Q: As a newly ordained permanent deacon I had the task of planning/MC’ing the triduum liturgies at my parish this year. The previous year was my “internship” at this parish and I observed how they did things. I felt that the Holy Thursday transfer and adoration was lacking. Our altar of repose is a small room off the side of the sanctuary and is only accessible by going on the sanctuary. The room only accommodates 4-5 people. Last year the procession concluded at this room but the congregation seemed unaware of what was happening and while the clergy and servers were in the room spending some time in adoration before leaving, the rest of the congregation was out in the church talking and acting like it was a typical post Sunday Mass. Only a few came into the room and even then I was not comfortable with the fact that they had to come through the sanctuary.
This year I was determined to change this and, given the limitations of the room of reposition, I felt I had to do something different. Instead of concluding the procession at the altar of repose, I had the procession conclude with placing the ciborium back on the corporal on the altar. All clergy/servers then went to the front of the sanctuary for incensing and the “Tantum”. After a period of silent adoration all ministers/servers departed directly to the sacristy. The congregation had been instructed to maintain silence and to feel free to stay for a period of private adoration until an hour or so after the conclusion of the Mass. The lights were lowered and only candles on the altar remained lit. After the time of adoration (and by then the congregation had completely departed) the ciborium was transferred without ceremony to the altar of repose and the main altar was stripped.
While this did allow for greater participation in adoration and a more respectful and dignified conclusion to the service, the rubrics and all commentaries I have read (including your blog) say that the procession is to the altar of repose with no other exceptions. Am I wrong in doing things the way I did?
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A: The rubrics for the transfer of the Most Blessed Sacrament at the end of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper say that it is to be carried to “a place of repose prepared in a part of the church or in a chapel suitably decorated” (38). The following paragraph presumes that a tabernacle is set up in that place.
You may not have many options, but the ideal would be to set up a temporary pillar or table in some part of the church, perhaps a corner of the sanctuary, and place a tabernacle there. Then at the end of the Mass process the Blessed Sacrament through the congregation and set it inside the temporary tabernacle. Setting the ciborium back on the altar is not foreseen, as that is one of the methods of eucharistic exposition.