Q: Thank you again for all of the guidance you give on all matters liturgical. I appreciate not only your expertise but the kindness and sympathy of your answers.
Looking forward to Sunday, February 2, 2025, I have a couple of questions.
1.) Based on the missal, is the expectation that all masses that day begin with a blessing of candles an procession? Whereas Palm Sunday gives three different options for the beginning of mass, I see only one option in the missal for the Presentation.
2.) As February is particularly chilly where I live, is it possible for the blessing and procession to take place entirely inside of the church rather than in a separate chapel? In addition to the temperature factor, our parish hall, which is connected to the church by an outdoor walkway, is rather small and may not be able to accommodate all massgoers at our largest Sunday mass.
==
Thank you for your kind words.
I remember being in Rome many years ago when February 2 fell on a Sunday. I attended Mass at one of the many minor basilicas and was surprised to see it take place without any blessing or procession at all—though using the presidential prayers and readings of the Presentation of the Lord. Perhaps they blessed candles at one of the other Masses that weekend.
That said, the Roman Missal does envision a blessing at the Mass. It probably thinks about February 2 as a weekday without accounting for the complicating circumstances of a multi-Mass Sunday in a parish. In my practice, we have the blessing of candles at all Masses when February 2 falls on a Sunday.
1) The missal actually gives two options for the beginning of Mass. The second one, The Solemn Entrance, envisions a gathering at a suitable place inside the church.
2) Yes, the blessing and procession may take place entirely inside the church, and I frequently do it that way.
I’ll have a few other things to say about this feast in my forthcoming book Sacred Times.