The leak we've all been waiting for

Well this will be interesting.

"And with your spirit"

This is going to sound sarcastic, but it isn't. It's been on my mind a lot, actually, because it's something I never learned, and you don't see it much, and if you do they do it too fast to see.

How exactly does one beat one's breast? And where? I mean, obviously you can't pound away at one's xiphoid without some serious consequences. Do you aim for the Pledge of Allegiance spot or what? Do you really have to hit yourself hard, or is it supposed to be a pulled punch, so to speak?

I'd also like to know what neighborhood of body inclination goes into a "bow", for that matter. Are quick ducks of the head sufficient, or are we supposed to bow from the waist Japanese-style? You can't really tell from priests; they're wearing a lot of vestments when they do it....

They are going to have to cover this soon in church, if all the bows and breastbeatings are to be restored.

So when might we expect this to hit the missalettes?

Like Maureen, I hope there will be some serious catechesis, for both priests and laity. I think some people assume that all Catholics -- especially all priests -- somehow remember how it was "before the Council changed everything", even the large number of us who were children in the late 'sixties or who were not even twinkles in our parents' eyes.

In the Latin "Novus Ordo" Masses I've attended (they have one at 10 at the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle), beating the breast was lightly tapping oneself with the flat of one's closed fist, at around the Pledge of Allegiance spot. Not too hard, and not over the sternum -- no need to be bringing out the defibrillators every Sunday.

Bowing, as at He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, was bowing from the waist to about 30 degrees. Bowing of the head, as at the Holy Name, was like a duck of the head but more slowly and reverently -- quick ducks were reserved for when toddlers start throwing things.

+J.M.J+

Hey, check out pg 18; they got rid of "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again". (Just as well, it wasn't in the original Latin)

Though I might miss not hearing "Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life...". That was one of the few truly poetic elements of an otherwise largely banal translation. Ironic that it wasn't in the original Latin! But maybe I won't miss it too much since the rest of the translation looks really good.

In Jesu et Maria,

Thanks muchly, Peony! It's always the little things....