Omitted Prayers

At Ordinary Form Mass, the following texts are sometimes omitted by unliturgical priests, despite the illicitness of doing so:

1. the Entrance Antiphon when nothing else is sung in its place;
2. either the Kyrie, when the Penitential Act does not contain it, or the Penitential Act, when the Kyrie is said by itself, as if it suffices alone (this shows ignorance of the distinction in fact and history between the two);
3. (one suspects) the priest's private prayer "Cleanse my heart" before reading the Gospel, and his private prayer "Through the words of the Gospel" when he kisses it after reading it;
4. (one suspects) various of the private prayers of the priest at the offertory (which occurs particularly if the priest, when saying Mass without a server, re-orders the offertory rites on his own initiative, and so first adds wine and water to the chalice at the credence, then carries across to the altar both the mixed chalice and the paten with hosts, offers them with a single prayer (see 5.), and decides not to bother washing his hands, omitting even the In spiritu humilitatis that should precede it – for one not conformed to the true spirit of the liturgy would see "With humble spirit" and "Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity" not as what they are, short but potent priestly apologiæ, but as meaningless doublets of the Penitential Act and of the Orate fratres);
5. omitting saying a prayer of offering for each species, when instead illicitly combining the two prayers of offering of the bread and wine into one ("Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread and wine we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, they will become for us our spiritual food and drink" or somesuch mish-mash);
6. (one suspects) the commingling prayer "May this mingling" (because the fraction takes place during the Agnus Dei, especially if the priest doesn't have the Missal open before him at that page, he may forget or neglect that prayer and simply attend to the singing or saying of that chant);
7. (one suspects) the priest's private prayer of preparation before Communion (which also could easily be forgotten or neglected in favour of the Agnus Dei);
8. the Communion Antiphon when nothing else is sung in its place;
9. (one suspects) the prayer at the purification of the vessels, "What has passed our lips" – especially when the purification is carried out, not by the priest, but by another liturgical minister (this last I think is the most commonly omitted of all, because commonly the ablutions are carried out at the credence, with no Missal there, let alone open to that prayer).

These abuses boil down to three: omitting the Entrance and Communion Antiphons (a consequence of the way the Proper chants of the Mass are neglected everywhere in favour of poor quality hymns if sung), mixing up the Penitential Act with the Kyrie (encouraged by the option to trope the Kyrie and thus combine the two), and neglecting to say any and all of the private prayers of the priest (the very fact of their great reduction in number at the time of the reform of the liturgy has encouraged the neglect of those remaining, what with the radical change in self-image of the priest encouraged by such, from sacrificing priest to genial presider).

Obviously it is hard to be sure that the private prayers are omitted, but by the unusual speed of a priest at certain points, and, at the offertory at least, his seeming omission of certain accompanying gestures, one suspects that sometimes they are.

If the priest tends to vary and ad lib the prayers out loud, or otherwise behaves at the altar in an odd way, all the more reason exists to wonder if he is leaving items out.

I would say that I have seen or at least very strongly suspected celebrants of having committed all these errors at various Masses I have attended over the years, though thankfully they are a minority.

Indeed, another even worse, though rarer, springs to mind: entirely omitting the Orate fratres!

Remember, liturgical minimalism leads ineluctably to the temptation to liturgical abuse.

The Shortest Options

Given the love for a quick Mass that causes many a Catholic to languish, I thought it might be a service to servants of the Liturgy (i.e. priests) to list all the shortest, fastest, quickest options in the Ordinary Form (especially in this Olympic year):

1. Never use incense;
2. Never sing (stick to Low Mass, in other words, just like in the old days);
3. Always employ a server (to hold the Missal, set the altar, and so forth, rather than yourself having to wander back and forth to the credence at the offertory, for example);
4. Say Mass facing the people (this saves on turning round to face them a couple of times);
5. Have the reader read the Entrance Antiphon while you march in via the shortest route (yes, it must be read, no, it's illicit not to, despite how common its omission is);
6. Always say "The Lord be with you" at the start of Mass;
7. Always say "Brethren" not "Brothers and sisters" (let alone the unrubrical "Sisters and brothers");
8. Never ad lib the introduction to the Penitential Act, or change the words of any formula, let alone make introductory comments (permissible, alas, as they are) to the Mass of the day right at the start, or to the readings, the Preface and Eucharistic Prayer – all such temptations usually end in ungrammatical and banal wastings of time;
9. Always use the second, the least-used form of the Penitential Act, the one employing those versicles "Have mercy on us, O Lord" and "Show us, O Lord, your mercy", since (believe it or not) they have fewer words than if three invocations (tropes) are employed to interlard the Kyrie (although, yes, the Kyrie must still be said, and even then doing so is quicker; and, yes, while some just say the Kyrie followed by the Misereatur, that, too, is illicit) – then again, perhaps saying those tropes yourself, and having the people simply repeat the invocations "Lord, have mercy" and "Christ, have mercy" after you, is after all quicker (you'll have to time it to be sure);
10. Make sure the reader is forbidden to read anything other than what he has to – so none of that nonsense about saying "The First Reading is..." or "The Responsorial Psalm. The Response is..." or "Please stand for the Gospel Acclamation" (if people can't work out all that, they shouldn't come – Mass has been in English for fifty years by now, after all);
11. Omit the Alleluia or Verse before the Gospel when there is only one reading before the Gospel (this is perfectly legitimate, especially when it isn't sung);
12. Never preach, except when obliged to do so, as on Sundays – and if you must, make it short (the people will love you for it, especially if you are of usual preaching ability for a Catholic priest);
13. Never use the Prayer of the Faithful (it's not compulsory – if it really must be, though, use one of the handily short examples thereof in the back of the Missal, they are much briefer than the longwinded rubbish usually composed by well-meaning persons – and above all never let people ad lib their own intercessions, that turns the Mass into a Quaker prayer meeting which goes on world without end);
14. Always use the Apostles' Creed (when a Creed must be said);
15. Never have an offertory procession (of course, on a Sunday, the collection can still be taken up – and taken straight to the sacristy for safekeeping);
16. Always say the Offertory prayers sotto voce (it saves time, especially as the people don't have to respond "Blessed be God for ever" – but, while offering up the bread and wine together with one prayer mashed together from the two provided is even faster, it is still most illicit, so don't try it);
17. Always use Eucharistic Prayer II (any of the three Memorial Acclamations will do, they're all almost exactly the same length whether compared by number of words or syllables);
18. Always consecrate enough hosts for all present, on weekdays at least (that saves on going to the tabernacle unless you have to, either to get more or put alway the excess later – you can tally how many hosts to ready while surveying the congregation during the readings earlier on, thus giving you something to keep you occupied profitably at that point);
19. Never allow the Sign of Peace (it saves both saying "Let us offer each other the sign of peace", and then much tedium while the overzealous exchange the sign of peace per omnia sæcula sæculorum); 
20. Only use one priest's host (it being the sole one to break at the fraction) and the rest small people's hosts (so no more need to be broken, and the subsequent purification of the vessels will be less of a messy hunt for Crumbs);
21. Always say the second alternative prayer for preparation for Communion, Perceptio (it's shorter than the first);
22. Have the reader read the Communion Antiphon;
23. Only give Communion under one species (this saves on time and on much dithering giving chalices to yet more EMHC's);
24. Get the faithful to come and line up across the sanctuary for Communion (it is definitely faster and more ergonomic to walk back and forth briskly communicating them in workmanlike fashion than to stand at the head of the queue as up they come dawdling one by one);
25. Never go to the chair after Communion, but straight back to the altar;
26. Leave the vessels to be purified, suitably covered, on the altar and purify them immediately after Mass, after the dismissal (as is perfectly permissible);
27. Never make announcements before the end of Mass (print them on the parish bulletin - it gives the people something to read during the Mass);
28. Always use the short form of the blessing (never those long solemn ones to which the people never quite know when to say "Amen");
29. Always use the shortest dismissal – "Go in peace".

The congregation will indeed acclaim, "Thanks be to God."

It is amusing how several of these options are quite traditional, in the various senses of that word, throughout the Church!

Jokes aside, celebrating ad orientem shouldn't really make the Mass at all slower, especially as the priest for almost the whole second half of the liturgy won't be distracted and discouraged by staring out at the congregation – indeed, he may be able to focus more easily and proceed more swiftly, joy to the world!

