Marian
Masses in Lent and Advent
And More on Purification of Sacred Vessels
ROME, FEB. 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara,
professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: The Masses for the weekdays (including Saturdays) of Lent and
Advent are assigned Masses. Yet there are Masses in the
Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Lenten
season and for the Advent season. When is it permitted to use
the liturgies from this Collection of Masses during Lent and
Advent? -- J.M., Washington, D.C.
A: As No. 21 of the Introduction to the Collection of Masses of
the Blessed Virgin Mary indicates, the collection is destined
above all for use in Marian shrines.
These shrines frequently have permission from the Holy See to
celebrate Masses of Our Lady on days that would otherwise not be
permitted according to the norms of the General Roman Calendar,
such as during Advent and Lent.
This concession is usually granted for all days except those
indicated in Nos. 1-6 of the table of liturgical days found in
most editions of the Roman Missal.
This faculty is usually reserved to priests on pilgrimage or for
celebrations for groups of pilgrims and with the requirement to
generally use the seasonal readings and not those of the Marian
Lectionary (Introduction, No. 31).
For this reason the Masses assigned to Advent, Christmas, Lent
and Easter are usually not permitted in settings such as
parishes, which do not enjoy any exemption from the rules of the
General Calendar. The calendar forbids most votive Masses during
these seasons.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 376, does say,
however: "On obligatory memorials, on the weekdays of Advent up
to and including December 16, of the Christmas Season from
January 2, and of the Easter Season after the Octave of Easter,
Masses for Various Needs, Masses for Various Circumstances, and
Votive Masses are as such forbidden. If, however, required by
some real need or pastoral advantage, according to the judgment
of the rector of the church or the priest celebrant himself, a
Mass corresponding to such a need or advantage may be used in a
celebration with a congregation."
Thus, should such an authentic need for a Marian celebration
arise during the above-mentioned times, the pastor could choose
one of the corresponding Masses from either the Roman Missal or
the collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There are also exceptions which allow two of these formulas to
be used outside of the assigned season during ordinary time. No.
28 of the Introduction says that the Christmas formula "Holy
Mary of Nazareth (no 8)" may be used if a group of faithful
desires to commemorate Mary's exemplary conduct at Nazareth.
Likewise, the Lenten formula "Mary Virgin, Mother of
Reconciliation (no 14)" may be used when Mass is celebrated in
the context of seeking reconciliation and harmony.
* * *
Follow-up: Purification of Sacred Vessels in U.S.
Our Feb.
12 column touched on the Holy Father's decision not to renew
the indult permitting extraordinary ministers of holy Communion
to assist in the purification of the sacred vessels.
Subsequently, several readers asked if I could give further
explanations as to the reasons behind the decision.
Not being privy to the discussions between the Pope and the U.S.
bishops, I think it is necessary to take at face value the
reasons cited in Cardinal Francis Arinze's letter. That letter
emphasized that the possible manners of distributing Communion
rendered the need for many vessels moot, and it did not seem
opportune to derogate from a general law that applied to the
whole Church.
It is necessary to understand that the norm reserving
purification of the vessels to an ordained minister or
instituted acolyte applies to the celebration of Mass, or a
Communion service presided over by an ordained minister, in
which the Church acts as a hierarchically arrayed community. In
such a community each minister fulfills his or her precise
ministry.
During Mass, the role of extraordinary minister of Communion is
to assist the priest and deacon in distributing the Eucharist
when this assistance is requisite. No other roles are foreseen
for extraordinary ministers during Mass.
Outside of Mass, duly authorized extraordinary ministers may
perform other duties such as taking Communion to the sick,
conducting Communion services when no ordained minister is
available, and exposing the Blessed Sacrament for adoration. In
performing these deeds extraordinary ministers offer an
invaluable service to the Church and to the good of souls.
In such specific cases, as is logical, authorized extraordinary
ministers may perform duties that are normally reserved to the
priest or deacon at Mass, such as taking the Blessed Sacrament
from the tabernacle, reserving it after Communion or adoration,
and, consequently, also purifying any sacred vessels that need
purifying.
Another reader asked why the instituted ministries of lector and
acolyte are reserved to males, while readers, servers and
extraordinary ministers may be of either sex.
In 1972 Pope Paul VI published an apostolic letter, "Ministeria
Quaedam," in which he announced his decision to abolish the
erstwhile "minor orders" of porter, lector, exorcist and acolyte
and the "major order" of subdeacon, hitherto received in steps
by all candidates to the priesthood. Paul VI replaced these
orders with the two ministries of lector and acolyte. The new
ministries were no longer reserved to seminarians. But because
of the historic connection of the ministries with the sacrament
of orders, the Holy Father decided that they would be open only
to laymen.
In the same document, Paul VI also abolished the historic rite
of first tonsure, which canonically ascribed a seminarian to the
clerical state. Henceforth, one would be a cleric only upon
receiving ordination to the diaconate.
* * *
Readers may send questions to liturgy@zenit.org. Please put the
word "Liturgy" in the subject field. The text should include
your initials, your city and your state, province or country.
Father McNamara can only answer a small selection of the great
number of questions that arrive.
