The history of the Mass shows that it is a long and elaborate function. Taking the various prayers, actions, etc., in a general sense they may be called "rites" and "ceremonies." Rite comes from a Latin word meaning a religious usage. Ceremony is derived from the same language, and originally meant an action, and in particular a religious action. In No. 23 we saw that Rite was used in the sense of Liturgy, as the Roman Rite, the Greek Rite. It is also employed to designate a smaller collection of religious actions, as the Rite of Baptism. Ceremony has much the same meaning as Rite. Up to the time of the Reformation it was not used of Christian rites, but only of the Jewish worship. Since the sixteenth century, however, it has come to mean any external act used in the worship of God. In particular it signifies a bodily action as distinguished from words. In the beginning the directions of rules concerning ceremonies were not written in the Liturgical books. The celebrant was supposed to have learned the proper actions from custom or tradition. When the rules were inserted they were written in red ink. to distinguish them from the text. "Rubrica" is the Latin for "red earth," and the rules and directions for the conduct of the Liturgy are therefore called Rubrics.
In the first centuries the Christians prayed standing and facing the East. They felt that they were the children of God, the co-heirs of Christ, and they stood in their Father's house with their eyes fixed on the Orient, whence the Day-spring from on high should visit them. Especially was this true at Easter, the day of Christ's triumph, and on Sunday, which was the weekly celebration of the Resurrection. The normal posture for public prayer, therefore, in the Church is standing. Hence the priest always stands at the altar during the Sacrifice, and the ministers stand with him. The people also stand while the priest prays aloud in the name of the Church.
While it is true that we have been redeemed, yet we have our own sins to fear. We are all sinners, and we must do penance for them. The posture of penance is kneeling on bended knees. Hence, during the seasons of penitence and fasting, the Christians prayed prostrate or kneeling, as our Lord prayed in the garden. In private prayer, where we offer our supplications to God, no longer in the name of the Church, but as individuals, each bewailing his own sins and presenting his own necessities, we naturally take the posture of penance, and so kneeling is the normal condition of private prayer.
To bend the body is a common sign of worship or respect to those who are high in authority. It is a ceremony paid to earthly kings, and it is also paid to the King of Heaven. To bend the body is known as bowing. The bow may be an inclination of the head to denote simple respect, or it may be an inclination of the whole body to express religious worship, or it may be a complete prostration, as in the posture of Penance.
In the beginning all stood at the Mass. When it was long drawn out this attitude was naturally wearisome. Two methods were employed to give the people relief. In the East a staff or crutch is furnished each person as a support on which to lean. In the West chairs, benches or pews are provided for the congregation. In the Roman Liturgy sit ting is permitted on three occasions: (1) While the choir is singing the Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Gradual, Alleluia and Creed. (2) During the instruction contained in the Epistle and sermon. (3) While the altar is being prepared for the Sacrifice at the Offertory, and while the vessels are being cleansed and arranged after the Communion.
While praying the hands and eyes are lifted up to heaven. In public prayer the hands are unjoined; in secret prayer they are joined on the breast.
Since the middle ages the bending of the knee or genuflection (Latin, "Genu," a knee; "flectio," bending) is used as a sign of adoration towards the Blessed Sacrament. It is also used in certain cases as a mark of mere respect. It is a new ceremony, and was not used before the thirteenth century. It replaces both the prostration and the inclination of the body.
After our Lord had been crucified the sun was darkened, and Saint Luke tells us in the 23d chapter of his Gospel:
"Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this He gave up the ghost. Now the Centurion, seeing what was done, glorified God, saying: Indeed this is a just man. And all the multitudes of them that were come together to that sight and saw the things that were done, returned striking their breasts."
This ceremony is a mark of fear and sorrow, and is used in the Mass at the three Confessions of sin; first, at the Confiteor; second, at the Confession in the Canon, and third, at the Confession before the Communion "Domine Non Sum Dignus." We have already explained the origin and meaning of the hand washings employed in the Liturgy (No. 188). The priest washes his hands in the sacristy before putting on the vestments and says, "Give unto my hands, Lord, the power that washes away every stain, that I may be able to serve Thee without pollution of mind and body." The Lavabo has been described in No. 208. A Bishop washes his hands before he reads the Communion, but a priest after he has laid aside the vestments at the close of Mass.
In ancient times the Jews prayed, as they do today, with covered heads. Saint Paul changed this law for the Christians:
"I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered, disgraceth his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled disgraceth her head; for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. For if a woman be not veiled let her be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or made bald, let her veil her head. The man indeed ought not to have his head veiled because he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man; for the man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man. Therefore ought the woman to have a veil over her head because of the angels. But yet neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so also is the man by the woman; but all things of God. You yourselves judge: is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame to him; but if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering?" (1 Corinthians 11)
For this reason the priest celebrates the Mass bare-headed. Coming to the altar and departing from it, his head is covered, and also while he sits during the choir's rendition of the Gloria and Credo, but at all other times his head must be uncovered.
The Cross is the center of the New Testament and the glory of the Christian. It is not surprising, therefore, that its use is so extensive in the Liturgy. There are several ways of making the Sign of the Cross: (1) The most ancient way is to make a cross with the finger or thumb on the breast, on the mouth, on the forehead, or on any other object. (2) The large, or Latin, Cross is made on the person by putting the right hand to the forehead, then to the breast, then to the left and right shoulder, either in silence or saying a form of words. The same cross is made over persons and things by holding the right hand vertical, with the little finger towards the object to be blessed, drawing the hand as before described.
To lay the hands upon anything or to hold them stretched out over it was the common attitude when invoking a blessing. In this manner the Apostles gave the Holy Ghost, and consecrated Bishops. In the Liturgy the imposition of hands is used on the occasion of solemn blessing or absolution. One hand is held up at the absolution after the Confiteor, and two hands are stretched out over the gifts at the Hanc Igitur. In speaking of the imposition or laying on hands we must not suppose that the hands should touch the thing blessed. It is only necessary that the hands he held up over it.
In No. 148 we described the ceremony known as the "Pax." The kiss was at first the usual salutation with the lips, which up to the middle ages was as common as handshaking is now. When the kiss began to go out of use as an ordinary salutation in secular life, two substitutes for it were introduced into the Liturgy. A gold or silver plate like a paten provided with a handle and ornamented with representations of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin or the Saints was first kissed by the priest, and then in turn kissed by the ministers and the congregation. This was in use up to the last century, but it has disappeared now. The second substitute was the embrace. The embrace is confined to ministers, and is performed in the following manner: The priest places his hands over the arms of the deacon between the elbow and the shoulder; the deacon places his arms in the corresponding manner, but under the priest's arms. Then each bends slightly over the left shoulder of the other, saying, "Peace be with thee." Besides the kiss which is the sign of peace and charity, there is a kiss which is a mark of honor. To kiss the hand is a very old form of this salutation, and it is employed during the Mass when anything is given to the priest or taken from him. The priest kisses the altar before he salutes or blesses them, because the altar represents Christ, the great High Priest, from whom all blessings flow, and because in the altar are enshrined the relics of the saints who represent the Church Triumphant, with which the Church on earth is in communion. In No. 187 we saw that the book of the Gospel was treated with great respect. The priest manifests this respect by kissing the sacred text at the end of the Gospel.
- taken from The Mass, by Father Peter Christopher Yorke