A Penitent Blogger

Mindful of my imperfections, seeking to know Truth more deeply and to live Love more fully.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus? Cum vix iustus sit securus?
Recordare, Iesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae: Ne me perdas illa die...

Friday, October 15, 2004

Year of the Eucharist: Suggestions and Proposals

ZENIT has today published a translation of guidelines issued yesterday by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments for parishes to consider during the current "Year of the Eucharist."

These include (with some paraphrasing):
  • Where necessary, reorder places of celebration (altar, ambo, presbytery) and to the reservation of the Eucharist (tabernacle, chapel of adoration); highlight the truth and beauty of signs (ornaments, sacred vessels, ornamentation).
  • Enhance the parish liturgical committee.
  • Supervise instituted ministers and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, of the acolytes, of the schola cantorum, etc.
  • Give special attention to liturgical singing.
  • Schedule formative meetings on the Eucharist in the life of the Church and of the Christian.
  • Review and communicate official instructions and documents on Liturgy
  • Educate how to be in church: what to do on entering church; how to reverence the Most Holy Sacrament; how to foster interior recollection, and how to acclaim in community.
    Celebrate appropriately the anniversary of the parish church’s consecration.
  • Rediscover one's parish church: the meaning of the altar, the ambo, tabernacle, iconography, stained-glass windows, vestibule, etc.
  • Promote Eucharistic worship and personal prayer before the Most Holy Sacrament: individual visits, community adoration, Benediction, Forty Hours, Eucharistic processions.
  • Ascertain the regularity and dignity with which Communion is taken to the sick.
  • Make known the teaching of the Church on Viaticum.
  • Support the spiritual life of those who, being in irregular situations but participating in Holy Mass, cannot receive Eucharistic Communion.