What is the GIRM?

GIRM stands for the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. The Roman Missal is made up of two parts: The Lectionary for Mass and what we currently call the Sacramentary, the book with prayers and directions (rubrics) for celebrating Mass.

The first edition of the GIRM was published in 1969. It provides the theological perspective and liturgical laws governing how we celebrate the Mass of the Roman Rite throughout the world. The GIRM has been slightly modified since the Council and has now undergone a further revision.

The Roman Missal itself has also undergone several revisions. The revised Lectionary for Mass for Sundays, Weekdays, Ritual Masses and Various Needs and Occasions has already been translated into English and is now in use in the US. The Sacramentary has recently been revised but is only available in Latin. It will be several years before an approved English translation is available. When it is published, other changes in the way the Catholic Church of the Roman Rite celebrates Mass may be introduced.

The fathers of the Second Vatican Council realized that there is a need for ongoing change in the liturgy. ".where necessary, the rites [should] be carefully revised in light of sound tradition and that they be given new vigor to meet the circumstances and needs of modern times" (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, CSL #4). This means that even though our liturgical practices may change from time to time, the fundamental beliefs of our faith which undergird the liturgy do not change.

Because our Church believes in inculturating the liturgy into the various cultures "for the life of the world," bishops of each country have been given permission by the Holy See to adapt certain parts of the GIRM so that the celebration of Mass may be more fittingly celebrated in each land. The United States bishops have adapted some of the norms for dioceses of the United States.

At St. Anne's Church, the New liturgical practices on receiving communion was implemented on the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time. The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship approved this decision which comes from a directive in the General Instruction to the Roman Missal (#160.2)

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

On the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 6, 2003, the St.Anne Church in the Diocese of Rochester implemented some new liturgical practices at Mass. Some of these practices concern the Presiders, Deacons and Eucharistic Ministers, and some concern the gathered assembly. The posture for receiving communion is to be standing, and the gesture of reverence will be a bow of the head before receiving the Host and before receiving from the chalice."

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

On the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, the proper posture at Mass will be implemented. Obviously, we need to take time to adapt the ongoing change in litutgy. Girm # 15. "In this manner the Church, while remaining faithful to her office as teacher of truth safeguarding "things old," that is, the deposit of tradition, fulfils at the same time another duty, that of examining and prudently bringing forth "things new" (cf. Mt. 13:52).

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The first body of law to flow from the Vatican II was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (CSL). The CSL provides a blueprint for ongoing liturgical reform in the Church. This reform, rather than beginning something new, builds on the understanding and practice of liturgy in the early Church, and yet is able to respond to the needs of the times. Its principles are anchored in the unchanging mystery of our faith. The depth of the reform outlined in the CSL cannot be implemented in a mere 40 years. Even today we are still in the process of understanding and implementing its liturgical vision.

The key principles of the CSL are:

1. The heart of the liturgy is the celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ – his life, death and resurrection by which we are redeemed. This means that there are no “theme” Masses. The “theme” of every Mass is the Paschal Mystery. Throughout the year the liturgy of the church reflects on various aspects of this Paschal Mystery (CSL #7, 102, 106).

2. Every liturgical celebration is an action of Christ together with his body, the Church. No other type of prayer or devotion can equal this sacred action (CSL #7).

3. In the liturgy, which includes the Mass, the Sacraments, and the Liturgy of the Hours, Christ is present in many ways – in the person of the minister, in the Holy Eucharist broken and shared, in the Word of God proclaimed, and in the assembled people of God who pray and sing together (CSL #7).

4. All the faithful should be led to full, conscious and active participation in the liturgy. This aim is to be considered above all else. Such participation is both their right and duty by reason of their baptism (CSL #14). This is not just desirable, but demanded by the very nature of liturgy.

5. Catechesis (religious education) of the clergy and the faithful is critical if the community is to be fully aware of what it is doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects (CSL #15-19).

6. The liturgy is made up of both immutable (unchangeable) elements, divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change. These not only may, but ought to be changed with the passage of time if they no longer express the holy things they signify (CSL #21).

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Liturgy means "work of the people." It is a time for God and His people to be together. It is a time for God's people to remember, to celebrate, to worship and to give thanks. At the Eucharist, we give thanks for the death and resurrection of Jesus, who is present in the Word and at the meal. Since the Second Vatican Council, the liturgy has undergone many changes, many of them getting to the original rituals and meanings of earlier centuries.

