[Biggirl]

I have a question, and thank-you ahead for your response. Can you best explain to me what the saying means, “Say the black, do the red.” (?)

Notice question mark.

[perez24]

Basically, priests use a prayer book (I believe it’s called the “Sacramentary” but I could be wrong) that lays out the Mass. Words to the prayers are in black, e.g. “The Lord be with you.” The actions they are supposed to take are in red, e.g. bow, elevate the host, make the sign of the cross, etc. Hence the expression.

Some priests have the annoying habit of improvising parts or all of the prayers to fit a given situation or just because they want to improvise.

[sayuncledave]

Hi Biggirl,
I’ll do my best. The phrase is one I first read at Father Z’s What Does The Prayer Really Say, where he uses it to indicate that which a priest is supposed to do during the course of Mass, in reference to the Roman Missal. The black meaning those words to be pronounced, and the red for actions indicated. Father Z isn’t the only priest who writes about this, but his was the blog where I first read the phrase. A recent example:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/02/action-item-poll-alert-should-priests-be-able-to-change-the-words-of-mass-when-he-wants-to/

I hope that helps.