Preparing for The New Roman Missal, 3rd Edition.English

8/4/2019 Preparing for The New Roman Missal, 3rd Edition.English

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Preparing for the Roman

Missal, Third Edition:Why a New Translation?

Monsignor James P . Moroney



Beautiful, memorable, meaningful

Much has been learned in the past forty years about

how to achieve a translation which is at once beautiful,

memorable, and authentically expressive of the meaning

it attempts to convey. Thus has the Church spent the past

fifteen years studying the best way to achieve the best

translation of these sacred texts.

A proper understanding of these prayers and a popu-

lar appropriation of their meaning is essential if their full



spiritual and doctrinal effect is to be experienced by t

whole Church. Defective translations result in defecti

understandings of what we believe, while more authe

tic translations result in a more authentic renewal of tsacred liturgy and a healthier life of the Church.

The lessons learned by academia and the Church ov

these past forty years have now been applied to the so

to be published revised translations of the prayers

Mass. Through these more precise, beautiful, and mem

orable translations "Christ will be made present a

active in the midst of his people" (Pope Benedict XV

March 25, 2010).



It is the voice which proclaims who the Church is by

what she prays, lex orandi, lex credendi: a voice which

defines the Roman Rite and the faith she has received.

It is the most beautiful of all voices which has been sungthroughout the ages and which will be joined with angel-

ic choirs on the last day in an eternal hymn of praise.

It is the voice of the person who knows bow much he

needs God, and in his littleness seeks to praise the

majesty of the One in whose image he has been created.

It is the voice which is the source of every Christian

virtue and the summit of every Christian life.That is why the Church seeks to retranslate her

immemorial liturgy in a way which is authentic, beauti-



P repar ing for th e

New Rom an Missa l , Third Edi t ion :

"Con substan tia l w ith th e Fa th er"R om anus C essario , O.P.

Early on, Catholic parents teach their children to blesthemselves: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit." The spoken words and bodil

movement express Catholic belief in both the Hol

Trinity, the three-Person God, and the saving work oour Lord Jesus Christ. This familiar gesture introduces

the child into the central Christian mysteries that wi



Still, various errors spread throughout the Church,

first in the East and then in the West. The most

widespread of these heresies takes its name from a North

African priest named Arius. Arianism offered an easysolution to those who found it difficult to envisage Three

Persons in One God. The heresy also suited those who

found it hard to accept that God could become man and

still retain the fullness of divinity. Arians instead opted torevere Christ as a creature of God, albeit a very exalted

creature. They wanted to speak of Christ as "like" the

Father, one who resembled God. We still reject this Arian

error when at Mass on Sunday the Church confesses ofthe Eternal Son that he is "God from God,! Light from

Light,! true God from true God,/ begotten, not made ... "



Virgin Mary is fully God. As central as this belief remains

to the Christian faith, the word chosen to express the

sameness of the Son and the Father is a technical one

that requires explanation.

"Consubstantial with the Father"

For the last forty years or so, Catholics have become

accustomed to express their belief in the sameness of theFather and the Son by the expression, "one in Being with

the Father." This translation came about because certain

experts had opined that a literal translation of the Latin

term consubstanialem, that is, consubstanital, would btoo unfamiliar to the everyday churchgoer.



as "con-substantial." The Eternal Son, who was born of

the Virgin Mary, is neither "like" the Father nor "practi-

cally the same substance" as the Father. The Eternal Son

enjoys the very same substance as the Father. The Sonpossesses fully the Godhead of the Father. So today, the

Church again confesses in the English rendition of the

Creed that Jesus Christ is "consubstantial with the

Father."

Significance for Christian Life

Discussions of translation of official texts may seem to

interest only theologians and semantic experts. The factof the matter is that we are dependent upon certain

words in order to embrace the truth about the Catholic



Preparing fo r th e N ew Roman

Missal, Third Edi t ion:

T h e Im portan ce o f T ran s la tionFather George William Rutler

In any literature, translation is a dangerous minefield

So it shall be semper in saecula saeculorum, or, in othe

words, for ever. We could be more precise and say "to th

ages of ages," but that best makes sense if you ar

acquainted with Hebrew idioms. Or you could simpl

say "always" as does a translation we have been familia

with, but "always" sounds a bit curt. As a matter of fac



But such humility is rare, and rarer are such translations.

The Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc, part French himself,

tended to the opinion that decent translations are almost

impossible. His friend Ronald Knox was more optimistic

and thought that translating is a fine, if exacting, art and

he actually translated the Bible. Though he could read

ancient Greek as a child prodigy, he knew that a pun is

one thing that cannot be translated precisely because it is

a pun, and he knew that many expressions can mean

something very different if translated literally. This even

applies to the same language in various places. George

Bernard Shaw said that England and America are two

countries separated by the same language. In London,

unlike New York, it is a compliment to say that a lady is



the Church decided that a better translation was need

In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and

Discipline of the Sacraments spoke of "omission

errors which affect certain existing vernacular transtions" (Liturgiam Authenticam, 6). Now we are about

have an improved translation to be used wherever

Roman Rite is celebrated in English. As these texts

sacred and meant for worship, they are to be the best tcan be offered, just as with music and vestments a

architecture. This has been an eloquent emphasis

Pope Benedict XVI who understands how beauty

convert souls. Robert Frost said that poetry is what is lin translation. That need not be the case, but the ess



of the cloying diction, such as in the alternate opening

prayers and prefaces, that marked some earlier transla-

tions.

An elevated voice of praise

The two principles for translating sacred texts are: to

keep the meaning of original Latin texts, and to express

that meaning as beautifully as possible to the glory of God.This requires "the development of a sacral vernacular,

characterized by a vocabulary, syntax, and grammar that

are proper to divine worship" (Liturgiam Authenticam,

47). We shall now have texts like that, and translations

whose cadences can be chanted as should be the norm.

The first translation of the Mass was introduced sudden-



P r e p a r in g fo r th e Roman Missal,

Third Edition:

We Have Se e n H is G lo r yAnthony Esolen

After forty years of erring in a desert of vagueness

speakers of English will at last hear at Mass the fullnes

of the Church's great hymn of joy, the Gloria.

How does it begin? With the revelation of the angels t

those shepherds, keeping watch over their fields by nightAfter they tell these ordinary men that the long-awaited

Messiah has been born, and may be found in a stabl



We praise you,

we bless you,

we adore you,

we glorify you,

we give you thanks for your great glory.

Our cup runneth over. Let us take the verbs one by

one. We praise God. That is the fundamental response of

the creature to the Creator: it is the alleluia of createdbeing. We acknowledge that we in our nothingness

depend for our very existence upon the greatness, and

the great love, of the God whose "name" revealed to

Moses is the name beyond names, "I AM." Yet now theWord has dwelt among us in the flesh. Now we can utter

the Holy Name that means "salvation," the name of



Zeus or Apollo, for they are but human imaginations.

That he has a face means that he wants us to come t

him; we are made to love him, and to be loved by him, t

know him, even as we are known. And he sent his only

begotten Son among us, so that anyone who sees Jesu

sees the Father.

We glorify God. How hard it is in our drab world trecover the sense of glory! It is that splendor that wel

forth from the unfathomable beauty of the Lord. Me

and angels alone among created beings are stirred in th

depths of their being by radiant glory. The Messiah wa

to come, says Isaiah, unknown, unregarded, yet Pete



Re s t o r ed to wholeness

e rest of the Gloria too has been like a man with a

vithered hand. It has been restored to wholeness:

Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,

Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

you take away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us:

you take away the sins of the world,

receive our prayer:

you are seated at the right hand of the Father,

have mercy on us.

For those who think such language is redundant, I can

but shake my head in amazement. Is a second smile



Preparing for

the Roman Missal, Third Edition:

Two Significant Changes

Father Roch Kereszty, o. ClST. !D;etL~t l\ J bv ",,-I '~1I1 ""I ' ,'? Ir c:tv

The first English translation of the Roman Missal afterVatican II aimed at easy intelligibility in the vernacular,

putting greater value on what is called "functional equiv-

alence" with the original Latin than on word-far-word

fidelity. The resulting texts became quite understand-able, but often at the expense of the full richness and

meaning of the words that the Christians of the early



these are the words with which the angel greets Mary (Lk

1: 28). He states the fact that the Lord God is with Mary

in a uniquely intimate way - but he also expresses the

wish that the Lord may be even more powerfully present

in her when she will conceive the child Jesus in her

womb.

