Question About The Latin Mass

[PhuturePriest]

Don't worry your little heads, this won't end up in an argument unless you really, really try, in which you all deserve Church Scholar tags if you accomplish this.

 

I saw somewhere that when you go to Latin Mass, when you go to receive Communion you are not supposed to say "Amen". What are you supposed to say, then?

Edited January 10, 2013 by FuturePriest387

[Nihil Obstat]

Nothing at all. The priest says everything.

[PhuturePriest]

Nothing at all. The priest says everything.

 

Really? Amazing! I love the simplicity of it, especially since I have sometimes been so focused on remembering to stick my tongue out the correct way that I forget to say "Amen".

[Fidei Defensor]

Precisely. The priest proclaims the blessing (including an amen) and you receive. It would be fine to say Amen in your mind, but the proper form does not have a verbal response to the blessing.

[Nihil Obstat]

Really? Amazing! I love the simplicity of it, especially since I have sometimes been so focused on remembering to stick my tongue out the correct way that I forget to say "Amen".

 

Indeed.

[Gabriela]

Yup. Nuthin'. The CRNJ have this little booklet for parishioners to follow along in:

 

http://www.catholicfreeshipping.com/laenbomi.html

 

It's totally worth the $6.50. I took it home once (with permission) to "study" it, and it majorly helped.

 

The CRNJ also have AMAZING pamphlets at their Masses and Divine Office hours that seriously help MEF-newcomers to follow along. They're getting REALLY good at knowing when they need to provide some direction to the lay faithful, too, and at devising non-disruptive ways of signaling to us what to do next. For example, the Schola calls out page numbers in the pamphlets during the Divine Office; during Mass, the priest knocks once on the altar to tell you to stand, and twice to kneel. They didn't do these things when I was at their Mass last year. This year, they're doing them. They also didn't have the totally easy-to-follow, obviously-written-for-the-newcomer pamphlets last year. Now they do.

 

I love the CRNJ. [SIGH]

[Basilisa Marie]

Not to be rude, but what's the point of priest saying the Amen? 

[Fidei Defensor]

Not to be rude, but what's the point of priest saying the Amen? 

 

The same point to any of the amens that are said by the priest—completion of a prayer or blessing.

[Basilisa Marie]

...but isn't the point of saying "amen" after "The body of Christ" supposed to be an affirmation of the statement the priest just made?  

 

I forget, does the laity say the great amen during a Tridentine liturgy? 

[Fidei Defensor]

...but isn't the point of saying "amen" after "The body of Christ" supposed to be an affirmation of the statement the priest just made?  

 

I forget, does the laity say the great amen during a Tridentine liturgy? 

 

What is said at the latin mass is slightly different. The priest presents the Host and says â€œMay the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul unto life everlasting. Amen.”

[Nihil Obstat]

I believe the idea here is that the priest, in his role as an intermediary, is also able to 'speak' on our behalf. So in that role he takes on the prayers and needs of his congregation and offers them to God the Father through his ordained identity as an alter Christus.

It also contributes to a proper understanding of the ad orientem posture. Explains a lot of things, really.

I think a point could easily be made that it is not wrong in any moral or theological sense to say amen. Only wrong inasmuch as it is not part of the instructions to the laity. But it is not like one would err in saying an interior amen. Unite oneself with the priest's prayers. But strictly speaking it is also not necessary, if one is uniting themselves in an active sense already.

 

 

 

I forget, does the laity say the great amen during a Tridentine liturgy?

 

Not really. That particular amen is not emphasized in the usus antiquior as it is in the novus ordo. There is nothing stopping us from saying it, but again it is not strictly necessary.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Nihil Obstat

[Groo the Wanderer]

Here ya go FP.  Knock yerself out.   http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/index.html

 

 

Yes Nihil - I do LUB the EF

[Nihil Obstat]

Yes Nihil - I do LUB the EF

 

:huh: Did I question that at some point?

[Groo the Wanderer]

QUESTION ALL GROOS!

[NonNovi]

Not to be rude, but what's the point of priest saying the Amen? 

You're sticking out your tongue at that time, while the priest lays the Body of Christ on it. To say something is dangerous. :p

[NonNovi]

I forget, does the laity say the great amen during a Tridentine liturgy? 

I had to look up what "the great amen" is... Even in the Novus Ordo we don't stress that very much here, but apparently in English there are several musical ways to sing amen at that moment. In Dutch we call it simply the acclamation (to the concluding doxology).

 

In the EF the priest says Per ipsum et cum ipso... in silence. He concludes out loud with Per omnia saecula saeculorum. The laity answers amen. So I guess we do say what you call "the great amen".

 

So Nihil, we do have to say it as amen is the proper response to every per omnia saecula saeculorum.

Edited January 11, 2013 by NonNovi

[Nihil Obstat]

So Nihil, we do have to say it as amen is the proper response to every per omnia saecula saeculorum.

 

In the usus antiquior, a lay response is not necessary or expected. As I said, it is not wrong, but it is also not necessary. As far as I understand these things.

[Mary+Immaculate<3]

Just a little thought I wanted to share. I was contemplating once that, when we go forth to receive Communion at the altar rail (for those churches that have it), it is like we are kneeling before the Gates of Heaven begging for a taste of what it will be like. Christ comes to us and shows us what Heaven will be like, eternal union with Him.

[i<3franciscans]

I went to Latin Mass for the first time on Christmas (I was recruited to sing with the choir) and I was so lost the whole time! I think it was a High Mass (There is such a thing right?) and basically the only thing I knew was not to say Amen when receiving. But I did end up liking Latin Mass more than I thought I would... 

Edited January 11, 2013 by i<3franciscans

[Nihil Obstat]

I went to Latin Mass for the first time on Christmas (I was recruited to sing with the choir) and I was so lost the whole time! I think it was a High Mass (There is such a thing right?) and basically the only thing I knew was not to say Amen when receiving. But I did end up liking Latin Mass more than I thought I would... 

 

There is a Low Mass, High Mass, and Solemn High Mass. :) A Solemn High Mass will have the priest plus an ordained deacon and subdeacon.

There is also a Solemn Pontifical Mass, when it is celebrated by a bishop. It is rather complex, and I have not been fortunate enough to see one in person yet.