Liturgy Lines
(Liturgy Lines are short 500-word essays on liturgical topics written by Elizabeth Harrington, The Liturgical Commission’s education officer. They have been published every week in The Catholic Leader [Brisbane] since 1999. They may be reproduced by parishes for private non-commercial use, provided that the copyright line is retained
New Words for Worship Part 21 (part 1 re-edited 10th July 2011)
The question asked most frequently at a series of workshops I presented recently was “Why is the Missal being changed (when the one we have been using for nearly 40 years is perfectly fine)?” There are two reasons why a new English language edition of the Missal was compiled.
Firstly, the English text we presently use is a translation of the first Latin edition produced soon after the second Vatican Council. In the years since, a number of additional texts have been made available for use in the Mass. These include new Eucharistic Prayers and Prefaces, more Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Masses for over 20 new saints (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross – better known as Edith Stein – and St Pio of Pietrelcina – better known as Padre Pio, for example), and some revisions of the rubrics (instructions) for the celebration of the Mass.
During the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II announced that a 3rd edition of the Roman Missal incorporating these additions was to be issued. Once that text was published, conferences of Bishops had to begin the work of preparing vernacular translations of this official text.
Secondly, the Missal and all the other liturgical books we currently use were very quickly translated from Latin into English after the Second Vatican Council. It was soon recognised that there would have to be a revision at some stage. The original translators believed that simple grammar and vocabulary were necessary to make the oral texts easily understood. After 40 years of using vernacular texts, it is clear that people can understand more complex language than that used in everyday conversation.
The revision process began in 1983 and after very many years of painstaking translation work by ICEL members, a new Missal was presented to the Holy See in 1998. Rome did not approve that revision and a new one was commissioned. This new version was to be based on different principles and rules of vernacular translation of the Roman liturgy as outlined in the instruction Liturgiam Authenticam, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship in 2001.
Liturgiam Authenticam directed translators to make the English text follow more closely the original Latin in its wording and structure, to strengthen the scriptural language and imagery in the texts and to re-introduce some theological vocabulary that may have been lost over years. It advocates a ‘vernacular of a sacred style’ that differs from the usual manner of speech. This means that the language of the new Missal will be markedly different from what we use now.
Across the English speaking world the new edition of the Roman Missal will, therefore, contain both new material and a new style of translation. A significant number of our prayer texts have changed – sometimes by just a few words or in the word order. Prayers that we have become used to reciting by memory will need to be relearned. Prayers that we are used to hearing the priest say will sound different to us. The style of language we will hear and pray may seem more formal and perhaps, in parts, more complex. But over time, with the praying of these texts, the sound of the Mass will again become familiar.
New Words for Worship Part 23: Revised Eucharistic Prayers
The third edition of the Roman Missal in English currently being implemented in Australia and other English-speaking countries contains 10 Eucharistic Prayers: Eucharistic Prayers I-IV, Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation I-II and Eucharistic Prayers for use in Masses for Various Needs I-IV.
The words of the new Eucharistic Prayers offer some challenges. These explanations prepared by my colleague, Rev Dr Tom Elich, might help to make them words of worship.
Elect. In the third Eucharistic Prayer, this word is used to identify those whom God has chosen to enter the Kingdom of God. The examples which follow include the Virgin Mary, the blessed apostles, the glorious martyrs, and all the saints.
Merit to be coheirs. This phrase from the Second Eucharistic Prayer asks that we be joint heirs with the saints to eternal life. We merit this not by any work of our own, but by God’s mercy. The idea of eternal life as our inheritance is used again in the third Eucharistic Prayer (we may obtain an inheritance with your elect) and in the fourth Eucharistic Prayer (enter into a heavenly inheritance).
Oblation. An offering to God, a term closely related to ‘sacrifice’. Both can be either what is offered or the act of offering something to God. The oblation of your Church in Eucharistic Prayer III is not just the bread and wine, but the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood. Thus our offering is the same as that of the Cross when Christ offers himself to the Father. So we ask God to recognise in our offering at the altar Christ’s offering on the cross.
Order of Bishops. Holy Orders include three degrees – deacon, priest and bishop. ‘Order’ is used to name a class or rank in a hierarchy. So we say that those who are seeking baptism are part of the Order of Catechumens in the Church. As a collective noun for bishops, it expresses the unity represented by the bishops around the world – successors to the apostles – with the Bishop of Rome as the centre point. We use the term ‘collegiality’ for this shared leadership of service in the Church.
Passion. This has nothing to do with Mills-and-Boon Romantic novels. It is used in our Eucharistic Prayers as a general term encompassing the suffering and death of Christ.
Sacrifice of our Reconciliation. Sacrifice is an offering made to God, intended to establish a rapport between heaven and earth. Christ offers his life to God on the cross and, since the divine and human come together in the person of Christ, this is the ultimate act of reconciliation. ‘Reconciliation’ is one of the strongest ways of describing what Christ has done for us: this is the new covenant of love which binds us to God.
Sacrificial Victim. This is easily misunderstood today because we speak so often of victims of crime or a ‘poor-me’ victim mentality. In the Eucharistic Prayers it has a more technical sense. ‘Victim’ is closely related to sacrifice as the adjective helpfully indicates. The Latin word is actually Hostiam from which we get the word ‘host’ and is sometimes simply translated as ‘sacrifice’. (ED…..not to be confused with the translation, shortly to be used in the Sanctus, of the Hebrew expression “Y**H God of Armies” as “Lord God of Hosts“)
copyright: The Liturgical Commission
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Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury 