Ad Orientem at St. Joseph Faces East - Even Though It Looks Like North!

From Father Z's mailbag:

Dear Father, I been trying to find and answer to a question about Ad Orientem worship facing west. Is it licit? Can churches hampered by modern architecture still worship Ad Orientem? Thanks in advance.

From the earliest days, and in keeping with the prayer practices of the Jews (cf. Ratzinger),  our forebears thought Christ would return in glory from the East.  Moreover, if I remember correctly, after her apparitions at Fatima, Our Lady disappeared into the East.
Celebrating “towards the East… ad orientem” is symbolic.  It doesn’t have to be the literal geographic East.  It is ideal to be able to face the literal geographic East, but we can create a liturgical East in any direction.  So long as you are all facing the same direction, you are symbolically facing the East.  Thus, we turn to the Lord who is coming.

I Will Be Paying Attention Tomorrow

From Father Z:

QUAERITUR:

Like many other parishes, we have communion under both species. However, the deacon only adds a water to the chalice that the priest is consecrating. He does not add water to the other chalices on the altar. Are those chalices validly consecrated?

The old manuals such as Sabetti-Barrett  describe as a grave violation of law the failure of the priest to add some water to the chalice.  However, they were describing the addition of water to one chalice, not many… which is an innovation in the Roman Rite.

In the ancient Mediterranean world, wine was always cut with some water.  It is likely that Our Lord did the same at the Last Supper when He instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist.  Since the earliest days, water was added to the wine.  Also, the water is a symbol of our humanity being taken by the Second Person of the Trinity into an indestructible bond with His divinity.  So, the addition of water is also a theological statement against the heresy of monophysitism.

While it is a serious abuse to omit the addition of water to a chalice of wine to be consecrated, the lack of water does not make the wine invalid material for consecration.

On the other hand, if I am not mistaken, the rubrics only mention water being added to a singular chalice.  A solution could be to add water to the source of wine for the chalices to be consecrated.

Crotalus

The Holy Triduum is the shortest – but most important! – liturgical season of the year. Beginning with the liturgy on the evening of Holy Thursday, it lasts three days until Easter Sunday.

Due to some unique rules for the Triduum, if you attend Triduum liturgies, you may hear one of the rarest of liturgical instruments: the crotalus.

In the Roman Rite, altar bells are not supposed to be rung after the Gloria in the liturgy on the evening of Holy Thursday, and are supposed to remain unused until the Gloria on Holy Saturday. This is supposed to make things more somber as we remember the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But, during this short period of time, is anything supposed to take its place? That’s where the crotalus comes in. The Church’s liturgical rubrics don’t prescribe a replacement for altar bells, but there is a long-standing tradition of using a wooden clapper or noise-maker in its place. This serves to both mark the same events as the altar bells, but in a less “sweet” way and thus maintain the somber tone.

At. Last, Something Good Out of Brazil!

A Brazilian bishop has told the faithful not to exchange informal personal greetings during the Kiss of Peace at Mass. 

Bishop Milton Kenan Junior

 Bishop Milton Kenan Junior of Barretos issued norms designed to ensure proper reverence in the liturgy, including a directive during the Kiss of Peace, the priest should not leave the altar and the faithful should “greet those persons closest to you.” He cautioned that “the rite of peace is not a time for ‘congratulations, Merry Christmas,’ ‘Happy Easter,’ or any other type of greeting.”
The bishop also said that extraordinary ministers should not substitute for ordained priests and deacons in the distribution of Communion, and “the ordained minister is not permitted to sit down during Communion time and leave the responsibility of distributing Holy Communion to the extraordinary ministers.” 

Not Brazil

Solid Advice

From Epic Pew:

10 Things You Might Be Doing Wrong at Mass 

1. Changing posture early

 2. Leaving before the Mass is over

 

3. Genuflecting toward the altar

4. Nodding your head instead of a proper bow

5. Standing in the Orans position during the Our Father

 

 6. Walking around at the Sign of Peace

7. Not saying “Amen” before receiving Communion

 8. Not singing

9. Not saying the responses

10. Arriving late

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Should I stand or should I kneel?

From Crisis Magazine:


In 1967, the Sacred Congregation of Rites promulgated Eucharisticum Mysterium, wherein the Holy See declared that the Faithful may receive the Blessed Sacrament either standing or kneeling. Again, the bishops’ conferences were empowered to set the proper posture for their respective territories. (See Eucharisticum Mysterium at para. 32.) (This document also reminds us of the incredible speed at which the age-old liturgy was transformed, as it allowed the priest to sing aloud the Canon, an instruction that would become moot within two years.)
The American bishops, however, did not formally adopt a norm on the proper posture for the reception of Holy Communion until 2002. Such lack of formal direction, of course, did nothing to impede the removal of altar rails in countless parishes across the country, as the practice of taking Communion on one’s knees was nearly entirely abandoned.
In 2002, the USCCB formally named reception while standing as the proper posture for American Catholics. At that time, the bishops inserted language into the GIRM that, while not prohibiting a communicant to kneel, marked anyone who did so for “catechesis” so that he might come to learn the “reasons for” standing. (See GIRM 2002 at para. 160.) At the behest of the Holy See, the language on “catechesis” for those who wish to kneel was removed from the GIRM in 2010.

And All The Bishops At Sea

Father Z addresses an issue I was actually aware of from a cruise in October. There was a priest on board, and he said Mass. During the Eucharistic Prayer (#2, of course) he prayed (more or less)"Remember, Lord, your Church, spread throughout the world, and bring her to the fullness of charity, together with Francis our Pope and WHOEVER IS BISHOP IN THIS PLACE and all the clergy."

