The missal we
currently use was published in 1973 and has served the Church well for nearly 40 years. However over
that time there has been much discussion of the need to revise this initial translation of
the Latin into English in order to recapture more accurately the meaning and poetry of the
original Latin texts and their allusions to Scripture. In 2001 the Vatican published guiding
principles for translating the Latin Missal into other languages. This new translation follows
these guidelines and will adhere more closely to the Latin text. It will be more formal at times
but will provide a richer and more nuanced translation of our rich heritage of prayer
that is contained in the Roman Missal.
Who is doing the work
of translation?
The work of
translation has been done by a group of Bishops specialising in translation and
linguistics. The
International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL) has translated the
Latin into English and
then submitted the drafts to all the Bishops of the English speaking
world. Finally the
translation has been approved by the Vatican Congregation for Divine
Worship and the
Sacraments with the assistance of a committee called Vox Clara.
Is this Missal the
Vatican II Missal?
It is most definitely
the Vatican II Missal. It is the same missal which was produced in 1970
and revised on two
later occasions. It is the translation into English that has changed not the
original prayers of
the Mass.
Will it sound very
different?
Yes, it will. Not only
will the people’s responses change but the prayers said by the priest will
also change. The
Eucharistic Prayers will sound different. Remember, it is not the original
Latin Missal that has
changed only the translation. So it will be the same Mass that we have
had since Vatican II
but it will sound different.
Will there be any
changes in posture?
No, any changes in
posture have already been introduced in recent years. Therefore you will
continue to sit, stand
and kneel as you have always done.
How will we know the
new responses?
There will be pew
cards produced throughout Australia to assist the people with responses.
Some Churches have
data projectors that may also assist with the people’s responses.
Will the readings
change?
At this stage the
readings will remain the same. In a few years time the Lectionary will be revised and the
translation of the readings will change then.
When can I buy a new
Missal for my personal use?
The new Missal for use
by the priest during Mass will be printed in the latter half of 2011. The new
version of the readings will not be available for a few years. Publishers will
publish personal missals soon.
Will there be one book
for the Missal or will it be several volumes?
The Missal will be in
one volume. Eucharistic Prayers for Children will be published in a
separate supplement.
Will there be many
changes?
For the people the
changes are minor ones. For the priest, however, the changes involve all
the Prayers and the
Eucharistic Prayers and are quite extensive.
Will there be a cost
involved?
Yes, Parishes will
need to budget for the cost of the new Missal and also for pew cards and
music for new Mass
settings.
How will we sing the
parts of the Mass when there are new words?
New Mass settings have
been written by Trinidadian and international composers. There is also
a chant setting in the
Missal.
Will Communion of the
Sick change?
Yes, wherever parts of
the Mass are used the words will change. Texts used at Weddings and
Funerals will also
change.
Why do we say consubstantial
in the Nicene Creed?
In the new translation
of the Nicene Creed, “consubstantial with the Father” replaces the
expression “of one
Being with the Father”, in speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. The
nature of the
relationship between God the Father and God the Son, and the truth of the Son’s
divinity, are most
important aspects of the Christian faith, and Councils such as Nicaea
(325ad) and Calcedon
(451ad) were held to address these questions and to discern and
express the orthodox
belief of the Church.
The difficulty in
expressing in an acceptable way the relationship between God the Father and
God the Son required
the early bishops and theologians to give new subtleties of meaning to
existing Greek and
Latin words. The expression “of one Being with the Father” in the current
translation of the
Nicene Creed is not always thought to convey the meaning of the Latin
consubstantialis, nor
indeed the original Greek homoousios which it referred to, in a
satisfactory way. Some
Latin words have meanings which are simply not readily translatable
into ordinary English.
The metaphysical concepts of “essence”, “being” and “substance”, of
which consubstantialis
and homoousios speak are not straightforward and in fact they are
easily misunderstood
because their theological meaning is not exactly the same as their
meaning in ordinary
English. “Consubstantial”, which has been chosen in the revised
translation of the
Creed’s Latin consubstantialis, has a genuine and distinct theological
meaning. It is not a
common word in English, but is being used to identify and express a
unique relationship.
Why is it that we say
“through my fault...” three times in the Confession... isn’t that too
repetitive?
The simplest answer
is, because that is what the Latin has ‐ but that does not really cast any
light on the matter.
