114.

QUERY: After the commingling and during the prayer, «Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the living God» or «Lord Jesus Christ, with faith», some celebrants place their joined hands on the altar and, with bowed head, say the text of the prayer softly. Is this procedure still to be followed? REPLY: Traces of the former rites are here again discernible. To resolve this query the norms of the Order of Mass have to be heeded, with care not to add anything and with attention once again to the principle so kindly stated by Pope John XXIII: "Make complex and difficult matters simple; what is already simple leave alone." The former «Ritus servandus» regarding this prayer directed (no. X, 3): "Then with joined hands placed on the altar, eyes foxed on the sacrament, and bowing over he says softly. . ." The Order of Mass of Paul VI (no. 132) more precisely determines what the GIRM says in no. 114: "Then the priest, with hands joined, says softly. . ." Therefore, the celebrant stands upright with hands joined before his breast: Not 14 (1978) 537 - 538, no. 13.