November 2, 2025

In The Order of Holy Mass, the posture of those in attendance is specified in The General Instruction of the Roman Missal.  By posture, I mean when we stand, sit, or kneel.  Mass begins with the Procession to the Sanctuary where the priest, deacon, and other ministers process from the back of the church, or on weekdays from the Sacristy, into the Sanctuary.  At this time we are standing and remain standing until after the Opening Prayer.  Then we sit for the Readings, standing again at the Alleluia and Gospel.  We stand for the Profession of Faith and Prayer of the Faithful, which ends the Liturgy of the Word.  The preparation of the Altar and the offerings begins the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  We are again sitting.  After the gifts are prepared and the priest washes his hands, he turns to us and says, “Pray, brethren that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.”  At this time we stand as we respond, “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.”  We now enter into the Preface and Eucharistic Prayer.  If there is Incense at Holy Mass, the priest incenses the gifts and the Altar and the deacon incenses the priest.  The deacon then approaches the people; we stand and are incensed.  Since we are now standing before the priest begins, “Pray, brethren…” we remain standing as we respond, “May the Lord…”.  We then kneel for the Eucharistic Prayer, standing for the Our Father and Sign of Peace.  We process forward to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion and, upon returning to our places, kneel until Our Lord has been placed into the Tabernacle and the vessels have been removed from the Sanctuary.  We stand for the closing Prayer and Dismissal.  We remain in our places until the priest and deacon have left the church and the choir has completed the closing hymn.  

May the souls of the all faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.  Amen.  Gay Snell