Home Liturgy- Easter Sunday

For Easter Sunday, follow the ideas for a dry Mass as described in my Palm Sunday Post.

Holy water can be sprinkled during the Vidi Aquam.

Find the text here by selecting the correct date and the rubrics from before 1955.

Here is a playlist of all of the chant I have included organ music for before and after as well as the I filli et filliae as an opening hymn and motets for the Offertory and Communion. For the ordinary- Kyrie etc- I have included both the chant Mass for paschaltide and a more festive choral setting so that you can choose which one to use.

The home altar should be decorated in white and gold, candles lit and incense burned if you have some.

 

Home Liturgy – Maundy Thursday

Following on from my post on how to celebrate the pre-1955 Palm Sunday liturgy during lockdown, see below some ideas on how the Maundy Thursday liturgies might be kept at home – in the form of a Missa Sicca or ‘Dry Mass.’

The Mass of Holy Thursday in the traditional pre-55 form is held in the morning. (How child friendly is that?!)

Resources

  • The family gather in the prayer space/home chapel with white cloths instead of violet. The images etc remain covered.
  • Today’s playlist can be found here
  • Pages from the Fr Lassance Missal can be printed here, page 447+ or use this booklet
  • The chant can be viewed or printed here

The Missa Sicca 

  • The father of the house leads the family in the confiteor (The Judica Me is omitted in Passiontide) and reads the translation of the Introit before listening to it.
  • The Kyrie is listened to or prayed out loud with the father leading and family responding.
  • At the Gloria, bells should be rung. This is the last time that bells are heard in the liturgy until the first Gloria of Easter.
  • After the Gloria, the Bishop would ordinarily bless and consecrate the holy oils. This is an opportunity to catechise the family on what this entails. We have exorcised oil at home which I use instead of holy water for blessing the family when necessary so this will be used as a focal point. Details can be found here.
  • The father leads the collect.
  • Listen to the gradual using the playlist or read it aloud. An older child could help with this.
  • The mother of the family might read the epistle in the place of the subdeacon.
  • An older child might read the Gradual before it is listened to on the playlist.
  • The Father reads the Gospel and gives some words of explanation according to the age of the children. 
  • Sing the Credo
  • Sing the offertory
  • After the offertory, select some prayers from offertory of the Mass to prepare for a spiritual communion. (Suggestion- Suscipe Sancta Trinitas, asking God to receive all the Masses throughout the world. The preface could be read and the Sanctus sung (See same video as the Kyrie in the playlist). Pater Noster, Agnus Dei, Act of Spiritual Communion, silence.) I have included two beautiful Eucharistic Motets to aid a time of silent prayer. 
  • Finish the prayers of the Mass. End with “Benedicamus Domino” in place of “Ite Missa Est”

After Mass

  • During the Mass,  the priest would usually consecrate an additional host which he would receive on Good Friday. After Mass on Holy Thursday, the priest would process to the altar of repose with the Blessed Sacrament while Pange Lingua Gloriosi is sung. Options in the home could include singing or reading the Pange Lingua, asking your guardian angels to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in your parish church or making a Blessed Sacrament Banner and singing the Pange Lingua in procession around the house and garden and back to the home chapel/prayer space. 
  • Optional – Vespers follows and is said, not sung. Perhaps the children could be excused now and the adults could pray Vespers.  You could skip this step and go to the stripping of the altars. 
  • After vespers, the altars are stripped of any cloths as psalm 21 is chanted (See pg 14-16 here).
  • Usually, there would be adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Perhaps we could have one image of Our Lord exposed so that we can revisit the prayer space through the day for ‘adoration’ of Our Lord as we usually would the Blessed Sacrament. Another option would be to set up a device and livestream adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Mandatum

The Mandatum or foot washing is optional and was performed separately at a different time. I have included the chants on the playlist. Some families may wish to have the father wash the feet of the family to represent the servant leadership of Jesus. Some may feel that this ceremony is too sacerdotal to be recreated in the home. 

