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We continue our examination of the Liturgy of the Eucharist at the Ecce Agnus Dei: After once again receiving the Lord’s blessing, The peace of the Lord be with you always, and responding, And with your spirit, the next change that we encounter takes place when the priest elevates the Host and Chalice and says: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. The new translation for the priest refers to the...
In the final two installments of this series, we will focus our attention on the people’s parts in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, addressing each instance of change in the text as it comes.
Suscipiat Dominus
Shortly after the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharistic, we are encouraged to pray that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father, to which we respond:
May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good and the...
We discover right out of the gate in the new translation that the Creed is a personal statement, Credo / I believe. Yes, we profess the faith of the Church in one voice with all of her members, but the Creed must be our own personal acceptance of that faith.
And so we say, I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
The former words which spoke of all that is seen and unseen were clearly deficient.
There is a real difference...
Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth, in the new translation becomes, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. This "new" wording represents a return to the Scriptural roots of the text (Luke 2:14) and the angels’ announcement of the Savior’s birth. The question some will ask is whether the Lord offers tidings of peace to all people or only just to those of good will? God the Father, through his Son, Jesus Christ, does indeed...
Following the Introductory Rites, the next occurrence of change in the people’s parts of the Holy Mass occurs during the Penitential Rite, at the Confiteor, where three changes can be found. In the previous editions of the Missal we would say: I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, etc... In the new translation, however, we will say: I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my...
NOTE: In order to make this examination of the changes in the people’s parts of Holy Mass easier to navigate, all of the text taken from the Missal will be in italics, while the newly translated text (where changes are found) will be in bold italics.
During the Introductory Rites when the priest says The Lord be with you, no longer will the people reply And also with you, but rather by saying, And with your spirit.
The Lord be with you... One just kind of expects a priest to say this...
The widespread misunderstanding of "active participation" in the sacred liturgy has undoubtedly been one of the most disruptive forces in Catholic life after Vatican II. It is no surprise, therefore, that this has often been the subject of recent papal instruction. In his 2007 apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI said, "We must not overlook the fact that some misunderstanding has arisen concerning the precise meaning of participation. It should...
Fully conscience and active participation. This is a phrase that has been invoked so often over the last four decades that it can almost be considered a mantra, and not without good reason. After all, it is according to the council the "aim to be considered before all else" in the matter of liturgical reform (cf SC 14).
This begs two very important questions, however: One, in what are we called to participate, and secondly, how are we called to do it?
Let’s begin with the former. We...
I’m sure that you’re anxious to explore the new prayers and responses contained in the forthcoming English translation of the Roman Missal, but before we delve into the text itself, it’s important for us to take the time to construct a solid foundation upon which our understanding may rest, and it is easily constructed of just three simple building blocks: - First, it’s going to be very helpful for us to review just a little bit of background on the Roman Missal; to see how we...
When Pope Benedict XVI received a hardbound copy of the recently approved English translation of the Roman Missal from members of the Vox Clara Committee on April 28, 2010 he said, "Soon the fruits of your labors will be made available to English-speaking congregations everywhere. Through these sacred texts and the actions that accompany them, Christ will be made present and active in the midst of His people." In addition to striking a clearly optimistic tone, the Holy Father cautioned,...
