it uses the body extensively. The faithful, who are the body of Christ, use their bodies in prayer and praise. Their bodies function as symbols of that body whose head is Christ.
In the liturgy, people engage in various postures (standing, sitting, kneeling) and gestures (signs of the cross, bows, genuflections, incensing, processions). Participation, then, involves more than merely speaking and singing. It involves the whole person, body, mind and spirit. Participants experience the presence of Christ through all five senses.
Postures
Unlike worshipers in other churches, Catholics change postures periodically during the Mass. Each of these postures signifies a specific attitude or intention.
Standing signifies respect and attention. Standing is the common posture for prayer. Ever notice how Catholics instinctively stand up when the priest says: "Let us pray?" The faithful stand for the proclamation of the Gospel out of respect for Jesus’ own words.
Sitting signifies openness. We sit during the Liturgy of the Word to signify our openness to God’s word. We sit down, adjust ourselves, and give our complete attention to hearing the proclamation of the Scriptures. During the Preparation of Gifts, we open ourselves in readiness to celebrate the liturgy of the Eucharist. After Communion some people sit as a gesture of openness to the effects of the sacrament.
Kneeling is a posture of devotion or repentance. We kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer as a gesture of devotion to this central prayer and action of the Mass. Kneeling before and after Communion is a sign of deep devotion to Christ who comes to us in this sacrament.
Common postures, which are to be observed by all, are signs of the unity of the members of the Christian community gathered for the sacred Liturgy. These are communal ritual gestures, determined by the whole body, the Church. They are accepted by all present, who give themselves over to them and receive back Christ. The individual Catholic has accepted the call to be a part of this community, which involves a sense of surrender to the community’s life and common ritual gestures.
Ritual Gestures: Bows and Genuflections
A principle way of honoring someone or something in the liturgy is a bow. There are two kinds of bows: a profound bow, which is a bending at the waist; and a head bow.
The profound bow is used:
to the altar whenever one crosses in front of it
If the tabernacle is not in the main worship space, the faithful bow to the altar upon entering or leaving their pew, except for the Communion procession.
to persons, for example, before and after they are incensed
during the Creed, at the words: "by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man."
The head bow is used:
as a sign of reverence just before receiving Communion.
A genuflection is used:
as a sign of reverence before the tabernacle.
If the tabernacle is present in the main worship space, the faithful genuflect upon entering or leaving the church. During Mass, the altar should be honored by a pro-found bow, and no reverence made to the tabernacle.
GENERAL INSTRUCTION, insert 2
Coming Forth from the World: Preparing for the Liturgy
“Liturgy” involves more than just Sunday Mass. Our lives are to be a prayer. Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy insists that “the liturgy is both the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed and the source from which all its power flows” (SC no. 10). Our lives should be a preparation for the liturgy. Likewise, the liturgy graces us for living the Christian life.
We should be praying daily. If we have not been praying all week, what makes us think we will be good at praying during the sacred liturgy?
Arriving at church a few minutes early and spending that time in prayer helps us to make the shift from the busy world into this sacramental experience of God’s presence.
Reading over the Sunday Scriptures sometime during the week or even after arriving but before Mass begins, is a good way to prepare for a fuller celebration of the liturgy. The readings for every day are on the U.S. Bishops’ web site: www.usccb.org. Click on “Daily Readings,” then click on the date.
Silence in the Liturgy
The new General Instruction designates five times during the Mass when the faithful are invited to silence:
during the penitential rite, when they call to mind their sins
after the priest says, "Let us pray"
after each scripture reading
after the homily
after all have received Communion
The General Instruction calls this silence "sacred" because in this silence we meet God. We also meet there the holiness to which each of us is called by our baptism.
There is a four-part pattern of prayer that occurs several times in the liturgy: during the Penitential Rite, at the Opening Prayer, at the Prayer over the Gifts, and at the Post-Communion, or Closing Prayer. It looks like this:
invitation to prayer (Let us pray... or Let us call to mind our sins...)
silence (a brief time for each of us to pray silently)
prayer offered aloud by the presider
Amen (the assembly responds with their assent to what has been spoken)
Everyone should take the opportunity to pray during those brief silences, and to join their hearts with the spoken prayer which follows.
