Beginning the first Sunday of Advent 2022, we began celebrating the Mass ad orientem (which is Latin for ‘toward the East’). At certain times during the Mass, especially during the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest and the people face in the same direction, toward the ‘Liturgical East’, or towards God. When the Eucharistic prayer is offered ad orientem, priest and people look toward the Lord together. We are not praying to each other, but rather to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.
Why does Father have his back to us?
The dialogue which takes place in our prayer at Mass is not fundamentally between the priest and the people, but between God and everyone gathered for prayer, with the priest acting in the person of Christ the head and voicing our common prayer to the Father. The perception might be at first that the priest is ‘turning his back on us.’ But the point is not that the priest has his back to the people, but that his face, and yours, is turned toward God.
How will this change my experience of Mass?
The majority of the Mass will remain unchanged. The only real difference will be during the Eucharistic prayer. The ad orientem posture helps us put God back in the center of our worship at Mass and cultivate a deepened reverence for the mystery of the Eucharist. It helps us maintain the vertical orientation of the liturgy, which ought to be the orientation of our entire life: toward the Lord, and toward Heaven.
What does the Church say about this?
Worship ad orientem is anything but new in the life of the Church. Facing East in Christian worship has ancient roots. Scripture and Tradition tell us to look to the East, the direction of the rising sun, for the Lord’s return. For many centuries, churches were built with the nave and altar facing East. Over time, ‘East’ came to be understood primarily in a theological and liturgical sense. Since many churches, like ours, are not oriented to the geographic East, the Church considers the location of the altar and Cross to be ‘Liturgical East’, toward toward Christ, the Light of the world.
What about Vatican II?
Until very recently, the Mass was typically celebrated with the people and the priest facing the same direction. The Liturgical changes after Vatican II allowed Mass to be celebrated facing the people, but the Council did not mandate that priests do so. The rubrics, the instructions for celebrating Mass, indicate on a couple specific occasions that the priest is to turn and face the people, implying that he is usually not turned toward the people and must do so in a few specific instances. In short, when the priest is talking to you, he faces you, and when he is talking to God, we all face God together.
May all of us have a renewed reverence for the Eucharistic mystery, in which Jesus offers Himself, and us, to the Father, for the glory of God and for our salvation.
ES