Commentary Overview
Much can usefully be said in any commentary on the Mass. What follows, therefore, is highly selective, but has the benefit of being usesable as-is during a normal Sunday Mass. You could, of course, just as easily use the commentary for your own study.
If you use it in the context of a Sunday Mass you should find that (assuming there is no homily) the commentary shouldn’t add much time to the Mass - maybe five minutes. Ideally you would use the text to help you decide what to say - if you just read it from pieces of paper you’ll probably find that people switch off very quickly. However, if reading the text out is your only option, you might consider taking it a section at a time and doing the commentary over six weeks.
Commentary Sections:
- Commentary Introduction - a very brief overview of the Mass.
- Introductory Rites - from the entrance song to the Collect.
- Liturgy of the Word - the 1st Reading to the Prayer of the Faithful.
- Preparation of Gifts - the procession to the Prayer over the Gifts.
- Eucharistic Prayer - the Introductory Dialogue to the Great Amen.
- Communion Rite - from the Our Father to the silence after communion.
If you would like more background knowledge about any or all of the items presented, you should find the book ‘The Mass’ by Lucien Deiss very informative (see a review of it in our Books Section). The structure of the commentary presented here owes a lot to Fr. Deiss’ book, so it should be easy to follow up particular points.