De fleste husker ikke (i detaljer, eller i det hele tatt) hva som skjedde da messen og feiringa de andre sakramentene ble forandra ganske grundig i siste halvdel av 60-tallet. Jeg har f.eks. før denne uka aldri lest dokumentet Inter oecumenici, som den berømte gruppa Consilium (of Sacred Congregation of Rites) publiserte 26. september 1964. Dette dokumentet – som paven bestemte skulle tre i kraft første søndag i fasten 1965 – bestemte at messefeiringa skulle forandres på ganske mange områder. (Man forstår egentlig bare disse punktene hvis man kjenner den gamle messen. Det gjør jeg nå, og jeg forstår (og er delvis enig i) det gjennomgående prinsippet at folket skulle trekkes mer inn i messen, men at f.eks. korstegn skal tas bort forstår jeg egentlig ikke.) Les dette utdraget:
48. Until reform of the entire Ordo Missae, the points that follow are to be observed:
a. The celebrant is not to say privately those parts of the Proper sung or recited by the choir or the congregation.
b. The celebrant may sing or recite the parts of the Ordinary together with the congregation or choir.
c. In the prayers at the foot of the altar at the beginning of Mass Psalm 42 is omitted. All the prayers at the foot of the altar are omitted whenever there is another liturgical rite immediately preceding.
d. In solemn Mass the subdeacon does not hold the paten but leaves it on the altar.
e. In sung Masses the secret prayer or prayer over the gifts is sung and in other Masses recited aloud.
f. The doxology at the end of the canon, from Per ipsum through Per omnia saecula saeculorum. R. Amen, is to be sung or recited aloud. Throughout the whole doxology the celebrant slightly elevates the chalice with the host, omitting the signs of the cross, and genuflects at the end after the Amen response by the people.
g. In recited Masses the congregation may recite the Lord’s Prayer in the vernacular along with the celebrant; in sung Masses the people may sing it in Latin along with the celebrant and, should the territorial ecclesiastical authority have so decreed, also in the vernacular, using melodies approved by the same authority.
h. The embolism after the Lord’s Prayer shall be sung or recited aloud.
i. The formulary for distributing holy communion is to be, Corpus Christi. As he says these words, the celebrant holds the host slightly above the ciborium and shows it to the communicant, who responds: Amen, then receives communion from the celebrant, the sign of the cross with the host being omitted.
j. The last gospel is omitted; the Leonine Prayers are suppressed.
k. It is lawful to celebrate a sung Mass with only a deacon assisting.
l. It is lawful, when necessary, for bishops to celebrate a sung Mass following the form used by priests.