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Saturday, July 31, 2021

A MISUNDERSTANDING IN A LITURGICAL PROGRAM LEADS TO A FITTING RESPONSE AT A REQUIEM

 


On Friday, I celebrated a Requiem for a life long member of Saint Anne. We print programs for our Requiems. At the end of the program, we had the words to the “Song/Chant of Farewell” and then following that was printed what the cantor would chant as we departed, “May the Angels Lead you into Paradise.”

As fate would have it, at the end of the Requiem when the burial is to follow immediately, there is no final blessing as the conclusion of the Requeim is the Rite of Committal. Thus the priest or deacon says the following:

“In peace let us take our sister to her place of rest.”

 But there is no official response for the laity to say. Interestingly enough, the laity, seeing the words for the recessional chant, “May the Angels Lead you into Paradise” thought that that was their response. So as soon as I said, “In peace let us take our sister to her place of rest” they responded, May the angels lead you into paradise!

What a perfect response, indeed!