Simple versions of the Confiteor are found from the 700s. The phrase
"mea culpa"
(through my fault) first appeared in about AD 1080, and it remained in this
single form in the
liturgies of the Carmelites and Dominicans until modern times, and in the
Roman missal until the
1500s. The version "mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" is attributed to St
Thomas Becket (died
1170). The triple form only entered the Roman Missal in 1570. We can
only speculate about
why it evolved into the triple form. It is sometimes said that we like to
tripled things in
honour of the Trinity, but intensifying by triplication seems to be a common
human practice. In
some contexts this results in the triple recitation of a whole prayer or an
action. Another
example of triple intensification in our liturgy actually predates the liturgy
because it is a direct
citation of Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Some three‐fold elements
result from reducing a
litany to its minimum form. The best example is "Lamb of God" which
we say three time, but
when it was introduced in about AD 800 it was as a litany sung
continuously until the
breaking of all the consecrated bread was finished. Other forms of
intensifying
triplication are found in our Mass, but with some variation each time, such as
in
the Roman Canon
(Eucharistic Prayer 1) "these gifts, these offerings, these unblemished
sacrifices".
Similarly on Good Friday we find the ancient Trishagion (Thrice‐holy) in "Holy
is God, Holy and
Mighty, Holy and Immortal." It appears that the role of such triplications
is
to intensify our focus
on some element. The repetition and expansion in "through my fault,
through my fault,
through my most grievous" thus has the effect of making us pause, in a
sense, to really acknowledge
what we are saying. It helps it "sink in", so to speak.
Why do we only say “It
is right and just” in the dialogue before the Preface of the
Eucharistic Prayer?
Again this translation
reflects the precise words of the Latin text. The Preface will then take
up this phrase and
repeat it as its opening words: “It is truly right and just, our duty and
salvation…” To
appreciate this connection between the words of the assembly and the
Preface, we need to
understand the role of the faithful in the Eucharistic Prayer – they are not
silent spectators, but
must be participants who make their thanksgiving to God. St. John
Chrysostom (died 407
ad) writes: “The offering of thanksgiving again is common, for the
priest does not give
thanks alone but all the people join him in doing so. Once they respond
by assenting that it
is ‘right and just’, he begins the thanksgiving”. Once the assembly has
assented that is right
and just to give thanks, the priest can begin the Eucharistic Prayer
because the assembly
provide living witness to his words of thanks. Because of the living
faith of the assembly,
“it is truly right and just” to give thanks to God.
Why is our response
now “And with your spirit” in the greetings?
This is an accurate
translation of the Latin text and is reflected in other language translations.
To understand this
translation it is helpful to look at the meaning of this phrase in our
tradition:
1. “In the most sacred
mysteries themselves (the Mass), the priest prays for the people who
in turn pray for him
since this is the meaning of the words, ‘And with your spirit’”, writes St.
John Chrysostom (died
407 ad).
2. Chrysostom also
writes, “If there were no Holy Spirit, there would be neither shepherds
nor teachers in the
Church ... You acclaimed, ‘And also with your spirit’. You would not have
done this unless the
Holy Spirit were actually dwelling within him”.
3. “They reply ‘And
with your spirit’. In this way they make known to the bishop and to all
that not only do
others need a blessing and the bishop’s prayer but that the bishop himself also
needs the prayer of
all… This is why the bishop blesses the people at the ‘peace’ and then
receives their
blessing as they respond, ‘And with your spirit’”. These words come from
Theodore of Mopsuestia
(died 428 ad).
Thus when the assembly
respond to the words, “The Lord be with you”, they communicate
something of mutual
importance between the ordained and themselves. They mutually
confirm the presence
of the Lord who unites them and who is the Supreme Celebrant of the
holy mysteries. This
is made possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit to the ordained and to the
faithful.
Apostles’ Creed - “He
descended into hell”
This brief and
matter-of-fact statement holds the promise of immense hope for believers. It asserts that Jesus
Christ not only died our death but also entered the realm of the dead and set them free. This “hell”
is not the hell of later popular imagination – the fiery hell of eternal
punishment – but the
hell of the scriptures, Hades or Sheol, the shadowy domain where the dead are spiritless
and lost, cut off from light and life. Dwelling with the dead Jesus brings his life-giving love
to bear on all the powers of darkness and disarms them. Nothing in the cosmos is excluded
from this victory, as Paul writes, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord” (Roms 8:38-39).