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity (cf. Luke 1:23; Acts 13:2; Rom 15:16, 27; 2 Cor 9:12; Phil. 2:14-17, 25, 30). In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor. In a liturgical celebration the Church is servant in the image of her Lord, the one "leitourgos" (cf. Hebrews 8:2, 6); she shares in Christ’s priesthood (worship), which is both prophetic (proclamation) and kingly (service of charity) [CCC 1069-1070].

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

In the revised GIRM (#45), we read, “Sacred silence also, as part of the celebration, is to be observed at the designated times.” This means that silence is an integral and important part of every liturgy. It is called “sacred” for in this silence we meet God, the Holy One. We also meet there the holiness to which each of us is called by our baptism. In the Mass, the GIRM tells us, we are invited to silence at these five times: · at the Act of Penitence · after the priest says, “Let us pray” · after each Scripture reading · after the homily · after all have received Communion

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Of all liturgies, the Mass is the most important. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states:

The celebration of Mass, the action of Christ and the people of God arrayed hierarchically, is for the universal and the local church, as well as for each person, the center of the whole Christian life. In the Mass we have the high point of the work that in Christ, his Son, we offer to the Father. During the cycle of the year, moreover, the mysteries of redemption are recalled in the Mass in such a way that they are somehow made present. All other liturgical rites and all other works of the Christian life are linked with the Eucharistic celebration, flow from it, and have it as their end [GIRM I].

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Praising and Thanking - This is what we do at the "center and summit of this entire celebration . the Eucharistic Prayer, the prayer of thanksgiving and sanctification" (GIRM #78). We are invited by the presider to lift our hearts and give God thanks and praise. As the presider names the ways God has blessed us, especially in giving us the gift of his Son, Jesus, we are moved to sing with the angels and saints, "Holy, Holy". As the presider offers the gifts of bread and wine to the Father, he prays that they will be transformed into Christ's Body and Blood. He prays that we will also be transformed into Christ's Body and Blood for the world. As the presider helps us remember and make present today the precious gift of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we are moved to sing to Jesus one of the designated acclamations, "Lord, by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. You are the savior of the world!" We sum up our praise and thanks to the Father by praising him through the Son and in the Holy Spirit to which we acclaim, "Amen, Amen!"

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

The purpose of the Introductory Rites is "...that the faithful who come together as one establish communion and dispose themselves to listen properly to God's word and to celebrate Eucharist worthily" (GIRM #46). So all that comes before the Liturgy of the Word is intended to help us gather as a community and prepare to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries.

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Liturgy of the Word is the first major part of the Mass. The action of the gathered assembly at this point in the liturgy is to listen with reverence and attentiveness. The Liturgy of the Word begins with the First Reading and concludes with the Prayer of the Faithful.
"When the Sacred Scriptures are read in the Church, God himself speaks to his people, and Christ, present in his own word, proclaims the Gospel. Therefore, all must listen with reverence to the readings from God's word, for they make up an element of greatest importance in the Liturgy" (GIRM #29).

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

In order to allow us to listen to the Word of God with both our minds and hearts, the Church calls for a reverent pace and periods of silence during the Liturgy of the Word so that we might have some time to reflect on what we have heard.
The Liturgy of the Word is to be celebrated in such a way as to promote meditation, and so any sort of haste that hinders recollection must be clearly avoided. During the Liturgy of the Word, it is also appropriate to include brief periods of silence, accommodated to the gathered assembly, in which, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God may be grasped by the heart and a response through prayer may be prepared (GIRM #56).

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The homily is part of the Liturgy and is strongly recommended, for it is necessary for the nurturing of the Christian Life. It should be an exposition of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or another text from the Ordinary or from the proper of the Mass of the day and should take ino account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.(Girm #65)

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Liturgy of the Eucharist is made up of two major parts: The Eucharistic Prayer and the Communion Rite. A small rite of preparation precedes the Eucharistic Prayer. The Church has arranged the entire celebration of the liturgy of the Eucharist in parts corresponding to the words and actions of Christ. "For Christ took the bread and the chalice and gave thanks; he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying, "Take, eat and drink: this is my Body; this is the cup of my Blood. Do this in memory of me" (GIRM #72).

