Prayer After Communion
| Controlling authority | Roman Missal; GIRM 89 and 165; applicable proper, Common, seasonal, ritual, or votive formulary |
|---|---|
| Classification | Post-Communion presidential oration; distinct from private thanksgiving and the concluding blessing |
Prayer After Communion is the presidential oration near the end of Mass by which the Church gives thanks and asks that the Eucharistic mystery just celebrated bear lasting fruit in the faithful.[1]
Completion of the Communion Rite
After distribution of Holy Communion, the sacred vessels are purified according to the rite and a period of silent prayer, psalm, canticle, or hymn may follow. The priest then stands at the chair or altar, invites the people with Let us pray, and recites the Prayer After Communion with hands extended. The people's Amen completes the oration before announcements and the Concluding Rites.
The prayer is public liturgy, not the priest's private thanksgiving spoken into a microphone. It normally asks that sacramental participation transform life, preserve grace, deepen unity, or lead to eternal fulfillment. Private prayers of thanksgiving by priest and faithful remain commendable, but they neither replace this prescribed oration nor become part of it through personal insertion.
Silence before the prayer
A brief silence can precede the prayer unless sufficient silence has already been observed immediately after Communion. This silence belongs to grateful reception and interior prayer. Immediate announcements, movement, or continuous music can obscure the rite's transition, while silence should not be prolonged without regard for the ordered celebration.
Final commendation at a Funeral Mass
When a Funeral Mass is joined directly to burial rites with the body present, the Prayer After Communion is still said. The ordinary Concluding Rites are then omitted and the Final Commendation or Farewell follows. The special sequence shows that the prayer completes Eucharistic Communion even when another approved rite immediately succeeds it.
Selection from the proper or Common
A Mass with a proper Prayer After Communion uses that text unless the Missal permits another choice. On memorials lacking one, the prayer may come from the appropriate Common or from the weekday of the current season. Ritual Masses, Masses for Various Needs, votive Masses, and Masses for the Dead provide their own sets and rubrics.[2]
The choices do not permit spontaneous composition or the combination of phrases from several formularies. The approved territorial edition governs the wording. A parish worship aid should reproduce the text lawfully or identify it without presenting a paraphrase as the liturgical prayer, and revisions must await competent approval and publication.[3]
Mystagogical character
The Prayer After Communion often interprets what has been received: the Body and Blood of Christ, the pledge of eternal life, ecclesial unity, healing, mission, or conformity to a saintly example. It therefore serves mystagogy within the rite, leading from sacramental gift toward Christian fruit rather than offering an unrelated closing thought.
Older sources may call the prayer postcommunion, from the Latin post communionem. Postcommunion is an older English name for the Prayer after Communion. It is distinct from the Communion antiphon, silent thanksgiving, purification prayers, solemn blessing, and Prayer over the People, each of which has its own place and ministerial form.
References
- Back to citation General Instruction of the Roman Missal, chapter II — The approved norms identifying the Collect, Liturgy of the Word, Universal Prayer, Eucharistic Prayer, Communion Rite, presidential prayers, silence, and acclamations.
- Back to citation General Instruction of the Roman Missal, chapter VIII — The approved Roman norms for Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, Votive Masses, Funeral Masses, and other Masses for the Dead.
- Back to citation General Instruction of the Roman Missal, chapter VII — The approved rules for choosing readings, orations, prefaces, Eucharistic Prayers, proper texts, Commons, seasonal texts, and other permitted formularies.