After each Scripture reading and the homily, we are given some silent time, to take in more deeply what we have just heard. The silence invites us to receive God’s word, taking it into our hearts and making it our own.
Finally, after the Communion Hymn is finished, we are given some silent time for private prayer. During that time, we praise and thank God in our hearts for the great gift of his presence in the Eucharist. It is a time when we can feel deeply our own unique oneness with Jesus Christ, whom we have just received.
With silence interspersed among the prayers, readings, songs and actions of the Mass, we are better able to really hear, not just with our ears but also with our hearts and our whole selves, what God is saying to us.
Sent into the World: Leaving the Liturgy
The word "Mass" means "sending" or "mission." We are dismissed, sent on mission by the priest. We know that our Christian work has just begun. The liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church. It rehearses us in who we are to be and how we are to be in the world.
Cardinal Bernardin wrote in his pastoral letter, Guide to the Assembly:
The dismissal of the assembly is like the breaking of the bread. We have become "the bread of life" and "the cup of blessing" for the world. Now we are scattered, broken, poured out to be life for the world. What happens at home, at work, at meals? What do we make of our time, our words, our deeds, and our resources of all kinds? This is what matters.
In a sense, there is a "liturgy of life" that flows from and back toward the Sunday liturgy, the Mass. These two liturgies must be connected, so that our whole lives are an act of praise and thanks to God.
GENERAL INSTRUCTION, insert 3
The New General Instruction (GIRM)
Current Changes and Updates from the previous edition
So, what are the changes that the church wants us to implement in the liturgy? Actually, they are relatively few and minor. Most of the changes have to do with the priest and other liturgical ministers, but here are the ones that will affect the assembly.
Some of them are not really new, but the Instruction reiterates them because they never completely caught on before.
Silence is to be observed before Mass. (GIRM 45)
That means that once we have left the gathering space, where visiting is not only permitted but encouraged, and enter the church, we should engage ourselves in private prayer, readying ourselves to celebrate the Mass with our full attention and devotion.
We are to make a profound bow during the Creed, at the mention of the Incarnation: "by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man." (GIRM 275b) A profound bow means bending at the waist.
We are to stand after the priest washes his hands and before he invites us to prayer with these words: "Pray, brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father." (GIRM 146)
The Book of the Gospels, but not the Lectionary, may be carried in the entrance procession. (GIRM 120d, 172) When it is carried in procession, the Gospel book may be placed on the altar. It is not carried out at the end of Mass.
Enough bread is prepared so that all may receive Communion from bread consecrated during the celebration itself instead of from the tabernacle reserve. (GIRM 85, 118c) It is recommended that one large host be used so that it can be shared with some of the assembly. (GIRM 321)
The cross used at the altar should have the image of the crucified Lord on it. (GIRM 117, 122, 308)
If there is a large crucifix on the back wall of the church, it may serve as the altar cross and the processional cross need not have the image of the crucified Lord on it. When such a wall crucifix is present, the processional cross may be carried in the entrance and closing processions but it should be put out of sight during the Mass, since it would constitute a duplication of symbols with the wall crucifix.
It is preferable that different readers proclaim different readings, each reading being proclaimed by a single reader. (GIRM 109) (An exception to this rule is the reading of the Passion during Holy Week by several readers).
It is preferable that the responsorial Psalm be sung, at least as far as the people’s response is concerned. If the Psalm cannot be sung, then it should be recited in such a way that it is particularly suited to fostering meditation on the word of God.
At the gospel reading, as the priest signs himself with the cross on the forehead, lips and breast, the people do this as well (GIRM 134). This is part of a series of ritual gestures surrounding the gospel that honors its special character as the words of Christ himself. Since our baptism, we have belonged to him body and soul, in our thoughts, words and feelings.
The priest does not ordinarily leave the sanctuary during the exchange of peace (GIRM 154). The faithful offer the sign of peace only to those who are nearest and do so in a sober manner ( GIRM 82). In other words, this is a ritual gesture, a sacred exchange rather than a mere social greeting.
