Introductory Rites

The Entrance

After the people have gathered, the Entrance chant begins as the priest enters with the deacon and ministers.

The purpose of this chant is to open the celebration, foster the unity of those who have been gathered, introduce their thoughts to the mystery of the liturgical season or festivity, and accompany the procession of the priest and ministers.

Introductory Rites

Greeting of the Altar and of the People Gathered Together

When they reach the sanctuary, the priest, the deacon, and the ministers reverence the altar with a profound bow. As an expression of veneration, moreover, the priest and deacon then kiss the altar itself; as the occasion suggests, the priest also incenses the cross and the altar.

When the Entrance chant is concluded, the priest stands at the chair and, together with the whole gathering, makes the Sign of the Cross. Then he signifies the presence of the Lord to the community gathered there by means of the Greeting. By this Greeting and the people's response, the mystery of the Church gathered together is made manifest.

After the greeting of the people, the priest, the deacon, or a lay minister may very briefly introduce the faithful to the Mass of the day.

Introductory Rites

The Act of Penitence

The priest invites those present to take part in the Act of Penitence, which, after a brief pause for silence, the entire community carries out through a formula of general confession.

The rite concludes with the priest's absolution, which, however, does NOT take the place of the Sacrament of Penance.

Introductory Rites

The Kyrie Eleison

After the Act of Penitence, the Kyrie is always begun, unless it has already been included as part of the Act of Penitence. Since it is a chant by which the faithful acclaim the Lord and implore his mercy, it is ordinarily done by all, that is, by the people and with the choir or cantor having a part in it.

Introductory Rites

The Gloria

The Gloria is a very ancient and venerable hymn in which the Church, gathered together in the Holy Spirit, glorifies and entreats God the Father and the Lamb..

It is sung or said on Sundays outside the Seasons of Advent and Lent, on solemnities and feasts, and at special celebrations of a more solemn character.

Introductory Rites

The Collect

The Collect is the "[opening] prayer . . .through which the character of the celebration finds expression" (GIRM, no.54). . this prayer literally "collects"" the prayers of all who are gathered into one prayer led by the priest celebrant.

The priest invites the people to pray. All, together with the priest, observe a brief silence so that they may be conscious of the fact that they are in God's presence and may formulate their petitions mentally.

Then the priest says Collect. In accordance with the ancient tradition of the Church, the collect prayer is usually addressed to God the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, and is concluded with a trinitarian, longer ending, in the following manner. The people, uniting themselves to this entreaty, make the prayer their own with the acclamation Amen.

The Liturgy of the Word

Silence

The Liturgy of the Word is celebrated in such a way as to promote meditation.

During the Liturgy of the Word, it is also appropriate to include brief periods of silence, accommodated to the gathered assembly, in which, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the word of God may be grasped by the heart and a response through prayer may be prepared.

The Liturgy of the Word

The Biblical Readings

In the readings, the table of God's word is prepared for the faithful, and the riches of the Bible are opened to them. Hence, it is preferable to maintain the arrangement of the biblical readings, by which light is shed on the unity of both Testaments and of salvation history.

The readings should be proclaimed by a lector, and the Gospel by a deacon or, in his absence, a priest other than the celebrant. After each reading, whoever reads gives the acclamation, to which the gathered people reply, honoring the word of God that they have received in faith and with grateful hearts.

The reading of the Gospel is the high point of the Liturgy of the Word. The Liturgy itself teaches that great reverence is to be shown to it by setting it off from the other readings with special marks of honor: whether the minister appointed to proclaim it prepares himself by a blessing or prayer; or the faithful,standing as they listen to it being read, through their acclamations acknowledge and confess Christ present and speaking to them; or the very marks of reverence are given to the Book of the Gospels.

The Liturgy of the Word

The Responsorial Psalm

The responsorial Psalm holds great liturgical and pastoral importance because it fosters meditation on the word of God.

The responsorial Psalm corresponds to each reading and it should be sung, at least as far as the people's response is concerned. The entire congregation remains seated and listens but, as a rule, takes part by singing the response, except when the Psalm is sung straight through without a response.

The Liturgy of the Word

The Homily

The homily is part of the Liturgy and is necessary for the nurturing of the Christian life. It is an exposition of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text from the Ordinary or from the Proper of the Mass of the day and takes into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.

After the homily a brief period of silence is appropriately observed.

The Liturgy of the Word

The Profession of Faith

The purpose of the Creed is that the whole gathered people may respond to the word of God proclaimed in the readings taken from Sacred Scripture and explained in the homily and that they may also call to mind and confess the great mysteries of the faith by reciting the rule of faith... before these mysteries are celebrated in the Eucharist.

A brief, normative summary statement or profession of Christian faith. . the Nicene Creed, which is recited or chanted at Mass, comes from the Councils of Nicea (AD 325) and Constantinople (AD 381).

The Liturgy of the Word

The Prayer of the Faithful

In the Prayer of the Faithful, the people respond in a certain way to the word of God which they have welcomed in faith and, exercising the office of their baptismal priesthood, offer prayers to God for the salvation of all.

The people stand and give expression to their prayer either by an invocation said together after each intention or by praying in silence.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Preparation of the Gifts

At the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist the gifts, which will become Christ's Body and Blood, are brought to the altar.

First, the altar, the Lord's table, which is the center of the whole Liturgy of the Eucharist, is prepared. The offerings are then brought forward. It is praiseworthy for the bread and wine to be presented by the faithful. They are then accepted at an appropriate place by the priest or the deacon and carried to the altar.

