Q: Not sure if you answered this question already sometime ago. But for in case, … Most priests recite the Divine Praises during adoration when the Blessed Sacrament is still exposed and not reposed. Is it correct to do that, or rather to follow the rubric that instructs to repose the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle first, then say the prayers? Thank you kindly.
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A: Here’s a previous post, https://paulturner.org/the-divine-praises/, but it precedes the revised translation.
The Divine Praises, believe it or not, were never in the official order of service for Benediction. They were commonly printed in participation aids and prayed aloud, but the official ritual book never included them.
The USCCB requested inserting them into the revised English translation of Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery outside Mass. The Holy See approved this, and that’s why they now appear in HCWEMOM 99.
The instruction there is to pray them after the blessing with the monstrance and before reposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Especially because this was a specific request of the USCCB and a specific approval by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, I would do what it says.
That said, it does say “In accordance with local custom,” and that the praises “may be sung or said”. So the ritual does permit some flexibility.
The instruction you see after reposition at no. 100 refers to an acclamation or a hymn. That was the closest the previous translation got to making room for the Divine Praises—after reposition. They still may be done then, given the conditional feel of their presence in the revised translation, but the USCCB envisions them before.
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