Nine Things to know about the new GIRM:

As many dioceses and parishes gear up for introducing the new GIRM, there is a lot of discussion going on about changes and indults and who does the dishes after Mass. It is sometimes too easy to get caught up in what seem to be less favorable aspects of a new liturgical document. Another possible pitfall is to attempt to catalog for our assemblies all the changes introduced in the new instruction, no matter how minute or seemingly irrelevant to their lives (for example, relics of the holy cross are incensed with three swings of the censer while relics of saints only get two swings [277]).

It would seem more beneficial, as we prepare to introduce this new document, to focus on those elements of the liturgy — newly proscribed or simply repeated from the older instruction — that lead to the people of God “becoming ever more holy by conscious, active, and fruitful participation in the mystery of the Eucharist” (5; see also Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy 14). In that spirit, here are nine things every parish and parish leader needs to know about the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
1For the celebration of the Eucharist is the action of the whole Church; in it all should do only, but all of, those parts that belong to them (5).

I take this to mean, very simply, that we should stop doubling up on ministries. We are quite good at not letting the priest usurp those roles that should be done by other members of the assembly. We do not do so well at preventing other, non-ordained, ministers from usurping roles. Here is a short checklist:

• Do we have separate readers assigned for each reading at every liturgy? (cf. Introduction to the Lectionary 52)
• Do we have enough communion ministers so that readers, ushers and choir members are not serving as communion ministers as well?
• Do we have enough musical support at every liturgy so that the psalm is sung instead of read by the lector?
• Do we have separate ministers assigned to read the intercessions and the announcements so the lectors can focus on the proclamation of the word of God?

 

The only song that can do all this is a song people know. A song people know — in their bones and in their hearts. The opening song is not the time to introduce something new. Sing something that will join the people together right at the beginning and not cause them to start in an unsure, unfamiliar way. No matter how easy or how perfect or how wonderful the song is, if they don’t know it, don’t use it for the opening.

3Then through his greeting the priest declares to the assembled community that the Lord is present. This greeting and the people’s response express the mystery of the gathered Church (50).

This is a particularly difficult directive for many presiders and is widely ignored. Nevertheless, “Good morning” and “Thank you” — as ritual phrases — do very little to either declare the Lord is present or express the mystery of the gathered church. Informal phrases such as these do serve to set a tone of intimacy and familiarity between the pastor and his parish (which is an admirable pastoral goal) but it is a goal that is best accomplished at other moments in the life of the parish. In the opening greeting, the pastor becomes presider over the mystery of the Eucharist. The language is very carefully scripted to set the tone of the important and awesome work we are about to do. If it seems a little formal, it is no more so than donning an alb and stole instead of presiding in jeans and a t-shirt. If you’re going to dress the part, act the part.

4The liturgy of the word must be celebrated in such a way as to promote meditation. For this reason, any kind of haste which impedes recollection must be clearly avoided. Brief moments of silence are appropriate … after the first and second reading, and then, at the completion of the homily (56).

Okay, there is brief and then there is brief. In the internet age, most of us are re-clicking or typing in a new www address long before the clock hits the 30-second mark. Nevertheless, “brief” in this context means 30–45 seconds. Even 60 seconds for those communities that can take it. Try putting your lectors and cantors on a clock and ask them to look to you for the cue as to when to begin. They’ll be anxious for the first few Sundays and a few parishioners might complain about Mass taking so long. But after a while they won’t notice — until they go to a neighboring parish and get unnerved by how they “rush” things over there.

5It is most desirable that the faithful, just as the priest himself is bound to do, may receive the Lord’s body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass and that, in the instances when it is permitted, they share in the chalice (85).

This is not new. It is almost word for word from the previous instruction that has been in force for 30 years.

• No more communion from the tabernacle at Mass.
• Make the communion cup available to the faithful at every Mass.

6The nature of the sign demands that the material for the Eucharistic celebration truly have the appearance of food (321).

Again, not new. Again, widely disregarded. Admittedly, this is a difficult standard to maintain given the previous directive that “the bread for celebrating the Eucharist must be solely from wheat” (320), apparently intending to rule out additional ingredients such as salt or sweeteners to the dough. Nevertheless, the stipulation that the bread be “recently baked” (320) definitely rules out the white “tiddly winks” that most of us grew up on.

7After communion, the priest and people may spend some time praying silently. If desired, either a psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may be sung by the entire congregation (88).

I wish I could find the music director who invented the phrase “meditation song.” There is no such animal in the liturgy, and certainly not after communion. This is not new either. There wasn’t a “meditation song” in the 1972 instruction and there still isn’t. Some of us were taught in our grade-school religion classes that the few moments right after communion were a special time to be spent alone in prayer with the Lord who was now within us. That is directly contrary, however, to the very “Amen” we proclaim in response to the communion minister’s acclamation: “The Body (Blood) of Christ.” We are saying “Amen” to the real presence of Christ in the consecrated elements but also to the Body of Christ we have become one with and symbolized by all the other members of the Body of Christ all around us. To focus on only one member of the Body — myself, all alone with Jesus — is an actualization of Western individualism that must be exorcised from every aspect of our liturgy.

8The faithful should stand [from after the Great Amen at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer] to the end of the Mass … . They should sit …, if this seems helpful, during the period of religious silence after communion” (43).

I would suggest it does not seem helpful for the assembly to sit at this point. Sitting (or kneeling, which is not allowed) after communion too easily permits us to slip into our individual moments of personal meditation — clearly not intended by the rite. If there is to be a hymn of praise after communion, the instruction expects the assembly to remain standing from the Great Amen (in the United States) to the end of Mass. If there is to be a time of silence, the instruction expects the assembly to remain standing until all have shared in communion. Then, the assembly may remain standing for the silence (my preference) or may be seated, all together, if it seems helpful to sit. The practice of kneeling is not allowed for the Lamb of God or for individual prayer immediately after returning from the communion procession. This is the way the directive on posture appears in the 1972 instruction as well.

9The following are proper to the concluding rite: a) Brief announcements as needed … (90).

Announcements come after the prayer after communion, not before. The prayer after communion is not the closing prayer for Mass. It is a praise statement that sums up all we have just done in our action of becoming one with Christ and each other in the Eucharist. Making announcements and doing other acts of parish business before we pray this prayer does violence to the structure and flow of the liturgy.

Clearly this does not touch on all there is to say about the new instruction. Pages and pages of commentary have already been written and more will continue to be written. These nine directives are, however, significant elements of liturgical practice, most of which were called for 30 years ago and remain in force but unimplemented. These are not mere opinions or suggestions. They are elements of liturgical law intended to be taken as seriously as any other liturgical law. To dismiss them or ignore them is much more serious than a simple disregard of church teaching and authority. Failing to implement these practices diminishes the full, conscious and active participation of the faithful in the liturgy. And that should never happen.

Nick Wagner is the editor of MINISTRY & LITURGY and a team member on ML’s Liturgical Catechesis Experience.