New Changes in the Mass

As NEW Changes are published, they will be added to this page for your convenience and review

New Changes within the Mass: #1: Silence is Golden

Recently, the Catholic Church approved a new version of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) which is the overall set of guidelines and policies that state how we are to celebrate the Mass. This will be the third major revision of this document since the changes brought about by Vatican II. Overall, the GIRM gives more universal norms and instructions while leaving the more specific policies to local dioceses and parishes. However, this latest edition of the GIRM breaks with that tradition by listing a large number of minor changes regarding a variety of elements in the Mass: how we reverence the Eucharist, the proper times of standing and kneeling, and a clearer explanation of the proper roles of the various liturgical ministries. The overall reason for these new changes is to address a number of errors that have crept into the celebration of the Mass over the years. These changes are expected to be implemented in all parishes by Easter. As we are introducing these changes at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, I will address them here in my Korner. The first of these changes you have already begun to experience if you have been attending Mass here. I like to call it the Silence is Golden rule...

The GIRM points out that the celebration of the eucharist is an action of the whole church, and each person present – ordained, lay ministers, and members of the faithful – should be helped to realize that this Sunday celebration is of utmost importance in the life of the parish, and that it is , in fact, the center of the whole Christian life of the church. Everyone who takes part in the celebration of the eucharist is to prepare himself or herself before the liturgy. As an aid to this preparation, silence is important.

According to the GIRM, silence should be observed within the course of the celebration of the Mass, particularly at the following moments, as appropriate: after the invitation of the priest to pray, after the proclamation of the first and second readings, after the homily, and after communion (#45). At its heart the Mass is communal prayer; it is prayer with others. But there still needs to be times during the celebration when we should be alone with our own thoughts and prayers. All of the moments listed are at times when we are given much to consider: remembering our sins, the words of scripture or of the homilist or when we have partaken of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. These should not be moments we breeze through without reflective thought.

The other part of this rule regards silence in the Church before and after Mass. The GIRM notes that if the church has a gathering space and people greet one another there, then silence may accompany their entrance into the body of the church. If people greet one another in the church, then a few moments of silence may be requested before the liturgy begins. OLMC church would be of the second type where parishioners greet each other inside the church. This brings up two points. The first is that it is okay to greet one another and speak with one another before and after mass inside the church. The second point is that everyone needs to have silence just before Mass begins. In other words, when we enter church we should be aware of those around us who are praying privately and to give them our respect by our silence as we prepare to pray together.

New Changes in the Mass: #2: United We Stand

During our worship at Mass, as a congregation we assume certain postures and gestures that show our collective respect and love toward both God and each other. For postures at times we sit, other times we kneel, and even other times we stand. All of these actions are important; but they are appropriate at different times of the Mass.

The posture of sitting is one in which we allow ourselves individual time to listen and reflect. It is a time in which we may draw inward toward ourselves in meditation and also to allow the message of God to reach us. Therefore it is the appropriate gesture to hear the word of God during the readings, to prepare ourselves for the Liturgy of the Eucharist during the presentation of the gifts, and to meditate after we have received the Lord in the Eucharist.

The posture of kneeling is one in which we show a deeper reverence toward the important parts of the Mass that are taking place, such as at the Eucharistic Prayer and Consecration, and following the Lamb of God as we prepare inwardly for partaking in the Eucharist in Communion. Although it is an action of reverence and submission, it is also one that focuses on the individual as they give thanks in prayer.

But it is the posture of standing that truly shows us as a collective people praying together. When we stand we express the unity and oneness that we are at the People of God. Whether it is spoken prayer (such as during the Creed) or listening to God’s word (such as during the proclamation of the Gospel) the action of standing means that each of us recognize the other as equally important in our prayer to God. The first of these changes we experienced several years ago when the faithful no longer received Holy Communion kneeling at the communion rail, but rather came forward standing together and receiving the Body of Christ in the Eucharist so that we might become what we receive, namely, to be the Body of Christ the Church.

In the New General Instruction for the Roman Missal (GIRM) there is a new change regarding standing which will be introduced in the coming weeks at our Masses. At the end of the Presentation of the Gifts when the priest says: "Let us pray my brothers and sisters, that this our sacrifice will be acceptable to God our Heavenly Father," the people are then to stand and then say the response: "May the Lord accept this sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good and good of all the Church." If you take some time to reflect on the words we are to be saying at this point in the Mass, it makes perfect sense that we ought to be standing rather than sitting. That response is the people’s collective answer to the priest’s invitation to prayer.

More than likely we do not give a lot of thought to when we are to sit, stand or kneel. Even cradle Catholics who regularly attend Mass seem to lose all sense of what they should be doing when they are with others, say, during a funeral Mass. It is also difficult for people to come out of their privacy during Mass and realize that they are praying with and for others. The gesture of standing, more than any other single action displays at least physically what is the reality of God’s Church – that we are one people, united in His love and called to be one Body in Christ.

