The New Mass Translation - Lift Up Your Hearts

By Randy Sly
11/27/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The mainstream media loves controversy, even if they have to embellish it

The new translation of the Missal is a gift to the Church, bringing English-speaking Catholics back to a liturgy that is more unified linguistically with the rest of the Church while sharpening our theological language. Whatever the doomsayers are trying as insinuate, this is not "changing" the Mass but, rather, fixing it - getting it more in sync with the rest of the Catholic world.

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WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - At the Vigil Mass for the First Sunday of Advent history will be made in the Catholic Church in America. The Mass in English will be using the new Third Edition of the Roman Missal.

Many mainstream religion writers have tried to make the introduction of the new text a watershed moment in the Church where parishioners are going to walk out the doors over the drastic changes being made. Whether intentional or simply sensation-driven, such observations are far from accurate and completely miss the reason for the changes.

Camping at the doorstep of a few bishops who are critical of the new translation, they try to paint a horrific picture of what is going to take place. Beyond the standard attack on phrases like "And with your spirit," the finger is pointed at words like "consubstantial," "ineffable," "incarnate," "oblation," "ignominy" and "unvanquished."

"This is not the way we talk every day," they cry out.

This is true and much to the point. The new Mass text is not trying to take the liturgy to the picnic table in the backyard but to the Upper Room for the Last Supper.

As a Catholic, I take such criticism as an insult. In a sense the critics are saying, "We need to keep the liturgy dumbed down. Today the church is filled with ignorant people."

To the critics we should cry out, "I've got a dictionary!" If we need to find out what a words means we can look it up. We will be able, with an informed mind then, to encounter a liturgy that intends to more accurately take us into the presence of our Lord.

Throughout history the Church has always reminded us "lex orandi, lex credendi est," which means "the way we worship is the way we believe." Liturgy is not about talking with your neighbor over the fence but talking to and about God. This demands theological language that accurately expresses the fullness of the Christian faith.

The phrase "lex vivendi" is sometimes added to this, which implies that the end result will see seen in the way we live.

If we wanted to perpetuate the idea of a vernacular liturgy, in a next edition, when the priest says, "The Lord be with you," we could respond, "Back at ya!" or "Way!!" Much more up-to-date than "and also with you." Not only would we be contemporary but we would have drifted even farther from the true meaning of this liturgical exchange.

The new Missal is a gift to the Church, bringing English-speaking Catholics back to a liturgy that is more unified linguistically with the rest of the Church while sharpening our theological language.

Whatever the doomsayers are trying as insinuate, this is not "changing" the Mass but, rather, fixing it - getting it more in sync with the rest of the Catholic world.

For example, this will be the first time in 40 years, the Church will be in greater unity for worship.

The English Mass, as with Spanish, French, Italian or any other language, is a translation of the Latin Mass, the Missale Romanum. The previous English translation used a technique called "dynamic equivalence," which captures the overall meaning of a phrase in modern usage rather than translating the actual words. The problem with this is that the essential meaning of the text can be lost.

Let me give you an example of how dynamic equivalence can work using a Biblical text of the Annunciation - "Hail Mary Full of Grace, the Lord is with you." Translators, using this technique, could come back with "Hello lucky lady! God likes you."

In the Mass, the response in Latin, as well as other languages has always been "And with your spirit." Numerous articles have been written recently explaining why those words are important.

Now, the English-speaking world will be able to join with everyone else in saying the exact same thing. For the first-time in decades the Church will be in step with each other; there will be greater unity in our worship, not just with "And with your spirit," but in so many other places.

The same will be true with the creed. From its very origin, the creed has always begun, "I believe." The English-speaking Church, however, has said, "We believe." Beginning on the First Sunday of Advent we will join with everyone else and proclaim, "I believe." The "we" of the creed is still present because we are saying it together but the "I" indicates a personal ownership and embrace of the faith. I believe!

There are many other areas we could cover in terms of Biblical accuracy, etc. These points have been so well covered in other stories that there is no necessity to repeat them here.

The most important thing for Catholics this weekend is how we enter into the Mass not how much more do we need to know about it. All the catechesis in the world is not going to make a difference if the heart is not prepared to embrace it.