While I have seen Masses at which, juxta rubricas, the Alleluia is indeed omitted before the Gospel, in practice the reader and congregation may be discomfited by its omission, as they expect it, printed as it is in the Lectionary and their hand-missals.

It could also be argued that purifying the paten, chalice and ciborium, especially with a server standing by with the (wine and) water, ought really be a swift action whose accomplishment gives the congregation a moment's peace ere the Prayer after Communion be uttered.

Likewise, in Latin at least, Ite, missa est is just as quick to say as Ite in pace.

My heart rebels against replacing the Confiteor and Nicene Creed with shorter alternatives, and as for not using the Roman Canon... but many priests happy with the Ordinary Form are evidently unconcerned by such sentiments.

Oh, and if you want the quickest Mass, but in the traditional Latin form, either find your way into a Charterhouse (which could prove difficult) or, more realistically, attend a Dominican Low Mass, which is satisfyingly fast, and certainly faster far than the Roman Low Mass, what with its Psalm 42 at the foot of the altar and those long offertory and communion prayers!

"The Alternative Has Become the Norm"

Responding to my earlier posting about how the Roman Mass is de facto the Hippolytan Mass, an "anonymous young priest" (we assume, a Catholic! perhaps a Coo-ees contributor? but probably not to that aCatholic Catholica...) has emailed me to remark that:

- At least in Australia, clergy exercising legitimate options have routinely opted for the simpler and shorter.  “2 is the new 1” as far as EPs go.  But I’m also thinking here of the option of substituting a suitable hymn for the proper chants of the Mass.  The exercised option over the long term has meant that the alternative has become the norm, and there would rarely be an “option” in parochio-political terms of returning to the more elaborate and longer.  The point to be made is that the options need to be of equal “weight” in order to be true options, otherwise we arrive at the imbalance presently encountered. 

- Putting together recently a Funeral Mass I discovered the huge variety in Scriptural readings (45 readings), which bewilders rather than frees one.  The options for readings for Mass for the Dead also seem to be chosen on the basis of their ability to console mourners, rather than the mystery of Christ’s death and ours.  The example I give for the consolation vs communion selection: St Matthew’s Beatitudes (but not St Luke’s) may be read at a Mass for the Dead.  Why?  Probably because there is an escape clause: “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  The options provided for choice need to be in harmony and consistency with the rest of the liturgy as the work of the whole Church, of which the Funeral Mass is but one occasion.

"Parochio-political" – marvellous phrase, terrible reality!

Liturgical minimalism, and all other forms thereof (e.g. terrible preaching, worthless catechesis, etc.), constitute the worst enemy of Catholicism in Australia: it is a terrible plague of mediocrity, the counterpart of that lukewarmness of which Our Lord in the Apocalypse so frighteningly said, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth." (iii, 15-16)  Such lukewarmness, such mediocrity, is but the prelude to spiritual death – as can be seen in the deadness of our churches Australia-wide, which are little Laodiceas, nearly every one: "thou sayest: I am rich and made wealthy and have need of nothing: and knoweth not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." (iii, 17)

Your comments, young Fr X, about hymns totally replacing the sung Propers are too true; at least some work is now being done in the States and even here to try and remedy the truly awful condition of so-called sacred music in parishes.

As for funeral Masses, does not the Supreme Pontiff formerly known as Cardinal Ratzinger wish for the two Forms of the one Roman Rite to cross-fertilize?  I believe that the Missale Romanum (1962 and earlier editions) suggests the following four pairs of Epistles and Gospels, and none other (well, I could cock a glance at the 1738 Missale Parisiense for more if asked...):

• I Thessalonians 4, 13-18 & St John 11, 21-27 [for funerals, month's minds, &c.];
• I Corinthians 15, 51-57 & St John 5, 25-29 [1st Mass of All Souls];
• II Machabees 12, 43-46 & St John 6, 37-40 [2nd Mass of All Souls, and for anniversaries];
• Apocalypse 14, 13 & St John 6, 51-55 [3rd Mass of All Souls, and the daily Mass for the dead].

In my experience, it is much easier choosing from a restricted compass rather than from a bewildering number of possibilities – when I had a part-time job as a salesman at Myer as a schoolboy, I was told to give customers no more than three choices.  Not having a modern Lectionary handy I cannot be sure all of these are options in the Ordinary Form, but I suspect they would be.  Something for you, Fr X, to check!