In my last column I spoke about my first eight months here and alluded to some observations and directions for our local Church that I would like to share with you. In this column, I will discuss our continued implementation of the liturgical directives as outlined in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal 2002 (GIRM).

Archbishop Kelly began this work several years ago, and most of you are already familiar with some of the developments in posture and other parts of our celebration of the Mass. Because of the good work that has already been done, I think we are ready to move forward with the full implementation of the General Instruction.

In general, the change that will most affect the faithful is in the area of posture. This is an important part of the liturgy because common posture is a sign of unity, visually expressing who we are and what we believe. Posture helps to form us into the body of Christ celebrating with Christ, our head, and it helps to instill a prayerful and reverent attitude. In addition, posture helps us to realize that “full, conscious and active” participation in the liturgy to which we are called due to our baptism and the nature of the liturgy.

Over the years there have been a variety of postures used during particular parts of the liturgy. It is my intention, however, to standardize and unify the practice in our archdiocese. Therefore, I am working with our pastors on the following practices, many of which are already familiar to you:

• Kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer: At the conclusion of the “Holy, Holy, Holy,” the assembly will kneel for the entire Eucharistic Prayer that concludes with the Doxology (“Through Him ...”) and the Great Amen. This posture was selected by the United States Catholic bishops to emphasize the unity of this prayer, to respect the tradition of kneeling that has been practiced in the United States and to highlight the elements of adoration, offering and prayerfulness present in this text.
• Standing for the Lord’s Prayer, the Rite of Peace and the Fraction Rite: After the Doxology and Great Amen, the assembly will stand for the Lord’s Prayer and continue to stand until after the Fraction Rite, which is accompanied by the Lamb of God litany.
• Kneeling after the Fraction Rite: The assembly will kneel after the Lamb of God litany has concluded. The kneeling posture at this time, though brief in duration, covers the invitation to Holy Communion and the act of faith and spirit of humility expressed in the text, “O Lord, I am not worthy.”
• Standing during the distribution of Holy Communion: The posture for receiving Holy Communion, as established by the U.S. bishops, is standing. The assembly will stand for the distribution of Holy Communion after the response, “O Lord, I am not worthy. ... I shall be healed.” The standing posture covers the priest’s reception and continues for the distribution of Holy Communion to all the faithful. This posture best expresses the communal nature of this part of the Communion Rite and acknowledges the presence of Christ in the midst of the assembly.
• Period of silent prayer after the distribution of Holy Communion: After everyone in the assembly has received Holy Communion, the celebrant and the faithful will kneel or sit for silent, individual prayer to “praise and pray to God in their hearts” (GIRM no. 45). Since this period of prayer is private and individual time, the faithful are given the choice of kneeling or sitting for this prayer. During this time period, when there is no movement or music, there should be a one- to two-minute time period for individual prayer.

Our Office of Worship has prepared a series of articles about liturgy and about the General Instruction that will be made available to pastors and that will be published in The Record and on the archdiocesan Web page: www.archlou.org. Parishes will have until the first week of Advent for full implementation of the GIRM directives.

I have always found that as people understand more about the Mass, they are moved to a deeper level of participation and appreciation. May God bless you for your spiritual efforts to learn more about the beauty and wonder of our worship.