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|  |  | # Blessing 310. According to IG 170, if another liturgical service follows the Mass the concluding rite (greeting, blessing, and dismissal) is omitted. The 2002 Roman Missal, Order of Mass, n. 146 has the dismissal rite is omitted, rather than the Concluding Rite. Perhaps both are possible, depending on what follows. 311. According to IG 167 "The priest, joining his hands and then immediately placing his left hand upon his breast, elevates his right hand and says: May almighty God bless you and, as he blesses with the sign of the cross, continues: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All answer: Amen." 312. There are no instructions for the sign of the cross to be made by anyone else. At the beginning of Mass "the whole assembly" makes the sign of the cross (IG 50), but this is not the case for the blessing. 313. Before reading the Gospel, the deacon is blessed by the priest. Specific instructions are given in IG 175: "The deacon signs himself with the sign of the cross and responds: Amen." 314. For a blessing at the end of Mass by a bishop, the sign of the cross is made three times (CB 1120). But those being blessed do not cross themselves three times, or even once. 315. The correct gesture is for everyone to bow the head at the naming of the three Divine Persons (IG 275). 316. It would be possible for a Conference of Bishops to adapt the gesture, in accordance with IG 390. However to be consistent with the other liturgical rites, this would also involve modifying the instructions for blessings in all the other liturgical books.
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Copyright J.R. Lilburne, 18 March 2002. Last updated 15 April 2002. |  |