You may have heard that earlier this year a revised English translation of the “General Instruction of the Roman Missal” (GIRM) was approved. This is a result of a long and ongoing project worldwide and in the United States. The GIRM is basically the “how to” book of liturgical celebrations, with everything from the actions of the people in the Mass to the appropriate furnishings of a church building. The revised GIRM makes few changes to the 1975 edition, though it does clarify issues that were previously still being experimented with.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, the new GIRM is required to be used beginning the First Sunday of Advent (November 30). Here at Sheil, the Liturgical Commission is discussing the document and how it effects our celebration of Mass.

Over the coming months, we will be experimenting with a few parts of the Mass in accord with these guidelines. Hopefully we can take this as an opportunity to reflect on the celebration of the Eucharist communally and individually. This can happen if we approach these changes with an open and humble spirit. After we have experimented, we’ll have a community forum opportunity for people to ask questions and express how they have experienced the changes.

In the meantime, you are also welcome to direct questions or comments to Fr. Ken Simpson at (847) 328-4648, or kcsimpson@northwestern.edu, or Angela Stramaglia, Director of Liturgical Music and Ministries, at a-stramaglia@northwestern.edu or (847) 328-4648, ext. 20.

If you are interested in reading the new GIRM, it can be found in its entirety at: http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/revmissalisromanien.htm.
If you have the free Adobe Acrobat reader, you can also read the document at: http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/GIRM.pdf.

We thank you in advance for your patience and openness to this, and we look forward to your participation and feedback.

One of the areas the revised GIRM has made clarifications and additions is in the matter of reception of communion:

Posture and Gesture When Receiving Communion

In the celebration of Mass we raise our hearts, minds and voices to God, but we are creatures composed of body as well as spirit and so our prayer is not confined to our minds, hearts and voices, but is expressed by our bodies as well. When our bodies participate in our prayer we pray with our whole person, as the embodied spirits God created us to be, and this engagement of our entire being in prayer helps us to pray with greater attention.

During Mass we assume different postures: standing, kneeling, sitting, and we are also invited to make a variety of gestures. These postures and gestures are not merely ceremonial. They have profound meaning and, when done with understanding, can enhance our personal participation in Mass. In fact, these actions are the way in which we engage our bodies in the prayer that is the Mass.

How we participate in the Communion procession, make a gesture of reverence, and partake of both species—these are part of our active participation in the Mass.

You may have noticed that there are a variety of ways that people approach the altar during communion and receive communion. In the new GIRM, there is some clarity and definition given to these actions:
“The norm for reception of Holy Communion in the dioceses of the United States is standing.

“When receiving Holy Communion, the communicant bows his or her head before the Sacrament as a gesture of reverence and receives the Body of the Lord from the minister. The consecrated host may be received either on the tongue or in the hand, at the discretion of each communicant. When Holy Communion is received under both kinds, the sign of reverence is also made before receiving the Precious Blood.” (GIRM, no. 160)

One of the key themes of the reform of Vatican II was that every celebration of the liturgy is a communal act, a public worship of the entire church. We who approach to receive Holy Communion as members of a worshiping community do it as people who are forming a solemn ritual procession. This is not the same as waiting our turn in line at the grocery store.

Indeed in this act we should see ourselves not individually, but collectively, as part of a larger whole. The bishops’ decision to adopt a uniform liturgical gesture (the bow of the head) as communicants approach the minister offers us an opportunity to worship more fully as persons, expressing our faith with bodily gesture as well as interior piety. It is important that we see ourselves as ministers, symbolizing with our bodies the faith of the community, deepening that very faith even as we give it expression with a reverent nod of the head.

As with any ritual action, we run the risk of making this just one more rubric commanded from on high to be ignored or complied with. However, we can also seize this as an opportunity to deepen our personal and communal reverence as we stand before the Mystery of the Eucharist and commit ourselves to live out its meaning for the rest of our lives.

We invite you to participate in this act of reverence, by bowing your head (while the person before you is receiving communion), before you receive communion. When we gather as a community to reflect on the GIRM, we will all be invited to share how this action and posture feel.

Posturas y Gestos Corporales en La Misa

En la celebración de la Misa levantamos nuestros corazones, nuestras mentes y nuestras voces a Dios, pero somos criaturas compuestas tanto de cuerpo como de alma y es por esto que nuestra oración no está confinada a nuestras mentes, a nuestros corazones y a nuestras voces, sino que también se expresa en nuestro cuerpo. Cuando nuestro cuerpo participa en nuestra oración, rezamos con toda nuestra persona, como espíritus personificados tal como Dios nos creó. Este compromiso de todo nuestro ser en oración nos ayuda a orar con una mejor atención.

Durante la Misa asumimos diferentes posturas corporales: nos ponemos de pie, nos ponemos de rodillas, nos sentamos y también somos invitados, a realizar una serie de gestos. Estas posturas y gestos corporales no son meramente ceremoniales. Tienen un significado profundo, así, cuando se realizan con comprensión , pueden realzar nuestra participación personal en la Misa. De hecho, estas acciones representan la manera en que comprometemos nuestro cuerpo en la oración, que es la Misa.

En la nueva Instrucción General, se nos pide que hagamos una señal de reverencia, a ser determinada por los obispos de cada país o región, antes de recibir de pie la Comunión. Los obispos de este país han determinado que la señal que ofreceremos antes de la Comunión será una venia, un gesto por medio del cual expresamos nuestra reverencia y honramos a Cristo, quien viene a nosotros como alimento espiritual.

Además de servir como un medio en la oración de los seres compuestos de cuerpo y alma, las posturas y los gestos corporales que hacemos en la Misa cumplen otra función muy importante. La Iglesia ve en estas posturas y gestos corporales comunes tanto un símbolo de unidad de aquellos que han venido a reunirse para rendir culto como un medio para afianzar dicha unidad. No estamos libres de cambiar estas posturas de acuerdo a nuestra propia piedad, ya que la Iglesia deja bien claro que nuestra unidad en las posturas y gestos corporales son una expresión de nuestra participación en un Cuerpo formado por las personas bautizadas con Cristo, nuestra cabeza. Cuando nos ponemos de pie, cuando nos arrodillamos, cuando nos sentamos, cuando hacemos una venia y lo mismo cuando hacemos una señal como una acción en común, atestiguamos sin ambigüedad que somos en verdad el Cuerpo de Cristo, unidos en el corazón, la mente y el espíritu.