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| The Communion Rite and concluding Rites: The Roman Missal |
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By Father Joseph Scardella Our reflection on the new texts of the Roman Missal now brings us to reflect upon the Communion Rite. The Communion Rite begins with the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. After sharing the Sign of Peace, which underlies our unity through the mystery of Christ and His Church, we focus once again on the altar. Several actions then begin to unfold. This part of the Mass is called the “breaking of the bread.” The priest takes the Body of Christ under the form of bread and breaks it into two or more pieces. In early Christian communities, one loaf was sufficient and the symbolism of many grains of wheat forming one loaf strongly symbolized the one body of Christ, of which each individual was a part. Now, because of the great number of people in our parishes, several ciboria (sacred vessels) for individual hosts may be used, several large hosts may be broken into smaller pieces. To maintain the symbolism of the one body, breaking and distributing from the consecrated bread of the Celebrant to at least a few members of the assembly is a recommended practice. When the Celebrant “breaks the bread” into two or more pieces, he drops a particle into the chalice containing the Precious Blood while praying quietly. What does it mean and what is he saying? The action goes back very far in history and has had various meanings through the centuries. In the early centuries of the Church, the pope sent out portions of bread consecrated at the Mass he celebrated to all the parishes in Rome to manifest the unity formed by the Eucharist. Each priest would take his portion and drop it into the chalice at Mass to ritually recognize the union. Over time, as the number of parishes grew, this practice became impractical and fell into disuse. Instead a piece of the priest’s host itself was dropped into the Precious Blood. Some feel that this symbolic act represents the re-union of Christ’s body and blood, or body and soul at His resurrection. At this moment the priest prays, “May this mingling of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.” He asks that we may partake of the glorified body of Christ, the fruit of his Resurrection. How often do we remind ourselves that the Christ who nourishes us in the Eucharist is the same Christ who lived, died and rose again — and we have been promised the same gift! Simultaneously, while these actions take place, the assembly sings or recites the “Lamb of God.” This chant accompanies the rite of the breaking of the bread. The words recall Jesus as the lamb of the paschal sacrifice and the triumphal lamb of the Book of Revelation. It’s a wonderful weaving of the action of the priest and the participation of the people affirming the sacrificial reality of the Eucharist. The meal we are about to share would not have taken place without the obedient sacrifice of Jesus. The liturgy reminds us that it was His sacrifice which “takes away the sins of the world” — which has brought salvation to the world and continues to save us. The priest then continues with the Invitation to Communion. This Invitation and Response are both changed in the new Missal. Current Translation:
Priest: This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper. All: Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed. New Translation: Priest: Behold the Lamb of God behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. All: Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
The new Invitation utilizes the image of the Paschal Lamb and the Paschal Meal of the Kingdom from the Book of Revelation. The Response is a quote from the scriptural account of Jesus meeting the Centurion and his response to Jesus wanting to come to his home to cure his son. The other change to “my soul shall be healed” is recognizing that the Eucharist is the remedy for our spiritual ills and heals us of our failures and strengthens us in grace. The last changes to the Mass come at the time of the Dismissal. In the Latin Rite of 1962, the priest dismissed the people from Mass saying, “Ite missa est.” Literally, “Go, you are sent.” The congregation responded “Deo gratias.” We were thanking God that we had been chosen to go forth to proclaim the Gospel to the world. Our current translation, “The Mass is ended, go in peace” does not carry with it the weight of the older dismissal. For this reason, Pope Benedict has added two new dismissals to the Concluding Rite at Mass. The first and fourth listed are in the present text, the two middle dismissals are additions to the Dismissal. Current Translation: Father Joseph Scardella is the Diocesan Director of the Office of Liturgy and pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Baldwinsville. |
