Best wishes for a good week at the end of the mass?

Best wishes for a good week at the end of the mass?

I have noticed this practice either at the beginning of Mass or at the end of Mass in many different countries, at least since the late 1970s. It has almost become a local non-liturgical custom for some priests to speak off the cuff statements of this nature during the Sacred Liturgy of the Mass. I have lived in some four different countries and have stayed in another seven countries and am amazed how many times priests take the liberty to ad lib phrases into the Catholic liturgy that are neither encouraged or allowed by the rubrics. The rubrics not not say priests may ad lib such phrases during Mass. They just do it. I am not saying it is immoral, but it is simply not liturgically permitted. It lacks liturgical decorum to say the least.

This was simply not done in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass before Vatican II.

If it should not be said at the being of Mass, it should not be said at the end of Mass. The words may change, but the end result is the same.

Priests should not wish their parishioners “Good morning” at the beginning of Mass, according to Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle of Manila.

The words “The Lord be with you” are sufficient, he said.

“With all due respect, my brother-priests, I do not see the need for saying ‘Good morning’ and similar greetings when God’s Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist alone suffices,” he said.

“Is not the expression ‘The Lord be with you’ more than enough?” he asked.

Archbishop Tagle, who was speaking during his Corpus Christi Mass at the Santa Cruz Church in Manila, said that priests seem to give more emphasis on “Good morning” than on the all-important “The Lord be with you”.

Anyone can wish someone good morning, but the words “The Lord be with you” are only heard during Mass, which is why they must be emphasised, he said.

Some priests will repeat “Good morning” if they don’t hear the reply “Good morning, Father,” he said, but don’t seem at all concerned if no one responds to “The Lord be with you”.

Archbishop Tagle’s comments were posted in an article on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines website.

The archbishop, who is often considered to be progressive rather than conservative, was appointed in 2011, and was made a cardinal in November 2012. - Don’t wish parishioners ‘good morning’ at the start of Mass, says Cardinal Tagle

The same could be be said for the end of Mass.

Thus there is no need to wish the faithful good morning, good week, happy Sunday or whatever the priest desires at the beginning or end of Mass.

As Cardinal Tagle states: “Is not the expression ‘The Lord be with you’ more than enough?”

The following is is somewhat indirectly related here.

Curb the announcements.

In an age when the secular world lays claim on most of our time, making a few announcements has become a pastoral necessity. Sunday Mass is often the only opportunity a pastor has to inform his flock concerning parish and community life. Few are lucky enough to have schedules that permit them to go to daily Mass, much less have their children attend Catholic schools, and gone are the days where the parish or church plays a central role in the life of the village.

That being the reality, it’s wise to adhere closely to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal’s directive, inserting announcements after the liturgy of the Eucharist and before the dismissal, where they have the least chance of interrupting the framework of prayer set up by the liturgy. Welcoming statements from cantors or others before the procession even begins have nothing to do with the rite itself and are most likely utterances contrived for the purpose of artificially engaging the attention of the congregation. Announcements should not be made before Mass begins, save concerning matters absolutely necessary to the people’s understanding of that particular Mass itself or other issues prudentially suggested by the pastor.

Mass doesn’t begin because a cantor gets up and proclaims when, where, and how it is to happen. Mass begins when the priest enters the church, with or without a cross bearer, book bearer, lector, or deacon.

Don’t attempt a rousing good-bye.

Mass ends with the words “The Mass is ended,” so nothing that happens after that should upstage what came before. The recessional, which is not mandatory, can be exuberant, of course. But many parishes have the problem of a great deal of talking and saying hello taking place after Mass, and upbeat recessionals can only make the problem worse. If the goal is to send people out into the world with a sense of what just took place, a recessional that recalls the quiet power of the whole liturgy is best. - Fourteen Easy Ways to Improve the Liturgy