Money or other gifts for the poor or for the Church, brought by the faithful or collected in the church, should be received. These are to be put in a suitable place but away from the eucharistic table.

The procession bringing the gifts is accompanied by the Offertory chant, which continues at least until the gifts have been placed on the altar. Singing may always accompany the rite at the offertory, even when there is no procession with the gifts.

The bread and wine are placed on the altar.

The priest then washes his hands at the side of the altar, a rite that is an expression of his desire for interior purification.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Prayer over the Offerings

Once the offerings have been placed on the altar and the accompanying rites completed, the invitation to pray with the priest and the prayer over the offerings conclude the preparation of the gifts and prepare for the Eucharistic Prayer.

In the Mass, only one Prayer over the Offerings is said, and it ends with the shorter conclusion: Per Christum Dominum nostrum. If, however, the Son is mentioned at the end of this prayer, the conclusion is, Qui vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum.

The people, uniting themselves to this entreaty, make the prayer their own with the acclamation, Amen.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Eucharistic Prayer

Now the center and summit of the entire celebration begins: namely, the Eucharistic Prayer (or anaphora), that is, the prayer of thanksgiving and sanctification. The priest invites the people to lift up their hearts to the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving; he unites the congregation with himself in the prayer that he addresses in the name of the entire community to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, the meaning of the Prayer is that the entire congregation of the faithful should join itself with Christ in confessing the great deeds of God and in the offering of Sacrifice. The Eucharistic Prayer demands that all listen to it with reverence and in silence.

The chief elements making up the Eucharistic Prayer may be distinguished in this way:

1. Thanksgiving (expressed especially in the Preface):
In which the priest, in the name of the entire holy people, glorifies God the Father and gives thanks for the whole work of salvation or for some special aspect of it that corresponds to the day, festivity, or season.

2. Acclamation:
In which the whole congregation, joining with the heavenly powers, sings the Sanctus. This acclamation, which is part of the Eucharistic Prayer itself, is sung or said by all the people with the priest.

3. Epiclesis:
In which, by means of particular invocations, the Church implores the power of the Holy Spirit that the gifts offered by human hands be consecrated, that is, become Christ's Body and Blood, and that the spotless Victim to be received in Communion be for the salvation of those who will partake of it.

4. Institution narrative and consecration:
In which, by means of words and actions of Christ, the Sacrifice is carried out which Christ himself instituted at the Last Supper, when He offered His Body and Blood under the species of bread and wine, gave them to his Apostles to eat and drink, and left them the command to perpetuate this same mystery.

5. Anamnesis:
In which the Church, fulfilling the command that she received from Christ the Lord through the Apostles, keeps the memorial of Christ, recalling especially his blessed Passion, glorious Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

6. Offering:
By which, in this very memorial, the Church, and in particular the Church here and now gathered, offers in the Holy Spirit the spotless Victim to the Father. The Church's intention, however, is that the faithful not only offer this spotless Victim but also learn to offer themselves, and so day by day to be consummated, through Christ the Mediator, into unity with God and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all.

7. Intercessions:
By which expression is given to the fact that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the entire Church, of heaven as well as of earth, and that the offering is made for her and for all her members, living and dead, who have been called to participate in the redemption and the salvation purchased by Christ's Body and Blood.

8. Final doxology:
By which the glorification of God is expressed and is confirmed and concluded by the people's acclamation, Amen.  
 
 

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Communion Rite

Since the Eucharistic Celebration is the Paschal Banquet, it is desirable that in keeping with the Lord's command, his Body and Blood should be received by the faithful who are properly disposed as spiritual food. This is the sense of the fraction and the other preparatory rites by which the faithful are led directly to Communion.
 

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Lord's Prayer

In the Lord's Prayer a petition is made for daily food, which for Christians means preeminently the eucharistic bread, and also for purification from sin, so that what is holy may, in fact, be given to those who are holy.

The priest says the invitation to the prayer, and all the faithful say it with him; the priest alone adds the embolism, which the people conclude with a doxology. The embolism, enlarging upon the last petition of the Lord's Prayer itself, begs deliverance from the power of evil for the entire community of the faithful.
 

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Rite of Peace

The Church asks for peace and unity for herself and for the whole human family, and the faithful express to each other their ecclesial communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament.
 

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Fraction

The priest breaks the Eucharistic Bread,... Christ's gesture of breaking bread at the Last Supper, which gave the entire Eucharistic Action its name in apostolic times, signifies that the many faithful are made one body (1 Cor 10:17) by receiving Communion from the one Bread of Life which is Christ, who died and rose for the salvation of the world.

The fraction or breaking of bread is begun after the sign of peace.

The priest breaks the Bread and puts a piece of the host into the chalice to signify the unity of the Body and Blood of the Lord in the work of salvation, namely, of the living and glorious Body of Jesus Christ.
 

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

Communion

The priest prepares himself by a prayer, said quietly, that he may fruitfully receive Christ's Body and Blood. The faithful do the same, praying silently.

The priest next shows the faithful the Eucharistic Bread, holding it above the paten or above the chalice, and invites them to the banquet of Christ. Along with the faithful, he then makes an act of humility using the prescribed words taken from the Gospels.

While the priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion chant is begun. Its purpose is to express the communicants' union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to show joy of heart, and to highlight more clearly the "communitarian" nature of the procession to receive Communion. The singing is continued for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful.

When the distribution of Communion is finished,...the priest and faithful spend some time praying privately. ...A psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may also be sung by the entire congregation.

..the priest says the Prayer after Communion, in which he prays for the fruits of the mystery just celebrated. The people make the prayer their own by the acclamation, Amen..