Prayers, baptismal water and creed

Media

Part of Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Title: Prayers, baptismal water and creed
Language: English
Rights
Fulltext: STOCKHOLDING AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS 331 The above consultant cannot be a member of the Board of Directors of the Rural Bank. The same document cited before says as regard to this: “As regards priest who took part in the administration, or would take part in it, such a thing cannot be permitted.”2 It is a com mon doctrine among authors that in the prohibition to engage in trade or business in Canon 142, the prohibition for clerics to be members of the Board of Directors in commercial enterprises is included. Dispensation from this prohibition is reserved to the Roman Pontiff according to the Motu Propio De Episcoporum Muneribus of the 15th of June, 1966, (n. IX 3, d.). On asking dispensation from the Roman Pontiff, explaining the causes or reasons for asking it, it is convenient to send the petition through the proper Ordinary, who may add his recommendation that the favor requested be granted, if he considers it convenient to be granted. • Bernabe Alonso, O.P. PRAYERS, BAPTISMAL WATER, AND CREED 1. It is now an established rule in the Roman Rite that the number of presidential prayers in the Mass (collect, prayer over the gifts, prayer after communion) should never exceed one. But during the weekdays of Lent we have always to say two prayers after Communion. I heard, priests simply leave out the second. The second prayer of which the questioner speaks is not a “prayer after Communion” but is the so-called “prayer over the people.” It was origin ally a blessing over the people and asked God’s blessing upon the con gregation. Later on the distinction between the postcommunion and the prayer over the people was lost. While originally almost every Mass had its praver over the people, it was subsequently restricted to the weekdays of Lent. In the Leonine Sacramentarv, which has been pre■ “Quoad s.acerdotes, qui partem in cepturi sunt, non esse pennittendum." administrationc susceperunt. vel 332 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS served only in fragmentary form, the prayer over the people appears at the end of more than 160 Masses; and this document does not even contain the Lenten Masses. In the Tridentine Missal, of the 37 prayers over the people 17 have lost the aspect of a blessing and are now exactly a like the collects of the Mass in structure. In the Order of the Mass of 1969 we find the guideline that “on certain days or occasions another, mere solemn form of blessing or prayer over the people may be used as the rubrics direct.” In the wedding Mass and in the Mass for religious profession we find already such “more solemn forms of blessing,” the sevenfold or threefold blessing. The new Missal will contain a number of prayers over the people (no longer restricted to Lent or penitential days) which the celebrant may use in accordance with his own free choice. According to the rubrics of the Roman Missal, the prayer over the people should be inserted after the “Dominus vobiscum” of the concluding rite of the Mass without a conclusion (Per Christum. . .). It should be followed by the usual blessing formula (May almighty God bless you. . .) and the “Ite, missa est.” 2. When I was on supply in a parish I was given a very small bottle with baptismal water and some cotton for the baptism of several children. At first I thought the water was just sufficient for the baptism of one child. What should 1 have done? As a sacrament Baptism is a sacred sign which should clearly express the holy things that it signifies. It is the cleansing with water by the power of the living word (cf. Eph. 5,26). Therefore, “the celebration of the sacrament is performed by washing in water, by way of immersion or infusion” (Ritual of Infant Baptism, guidelines, # 18,2). Our faithful should be able to understand the sign with ease. But this is impossible if the cotton is only soaked with a few drops of baptismal water to be pressed out over the head of the infant so that just a few drops of water flow down over the head of the child. This hardly satisfies the barest minimum for the validity of the sacrament. We should not permit the sacramental signs to shrink to just rudimentary forms, to tokens or bare rites. They ought to be meaningful; they ought to be truly functional signs. STOCKHOLDING AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS 333 The difficulty as to the quantity of baptismal water can now be easilv overcome because, according to the reformed baptismal rite for both infants and adults, the water is ordinarily to be blessed during the cere monies that immediately precede baptism, according to the — usually very short — formulas from among which the priest may freely choose one (nos. 222-224 in the Ritual for Infant Baptism). 3. In a parish where I said Mass on Sunday they sang the song “I believe” instead of the Nicene Apostles’ Creed. Is this allowed? The song “I believe” is certainly not a Christian profession of faith as can be seen from its text: I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows. I believe that somewhere in the darkest night a candle glows. I believe for everyone who goes astray someone will come to show the way. I believe. I believe. I believe above the storm the smallest prayer will still be heard. I believe that Someone in the great somewhere hears every word. Everytime 1 hear a newborn baby cry, or touch a leaf, or see the sky, then I know why I believe. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS This song expresses belief in the natural goodness of man. It is at the same time an admission that there exists some higher principle that takes notice of the affairs of nature and of human beings. Who is this prin ciple? No answer is given. It is not even given the name of God. Everything remains vague and obscure. This is certainly not a Christian profession of faith in the One and Triune God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent His Son into the world “for us and our salvation.” The profession of faith in the song “I believe” admits some higher being in the line of the God of theodicy. In view of this the practice of that parish to substitute the Creed with the song “I believe” is not allowed, because in the context of the Mass it is an abuse. As a matter of fact, the song “I believe” is not the only unsuitable one that invaded the celebration of holy Mass in a number of places. A widely distributed booklet of the new Order of the Mass contained songs as “No man is an island” and “Spirit of God.” The publisher claimed that these songs had been inserted on recommendation of the Subcom mittee on Sacred Music, but no bishop-member of this committee knew anything about the approval of these texts. • H J. Graf, SVD