The public prayers are always preceded by a greeting or salutation. The usual formula is, "The Lord be with you," to which the people reply, "And with thy spirit." Formerly, however, the Mass was begun by the salutation, "Peace be to you," which the Bishop addressed to the congregation before the Epistle was read. This ancient form is still retained by Bishops before the Collect, but priests use the "Dominus Vobiscum," or "the Lord be with you." It is probable that this distinction was perpetuated by the fact just mentioned, that for a long time priests did not recite the "Gloria in Excelsis." "Peace be to you," seems like an echo of the angels hymn, "Glory be to God on high and on earth peace." After the greeting comes the invitation, "Let us pray," and then the prayer follows. These prayers are all closed with a special formula. Christ is ever living to make intercession for us, and He presents our prayers to God. Hence the most of those prayers are addressed to God, the Father, and close with the words, "Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen." A shortened form of this conclusion is, "Through Christ, our Lord, Amen." If in the body of the prayer mention is made of "our Lord," the words, "the same," are inserted after "through," and if mention is made of the Holy Ghost the words, "the same," are inserted before "Holy Ghost." Thus we have, "Through the same Jesus Christ," etc., or "in the unity of the same Holy Ghost." When the prayer is directed to the Son, the conclusion is, Who livest and reignest with God, the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen." The short form of this conclusion is "Who livest and reignest world without end."
In the Roman Liturgy the first portion of the Scripture read at the Mass is taken either from the Old or New Testament (No. 174). Before be ginning, the title is announced, e.g., "The Reading of the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans," or "The Reading of Isaias the Prophet." At the end of the Epistle the ministers say, "Thanks be to God." Formerly the Scripture was read from the ambo (No. 81), but among us it is read at Low Mass from the south side of the altar, and at High Mass from the floor of the sanctuary on the same side.
After the Epistle followed the two psalms known as the Gradual and Alleluia or Tract. The Alleluia was used on festivals, and is an exclamation of joy. To express this joy, it was sung to a long series of jubilant notes, the last "a" especially being much protracted. As most of those notes were sung thus to the one syllable, it was a task to remember them. During the middle ages a device was adopted in the north of France, by which words were supplied to the music. As the words "followed" the air of the Alleluia, they were called the "Sequence." The sequences usually took the form of rhymed hymns, and, before the time of Pius V, there were nearly a hundred in the Missal. He abolished all but five, one for Easter, one for Pentecost, one for Corpus Christi, one for the feast of the Seven Dolors and one for Masses of the Dead. This last is not properly a sequence, because a sequence is supposed to represent the joy expressed by the Alleluia. It is more properly a continuation of the Tract, but it is commonly classed with the sequences. The "Stabat Mater," which is said on the Feast of the Seven Dolors, and the "Dies Irae," said at the Masses for the dead, are considered the most beautiful hymns ever written.
In No. 187 we described the ceremonies observed during the reading of the Gospel. The Missal of Pius V fixed the text of the silent prayer said by the deacon before he took the Gospel book from the altar, and the text of the Bishop's blessing. The deacon's prayer is as follows:
"Cleanse my heart and my lips, Almighty God who didst cleanse the lips of the Prophet, Isaias, with a burning coal, and vouchsafe so to cleanse me through Thy gracious mercy, that I may be able to proclaim Thy Holy Gospel worthily. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
This prayer refers to the vision of Isaias the Prophet, the beginning of which has been described in No. 151. When he had seen the Seraphim and the throne of God. he cried out:
"Woe is me, for I have kept silent; because I am a man of unclean lips, and in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell, and the King, the Lord of Hosts, have I seen with mine eyes. And one of the Seraphim flew unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he touched my mouth, and said: Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is cleansed." (Isaias 6)
This prayer is said kneeling. The deacon then takes the book from the altar and goes to the Bishop's seat, kneels down, and says, "Pray, sir, a blessing." The Bishop blesses him with the words:
"The Lord be in thy heart and on thy lips, that thou mayest proclaim His Gospel worthily and in a fitting manner. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
After this the deacon goes to the place for reading the Gospel. Formerly this place was the ambo, but with us the ambo is not in use, and the deacon stands on the north side of the sanctuary. The sub-deacon holds the book, and the deacon salutes the people with the greeting, "The Lord be with you." They answer, "And with thy spirit." Then follows the announcement of the portion to be read, "The beginning" or "the continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew," or "according to Mark," etc. He makes the Sign of the Cross at this announcement, and swings the censer towards the book as a mark of respect. At the conclusion of the reading the ministers answer, "Praise be to Thee, Christ," and the book is carried to the Bishop, who kisses it reverently and says secretly, "May our sins be blotted out through the words of the Gospel." The censer is swung three times toward the Bishop, and the procession is over. In High Masses celebrated by a simple priest, the ceremonial is the same, the celebrating priest taking the Bishop's place, but in a Low Mass, of course, there is no procession, no incense, no blessing asked of the Bishop, no deacon to sing the Gospel. The procession is represented by the changing of the book from the south side of the altar to the north. This is done either by the priest himself or by the altar boy. The priest bows down before the middle of the altar and recites the deacon's prayer, "Cleanse my heart."
After this comes the following adaptation of the Bishop's blessing:
- taken from The Mass, by Father Peter Christopher Yorke