As I said last time, this is the maximum that can be done to celebrate the liturgy to the best of our ability at home but, we must be prudent and adapt to what we can achieve in our own setting. To do less and do it well with a prayerful atmosphere is better than forcing your kids to sit through too much and end up causing resentment and or tantrums!

In the evening, Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds of Good Friday) can be prayed. I will put up a separate post on this.

 

Home Liturgy – Palm Sunday

We find ourselves in a situation where we need to keep the liturgies of Holy Week at home. This sort of situation is not unprecedented. My thoughts are drawn to the recusant Catholics of the Anglican persecution, the true Church in China and other underground Christians and even His Eminence Cardinal Pell who has been denied the right to offer the Holy Sacrifice for many months.

Rather than becoming angry and frustrated, let us resign ourselves to the permissive will of God as did Our Lady during the Passion. We should make the most of this opportunity to grow in our understanding and practice of the faith.

Collect for Saturday in Passion Week

We beseech Thee, O Lord, may Thy devoted people grow in the spirit of pious devotion, that learned in the holy rites, they may become the more pleasing to Thy majesty as they abound in spiritual gifts. Through Christ Our Lord…

In the Pearce household, we have greatly benefited from praying in union with livestreamed Masses and we are grateful to all priests who have made the liturgy available to us, especially the FSSP at Livemass.net. For Holy Week, however, we have decided not to livestream Mass but to do what we can to be present to the liturgy in our own home- a time for us to up our ‘Ecclesia Domestica’ game. (For that is our WiFi name after all!)

Being church musicians we are fortunate that we can sing most of the liturgy at home and have chosen (since no permission is required from Rome for a Missa Sicca or ‘Dry Mass‘) that we will celebrate according to the traditional Holy Week liturgy from before the reforms of 1955 which anticipated the promulgation of the Novus Ordo. The timing of these liturgies is more toddler friendly too!

Below I have provided notes on how this can be done at home. Some points to consider:

  1. We don’t have to try to replicate liturgical perfection at home. The point of this is to pray and absorb the theology of the ancient prayers and chants.
  2. This is an example of the maximum that can be done. If your kids get restless, cut things out and read them privately once they are in bed. The point here is to celebrate what we can and not to overdo things and put our families off. Better to do less for the greatest spiritual payoff than to try to do everything and end up with tantrums. It is consistent with my Benedictine spirituality to adapt things to the needs of those participating rather than making unattainable demands.
  3. We don’t allow toys in our home chapel but we do allow anything that we would pack in the Mass bag. Age appropriate books and colouring sheets are a good idea and since the ceremonies are longer than usual, we will allow a little more moving around than at the family rosary each evening.
  4. For those who can’t sing the liturgy, I have compiled playlists. These could even be used outside of the prayer time to keep a recollected atmosphere throughout the day.

Texts for each liturgy can be found here by selecting rubrics pre-1955 and selecting ‘Sancta Missa’ at the top of the page. Another option would be to print the relevant pages from a pre-1955 Missal such as the Fr Lasance Missal.

Palm Sunday

  • Resources: Either sing or listen to chants using playlist here. Chant can be seen and printed here. Generally speaking, chants in Latin, readings and orations in English. Fr Lasance Missal pg388 onwards.
  • Asperges III- Father of the family sprinkles home altar and family with holy water.
  • Antiphon. Hosanna filio David followed by prayer- Deus Quem Diligere
  • Lesson from Exodus 15
  • Ant. In Monte Oliveti
  • Father reads Gospel
  • Always replace Dominus Vobiscum with V. Domine exaudi orationem meam. R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat
  • Father reads through the blessings- Only a priest can command a blessing of an object but we can still pray that God will bless the palms/branches that we have prepared. We also benefit from the rich theology of the ancient prayers.
  • Sing the Sanctus.
  • Sing Pueri Hebraeorum while the Father hands branches to each family member in order.
  • Procession- (The door of the prayer room/chapel is closed when the last person leaves.) The Father can lead with a large crucifix if one is available. Think of a reasonable procession route that includes parts of the house and garden.
  • Sing Gloria, Laus et honor tibi sit during the procession.
  • Return to the prayer room/chapel in time for the ending of the hymn. (If your family is large enough, you could have some inside the chapel as in the rubrics of the missal, if not just continue).
  • The family wait outside the closed door of the chapel/prayer room.
  • The father knocks three times on the closed door with the foot of the large crucifix. (He could just knock if no such crucifix is available.)
  • Sing Ant. Ingrediente upon re-entering the room.
  • N.B. You may decide here to skip to your time of spiritual communion depending on how the kids are doing.

