Hva kan man gjøre i en barnemesse?
Zenit.org har i mange år hatt regelmessige liturgi-spørsmål besvart av liturgiprofessor Father Edward McNamara – og der kommer det fram mye interessant om hvordan liturgien kan og bør feires. I det siste av disse svarene blir professoren spurt om det er tillatt å ha et julespill etter en preken i en messe. Før han gir sitt svar, siterer Fr. McNamara fra et aktuelt dokument:
… Perhaps a more useful universal source would be the Directory for Children’s Masses issued by the Holy See in November 1973. The adaptations refer to Masses where the vast majority of participants are children ages 6 to 9. These norms do not apply to assemblies of older children.
I will offer selections of what I believe are relevant texts.
«22. The principles of active and conscious participation are in a sense even more significant for Masses celebrated with children. Every effort should therefore be made to increase this participation and to make it more intense. For this reason as many children as possible should have special parts in the celebration: for example, preparing the place and the altar (see no. 29), acting as cantor (see no. 24), singing in a choir, playing musical instruments (see no. 32), proclaiming the readings (see nos. 24 and 47), responding during the homily (see no. 48), reciting the intentions of the general intercessions, bringing the gifts to the altar, and performing similar activities in accord with the usage of various peoples (see no. 34).«To encourage participation, it will sometimes be helpful to have several additions, for example, the insertion of motives for giving thanks before the priest begins the dialogue of the preface.
«In all this, it should be kept in mind that external activities will be fruitless and even harmful if they do not serve the internal participation of the children. Thus religious silence has its importance even in Masses with children (see no. 37). The children should not be allowed to forget that all the forms of participation reach their high point in eucharistic communion, when the body and blood of Christ are received as spiritual nourishment. …
Han siterer ganske mye mer fra det aktuelle dokumentet før han konkluderer:
In spite of the flexibility allowed for children’s celebrations it is significant that there is no opening at all for extra-liturgical dramatizations during Mass. It follows therefore that there is even less support for such an initiative during regular Christmas Masses.
This does not mean that there is no space for such plays in the church. It is almost always better to hold such events in the parish hall, but if this is not possible they could be held in the church building before or after Mass.
Dette er ganske aktuelle problemstillinger også hos oss. Det er ikke mer enn noen få måneder siden jeg ble bedt om å gjøre ganske mye mer dramatiske forandringer i en messe enn dette, og det tok mye energi å forklare at og hvorfor jeg ikke kunne gjøre det jeg ble bedt om. På den annen side har jeg uten innsigelser gått med på at juleevangeliet dramatiseres på en enkel måte samtid med at presten leser det.