{"id":19376,"date":"2013-06-18T07:00:17","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=19376"},"modified":"2019-04-26T14:19:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T21:19:56","slug":"liturgically-perturbed-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2013\/06\/18\/liturgically-perturbed-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Roman Catholics Say The Darndest Things: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago<\/a> I began responding to the common reactions I hear when a Roman-Rite Catholic visits an Eastern-Rite parish for the first time. Last time I covered numbers 1-10 and today I’m going to finish the list with numbers 11-20 for “Roman Catholics Say The Dardnest Things”<\/em><\/span>:<\/p>\n

11. “What are the circles on sticks being carried around?”<\/em><\/strong>
\nThese are called\u00a0“rapidia”<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>(or\u00a0“flabella”<\/em><\/a>). They are carried by altar servers in the Gospel procession and again when the bread and wine are brought to the altar. On them are pictures of angels.\u00a0Symbolically, they remind us that our earthly liturgy touches Heaven.<\/p>\n

\"ripidion\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

12. “Why didn’t they read the right Lectionary Readings?”<\/em><\/strong>
\nA different Lectionary is used in the East. In fact, a different liturgical calendar is used, resulting in some of the feasts being on different dates. Additionally, you won’t find the Old Testament-Psalm-New Testament-Gospel sequence you’re used to in the Western Mass.<\/p>\n

\"Lectionary<\/a><\/p>\n

13. “Who is this ‘Thay-o-to-cus’ who keeps being mentioned?”<\/em><\/strong>
\nThis is a name for the Blessed Virgin. “Theotokos”<\/em><\/span> is Greek for “God Bearer”<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"virgin_mary01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

14. “Do we get to sit down yet? My legs hurt”<\/em><\/strong>
\nWell, be grateful that you got to sit down for the Reading and Homily! Pews are a relatively recent invention and traditionally you would have to stand throughout the entire liturgy! Of course, if you are unwell, pregnant etc. please feel free to sit. People won’t tut too loudly… \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"Greek<\/a><\/p>\n

15. “Where are the kneelers for the consecration?”<\/em><\/strong>
\nIt is traditional to stand throughout the consecration. At the words of institution (“This is my Body…”<\/em><\/span>) you should bow and make a profound sign of the cross (yeah, again…).<\/p>\n

\"consecration\"<\/a><\/p>\n

16. “Help! It’s Communion and I don’t know what to do!”<\/em><\/strong>
\nThings look a little different, but it’s the same Eucharist, I promise! The Body and Blood are together in a single chalice (rather like\u00a0“intinction”<\/em><\/a>). Only the priest gives out Communion – there are no extraordinary<\/em><\/span> Eucharistic ministers.<\/p>\n

If you a Catholic in a state of grace you are welcome to come up and receive. You are invited to bow and make the sign of the cross prior to stepping in front of the priest. With your hands across your chest, simply open your mouth. The priest will say something like:<\/p>\n

“The servant of God, David, receives the Body and Blood of Christ
\nfor forgiveness of sins and eternal life”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You say nothing. The priest, as a spiritual father, will then feed you by placing the Eucharist into your mouth with a spoon. Don’t be surprised if it’s warm, it is common to heat the wine prior to consecration. Make the sign of the cross (again!) and return to you place. It is customary to remaining standing in your pew while the rest of the congregation are fed.<\/p>\n

In the East, children receive all their sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation\/Chrismation and Eucharist) as babies, so don’t be surprised to see small children receiving communion.<\/p>\n

\"communion_africa1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

17. “The priest just gave the final blessing. Is it over now?”<\/em><\/strong>
\nNot quite, we now go up to the front (as we did at Communion) to kiss the cross and possibly be anointed with oil. As you go up the priest he will most likely say “Christ is among us”<\/em><\/span>. \u00a0<\/b>The correct response is “He is and will be”<\/em><\/span>. There are several such\u00a0responses of this kind in the Eastern Church<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"kiss<\/a><\/p>\n

18. “The altar servers are standing around with small trays of bread. What is this?”<\/em><\/strong>
\nIt’s not the Eucharist, it’s called\u00a0“Antidoron”<\/span><\/em>. This is the part of the loaf which wasn’t consecrated during the service. Eat! It’s yummy \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"antidoron\"<\/a><\/p>\n

19. “Wow, that Mass was great!”<\/em><\/strong>
\nIt’s called\u00a0“Divine Liturgy”<\/em><\/span>, not\u00a0“Mass”<\/em><\/span>! It’s like calling an Australian a Canadian – they’re both part of the same Commonwealth, but they’re from very different countries!\u00a0The word\u00a0“Mass”<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>comes from the Latin dismissal,\u00a0“Ite Missa<\/span> Est”<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"reading\"<\/a><\/p>\n

20. “Now what?”<\/em><\/strong>
\nWe’re going to breakfast because the Apostles’ Fast will be over and I will be dying for bacon, sausage and eggs!<\/p>\n

\"breakfast\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 1<\/a> |\u00a0Part 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I began responding to the common reactions I hear when a Roman-Rite Catholic visits an Eastern-Rite parish for the first time. Last time I covered numbers 1-10 and today I’m going to finish the list with numbers 11-20 for “Roman Catholics Say The Dardnest Things”: 11. “What are the circles on sticks being carried around?” These<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[37,2614,52,2969,727],"class_list":["post-19376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","tag-byzantine","tag-darndest-western-things","tag-eastern-rite","tag-featured","tag-holy-angels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19376"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71088,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19376\/revisions\/71088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}