The mainstream media is hoping we will enter the Mass with anger and ...

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1 - 10 of 10 Comments

Kyle
1 year ago
"Whatever the doomsayers are trying as insinuate, this is not "changing" the Mass but, rather, fixing it - getting it more in sync with the rest of the Catholic world."

This is the reason that I am on the verge of "walking out the door." In addition to any problems I have with the new language, which are many, just the fact that the Mass I have celebrated for the past 30+ years has been labeled as somehow deficient is creating a real crisis in my spirit.

Mr. Sly seems to think that I only feel this way is because I don't own a dictionary, or that I'm too stupid to even open it, let alone read it. That I want to respond to the priest in rapper slang. Truly a deplorable, elitist argument to use against someone that only wants to continue hearing that Our Savior shed His blood for "all" rather than for "the many."
Judy
1 year ago
Please See and Read my post on: "The First Sunday of the Mass.. How Did It Go For You".
Great! "I" did, Lift My Heart Up To The Lord...but then, I always do. Blessings...
andrew
1 year ago
I couldn't help noticing that the children, including ours, were happily participating in the celebration of the Eucharist after a long time, freely and without the necessity of an odd glance from me. The children were awake, although I thought quite the opposite and so, I am glad and at peace. It is the step in the right direction for these times and the Church has wisely opted to do so.
Cyndith
1 year ago
I believe the new translation mass will be more appealing to future generations of Catholics- our children who struggle with terms that are so distant to them. While I love every word of the traditional mass, I was raised in a different world where the words made sense to me. If the mass is lost in translation to our descendents, the church will suffer. I will adapt if this bridges the generations and the mass thrives. It's so little to ask of me to better communicate God's word in today's world.

I remember my Grandmother's disapproval when the mass was no longer spoken in Latin. To her, the Latin words were the ultimate expression of faith. But the language discouraged converts who were not raised with the Latin tradition and who stumbled through the responses and hymns. Latin also proved to be barrier to children because the classes are not offered in schools anymore (unless it is private schools)

The words are not as important as the sacred actions of the mass and encouraging children and converts to understand what we are truly speaking in our responses and songs. If they understand, they will open their hearts and remain in the fold and I believe the new translation mass is an attempt to appeal to faithful Catholics and future Catholics.
Jason
1 year ago
My sentiments exactyly, Alan Helms. There were no problems at Mass for me today because it was the same Mass that has been offered for centuries.
Peter
1 year ago
As I had gotten literature of the new Mass ahead of time, I was prepared. I cared enough about it to LEARN. I am with the author; if I do not know a word, I have SEVERAL dictionaries in the house and at my office. This is not a hurdle, but an opportunity to deepen our knowledge of the English language, as well as our own Faith.
terre
1 year ago
How we worship and show our love for and to God is still personal and individual even within the outlines of the Mass. Seek God first and everything else will fall into place. Resisting change is a normal physical reaction. Praying and putting everything in Gods hands will then allow a spiritual response. Changing a few words or when we stand or sit does not change your heart connection to God.
abey
1 year ago
The main stream media loves controversy because they live by it .Their fodder arises out of sensationalism through gossip & exaggerations thus generating falseness, with least regard to the Truth, as the Bible says "The Prince of the power of air, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience"
Saint
1 year ago
I was disappointed in mass this weekend, 11/27/11. During the mass all the new responses sounded like "babble". Sure the new information is all there but I would estimate half the congregation did not use the new responses and the mass felt very akward. We left feeling embarassed in God's house because we weren't praising and thanking him.
Alan Helms
1 year ago
Why not just return to the Tridentine Latin Mass, which was said all over the world by all Catholics for centuries without problems, instead of trying to put a bandaid on a Protestantized "worship service" and "community supper" slapped together by hippies and Freemasons back in the 1960's? Then, all of these problems would go away, and Catholics would understand that the liturgy doesn't need to be constantly "updated" to accomodate modern language, philosophy, attitudes, and fashions. Wouldn't that be more appropriate for worshipping a timeless, unchanging God than the banal, fabricated Novus Ordo?

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