• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Bishop Robert Barron
          • George Weigel
          • Question Corner
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Suzanna Molino Singleton
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Paul McMullen
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Father T. Austin Murphy Jr.
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • Advertising
  • CR Radio
  • Printing
  • Subscribe

Washing hands at Mass/ The ‘poor in spirit’

Father Kenneth Doyle August 23, 2018
By Father Kenneth Doyle
Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner

Q. One of the parishes that we sometimes attend does not have the “lavabo” (the washing of hands) during Mass. The priest has been asked about it, and he simply says that we don’t do it at this parish. But isn’t the lavabo a standard part of every Mass? (It’s done everywhere else that I’ve been.) (Albany, New York)

A. Yes, you are right: The lavabo is, in fact, a standard part of every Mass and has been so since the fourth century. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal — the “rulebook” for celebrating the liturgy — says: “Then the priest washes his hands at the side of the altar, a rite in which the desire for interior purification finds expression” (No. 76). No option, as you see, is offered for skipping this prayer and ritual action.

From time to time, I have heard a rationale offered for eliminating the lavabo — namely, that the gesture stems from the days when loaves of baked eucharistic bread were carried to the altar at the offertory and the priest needed to cleanse his hands of crumbs before proceeding with the sacred eucharistic prayer.

Since premade hosts are now used instead, this argument runs, the washing of the fingers has become unnecessary and obsolete. It may sound like a plausible argument, but it has the disadvantage of being wrong: Far from being just a practical and physical washing, the gesture has always been more about the interior need of the priest for purification.

Many churchgoers may not know the prayer the priest is saying at that moment — since it is inaudible — but the words are these: “Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

Q. One of the beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Does that mean those simple-minded people who don’t ask any questions? (Lake Monticello, Virginia)

A. I like it when people ask me about the beatitudes because I don’t think we focus enough on them. They are central to the lives of those who would try to follow Jesus.

If you were to ask Christians to name the Ten Commandments, most of us could list them; but if you asked those same Christians to list the Eight Beatitudes, we might not do as well. And yet the beatitudes are really the “Christian commandments.”

Most of the Ten Commandments given to Moses directed people what not to do — a sort of “least common denominator”; but the beatitudes tell us instead, in a positive way, what we should be spending our time doing — acting as peacemakers, showing mercy, hungering for justice, etc.

But to answer your question: No, to be poor in spirit does not mean to be simple-minded and unquestioning. It means not being attached to a lavish lifestyle and material wealth as the goal of human existence; but even more, it signifies an attitude — a conscious awareness of our need for God. We didn’t create ourselves, nor do we sustain ourselves in being. God does that.

Once, some years ago, someone asked Billy Graham, with regard to this particular beatitude, “Shouldn’t we strive to be rich in spirit, not poor?” And Graham suggested substituting in the text the word “humble” in place of “poor.” We must not be self-satisfied or proud of heart, he said, but instead recognize our own dependency, our weaknesses and our need for God’s continual forgiveness.

 

Copyright ©2018 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Father Kenneth Doyle

Father Kenneth Doyle

Father Kenneth Doyle writes Question Corner for Catholic News Service. Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@gmail.com and 30 Columbia Circle Dr., Albany, New York 12203.

View all posts from this author

Recent Commentary

A pandemic Lent, ox cookies, and Valentine’s gifts (7 Quick Takes)

Spiritual millionaires

Do nothing for Lent

Lent’s promise in bleak times

God prepares us for the unexpected

Recent Local News

Pasadena parish cites pandemic in decision to close preschool

Father Snouffer, information technology trailblazer for archdiocese, dies at 83

‘Blessing bags’ a focal point for merged St. Casimir Parish during pandemic

Young Mother Lange honoree keeps busy helping others

RADIO INTERVIEW: What parents need to know about human trafficking

Catholic Review Radio

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Cardinal prays on CNN program marking 500,000 COVID-19 deaths in U.S.
  • Pasadena parish cites pandemic in decision to close preschool
  • Father Snouffer, information technology trailblazer for archdiocese, dies at 83
  • Not your grandfather’s — or father’s — Superman
  • ‘Blessing bags’ a focal point for merged St. Casimir Parish during pandemic
  • Young Mother Lange honoree keeps busy helping others
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: What parents need to know about human trafficking
  • Passionist priest, relative of English princes, takes step closer to sainthood
  • ‘Giving Tuesday’ to put focus on digital donations for Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries
  • Pope, Holocaust survivor talk about the importance of remembering

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2021 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED