Q: We know sanctuary is the holy place where the priest offers mass, Do you think is worthy when the people come with offertory, the priest invites them to come and stand around altar and offer up with the priest all they have?
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A: GIRM 73 envisions that the bread and wine are “presented by the faithful” and “accepted at an appropriate place by the Priest or the Deacon to be carried to the altar.” Usually I see the priest or deacon go to the edge of the sanctuary and receive the gifts from the faithful who stand in the aisle and then go back to their place.
I guess you could argue that the faithful may enter the sanctuary with the gifts, as that is also “an appropriate place” for the priest or deacon to receive them. GIRM 73 never says when the faithful return to their places. You could argue that the faithful appropriately stay in the sanctuary until the priest has said the formulas over the gifts that they have just presented, and then return to their places. But the priest should be holding the gifts while reciting those formulas.
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