3/7/2023 0 Comments Praying in silenceThey are also meant to provide starting points for the personal prayer of the lay faithful at those points of the Mass. They are also not meant to exhaust the inner prayer of the priest, but to serve as initial liturgical formulations that help him to enter into and offer himself more fully at those points in the liturgy. They are easily accessible and published in the vernacular for all to find. Obviously, there is nothing “secret” about the content of the prayers spoken quietly by the priest. After silently (or mostly silently) preparing the altar, the priest says, “Pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours….” Here we see that the priest is playing a different role from the faithful (distinctly offering the sacrifice of Christ in a way the faithful are not), and yet with the silent prayers that he has been saying in preparing the gifts, we see that he also has his own personal participation, similar to the rest of the faithful. That comes through especially clearly in the conclusion of the Preparation of Gifts in which several of the silent prayers are prescribed. ![]() His own relationship with God grows through his silent, internal participation in the prayers of the Mass. He is also personally a participant in these sacred mysteries. He is not merely a functionary who mechanically carries out certain ritual words and gestures in order to bring about a particular result, however powerful and important that result may be. Silences in the Mass are a sign that we are fully engaged in something in those moments that words would only cheapen.Įach of these prayers then are a sign of the secret inner dialogue that takes place between God and each believer during the Mass, and they are also specifically a sign that the priest himself carries out a personal inner dialogue with God during the Mass. Thus, the very fact that the prayers are intended not to be heard is an important ritual action in the Mass. This is the sign value of seeing the priest’s lips moving silently or possibly hearing only the whispering sound of his low voice as he addresses his secret prayer to the Father. The intentional silences in the Mass and the unheard prayers of the priest, however, are intended to overcome that false dichotomy, and they point out the way that our secret prayer is also supposed to permeate the Mass. Some might interpret Jesus’ words as referring only to the need for private prayer outside of the public worship of liturgical prayer. It is intended in the same spirit as Jesus’ exhortation for us to go into our inner room and pray to the Father in secret where the Father who sees in secret will reward us (Matthew 6:6). Therefore, silence in the Mass carries a meaning of a shared, hidden fullness with God, a form of divine communion and intimacy. Like the silence that fills heaven for about half an hour when the Lamb opens the seventh seal (Revelation 8:1), silence in the Mass is a sign that something profound has happened and we are summoned to sustain our interior attention without the distraction even of good words or other gestures. To the contrary, they are a sign that we are fully engaged in something in those moments that words would only cheapen. These silences are not merely emptiness or a lack of something to say or do. The Roman Rite Mass prescribes periods of silence at various points, including after the readings, after the homily, and after the reception of Holy Communion. This goes together with a more general reflection on the meaning of intentional periods of silence in the Mass. To start, we must first consider the value of prescribing prayers for the priest to say but that the people cannot hear. ![]() That reflection begins with the importance of reciting prescribed, yet unheard prayers, and then follows with specific reflections on the words, gestures, and context of the Mass for each of the prayers. Both priest and people benefit from some mystagogical reflection on these prayers. These “private” prayers of the priest in the celebration of the Holy Mass carry layers of meaning. The Roman Ritual for the Mass instructs the priest to offer certain prayers quietly ( secreto). Future entries of “The Quiet That Speaks” will be published in our electronic newsletter, AB Insight, and be posted on our website,. Editor’s note: The following entry begins a series of pieces by Benedictine Father Boniface Hicks on the private prayers of the priest at Mass.
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