Q: Thank you for your wide ranging and high-quality help with liturgical issues.
My question follows from your recent post on Eucharistic Prayer IV. Is it possible to use Prayer IV with its own Preface for a wedding Mass? I ask because of the richness of Prayer IV’s treatment of creation. I note that in your book, Inseparable Love, you observe that Prayer IV “is presumed not to be used for weddings.”
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A: Thanks for your comments on my blog.
I suppose you could use Prayer IV at a wedding, but the Order of Celebrating Matrimony went through a lot of work to convince you otherwise.
As you know, sometimes a wedding takes place during the Ritual Mass for the Celebration of Marriage. At other times, a wedding takes place during a Mass that ranks high in the Table of Liturgical Days, such as a Saturday evening Mass during Easter Time. In either case, the Missal provides special prefaces designed to make the ceremony more beautiful.
However, as you’ll note in the fine print at the head of the Ritual Mass, if the wedding takes place during a parish Sunday Mass in Ordinary Time, “the Mass of the Sunday is used,” and that permits Eucharistic Prayer IV.