The
Communion Rite begins with the Lord's
Prayer. "In the Lord's Prayer a petition is
made for daily food, which for Christians
means
preeminently the Eucharistic bread, and
also for purification from sin, so that what is holy
may, in fact, be given to those who are
holy"
(GIRM
no. 81).
The
sign of peace follows. This is not a secular greeting, not a "Hi,
how are you?" not a chance to talk to those whom we missed greeting
as we
entered the church. It is not a duplication of
the
gathering
rite. We extend to one another a sign of Christ's peace, not our own,
for sometimes, we have no peace of our own to give. In their letter The
Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response, the bishops of
the United States wrote,
"We encourage every Catholic to make the
sign of
peace at
Mass an authentic sign of our
reconciliation
with God and with one another. This sign of peace is also a visible sign
of our
commitment to work for
peace as a Christian community. We approach the table of the Lord only
after having dedicated ourselves as a
Christian
community to peace and reconciliation."
Following
the sign of peace, the Eucharistic bread is broken and the sacred wine
is poured while the
assembly
sings the "Lamb of God"
litany. This
action of the breaking of the bread speaks our
prayer that even though we are many, we all
seek to
become one
body in the Lord.
After
the presider's invitation to eat and drink and
our
response as an assembly, the Communion procession
begins, and with it all join in singing the Communion song. This is not a time for private prayer
or silence. It is a time to express our unity in the
Lord through joining our voices in sung prayer as we come forward to
share and become his Body and Blood and as we return to our places while
others continue to receive Communion.
After
all have shared the holy meal, communal
silence may follow. The Communion Rite ends with the Prayer after
Communion prayed by the
presider
in the name of us all.
The
community's act of Holy Communion is the most perfect participation in
the Eucharistic
celebration.
GIRM
Bulletin 17E Office
for Worship, Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Ó 2003,
Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM. Used
with permission.