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Listen carefully to the Eucharistic Prayer. The prayer of thanks and praise is offered to the Father by Christ and his Church. "We bring you these gifts. We ask you, We offer you.". This means that we join together and offer ourselves with the self-sacrifice of Christ's passion, death and resurrection. We renew our baptismal commitment to die and rise with Christ by the way we live our lives. We renew our call to mission - to sacrifice ourselves for others in truth and justice so that the reign of God may be established. Uniting ourselves with the sacrifice of Christ commits us beyond passive receptivity to the hard work of building the kingdom of God. And so we acclaim, "When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory" or one of the other designated acclamations. "The Church's intention.is that the faithful not only offer this spotless Victim [Christ] to the Father but also learn to offer themselves, and so day by day to be consummated, through Christ the Mediator, into unity with God and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all" (GIRM #79).

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Communion Rite begins with the Lord's Prayer. "In the Lord's Prayer a petition is made for daily food, which for Christians means preeminently the Eucharistic bread, and also for purification from sin, so that what is holy may, in fact, be given to those who are holy" (GIRM #81).

The sign of peace follows. This is not a secular greeting, not a "Hi, how are you?" not a chance to talk to those whom we missed greeting as we entered the church. It is not a duplication of the gathering rite. We extend to one another a sign of Christ's peace, not our own, for sometimes, we have no peace of our own to give. In their letter The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response, the bishops of the United States wrote, "We encourage every Catholic to make the sign of peace at Mass an authentic sign of our reconciliation with God and with one another. This sign of peace is also a visible sign of our commitment to work for peace as a Christian community. We approach the table of the Lord only after having dedicated ourselves as a Christian community to peace and reconciliation."

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, in his pastoral letter Guide to the Assembly, puts it well: "Before coming forward we say, "Lord, I am not worthy." We are never worthy of this table, for it is God's grace and gift. Yet we do come forward. This is food for the journey that we began at baptism. We may eat of it when we are tired, when we are discouraged, even when we have failed. But not when we have forgotten the church, forgotten the way we began at the font; not when we have abandoned our struggle against evil and remain unrepentant for having done so. Let us examine our lives honestly each time before approaching the Eucharist. Worthy, none of us ever is, but properly prepared each one must be. Christ, present in the Eucharist and in us, calls us to be a holy communion, to grow in love and holiness for one another's sake."

30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Standing for Holy Communion, an ancient practice in the Eastern and Western Church, was restored in the liturgical reforms of Vatican II. Just as we stand in reverence and joy to receive the Word of God proclaimed in the Gospel, so we stand in reverence and joy to receive the Lord's Body and Blood in Holy Communion.

The revised GIRM permits the bishops of each country to choose the posture appropriate for the reception of communion. The bishops of the United States have retained the ancient posture of standing as the posture for receiving Holy Communion. It is not in accord with the GIRM to genuflect or kneel. "The norm for the reception of Holy Communion in the dioceses of the United States is standing. Communicants should not be denied Holy Communion because they kneel. Rather, such instances should be addressed pastorally, by providing the faithful with proper catechesis on the reasons for this norm" (GIRM #160). In addition, the US Bishops have added a simple bow of the head as an additional sign of reverence before receiving the Sacred Body and again before receiving the Precious Blood. This bow should not delay the distribution of Holy Communion

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

The revised GIRM retains the choice of the communicant to receive the Body o f Christ in the hand or on the tongue. This is the choice of the communican t, and not of the minister. When receiving communion in the hand, we place one hand, palm up on top of t he other hand, creating a throne for Christ. We then step to the side and p lace the host in our mouth and consume it. It is not lawful for the communi cant to hold the host in one's hand and wait to consume it until returning to the pew. It is also not lawful for the communicant to dip the consecrate d host into the Precious Blood him or herself. When receiving the Precious Blood, after the bow of the head and the respons e of Amen the communicant takes the cup of the Precious Blood, drinks from it, and returns it to the minister who wipes the outside and inside of the rim of the cup with a purificator and turns the cup a quarter turn to pr epare for the next communicant.