New Changes in the Mass: #3: Every Head Must Bow

In addition to the physical postures of sitting, standing and kneeling, at times as a congregation at worship we also bow and genuflect. Both of these actions are ones of giving special reverence toward the name or the presence of Jesus Christ himself. I can remember as a neophyte growing up at the age of three or four being taught to bow my head anytime I said or heard the name of Jesus. I can remember the old monsignor at our parish wearing his biretta (the three-pointed hat with the black pom-pom on top) and having to ‘tip his hat’ by taking it off and waving it around his head once anytime the name of Jesus was spoken at Mass. Of course the act of genuflecting was taught at an equally early age. It seemed for our family that growing up one learned to crawl, then walk, then go to church, then genuflect. Jesus, we were told, was present in the tabernacle and therefore we must kneel for a moment before we entered the pew as a sign of our reverence and love.

Little has changed regarding these two gestures in the past forty years since Vatican II. Because our tabernacle, like so many other older church buildings, is in the center behind the main altar, as we approach the sanctuary (either as a minister in procession or simply as a worshiper entering a pew) we are to genuflect once before the Blessed Sacrament; we should also do so upon our final exit from church. Our ministers have already been informed of this and you probably have already seen this change.

According to the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) there are two places where a noticeable bow is to take place...

(1) During the Creed at the words: "...By the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the virgin Mary and became man." These of course are the words describing the birth of Jesus himself. If you look in your missalette you will see the specific instruction for bowing at those words. You may also remember that during the Masses at Christmas we are to make an even greater act of reverence by genuflecting at those words. The GIRM is simply re-emphasizing the importance of this action during those very important words as we acknowledge collectively as a community the single act in history that is the source of our salvation. In other words, we have always been taught to do this. At this time, we are being reminded of it.

(2) We are also to make a reverential bow just at the moment we are about to receive Holy Communion. When you come forward to receive Communion, as you approach the priest or extraordinary minister of Communion, each person is to make a slight (but noticeable) bow of reverence and worship. It is really the action part of your verbal response of "Amen" acknowledging that you indeed believe that what you are about to receive is indeed the Body and Blood of the Lord. It should not be a profound bow but rather a slight bow of the head. Considering all that can take place at Mass that can be a distraction, this action along with our verbal response should help to re-focus our attention on this extremely important moment. When the priest receives Communion he says a silent prayer to himself: "May the Body of Christ bring me to everlasting life." There is nothing that says anyone else cannot say this prayer to themselves as well.

New Changes in the Mass: #4: He Who Sings Prays Twice

In 1963 in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from Vatican II, the council fathers wrote: "The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy." (# 112) Nine years later the United States Bishops wrote a document called Music In Catholic Worship. In this paper the church leaders go further by stating: "The quality of joy and enthusiasm which music adds to community worship cannot be gained in any other way. It imparts a sense of unity to the congregation and sets the appropriate tone for a particular celebration. In addition to expressing texts, music can also unveil a dimension of meaning and feeling, a communication of ideas and intuitions which words alone cannot yield. This dimension is integral to the human personality and to growth in faith." (#23-24)

Following this same teaching the New General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) re-established the primary importance of music, especially regarding the singing of liturgical texts contained in the Mass: the Gloria, the Responsorial Psalm, the Eucharistic Acclamation (Holy, Holy, Holy), the Memorial Acclamation (Christ has Died) and the Lamb of God. In this newest edition the GIRM specifies that the texts are to be sung as they are and are not to be changed or converted into some other format such as a song with a refrain and various stanzas. The singing of the Gloria is a good example of this. In the last decade or so newer musical settings of the Gloria have taken on that kind of format where the refrain "Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth" is sung multiple times while the rest of the text is broken down into various stanzas like so many other liturgical hymns we sing. But the Gloria like the other Mass texts is an acclamation not a hymn. It is a specific prayer of praise with a distinct beginning, middle and conclusion. The very text itself flows from one thought to the next; the result is a complete prayer of the heart and soul. When this text is broken apart and separated by a refrain, the prayer as an acclamation of the heart is lost. The new GIRM changes are really an attempt to bring us back to the older way this was done in the church’s history. When these prayers are sung, they are to be done as they are written rather than converted into a hymn formula.

But all this is of little importance if we do not recognize the value of singing itself during Mass. It has been told to me that here at Mount Carmel, ‘we do too much singing.’ In actuality we do what we are told to do by the instructions of the church. If there are other parishes that are doing less, they are not keeping to specific norms established by the universal church. The goal of singing is to enhance and build up our individual worship – but it requires our collective participation. To use a secular analogy, when the song ‘happy birthday’ is sung at a party, it is done by all present as an expression of everyone’s intentions. To not participate would be considered an insult. Singing at Mass is an integral part of our prayerful expression to God as well as uniting us together as God’s people. To not sing is saying that you do not wish to pray with others. And a poor singing voice is no excuse in my book. In my opinion, if God did not bless you with a decent singing voice, sing anyway...to get even!