The Trouble with Communion Processionals and beyond…

[Nick Baty]

What I am looking for is to find musical settings of the comm. propers that people will take ownership of and sing.

Have been mulling on these for the last day or so – can't beat a good mull occasionally. Do the Communion Antiphons give us a good model for a Communion song? Should they, could they, be sung during the Communion procession.

On the third Sunday of Advent, during the Communion procession, we'll be singing the words from Isaiah, given in the Missal (and the Processional!): "Be strong and do not fear, our God will come to save us", with the cantor's verses added from various seasonal bits of Isaiah and/or Psalm 84. But I couldn't imagine singing the words given for the second Sunday – "Rise up, Jerusalam, stand on the heights, and see the joy that is coming to you from God" – at this point.

[IncenseTom]

I'm not sure if my PP uses prescribed words to bless those taking communion to the sick and housebound. Here is what he says:

"Receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the sick and housebound. Reassure them of God's love in this most holy sacrament, and may God bless you in your ministry."

I've never seen this done anywhere else, but it does make you think about those who can't make it to Mass and say a quick prayer for them before the concluding prayer.

In terms of the sacred vessels, I usually get into the sacristy having finished the Voluntary to find the Altar servers boiling the kettle and 'washing up' the vessels!

[Peter Jones]

I'm not sure if my PP uses prescribed words to bless those taking communion to the sick and housebound. Here is what he says:

"Receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the sick and housebound. Reassure them of God's love in this most holy sacrament, and may God bless you in your ministry."

Is this before or after the post-communion prayer, Tom?

[Peter Jones]

I'm not sure if my PP uses prescribed words to bless those taking communion to the sick and housebound. Here is what he says:

.......say a quick prayer for them before the concluding prayer.

Reads as if it's before and

In the case of the church I referred to in a previous post on this thread, the "extraordinary dismissal" was purely verbal, taking place if I recall correctly just before the blessing, or maybe just after the Postcommunion Prayer and before the notices.

this reads as after. When is the optimum moment, do you think?

[alan29]

At ours it is straight after communion, before the post-communion silence. With words "May God bless you as you take etc" and quite a formal handing out of the pyxes. Its excellent to make the sick and housebound present in this way, and to unite them with what we have been doing.

[nazard]

To get back to where this thread started, we did try doing without the recessional hymn, and people complained. It does work though, in as much as they all join in con belto with a good rabble rouser, Cwm Rhondda, Guiting Power, etc. On the other hand, if we need the church emtying, If I were a butterfly is more effective than a fire alarm...

Given that other innovations which did not originate in the Vatican have subsequently been approved, singing a recessional seems to me to be pretty harmless and might get approved if we stick with it long enough.

[IncenseTom]

Is this before or after the post-communion prayer, Tom?[/quote]

I actually think he has done it both ways, before and after the post-communion prayer.

In the first case, he locks the tabernacle, hand out the pyxs, and blesses the ministers. Then there is (rather) brief silence before the prayer.

In the second case, he locks the tabernacle, says the post-communion prayer immediately, hands out the pyxs, blesses the ministers, then brief silence before the final blessing.