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Who Can Pray “My Lord and My God”

Question:

May a priest add the words "My Lord and my God, I believe" after the consecration?

Answer:

No, those words of prayer are not contained in the Roman Missal and therefore should not be said by the celebrant. When a priest celebrates Mass he is celebrating the liturgy of the Church, not his own personal spiritual production.

The origins of this practice are that in 1907 St. Pius X issued an indulgence for the prayer “My Lord and my God” during the elevation by the priest. This indulgence, however, was for the lay faithful, since this prayer was not contained in the ritual book and to purposely stray from the ritual book was a mortal sin for the priest celebrant (De Defectibus, V, 20).

Today many faithful continue to piously pray “My Lord and my God” after the consecration of the host and chalice; however, there is nothing in the Roman Missal that would permit a priest to add any words at that point of the Mass. While the Church no longer holds the priest to the exact liturgy under the pain of mortal sin, the Church still forbids adding anything to the Mass that is not present in the Roman Missal (canon 846 §1).

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