Q: On Friday mornings after mass, we have a 30min period of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Benediction. Our pastor ends mass in the usual way and processes out. After removing his chasuble and putting on a cope, he returns, going to the Tabernacle and, after placing the Luna in the Monstrance, begins Exposition.
He will be away on 2 fridays, when a Communion Service will take the place of a Mass.
My questions are:
After communion, when the remaing hosts are returned to the Tabernacle, can the Luna be brought immediately to the Altar, placed in the Monstrance, and the period of Exosition begin?
Is a final prayer for the communion service required?
Will the prayer used in Benediction, since it is also one of the options for concluding a communion service, be sufficient?
==
A: Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery Outside Mass makes no provision for combining “Holy Communion outside Mass” (Chapter I) with “Exposition of the Most Holy Eucharist” (Chapter III:I).
And I sure don’t advise it.
Both ceremonies have to do with usages of the hosts reserved in the tabernacle. Because they are both derivative of the Mass, they really should not be piled one on top of the other. My advice is to choose one service, not both.
The same book DOES make provision for combining Mass with exposition on occasion. As I’ve indicated in the blog before, you find the explanation for this at #94 of HCWEMOM. Before Mass begins, the sacristan prepares an extra host to be consecrated for the purposes of exposition. After the distribution of communion at Mass, that host is placed inside the monstrance, so that the one sacrifice of the Mass is extended with a period of adoration of one host from the ones that were just consecrated and distributed for communion. The priest does not wear a cope for this exposition. Once he sets the monstrance in place, he recites the prayer after communion, and Mass comes to an end that way. The music and incense for exposition begins. In your case, after 30 minutes comes music, incensation, and benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. It’s probably best for the priest to change into the cope sometime before these final elements take place.
My commentary on HCWEMOM is available from Liturgical Press, Eucharistic Reservation.