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This Advent, prepare for a little surprise. Your priest may celebrate Mass with his back to you. No, he isn't hiding from you, he's simply returning to a traditional practice called "ad orientem."
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
7/7/2016 (9 years ago)
Published in Living Faith
Keywords: ad orientum, east, priests, Mass, Liturgy, Cardinal Sarah
LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Catholic priests once faced east while celebrating Mass. We may soon see them return to this practice. Cardinal Robert Sarah, who is in charge of liturgy for the Vatican, has asked priests to celebrate ad orientem starting this Advent. The season begins on November 27.
The change is a major one, but bishops and priests will have discretion in making it. Not all parishes are expected to follow suit immediately.
The change is to emphasize that we are waiting for Our Lord to come. Traditionally, this is symbolized by looking to the east, from whence He is to come.
Priests will need to instruct their congregations about this change.
Perhaps the most fundamental thing to grasp about this change is that it places God at the center of the Liturgy. In a way, we have put ourselves at the center by facing one another all the time. Where is God in that arrangement? By facing east, or the apse of the church, we acknowledge that we are all waiting for someone greater than the celebrant.
Cardinal Sarah also mentioned in published remarks that kneeling during the consecration and communion is likely to return.
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