Edward McNamara, LC
(ZENIT News / Rome, 11.19.2024).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy and sacramental theology and director of the Sacerdos Institute at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: Is a deacon at Mass allowed to participate in reading part of the Eucharistic Prayer? — C.M., Mexico City
A: The short answer is quite simple: no.
This theme is addressed very well in the 2004 instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, on abuses in the liturgy. To wit:
“52. The proclamation of the Eucharistic Prayer, which by its very nature is the climax of the whole celebration, is proper to the Priest by virtue of his Ordination. It is therefore an abuse to proffer it in such a way that some parts of the Eucharistic Prayer are recited by a Deacon, a lay minister, or by an individual member of the faithful, or by all members of the faithful together. The Eucharistic Prayer, then, is to be recited by the Priest alone in full.
“53. While the Priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer ‘there should be no other prayers or singing, and the organ or other musical instruments should be silent,’ except for the people’s acclamations that have been duly approved, as described below.
“54. The people, however, are always involved actively and never merely passively: for they ‘silently join themselves with the Priest in faith, as well as in their interventions during the course of the Eucharistic Prayer as prescribed, namely in the responses in the Preface dialogue, the Sanctus, the acclamation after the consecration and the ‘Amen’ after the final doxology, and in other acclamations approved by the Conference of Bishops with the recognitio of the Holy See.’”
Therefore, from what has been seen above, only a priest may proclaim any part of the Eucharistic Prayer.
The acclamation after the consecration, proclaimed by the people, does not violate this rule. This is because this acclamation is not, strictly speaking, a part of the Eucharistic Prayer.
Indeed, if a priest celebrates alone, or concelebrate only with other priests, both the “mystery of faith” and the acclamation are omitted, and the priest passes immediately from “Do this in memory of me” to “Therefore O Lord …” or “Therefore as we celebrate …” depending on which Eucharistic Prayer is used.
This same rule would apply for when other acclamations of the people have been inserted into the Eucharistic Prayer with the approval of the bishops’ conference and the Holy See. This is the case, for example, in the Portuguese version of the missal used in Brazil.
Another particularity is Germany in which the missal foresees that the deacon may intone the “Mystery of faith.” This possibility is not foreseen in the Latin missal or in any other missal that I know, but it seems to have been approved for Germany.
As we saw above, it would not contradict the overall principles as this invitation is not part of the Eucharistic Prayer as such.
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