From his blog:

 Which bishop, if any at all, do priests pray for during the Canon of the Mass if a ship is at sea? Would it be the bishop whose diocese is closest? Would it be the bishop whose diocese the ship embarked? I could imagine that military ships pray for the Military Ordinary, but what about us non-military?

 Father Z's response:


The priest is to say the name of the bishop of the territory where the Mass is being celebrated.  Even if he is with a group of pilgrims from the Diocese of Black Duck, and they are travelling through the Archdiocese of Metropolis, they say the name of the Archbishop, not of their own Bishop of Black Duck.  An exception is, for example, on military ships which are covered by the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Dioceses are regions of land, not oceans.  They would include bodies of water such as lakes and rivers, but they would not extend out into the, say, Pacific beyond a very short way.
Under the old Code, if I am not mistaken (I’m writing this on the fly), people were covered by the jurisdiction of the port whence they departed.   This is why I believe your planet’s Moon is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Orlando, since (then) Cape Kennedy was in that diocese.  If that was the case under the older Code, I suppose there would be something similar via the newer Code.
I am not quite sure how the Apostolate of the Sea would fit into all of this.
Another thing comes to mind, if the priest truly doesn’t know the name of the bishop, he can simply leave the proper name out… except in Rome.  In Rome he leaves out the whole phrase about the diocesan bishop, because he has mentioned the Pope and the Pope is the diocesan bishop.

 Bottom line: When I don’t know the name, I just leave it out and say “Antistite nostro… our Bishop”, and move on.  I’ve prayed for the local bishop.  God knows the name, even if I had forgotten it when I got to that point.

Don't You Know Who I AM????

Sure! You are Pope Francis! And you're washing that woman's feet last Maundy Thursday!

So what? Here's Father Z's take:


In the Roman Rite, the washing of feet on Holy Thursday is an option.  It may be left out without disturbing the integrity of the Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper (otherwise, it wouldn’t be a legitimate option).
Watch now as all sorts of people demand that bishops and priests violate the law because of what His Holiness Pope Francis did last year and plans to do this year.  Watch as all manner of clerics hide behind the Pope when they choose openly to break the law and violate their promise to uphold the Church’s laws.
The problem with that is, liturgical law is real law.  It must be obeyed.

 The Church’s liturgical law is not ambiguous: only males can be chosen for this optional rite, and they should be men: viri selecti.  Vir means “man”.   Vir cannot, period, mean a female.  And despite what Facebook says, there are two sexes, not dozens.  Also, you really don’t get to choose which you are.  Vir is male.
 
Also, lest it go unsaid, I am not speciesist, but the Church still limits this foot-washing rite to human beings.
Next, the Pope, who is the Church’s Legislator, can do A, B or C as it pleaseth him to do.  If he wants to set aside the law, so be it.
The rest of us, however, are obliged, to obey the law.  The ordained made promises at ordination to obey the Church’s laws.

SCAP....SNAP!

Let's say you show up for 8AM Mass and Father Uriel is not there. Instead, the Deacon, Tom or I read the Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a priest. You receive the Eucharist, but when it's over you realize that you are not inconvenienced by having to drive to Anna to attend 10AM Mass.

Can you receive Holy Communion again?

 Father Z. Explains:

The law is clear. The faithful who are properly disposed can received Holy Communion once a day, and then once more in the context of Holy Mass.  To receive more frequently is an abuse.

  
The 1983 Code of Canon Law says:

Can. 917 – Qui sanctissimam Eucharistiam iam recepit, potest eam iterum eadem die suscipere solummodo intra eucharisticam celebrationem cui participat, salvo praescripto Can. 921, § 2.
…
Someone who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it again (iterum) on the same day only within the Eucharistic celebration [i.e. Mass] in which the person participates, with due regard for the prescription of can. 921 § 2.

And… can. 921 § 2 says that if a person is in danger of death, he may receive Communion even it is not in the context of Mass.  That is Viaticum.
That iterum does not mean “again and again”, but merely “again, one more time”.

"Take Your Stinkin' Paws Off Me You Dirty Ape! "

Father Z answers a question I can SOOOOO relate to:

My husband and I were at a local novus ordo this past Sunday because of weather and illness we were not able to travel to our regular EF Mass.
During the sign of peace we keep our hands folded and heads down in contemplation/prayer not wishing to participate in the circus atmosphere during the sign of peace. The woman in front of us was making the rounds…the aisle in front, the people in her aisle etc.

From the Connecticut Catholic Corner

  When she got to us, instead of leaving us alone she had to lean towards us and say “peace of the Lord be with you” . I nodded my head in acknowledgement..never looking up. I guess this offended her because after Mass, when we were offering our thanksgiving…she came up to us again and made a comment about how she commended our reverence during Mass. I know the sign of peace is an option at the discretion of the Priest. Is it required that one participate in the sign of peace at a novus ordo?

The answer:
 
In the General Institution of the Roman Missal [GIRM], and the rubrics of the Mass itself, it is clear that the exchange of the sign of peace is an option.

 If the rite itself is optional, participation in that rite is optional as well.

The Orans Position

You know what I'm talking about...it's the position some take during the Our Father during Mass. It looks like the statue in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".

So why do they do it? And should they? 

The answers are: I don't know and no.


Canon law expert Dr. Edward Peters writes: “While the orans position as such has a rich tradition in Jewish and even ancient Christian prayer life, there’s no precedent for Catholic laity assuming the orans position in Western liturgy for at least a millennium and a half; that point alone cautions against its introduction without careful thought.
“Moreover – and notwithstanding the fact that few liturgical gestures are univocal (meaning unambiguous) per se – lay use of the orans gesture in Mass today, besides injecting general disunity in liturgy, could further blur the differences between lay liturgical roles and those of priests at just a time when distinctions between the baptismal priesthood and the ordained priesthood are struggling for healthy articulation.”