Bulletins
March 29, 2020
Download the Bulletin as a PDF“Let us pray.”
We hear those words just before we see the priest opens wide his hands in preparation to pray on behalf of everyone before the Opening Prayer or Collect and before the Communion Prayer.
In the Extraordinary Form of Roman Rite, always preceded by gracious exchange “Dominus vobiscum │ et cum spiritu tuo”, we also hear and see the same word and gesture just before the priest ascends the altar, after the Creed just before the Offertory Antiphon, as well as before the Lord’s Prayer which the priest says alone for the faithful.
Notice at Mass that when the priest is praying with you or when he is praying for his own pathetic self, (Entrance Antiphon, Confiteor, Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Communion Antiphon), he prays with his hands together.
The only exception to this in the Ordinary Form of the Mass is the Our Father. I have to admit that this little detail might have escaped the attention of our friends in the Vatican. Since the Lord’s Prayer is prayed by everyone aloud, the priest’s hands really should be together. Were I to send a memo to Rome, do you think anyone will listen? These days there are bigger fish to fry.
But do not think I lost my train of thought. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ Our Lord prays with us and He prays for us. He was made like us in all things but sin. Yet He humbly identifies with us sinners so He can die on our behalf, so that He can beseech God the Father as one of us “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against thee” (Psalm 41,4), so that His perfect prayers, such as “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will” (Matthew 26,39), can lodge deeply in our hearts.
Not only are you watching Mass these days, the priest is also as he steps into Christ crucified and resurrected, as the Holy Spirit breathes through Him the words of eternal love for God the Father. The trialogue of the Trinity has become our conversation.
“Let us pray.”
It is not just a call to attentiveness. If that were the case, the priest should say, “Quiet down so I can pray”. It calls attention to one man’s words being everyone’s prayers. At that moment, the priest is not just a man. He is Christ. He is mankind. He is you and everyone at home watching on the screen. He is you and everyone in your minivan. He is not himself. He is your priest.
Let us pray!
Fr. Christopher J. Pollard
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Heb 13,8
