Recent Bulletin Sermons

Series on the Mass, Part 18: The Gospel, part 1
Feb. 16, 2020

The Low Mass ceremonies are based on what is done at the High Mass or, more properly, a Pontifical High Mass, though I will limit the descriptions to the former. An explanation of some of the High Mass ceremonies will help us to better understand the Low Mass.

At the High Mass there is an elaborate procession for the Gospel, wherein the deacon approaches the altar with the Book of the Gospels (Evangelarium) and places it at the center of the altar while the subdeacon moves the missal to the Gospel side. The deacon and subdeacon then assist the priest to prepare the incense that will be used to incense the Book of the Gospels. While the incense is being prepared, the acolytes and thurifer line up for the procession. Once the incense is ready, the deacon kneels down to say the prayer “Munda Cor” (“Cleanse my heart and my lips ....”), then stands and takes the Evangelarium from the altar and asks the priest for a blessing. The priest blesses him with the prayer “Dominus Sit in Corde Tuo” (“The Lord be in your heart and on your lips, that you may worthily and becomingly announce His Gospel. Amen”).

The deacon, carrying the Evangelarium, joins the procession with the subdeacon, master of ceremonies, thurifer, and the two acolytes with candles to the left side of the sanctuary to sing the Gospel. If the altar is oriented in the traditional fashion, the priest faces east while celebrating Mass, so the left side of the sanctuary, when facing the altar, would be north. This procession is symbolic of the prayers that were said toward the direction where there was darkness and cold. During the development of the liturgy in medieval times, it was also the direction of the people not yet evangelized, namely the Barbarians from the North of the Alps. The Gospel was preached to the north to convert them.

Even today, we can spiritually understand this ceremony because we all need conversion. When we see the priest facing toward the north, where there is darkness in the Northern Hemisphere, we can think of our own darkness that needs to be dispelled by listening to the Gospel. In the Low Mass, the priest is not able to face completely north, and so when the missal is transferred to the Gospel side of the altar, it is set at a 45-degree angle to face north as much as possible.