Wednesday, January 10, 2018

General Audience on the Gloria and the Opening Prayer

This morning's General Audience began at 9:25am in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican.  The Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from all corners of the world.

In his speech, the Pope continued the cycle of catecheses on the Mass, adding his meditation on the chanting of the Gloria and the Collect (Opening Prayer).

After having summarized his teaching in various languages, the Holy Father offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.

The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.


Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the General Audience

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

In previous catecheses on the Eucharistic celebration, we have seen that the Penitential Act helps us to strip ourselves of our presumptions and to present ourselves to God as we truly are, knowing that we are sinners, in hopes of being forgiven.

It is precisely in the encounter between human suffering and divine mercy that the gratitude expressed in the Gloria finds its meaning.  The Gloria is a very ancient and venerable hymn with which the Church, gathered in the Holy Spirit, glorifies and pleads with God the Father and the Lamb (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 53).

The beginning of the hymn - Glory to God in the highest heavens - resumes the song of the Angels at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the joyful proclamation of the embrace between heaven and earth.  This song also invites us who are gathered in prayer: Glory to God in the highest heavens and peace on earth to men of good will.  After the Gloria, or rather, when this is not used, immediately after the Penitential Act, the prayer takes a particular form in the oration called the Collect, through which the proper character of the celebration is expressed, depending on the day and the time of the year (cf GIRM, 54).  With the invitation Let us pray, the priest calls upon the people to gather with him in a moment of silence, in order to be aware that they are in the presence of God and for each individual person to be aware of the personal intentions they present and with which they take part in the Mass (cf GIRM, 54).  The priest says: Let us pray, and then there is a moment of silence during which everyone has time to think about the things that he or she needs, the things that he or she wants to ask for in prayer.

Silence does not merely mean the absence of words, but rather making us more able to listen for other voices: the voice of our hearts, and above all, the voice of the Holy Spirit.  In the liturgy, the nature of sacred silence depends on the moment in which it takes place: During the Penitential Act and after the invitation to prayer, it helps us to recollect; after the readings and the homily, it is an opportunity to briefly meditate on what we have heard; after Communion, it favours inner prayer of praise and supplication (GIRM, 45).  So, before the initial prayer, silence helps us to recollect within ourselves and to think about why we are there.  This then is the importance of listening to our souls in order to then open ourselves to the Lord.  Perhaps we have come from a day of toil, of joy, of suffering, and we want to tell the Lord about it, to call for his help, to ask him to be close to us; perhaps we have family members and friends who are sick or who are enduring difficult trials; perhaps we want to entrust to God the fate of the Church and of the world.  And this is the reason for the brief silence before the priest, gathering all our intentions, expresses aloud to God, in the name of everyone, the common prayer that concludes the introductory rites, by precisely collecting individual intentions and offering them together.  I sincerely encourage priests to observe this moment of silence and not to be hurried: Let us pray, and then be silent.  This is my recommendation to priests.  Without this silence, we risk not allowing for the recollection of souls.

The priest recites this supplication, this Collect prayer, with his arms outstretched which is the orans posture which has been assumed by Christians from the very first centuries - as witnessed by the frescos in the Roman catacombs - in order to imitate Christ with his open arms on the wood of the cross.  And there, Christ is the Orante united with us in prayer!  In the Crucified One, we recognize the Priest who offers to God the worship that pleases him, that is to say filial obedience.

In the Roman Rite, the prayers are concise but rich in significance: many beautiful mediations can be drawn from these prayers.  How beautiful!  Going back to meditating on the texts, even outside of the context of Mass, can help us to learn how to turn to God, can help us to know what to ask for, can help us to know what words to use.  May the liturgy become for all of us truly a school of prayer.



The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages, and the Pope offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.  To English-speaking pilgrims, he said:

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from Norway, New Zealand and the United States of America. In a special way, I greet the numerous seminarians and university students present. Upon you and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you all!

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