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The New General Instruction of the Roman Missal

For the weeks prior to the First Sunday of Advent, 2003, a series of weekly inserts were placed in our parish bulletin.  These inserts carried, in the words of Cardinal George, "...explanations of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, along with some instructions on how we are to celebrate these sacraments as God's Holy People in the Archdiocese of Chicago."

The Office for Divine Worship has kindly given us permission to archive the weekly inserts on our parish website.  If you missed reading one or more of the inserts or  would like to re-read them as a refresher,  click on the links below.  Use your browser's [Back Button] to return here.

My Dear Parish Family,

     Just this week we received the information from the Office for Divine Worship regarding the changes to the liturgy.  According to Cardinal George, all the changes must be in effect in the parishes by the First Sunday of Advent, which this year is November 30^th, 2003.  The ODW sent a series of articles for us to put in the bulletin to help you not only understand the changes in the liturgy, but also to help you renew your understanding of the Mass.  Along with the handouts on the Mass itself are some interesting materials about the relationship of Eucharist to Reconciliation and Baptism.  I urge you to read these materials each week.  I want to briefly list all the changes.  There has been a lot of media hype about them and what you will see is that we are already doing most of them and they are not earth-shaking at all.  They are meant to add more reverence to the Mass - that is all!

     Basically, these revisions to the Roman Missal include: 1) The need for silence before Mass so that we can be prepared to celebrate Mass in the right frame of mind; 2) Silences to be observed during the Mass at specific times such as after the invitation of the priest to pray, after the first and second readings, after the homily and after communion; 3) Bowing in the Creed at the words "by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the virgin Mary and became man"; 4) Standing before you make the response "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands…"; 5) Kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer from after the Holy Holy until after the Great Amen; 6) Kneeling after the Lamb of God until the prayer after communion; 7) Bowing our heads to the Eucharist in the hands of the minister as a sign of respect before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in communion; 8) Standing for the reception of Holy Communion; 9) Self-intinction (dipping the Hose in the Precious Blood) is never allowed; 10) Genuflecting before the tabernacle before and after but never during the Mass; 11) Prayers which the priest says in his own name (before the readings of the Gospel, at the preparations of the gifts, and before & after communion) are to be said quietly; 12) No non-biblical texts may be added to the Liturgy of the Word; 13) Homily may not be omitted and should be delivered by the priest; 14) Only a Creed approved by the church can be used; 15) Weekday Masses can share the prayers of the Sunday Mass; 16) The priest should sing the parts of the Eucharistic Prayer for which music is provided; 17) The priest must stay at the altar during the Sign of Peace; 18) Only the priest can portion out consecrated hosts to separate vessels; 19) The priest is to receive communion before anyone else; 20) Con-celebrants should be fully vested; 21) The priest is to hand sacred vessels to extraordinary ministers; 22) The lector is to carry in a Book of Gospels and place it on the altar; 23-25) A deacon (if one is present must kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer, receive communion in both forms after the priest, assists in distributing to the extraordinary ministers and to the people and may assist in distributing vessels to the extraordinary ministers; 26) Extraordinary ministers may approach the altar as the priest is receiving communion; 27) The priest should give communion to two extraordinary ministers then pass the paten to ministers who will then give communion to the others; 28) Ministers may not add anything to the words of communion "the Body of Christ" or "the Blood of Christ" 29) EM's must receive before they distribute communion, not after; 30) EM's may consume whatever is left over of the Precious Blood and help purify the vessels; 31) Precious Blood may not be poured down a sink; 32) The division of any scripture readings into parts (except for the Passion is no longer allowed; 33) When no deacon is present, the lector announces the Prayers of the Faithful from the ambo.

     That's it!  As you can see, we are already doing things correctly, the changes to the Roman Missal will hardly effect us at all.  We have already instituted some of them, the rest will be done in stages over the next 9 weeks.  If at any time you feel confused about a change you notice, please talk to me.

     Have a great week.