Q: When you transition from Mass to Adoration, you don’t give the final blessing until the end of Adoration. Our Mass ends at 9:30 am and we transition to Adoration. Adoration ends at 8 pm. The people were used to receiving a blessing at the end of Mass. We normally have between 20-35 people at daily Mass. There are only 4-6 people at Adoration at 8 pm. Is it permissible to silently bless the people with the monstrance at the beginning of Adoration?Thank you for addressing my concern.
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A: Actually, no. No blessing with the monstrance is given until the end of adoration. This will be clearer when you see the revised English translation of Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery outside Mass next month. And you’ll find my commentary on it in my book Eucharistic Reservation also available next month.
I realize this may feel counterintuitive, but what happens in this circumstance is similar to what happens at the end of a funeral Mass: The blessing and dismissal are omitted. Mass is complete without them. Those participating in holy communion have already received the greatest of all blessings. There is no dismissal for the benefit of those who are continuing ritual prayer.
If those at Mass stay to adore for a while, that’s beautiful. But they’re obviously not expected to remain for a blessing at 8 p.m.
In this instance, the value of extending Mass into adoration is greater than the value of giving the blessing.
A reminder: You are to consecrate an extra host at the Mass that will be placed into the monstrance for adoration. That is what extends the Mass into “Eucharistic” adoration. When I do this, I usually receive the lunette at the altar before the Lamb of God, remove the host that has been there since the last adoration, and break it into parts, which I may distribute in communion at Mass or return to the ciborium in the tabernacle. I place the newly consecrated extra host into the lunette, and then into the monstrance after communion.