I hope the dust has settled down a bit on this debate that it can be approached with more light than heat: towards the end of last year, Fr. Casey Cole, OFM, produced a couple of online videos in which he stated that individual prayer after receiving communion is inappropriate and wrong. We should – he said – be singing the communion hymn together from the time before the priest receives communion, during the procession up to receive, through, finally, all having received.
For your reference, the two videos are embedded below.
The (heated) debate that followed included mocking what one was to do with the hymn book (a conservative workaround suggested everyone receive on the tongue!) Clearly, some had never encountered screens showing lyrics; others had never encountered simple Taizé-style singing which require no books…
But that is not what I want to focus on here.
Unfortunately (and surprisingly!) the General Instructions of the Roman Missal (GIRM) – at least in its English translations – is not as clear, neat and tidy as Fr Casey would like to have us understand. The relevant sections are 86-88. 86 includes:
While the priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion chant is begun… The singing is continued for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful. If, however, there is to be a hymn after Communion, the Communion chant should be ended in a timely manner.
Fr Casey stresses the first part: we should all be singing from the presider’s communion to the last person receiving. But the next sentence appears to contradict that – ending “in a timely manner” (with a “however”) seems to indicate singing can stop before the end of administering. Furthermore, 87 gives the possibility of the singing being done “by the choir alone”, again contradicting the point made in 86:
[The] purpose [of the Communion Chant] is to express the communicants’ union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to show joy of heart, and to highlight more clearly the “communitarian” nature of the procession to receive Communion.
Additionally, in 87, options are given “if there is no singing”. Unfortunately, Fr Casey over egged his case. And, the GIRM is revealing disagreements among its various authors that has not been resolved into a clear consensus.
Moreover, whilst the USA approved text for 88 has
When the distribution of Communion is finished, as circumstances suggest, the priest and faithful spend some time praying privately.
New Zealand’s GIRM does not use the word “privately”, but rather has “the Priest and faithful pray quietly [my emphasis]”. The Latin original has “secreto orant”. Let me rush in here where clearly NZ’s RC bishops did not fear to tread: the USA translation is wrong and unhelpful. Which brings me to the heart of this post: liturgy is not a private, individual activity. In our strongly individualistic cultures – this Gospel insight cannot be stressed too much.
You is Plural
“You” is the Second Person PLURAL (or, traditionally, the polite form of address). But, many English-speaking persons do not trust that it is understood as plural. Americans have invented a new Second Person Plural: “y’all’! Here in NZ, “we” is regularly used as the Second Person Plural: “How are we today?” [If the salesperson at the counter asks me, “How are we paying for this today?”, my normal response is, “Let’s go halves!”]
The “you” in “The Lord be with you” is not singular; it is plural! [“Dominus vobiscum” – vobiscum is ablative second person plural] But, as I highlighted in the previous paragraph, many will hear this as singular! Addressed to individuals. The suggestion to the USA RC Bishops Conference is that (in accordance with Liturgiam authenticam) it be translated as “The Lord be with y’all”.
This is the insight that needs stressing – that liturgy is a corporate activity, not a private, individual one. That is undergirding GIRM 86:
[The] purpose [of the Communion Chant] is to express the communicants’ union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to show joy of heart, and to highlight more clearly the “communitarian” nature of the procession to receive Communion.
It is not helped by the RC confession being “I confess…”; it has been undermined by altering the Nicene Creed from the earlier English translation “We believe… ” (Πιστεύομεν…) to “I believe…”
The Anglican version of the Nicene Creed retains the original “We believe…” (Πιστεύομεν…). The (NZ) Anglican confession, by contrast, has “Merciful God, we have sinned…” We are not simply confessing our individual sinfulness; we are confessing our corporate and structural sinfulness: “…forgive us where we have failed to support one another and to be what we claim to be….” (NZ Prayer Book page 479)
Private prayer, individual time with God, personal study – these are all very important. That is not what the one hour a week is that we give to celebrating Eucharist together as a community, as the Body of Christ.
Procession to communion is a corporate procession. All we do in liturgy we do together. Silence in the liturgy is not “private” prayer, it is corporate silent prayer, silent prayer together. Liturgy is a collective noun.
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The Australian edition of the GIRM is the same as the NZ edition: “pray quietly for some time”.
Imagine suggesting to some people, as I and a colleague have done during formation sessions, that during the Communion Procession, one should deliberately engage with fellow communicants by watching them process, receive communion, and return to their seats, and, as radical as might be, to occasionally smile at people. All this rather than hide one’s head in one’s hands in some form of private prayer. It’s almost as if the world is ending!
And happy feast day, Father!
Thanks for your affirmation. Delightfully, your description is regularly part of my experience. And, I might add: pray for each other that you see present. Last year, I went to Scandinavia for the first time. In a usually very reserved culture, going up to communion took me completely by surprise: the best word I can come up with is that they “swarmed” up enthusiastically. It was a real sense of community eagerness overcoming cultural restraint.
Thanks, also, for acknowledging St John Bosco – an absolutely remarkable role model.
Blessings.