Bulletins
October 2, 2016
Download the Bulletin as a PDFFr. Jungmann observes that the special prayer for peace is “the first formal prayer [of Ordinary of the Mass] addressed to Christ”. That was true in 1950.
In 1969 the Holy See added what we call the “Memorial Acclamation” after the Consecration of the Host and Chalice. That now is the first prayer of the Ordinary of the Mass which we address to Christ Jesus. Before 2010 (and the new English translation of the Mass) we may only have ever heard at that point “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” But now after 2010 all forms of the Memorial Acclamation speak directly to Our Lord.
Incidentally, a response from the faithful after the consecrations had long been a tradition in Eastern liturgies. It is included in the Divine Liturgy of St. James, which is perhaps the oldest complete ancient Easter liturgy which is still in use. In it the people pray “Amen” after the consecration of the Sacred Host and after the Precious Blood is consecrated the faithful pray “Your death, our Lord, we commemorate, Your resurrection we confess and Your second coming we wait for. May Your mercy be upon us all”.
Another interesting feature of the Anaphora (what we sometimes in the West call the “Eucharistic Prayer”) of the Divine Liturgy of Saint James is the Kiss of Peace. It takes place before the Consecration. In fact, it constitutes the beginning of the Anaphora:
THE CELEBRANT, WITH CROSSED HANDS, SAYS LOUDLY:
O God of all and Lord, account these our unworthy selves to be
worthy of this salvation so that without guile and united by the
bond of love, we may greet one another with a holy and divine
kiss and may raise glory and thanksgiving to You and to Your
Only-begotten Son and to Your all holy, good, adorable, lifegiving
and consubstantial Spirit, now, always and forever.
PEOPLE: Amen. Barekhmor.
CELEBRANT: Peace be unto you all.
PEOPLE: And with your spirit.
DEACON: Barekhmor. Let us give peace to one another, everyone to his neighbor with a holy and divine kiss, in the love of our Lord and God.
PEOPLE: Make us worthy, O Lord and God, of this peace all the days of our lives.
DEACON: After this holy and divine peace which has been given, let us once bow down our heads before the merciful Lord.
PEOPLE: Before You, our Lord and our God.
If you hear some people suggest that the Holy See move the Kiss of Peace in the Latin Rite to the Offertory, now you know whence the innovation would be imported. Pace. It is not likely to happen.
May the Lord make us worthy of His peace!
Fr. Christopher J. Pollard