The Missa Sicca proper

  • Follow the missal as is.
  • The reading of the passion.
  • Option 1- Read the full Passion. C-Mother, S- All, + – Father
    OR (if your kids are getting restless by now!)
  • At what would be a low Mass, the Passion is substituted for the Gospel that is read before the blessing of the palms. You may decide that since you already read this earlier, you may omit it and give a summary of the passion in your own words for the benefit of the children.
  • Sing the Credo
  • Sing the offertory
  • After the offertory, select some prayers from offertory of the Mass to prepare for a spiritual communion. (Suggestion- Suscipe Sancta Trinitas, asking God to receive all the Masses throughout the world. The preface could be read and the Sanctus sung. Pater Noster, Agnus Dei, Act of Spiritual Communion, silence.)
  • Finish the prayers of the Mass. End with Benedicamus Domino in place of Ite Missa Est

I will post the same sort of resource for the Sacred Triduum in due course.

Homemade Paschal Candle
Making facemasks for priests and palm crosses for friends

Friday in Lent- Stabat Mater

The full text of the Stabat Mater:

STABAT Mater dolorosa
iuxta Crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.
AT, the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.
Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem
pertransivit gladius.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.
O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta,
mater Unigeniti!
O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.
Quae maerebat et dolebat,
pia Mater, dum videbat
nati poenas inclyti.
Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.
Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ’s dear Mother to behold?
Quis non posset contristari
Christi Matrem contemplari
dolentem cum Filio?
Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother’s pain untold?
Pro peccatis suae gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis,
et flagellis subditum.
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
she beheld her tender Child
All with bloody scourges rent:
Vidit suum dulcem Natum
moriendo desolatum,
dum emisit spiritum.
For the sins of His own nation,
saw Him hang in desolation,
Till His spirit forth He sent.
Eia, Mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam.
O thou Mother! fount of love!
Touch my spirit from above,
make my heart with thine accord:
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum
ut sibi complaceam.
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.
Sancta Mater, istud agas,
crucifixi fige plagas
cordi meo valide.
Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified:
Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati,
poenas mecum divide.
Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.
Fac me tecum pie flere,
crucifixo condolere,
donec ego vixero.
Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:
Iuxta Crucem tecum stare,
et me tibi sociare
in planctu desidero.
By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.
Virgo virginum praeclara,
mihi iam non sis amara,
fac me tecum plangere.
Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine;
Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
passionis fac consortem,
et plagas recolere.
Let me, to my latest breath,
in my body bear the death
of that dying Son of thine.
Fac me plagis vulnerari,
fac me Cruce inebriari,
et cruore Filii.
Wounded with His every wound,
steep my soul till it hath swooned,
in His very Blood away;
Flammis ne urar succensus,
per te, Virgo, sim defensus
in die iudicii.
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in His awful Judgment Day.
Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
da per Matrem me venire
ad palmam victoriae.
Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,
by Thy Mother my defense,
by Thy Cross my victory;
Quando corpus morietur,
fac, ut animae donetur
paradisi gloria. Amen.
While my body here decays,
may my soul Thy goodness praise,
safe in paradise with Thee. Amen.

Plenary Indulgence: First Day of the Year

“Come, Holy Spirit, Creator Blest.” (Veni Creator) PLENARY INDULGENCE if recited on the first of January or on the feast of the Pentecost. Otherwise, a partial indulgence is granted to those who recite it. No 61 Enchiridion of Indulgences.

Conditions: Holy Commuion , Confession, Prayers for the Pope’s intentions (Ave, Pater, Gloria Patri).