Liturgy

Standing for the Invitation

Before the priest says the prayer over the offerings at Mass, he engages the assembly in a brief dialogue. For several decades after the Second Vatican Council, people in the United States sat for the invitation and response and then rose for the priest’s prayer. Now, all stand for the dialogue that precedes the prayer over the offerings.

In the dialogue, the priest invites the people to pray that God will accept the sacrifice. They 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 Church.”

The words are important. The Eucharistic prayer is about to begin. The priest recites most of it alone, but all are expected to pray along with him. In this brief dialogue, the people acknowledge that the priest is offering the sacrifice, but they pray that it will benefit all present, and indeed all the church. The assembly speaks these words as a kind of prayer. Given the importance of this dialogue, the people stand as the priest addresses them in words like, “Pray, my brothers and sisters,” and they remain standing to respond.

At Masses where incense is used, the assembly may be incensed during the preparation of the gifts. In this case, the people stand while they are being incensed. They remain standing for the invitation and response before the prayer over the offerings.

Standing before the prayer over the offerings was common in some countries before the revision of the Mass in 2002. This clarification helps unify the posture of people throughout the world in the sacred moments before the sacrifice is offered in the eucharistic prayer.

Paul Turner