32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Concluding Rite of the Mass is very brief, yet it sends us out to be the Body and Blood of Christ for each other and the world. It is important to remember that the last prayer of the Mass is the Prayer a fter Communion. It is part of the Communion Rite. It is not a concluding p rayer and does not begin the Concluding Rite. The Concluding Rite begins with parish announcements, if there are any that must be spoken rather than placed in the parish bulletin. Then we are blessed for our journey. Sometimes this is done simply. During the seasons of the Church year and special feasts, it is done more solemnly . In those times, we bow our head and pause in silence to ask for God's b lessing. We then conclude as we began, signing ourselves with the sign of Christ's cross. We are dismissed missioned, that is, by the deacon or presider. The wor d Mass means sending or mission. What we have done at thi s liturgy, we must now do in the world. Again, Cardinal Bernardin puts it w ell, The dismissal of the assembly is like the breaking of the bread. We have become the bread of life and the cup of blessing for the world. Now we are scattered, broken, poured out to be life for the world. W hat happens at home, at work, at meals? What do we make of our time, our wo rds, our deeds, our resources of all kinds? This is what matters.

33nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

One of the principles guiding the renewal of the liturgy after Vatican Council II was that of "fuller, more active and conscious participation of all" those gathered to celebrate the liturgy. Not only the priest, but all present are to be more actively involved in what happens at Mass and other liturgical celebrations. Because of our baptism, we are not passive observers, but have both the right and the duty to be active participants in what happens at liturgy (CSL #14).

34th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The original Latin "crux" was translated in this passage simply as "cross." In some places, this was interpreted to allow for variations in the traditional crucifix. Examples can be found of a simple or decorative cross without a corpus, an image of the risen Christ with the cross, or the risen Christ with no cross present.

The revised GIRM gives us clear guidance on the place of the crucifix in our church buildings. Paragraph #308 states that there is "to be a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified upon it, either on the altar or near it, where it is clearly visible to the assembled congregation." In the same paragraph we are also instructed that "It is appropriate that such a cross, which calls to mind for the faithful the saving Passion of the Lord, remain near the altar even outside of liturgical celebrations." If a church does not have a cross with the body of Christ on it near the altar, plans should be made to obtain one.

1st Sunday of Advent

In the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), we read that "the Most Blessed Sacrament should be reserved in a tabernacle in a part of the church that is truly noble, prominent, readily visible, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer." (GIRM #314) There is to be only one tabernacle in the church, and it should be designed to protect the reserved Sacrament to the greatest extent possible. (GIRM #314)

The tabernacle may be located "in the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration" in an appropriate form and place. (GIRM #315) Built of Living Stones (BLS), the US Bishops' document on the building and renovation of worship spaces, tells us that when this is done, sufficient distance, controlled lighting, or some other architectural device should be used to keep the appropriate focus on the altar, ambo and presider's chair during the liturgy. (BLS # 80) The tabernacle may also be located in an environment or "chapel suitable for the faithful's private adoration and prayer and which is organically connected to the church and readily visible to the Christian faithful". (GIRM #315) The GIRM reaffirms the authority of the local bishop in decisions regarding the placement of the tabernacle (GIRM #315).

2nd Sunday of Advent

The Altar Table: "The altar on which the Sacrifice of the Cross is made present under sacramental signs is also the table of the Lord to which the People of God is called together to participate in the Mass, as well as the center of the thanksgiving that is accomplished through the Eucharist." (GIRM #296) It is appropriate to have a fixed (immovable) altar table in every church. (GIRM #298) It should be freestanding, and should be the "center toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally" focuses during the liturgy. The altar table should be made of "natural stone" or of "wood which is worthy, solid, and well crafted." (GIRM #301) The General Instruction also addresses requirements and recommendations for the placing of relics, the use of an altar cloth, the use of candles, and the decoration of the altar. Great care is required in all treatments of the altar because this symbol of Christ is worthy of our reverence and respect.

3rd Sunday of Advent

The Ambo: "The dignity of the word of God requires that the church have a place that is suitable for the proclamation of the word and toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns during the Liturgy of the Word." The ambo should be stationary and be clearly visible to the assembly. The ambo is reserved for the reading of scripture, the responsorial Psalm, the proclamation of the Exsultet at Easter, for the homily, and for the Prayer of the Faithful. (GIRM #309). Careful attention must be given to a reliable sound system that enables the congregation to hear the proclamation of the word easily.

4th Sunday of Advent

Chair for the Priest Celebrant: The GIRM states that the chair for the priest "must signify his office of presiding over the gathering and of directing the prayer." We are also instructed that "the best place for the chair is in a position facing the people at the head of the sanctuary." The GIRM goes on to caution that the chair should not be placed at a great distance from the gathered assembly or in front of the tabernacle. In the design and placement of the chair, "any appearance of a throne, however, is to be avoided" (GIRM #310).