“Ask a Priest: Can a Priest Change the Words at the ‘Behold the Lamb of God’?”

Want to rate this?

Q: There is a retired monsignor who offers Mass at my parish, and at the part of the Mass when the Host is held up and the priest should say, “Behold the Lamb of God”, the monsignor says, “This is Jesus ….” I find this very distracting and annoying since he’s the only one who says it this way. Is it OK for him to change this? I think while we do receive our Lord in the Eucharist, the Church decided that the priest should say what the Church decided he should say, “Behold the Lamb of God.” I would very much like to hear your thoughts on this. I don’t want to bring this to the pastor if I don’t have to. – E.B.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: A priest shouldn’t change the words of the Mass arbitrarily. Some parts allow for flexibility, but the missal doesn’t suggest any changes at the “Behold the Lamb of God.” This change is illicit but doesn’t make the Mass invalid.

But … given all the problems in the Church today, and given all the concerns your pastor is already dealing with, you might ask whether it’s worth bringing up this point.

The parish is probably lucky that it even has a retired priest who can help with Masses.

My guess is that the pastor wouldn’t relish the idea of having to correct a retired monsignor about how to celebrate Mass … if you get my drift.

Besides, if the monsignor made it to retirement, that is a sign that he is a survivor. He likely served the Church during many difficult decades. If changing a few words at the Behold the Lamb of God is his greatest fault, he might be a saint.

I hope some of this helps.

Keep learning more with Ask a Priest

Got a question? Need an answer?

Today’s secular world throws curve balls at us all the time. AskACatholicPriest is a Q&A feature that anyone can use. Just type in your question or send an email to AskAPriest@rcspirituality.org and you will get a personal response back from one of our priests at RCSpirituality. You can ask about anything – liturgy, prayer, moral questions, current events… Our goal is simply to provide a trustworthy forum for dependable Catholic guidance and information. So go ahead and ask your question…

Average Rating

What did you think?

Share your review! Just log in or create your free account.

Leave a Reply

Get the Answers!

Get notified of future Ask a Priest answers via email

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Skip to content