Your Question: Why at some churches does the priest do the "washing of the hands" and others do not? Is this not a standard part of Mass?
The “washing of the hands” is indeed a significant rite in the Mass and may not be omitted. It is meant to express the priest’s need for purification from sin.
Why do some priests omit it? Well, I can’t speak for the priests. You may want to approach the particular priest and ask for his thoughts about it. If you do so, please do so out of charity, remembering that our Liturgy has undergone many changes, and often people are misinformed about it. Enter into dialogue out of love and the desire to understand one another. The priest may, for example, be acting out of a misunderstanding about this element of the Mass. Apparently one notion connected to this issue that circulated in the past is that there is no need for this rite, because it originally had a purely practical purpose—to truly clean the dirty hands of a priest in a much dustier and dirtier time! This is, however, an oversimplification. While many of our rites have practical origins that form their practice, this is not the sole reason for this particular rite. From early one, there is evidence that the rite was connected to the purification from sin, and not simply to the need to scrub-a-dub before the Eucharistic meal.
While I am not trying to say that personal adaptations of our Liturgy are not a big deal, you can, however, be assured that omission of the washing of the hands wouldn’t make a Mass invalid…you are still receiving the Eucharist (just in case you are concerned about that).
As I am not an expert on Liturgy, I refer you to Fr. McNamara professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum, via the link below. His thoughtful response may help you more than I can! God bless you!
http://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur22.htm
Why do some priests omit it? Well, I can’t speak for the priests. You may want to approach the particular priest and ask for his thoughts about it. If you do so, please do so out of charity, remembering that our Liturgy has undergone many changes, and often people are misinformed about it. Enter into dialogue out of love and the desire to understand one another. The priest may, for example, be acting out of a misunderstanding about this element of the Mass. Apparently one notion connected to this issue that circulated in the past is that there is no need for this rite, because it originally had a purely practical purpose—to truly clean the dirty hands of a priest in a much dustier and dirtier time! This is, however, an oversimplification. While many of our rites have practical origins that form their practice, this is not the sole reason for this particular rite. From early one, there is evidence that the rite was connected to the purification from sin, and not simply to the need to scrub-a-dub before the Eucharistic meal.
While I am not trying to say that personal adaptations of our Liturgy are not a big deal, you can, however, be assured that omission of the washing of the hands wouldn’t make a Mass invalid…you are still receiving the Eucharist (just in case you are concerned about that).
As I am not an expert on Liturgy, I refer you to Fr. McNamara professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum, via the link below. His thoughtful response may help you more than I can! God bless you!
http://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur22.htm
posted by staff | 4:05 PM
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