| The New Translation Of The Mass |
| WHAT NEW TRANSLATION? The translation of the Mass which we currently use is going to change from the beginning of September. Over the coming months there will be short articles in this newsletter each week which will help us to understand what these changes are and why they have come about. There will be opportunities provided for people to learn more about the new translation and become familiar with the changes. A variety of printed resources will be available, including the new responses for Mass. The coming of the new translation is a great opportunity for us all to learn more about the Mass and deepen our understanding of the liturgy and its meaning and relevance for us in our lives today. I have ordered the new Altar Missals, but they will not be available until October/November. When they arrive, I will start celebrating this new translation of the Mass. Laminated leaflets will be provided to follow the responses. |
| The Four Presences Of Christ: The Second Vatican Council (1962-5) reminded us of our ancient faith: Christ is always present in his church, especially in its liturgical celebrations. So, each time we come to Mass we experience the presence of Christ in four different ways: 1] Christ is present in the congregation – the people gathered together; 2] Christ is present in the person of the priest; 3] Christ is present in the Scriptures that we listen to during Mass; 4] Christ is present in the bread and wine when it becomes Christ’s Body and Blood. The more we are able to understand and join in the Mass, the more we will come to love it. The new translation will help us to do that because the words we will now use will say more clearly what our faith is teaching us. |
| Biblical Influences: As we use the new translation we will perhaps notice more biblical connections than we have been used to. The texts of the Mass are precious to us, partly because they were inspired by the Bible. These words have come down to us over the centuries, and most of the words we speak at Mass are rooted in the Bible. When we gather for Mass, we are praying with words that have been given to us by our ancestors, who knew the Bible well and prayed it well. The new translation of the Missal tries to make the connections between the Bible and the Mass clearer than they are now. Over the coming weeks we will be looking at some of the revised words we will be saying and hearing at Mass when the Altar Missals finally arrive. |
AND WITH YOUR SPIRIT One of the first things we will notice with the new translation is that, when the priest says ‘The Lord be with you’, we now say ‘And with your spirit’. This is much closer to the original Latin ‘et cum spirit tuo’, and is found in e.g. German, Italian, French and Spanish. It is a very biblical response: St Paul concludes four of his letters with a very similar expression e.g. 2 Tim 4:22 ‘The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.’ (see also Galatians 6:18, Philippians 4:23, Philemon 25). For nearly 2000 years, Christians have been greeting each other, ‘The Lord be with you’, ‘and with your spirit.’ So the new translation, when the Altar Missals will finally arrive, possibly in October or maybe November, will bring unity to this response in all the languages of the world - and with all previous Christian generations. |
| The Gloria And The Creed: While some of the words in the Gloria and the Creed will change, others stay the same, so we will have to be careful that we don’t slip into the old texts! The first lines of the Gloria itself echo the angels’ message to the shepherds, announcing the birth of Christ (Luke 2:14). Because of these changes, new music is being written so that we will be able to sing the new translation, too. When it comes to the Creed we will notice the first change immediately - ‘I believe’, not, ‘We believe’. We have become used to praying the Creed all together as a parish. However, when we say ‘we believe’ it could suggest that between us all we believe everything being said. It is not clear that we all believe everything that is being said. To say ‘I believe’ makes it quite clear that each one of us believes everything we are saying. This new translation should have begun last weekend. But the Altar Missals will not be published until October or maybe November. |
| The Mystery of Faith: For Catholics, a ‘mystery’ is not a puzzle that cannot be solved. It is a truth that is so deep that we know we’ll never be able to get to the bottom of it; a truth we’ll never completely be able to understand. One example of this is our belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. We believe that Christ is truly present but we can’t wholly explain it. The priest shows us the host and then the chalice. Then he genuflects and says ‘The mystery of faith’. We continue with one of three responses. These are all different from the ones we have been used to and they come directly from the New Testament. So when the priest says ‘The mystery of faith’ he is inviting us to welcome this Real Presence of Christ. We then make our response, which we address to Christ. |
| ‘Lord I Am Not Worthy’: As the priest invites us to receive Holy Communion, he will say ‘Behold’, rather than ‘This is’, ‘the Lamb of God’. ‘Behold’ means ‘to look at’ and is our invitation to adore Christ who we are about to receive in Holy Communion. We are used to saying ‘Lord I am not worthy to receive you’ ... This will change to: ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed’. This is almost exactly what the Roman Centurion said when he came and begged Jesus to heal his servant (see Mt 8:8, Lk 7:6). When Jesus says he will come to the Centurion’s house, the man knows that Jesus doesn’t need to do that, that just his word will be enough. The Centurion says: ‘Lord I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed’. Our new reply changes only one word of the Centurion’s speech – ‘my servant will be healed’ becomes ‘my soul will be healed’. |
THE NEW TRANSLATION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL – IS THE MASS CHANGING? The structure of the Mass is not changing, nor are the actions of the Mass. The readings at Mass, which are often printed in Sunday and Weekday Missals, are not changing at this time, nor are the hymns we sing. However, with the introduction of the new translation from September, we will notice changes in what we say at Mass. A significant number of the texts have changed, sometimes by a few words, sometimes by much more. We will have to relearn prayers we were used to praying from memory. Prayers said by the priest will also sound different. Musical settings which use the words of the Mass will change to reflect the new translation. The style of language we will hear and pray may seem more formal to us, and perhaps more complex. However, the new translation is a wonderful opportunity for us to ‘hear again’ texts with which we have become familiar, and perhaps discover new richness and meaning in them. |
THE NEW TRANSLATION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL: |