by Father Walter Ray Williams

Part VII

            This Sunday, we look at “Chapter III:  The Duties and Ministries in the Mass” in our continuing investigation of the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal. 

• Under the section title, “The Duties of the People of God,” we note the introductory words, “In the celebration of Mass the faithful form a holy people, a people whom God has made his own, a royal priesthood, so that they may give thanks to God and offer the spotless Victim not only through the hands of the priest but also together with him, and so that they may learn to offer themselves.
• “They are to shun any appearance of individualism or division, keeping before their eyes that they have only one Father in heaven and accordingly are all brothers and sisters to each other.
• “This unity is beautifully apparent from the gestures and postures observed in common by the faithful.”
• The meaning of acolyte and lector:  The acolyte is instituted to serve at the altar and to assist the priest and deacon.  Normally the acolyte is a seminarian who has progressed a few years in his preparation for the priesthood, or a layman preparing for the permanent diaconate (deacon), or a layman who has taken special liturgical instruction and is then instituted to serve at the altar, assuming tasks beyond that of altar servers and being the first to help, if needed, with the distribution of Holy Communion.  The lector is instituted to proclaim the readings from Sacred Scripture, with the exception of the Gospel (reserved to the deacon or priest).  He too is usually a seminarian, a layman preparing to be ordained a deacon, or a layman duly trained and instituted into the ministry of lector.  In the absence of an instituted acolyte and lector, lay persons – men and women – may be deputed to serve at the altar (as altar servers, usually from the parish’s children and young people) and to read at Mass as deputed readers. 
• Other liturgical functions proper to the laity – though not necessarily exclusively theirs – are sacristan, the cantor, choir director and choir, ushers, greeters and commentator (someone, on special occasions, who provides the faithful with brief explanations and commentaries with the purpose of introducing them to the celebration and preparing them to understand it better).
• “If there are several persons present who are able to exercise the same ministry, nothing forbids their distributing among themselves and performing different parts of the same ministry or duty…. But it is not at all appropriate that several persons divide a single element of the celebration among themselves, e.g., that the same reading be proclaimed by two lectors, one after the other, except as far as the Passion of the Lord is concerned [on Passion Sunday and Good Friday].”
• Closing paragraph of this section:  “Among all who are involved with regard to the rites, pastoral aspects, and music there should be harmony and diligence in the effective preparation of each liturgical celebration in accord with the Missal and other liturgical books. This should take place under the direction of the rector of the church and after the consultation with the faithful about things that directly pertain to them. The priest who presides at the celebration, however, always retains the right of arranging those things that are his own responsibility.”

“Chapter IV:  The Different Forms of Celebrating Mass”

• “In the local Church, first place should certainly be given, because of its significance, to the Mass at which the Bishop presides, surrounded by his presbyterate, deacons, and lay ministers, and in which the holy people of God participate fully and actively, for it is there that the preeminent expression of the Church is found.”
• “Great importance should also be attached to a Mass celebrated with any community, but especially with the parish community, inasmuch as it represents the universal Church gathered at a given time and place. This is particularly true in the communal Sunday celebration.”
• The General Instruction encourages singing at Masses with a congregation, especially on Sundays and holy days of obligation.  At Sunday Masses and on other major feast days, the Instruction encourages the use of “a suitable number of ministers,” which adds to the sense of solemnity.
• Probably due to certain abuses and failures in the past, the new Instruction includes more precise directives about articles to be prepared for the celebration of Mass:  1) that the altar is to be covered with at least one white cloth, something that has had to be clearly stated since priests have allowed sacred altars to be covered with national flags, blankets and quilts, and multi-colored banners (which sometimes advocate agendas contrary to Catholic faith and morals, something I myself have seen to my great dismay); 2) that candles are to be used on or near the altar, not lanterns, and that at least two are required and up to six allowed, with a seventh candle when the diocesan Bishop celebrates Mass; and 3) that “on or close to the altar, there is to be a cross with the figure of Christ crucified” as well as the processional cross that is “adorned with a figure of Christ crucified,” instruction needed to counter the bizarre and sad tendency to substitute the traditional crucifix with abstract representations of the cross.  And “[o]n the altar itself may be placed [before the Entrance Procession] the Book of the Gospels, distinct from the book of other readings, unless it is carried in the Entrance Procession.”

To be continued….