ad Orientem

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The need to return to ‘Ad Orientem’ celebration

00056_15042010

Let us return to the ad orientem celebration! That is facing the Lord TOGETHER with the people, instead of facing the people (ad populum).

The Mass is not a political gathering or a party where everyone faces each other and look at each other. The Mass is about the Holy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we ALL ought to look at Him crucified. Therefore, everyone, including the priest, MUST face the Lord, and ad orientem is the best way.

Elevation

The focus of the Mass is the Lord, not the priest as a person. The priest is Alter Christus, Christ personified in the priest, and when he lifts up that bread turned into the Most Precious Body, It is like Christ lifted up high between the heaven and the earth, offering Himself as a sacrificial victim, to absolve and save all the world from death and sin. When the priest lifts up that chalice with wine, transformed into the Most Precious Blood, it is the Blood of Christ, Jesus Christ Himself we are looking at, His Blood pouring down the cross to us, to wash us from our iniquities and our sins, making our garments white again in the Blood of the Lamb.

Monstrance Baroque

And even the ones who crucified Him, looked at Him “And they shall look at the One whom they pierced”. It is therefore imperative, that we keep our focus at the Lord, as One people, One Church, during and throughout the Mass. The focus is not in the dances and the upbeat songs now often used to arouse people’s attention and interest in the Mass, and neither is the focus on the priest dancing, singing, or the people’s performances, but the focus is Christ.

When the priest faces the people, this fact is quickly and easily lost in both the people, AND the priest. Eye contact is very important in relationships, and eye contact between the priest and the people while can be beneficial (during the homily) it can easily distract our attention from the Lord in the Eucharist, very easily.

In this way too, we take the best from both of the two Form of the Latin Rite we have in the Church, that is the Extraordinary Form (Tridentine) and the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo), and end the numerous liturgical abuses that had arisen ever since ad populum celebration became commonplace, and many did them inappropriately and without due honour to our Lord Jesus Christ.

papal ad orientem 2010 4

And lastly, it is time to return the Tabernacle with the Most Holy Eucharist back to its place of primary honour behind the Altar, that is where all the people and the priests focus at during the Mass, and not relegated somewhere at the side or a less-than-honorary place in the church building. There can be another Tabernacle for use especially during the Transfer of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, but the Tabernacle itself should and indeed, must be restored to its position of honour at the Altar!

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, in Saint Louis, Missouri - All Saints Chapel - tabernacle

Ad orientem celebration helps this, as the priest no longer need to show his back all the time to the Lord throughout the Mass if ad populum celebration is done.

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On the Altar Crucifix, the Liturgy, and our Faith

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/details/ns_lit_doc_20091117_crocifisso_en.html

On the matter of the altar crucifix, which has bugged me for months now, can liturgists be empowered so that they can indeed persuade the priests, in coordination with the bishop of course, to put such a beautiful, reasonable, and meaningful arrangement? 

As altar crucifix is for the priest to use, and is no barrier to the faithful as many would have countered, and we should indeed glory in the cross of Christ, and not be ashamed at having it. The other, usually larger altar crucifix is for the rest of the congregations to see. Naturally, as in many post-Vatican II arrangements, these crucifixes are placed such that the priests can no longer see them.

It is crucial that everyone, and including the priests, focus their attention to the Lord, represented in the altar crucifix, as the interior alignment/orientation and condition of the priests are important in their celebration of the Mass, that their attention is not to themselves, and not to other things, but towards the Lord. 

http://www.hprweb.com/2012/01/cross-altar-and-the-right-way-of-praying/

In the old days, this is no problem since everyone is facing the Lord, but in our modern arrangement, there is no better solution than that of the “Benedictine” arrangement, by our beloved Pope Benedict XVI himself, that an additional altar crucifix should be used on the altar if the priests cannot see the large crucifix behind the altar intended for the congregation. 

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/details/ns_lit_doc_20110126_crocifisso_en.html

That this is the new “Ad orientem” (literally means facing east, as traditionally, Christians pray facing east, towards Jerusalem), which is indeed, facing towards God, in Jesus, for the people, and the priests (celebrant and concelebrants alike).

Similarly with the traditional 6 candles arrangement (7 for bishops), bowing at the Name of Jesus Christ, at the Incarnation moment of the Creed, and many others. There are meanings to all of these, and these are not just ornaments, but articles and things that can help deepen the faith of all who participate in the Mass, if the priests explain them clearly, and together, through the liturgy, our faith can only be ever stronger.