3/8/2021
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| Martini, "Madonna & Child" |
Picking up with CIC 938 which deals with the question of the tabernacle, as was mentioned, these provisions were included in the GIRM paragraphs. Here, the CIC makes five points regarding the tabernacle: only one; distinguished place; immovable, solid & secure; the permissibility for a safer place overnight, for a grave reason; the maximum safe-keeping of the key as the responsibility of the person in charge of the Church.
The instruction Nullo will elaborate on each of these points.
CIC 939
The frequency of the renewal of the consecrated hosts that are kept is not given any greater specificity. Elsewhere there is provision for weekly and fortnightly. This is to avoid spoilage. The pyx and ciborium are also mentioned here as the names of the vessels in which the MBS is kept.
CIC 940
The special lamp, we see again, for the same reason it’s mentioned in GIRM. CIC 940 also transitions us from the safe-keeping to the veneration of the MBS.
CIC 941
The first paragraph, here, indicates Exposition of the MBS as a liturgical rite with its norms prescribed in the liturgical books. It names both the pyx and the monstrance as means by which the MBS can be exposed in permitted churches and oratories.
This canon’s second paragraph separates the occurrence of both Mass and Exposition of the MBS as possibly happening simultaneously in the same church. They may not.
CIC 942
The Canon recommends annual solemn exposition of the MBS according to the liturgical prescriptions. Presumably this refers to the traditional custom of the Forty Hours Devotion, although it is not named. It recommends the attentive meditation of the local community on the eucharistic mystery. Only if “a fitting attendance” of the local community can be foreseen and “the prescribed norms are observed” can this time of exposition take place. This begs the question what constitutes a fitting attendance?