The breaking of bread and pouring of the cup is reserved to priests and deacons (GIRM 83).
Extraordinary ministers approach the altar after the priest has received Communion, and receive the vessels containing the Eucharist from the priest (GIRM 162). However, there is no prohibition from the ministers coming to the bottom step of the sanctuary during the Lamb of God.
The faithful must receive the Eucharist from a priest, deacon, or extraordinary minister; self-communicating is not permitted for the faithful (GIRM 160). (Specifically, self-intinction, whereby a layperson dips his/her own host into the communion chalice, is strictly prohibited).
The common posture for receiving Communion is standing. The common reverence before receiving Communion is a bow of the head. This gesture is done before the host and the cup (GIRM 160).
Silence is important in the liturgy. Its purpose depends on the time it occurs in each part of the celebration. Thus within the Act of Penitence and again after the invitation to pray, all recollect themselves; but at the conclusion of a reading or the homily, all meditate briefly on what they have heard; then after Communion, they praise and thank God in their hearts (GIRM 45).
GENERAL INSTRUCTION, insert 4
Living the Liturgy
The Old Testament prophets sometimes berated the people for doing their liturgy well but not living just lives.
For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts. (Hosea 6:6)
The prophets were not saying that celebrating in the temple was a useless activity. Rather, they were suggesting that without transformed lives, temple worship was a sham.
Our whole lives are one long liturgy, through which we honor God by reflecting in our thoughts and actions God’s own divine way of being: love, justice, peace, service. In fact, we could say that living life with Christ throughout the week is Liturgy, with a capital "L," while the ritual expression of this life in the Sunday Mass is liturgy, with a small "l."
Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy says this in another way.
The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the church is directed; it is also the source from which all its power flows. The liturgy...prays that (the faithful) ‘ hold fast in their lives to what they have grasped by their faith.’ [SC 10]
Liturgy transforms us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are bonded ever more powerfully to Christ. The eucharistic prayer asks that we be fashioned into an "everlasting gift" to the Father (EP III), a "living sacrifice of praise" (EP IV). It asks that we may "grow in love" (EP II), and be "an instrument of [God’s] peace" (EP Reconciliation II).
This transformation is gradual and ongoing. It began at our baptism and continues throughout our lives with the help of the eucharist, the ongoing sacrament of initiation. That same Holy Spirit who entered our being at baptism continues to work in us. The Mass is an activity of the Spirit, who transforms the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ and binds the assembly more closely to Christ through a bond of unity.
"May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit." (EP II)
"Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ." (EP III)
United with Christ, we are also united with each other. That is the liturgy we live throughout the week.
In our weakness, we are tempted to divide our lives between Sunday and the rest of the week, keeping God in the church building, in the tabernacle, so that we can go visit him there but he will not follow us around wherever we go.
In reality, the Spirit dwells in us continually and, because of our participation in Sunday Mass, Christ comes to dwell there, too. So, we are the embodiment of Christ in the world. When people see us, they should see Christ. They should recognize a member of his body by the way we live our lives.
Christian spirituality may be defined as that process by which the Holy Spirit bonds us to Christ. The grace of the Spirit works in us even without our knowing it or welcoming it, but it happens so much more powerfully if we embrace it through prayer and open hearts. The Sunday Eucharist (liturgy with a little "l’) ritualizes that grace and makes it more real to us. It nourishes our spirit so that we may go into the world as ambassadors of Christ, bound closely to him through a bond of love. Conversely, our daily lives (Liturgy with a capital "L"), cry out for ritual celebration and nourishment through the Sunday Eucharist.
This is what the prophets meant by justice: transformed hearts, made holy by their union with God.
How do our daily lives praise God?
by living holy and blameless lives (see Eph 1:4; Phil 1:10)
by showing forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit (charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity)
by demonstrating fairness in business
by treating co-workers with respect and love
by promoting justice in society
by our generosity to the poor
by defending the outsider
by forgiving those who wrong us