From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
After the Final Blessing (and normally some announcements), our Pastor says ” Remember God loves you and so do I.”
Many in the Parish have begun to reply ” We love you too Father”.
I have been told by some in my that I am being “a doctor of the law” and that since the Final Blessing has been given, Father is not adding anything to the Mass. I take the view that Father is creating a new ending for the Mass and this touchy-feely sediment needs to cease.
Looking for some guidance.
Awwwww. Fadda wuvs you vewy vewy much. How sweet.
I recommend that everyone rush up into the sanctuary to give him a big hug, and maybe a wet kiss, too. Sediment or sentiment… grist for bottom-feeding boors.
This cloying stuff is contrary to the sacred dignity of the actions just performed.
I don’t impute malice to the priest. That said, this sort of “announcement” smacks of narcissism. He’s calling undue attention to himself.
That said, it is true, that since it is after the final blessing it isn’t the sort of liturgical abuse that demands some discipline. Although … there is still the recessional, which seems to be a “part” of Mass in a way.
Your best response is probably to say nothing or do nothing beyond roll your eyes.
Pray for the priest. Offer up your annoyance for the sake of the Poor Souls.
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After a poignant homily, our priest said a variation of this phrase to the little congregation (it was a lightly attended evening) but the expression was suited his message and the meaning was amplified and sharpened by his earlier remarks, and it was likely spontaneous. This situation is a little different than the one described, but it is an example of where it such an expression of sentiment may be appropriate and welcome.
That said, the phrase has the potential to become trite and meaningless if overused; and in no circumstances should it prompt an audible response. (And the “we” is clunky. Who gets to decide what pronoun to use in weird situations like this?)
Does this parish doubt that God loves them, or did Our Lord’s propitiatory sacrifice not get that across (that they are loved)? Why does the priest have to speak the obvious? The end of the Mass is a moment of commissioning, of being sent forth to convert the world. “Ite missa est” as in “get out of here, you’ve got work to do.” The urgency of mission should not be replaced with sweet sentiments.
I can just see the 2020 Fr Z edition of the missal:
Priest: Remember God loves you and so do I.
All: I just threw up in my mouth.
The congregation then use their sick-bags.
Say the black, do the red.
Even the late Rex Humbard with his syrupy “You Are Loved” message only meant loved by God. The “so do I” bit has a layer of creepy in it.
“Mel meum, meum desiderium: omnes delicias, et lepores,” et risu dignas urbanitates, et caeteras ineptias amatorum, in Comoediis erubescimus, in saeculi hominibus detestamur: quanto magis in Monachis et in Clericis … (S. Hieronymus)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPdHaNr0OAY
Let’s give this priest the benefit of the doubt and assume that what he intends to do is to quote the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen: “Good-bye now, and God love you!”
This also calls to mind the time when EWTN was on in our home and the resident adolescent, passing during the “super saints” show of Bob and Penny Lord (of eternal memory), in mid-progress…Without making eye contact with anyone, completely deadpan, and not missing a beat en route to where he was heading (probably the refrigerator…), our Chesterton loving 7th grade homeschooler cracked, in a perfect vocal imitation of Penny Lord: “We love you!”
I guess it wouldn’t be right to chant, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” as the Response. I suppose that beginning the Memorare would also not work.
How about:
“We know that we love the children of God
when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:2)?
Another example of the “meology” that has replaced the theology of our liturgy in too many
parishes.
I am sympathetic Our pastor thanks us all for coming (“I’m here all week”–not really this part;D) and in the closing prayers says “God bless us all.”
According to the GIRM, the Mass is over after the altar has been reverenced by the celebrant and deacon, and they and the ministers make a profound bow to it (funny, I thought it was a genuflection). So if we want to get into niggling technicalities, and I know that you do, then anything done before this and after the final blessing is still actually “during Mass”.
That being said, I think the “not during Mass” thing has been used to justify a lot of bad behavior, like horrible choices for Recessional Chants (known around here as the Closing Song). I think that if you have people assembled in the church for Mass, then you should not do things beneath the dignity of the Eucharistic celebration while you have a captive audience either “before” or “after” it. This includes the Rite of Pleasantries, especially when it evokes some rote response from the assembly in imitation of actual liturgy.
funny, I thought it was a genuflection
I think it’s always a genuflection in the Extraordinary Form. In any way, the profound bow is the “standard” for the Ordinary Form, though if, as in most cases, it is celebrated in front of the Blessed Sacrament reposed in the Tabernacle, the bow (towards the altar) will be replaced by a genuflection (towards the Tabernacle).
If the Blessed Sacrament is reposed in a side-altar, some do the “bow to the altar, then genuflection sideways” thing.
After the final blessing at daily mass, our priest says “have a good day everyone” and everyone replies “you too, father.” It’s intensely awkward. The man has just asked Almighty God to bless us, the ultimate (literally and figuratively) well-wishing. By adding the “have a good day, everyone” it’s almost as though he doesn’t really believe in what he has just done for us.
I feel like this dumbing down and making the Mass warm and fuzzy is harmful. Where I’ve been going, after the starting the the Mass with the Sign of the Cross the priest would ask, “Como esta Ustedes?” Most would reply, “Bien, padre.” A lot of times there’s more “chit chat” than just that. At the end of Mass, it’s similar, “Have a good evening (en Espanol).”
Something else odd happened just yesterday at the same parish. A woman was going up for communion just as the line had dissipated. She went on up the sanctuary and to where father stood cleaning the sacred vessels at the altar to receive communion. I don’t know what to think, but something about that doesn’t seem right.
The only positive and productive thing I’ve found for all of this is prayer.
This reminds me of the Sea World commercial that ends with:
“We love the whales and we know that you love them, too!”
GAG!!!