At several key points of the Mass, the celebrant also

states a similar fact, and expresses a similar wish. Thefact is that in the liturgical gathering of Christians the

Lord Jesus is already present among them. The wish is

that all the faithful may become more like Mary, so that

Christ may be shaped and formed inthem (cf. Gal 4: 19).Contrary to the popular assumption, in the response



an acknowledgement of the Lord Jesus' presence in the

congregation and the minister, and a wish that his pres-

ence may fill us with his Spirit and transform us unto his

image and likeness.

"For many"

The second possibly confusing change concerns the

priest's repetition of Christ's own words at the consecra-tion of the chalice. In the phrase "this is the cup of my

blood ... which will be shed for you and for all," the last

word will be changed from "all" to "many" (in accord

with the Latin term multis). When Pope Benedict explic-itly requested this change in translation, confusion arose



"many" means here an indefinitely large multitude con

sisting of both Israel and many other nations (52: 13,15)

The translation simply leaves open the (for us) innu

merable throng of those who accept in faith the blood o

Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. It would seem

that at the Last Supper Christ said "for you and fo

many" instead of "for you and for all" to remind us tha

the Eucharist is a covenant meal, one which must b

embraced by both the offerer and the recipient. Entry

into the New and Eternal Covenant is truly open to al

but the benefits of the Covenant belong to those whhave freely accepted it. Christ has shed his blood for al

but his offering is effective only for those who in fait



P r ep a r in g fo r th e

Roman M issal, Third Edition:

T h e N ew ly T ra n s la ted P r e fa ce sFather Uwe Michael Lang, CONGo ORAT.

I the early centuries of the Church, traditions dete

mining the structure and content of the eucharistprayer developed rapidly, but its exact wording was n

yet fixed. The celebrant bishop or priest had a certa

freedom to improvise within a framework of stable e

ments, which were, above all, biblically inspired atransmitted orally. Moreover, concerns for handing

the orthodox faith limited the liberty to vary the texts



Holy Spirit, for all his works: creation, redemption, and

sanctification. The whole community thus joins in the

unending praise that the Church in heaven, the angels

and all the saints, sing to the thrice-holy God" (1352).

Faithful and poetic

The introductory dialogue, which can be traced back

to Saint Cyprian of Carthage in the third century, con-cludes with the people's response "Dignum et iustum est,"

now translated succinctly as "It is right and just" instead

of the paraphrase "It is right to give you thanks and

praise." This response is then taken up by the celebrantin the first part of the preface itself (also known by its



Fullness of meaning

The central part (or «embolism") provides the motiv

why the Church renders praise and thanks to God o

this day and thus varies according to the liturgical seasoor feast that is celebrated. In Preface I of Advent, t

older translation illustrates the principle of «dynam

equivalence:' which aims at communicating the messag

contained in the original text by separating it from its liguistic form. In the process of translation, an equivale

form is to be created through which the original messag

can be adequately expressed. The essential ideas of t

Latin original are present: the Church recalls Christ's fir

coming in humility as the opening of God's plan of salv

tion, and looks in hope to his second coming in glory



God in heaven and invites the earthly community to

join in it, thus providing the transition to the Sanctus.

A characteristic feature of many prefaces is the reference

to the choirs of angels, which developed from the Church

Fathers' exegesis of Sacred Scripture. In the older version,

this was often translated in a summary fashion, and so

the biblical resonances were lost (e.g., Col I: 16). This has

been amended, and a fitting prelude to the great acclama-

tion of the thrice-holy God has been created:

And so, with Angels and Archangels,

with Thrones and Dominions,

and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven,

we sing the hymn of your glory

as without end we acclaim:



Preparing for the

Roman Missal, Third Edition:

Th e R om an R ite 's C o lle c tio n o f C o lle c ts

Christopher Carstens

"5 inging is a lover's thing:' says Saint Augustine. Inpray-

ing the Mass, the Bride of Christ not only worships God,

but sings from her heart to her loving Bridegroom, Christ

the Lord. From the Introductory Rites at the beginning

of the Mass, the Church prepares the faithful to join in

this great song of love. The last word and culmination

of these rites is the Collect, or Opening Prayer. For the



Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy

Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Inaddition to its structure, the Collect also employs

Latinate single-sentence structure known as «extende

subordination:' By weaving each part into a single whole

the single sentence connects each thought, sentimentand petition back to God, the source and goal of ever

prayer. Our modern way of speaking and hearing, o

the other hand, prefers a shorter, abbreviated structure

«(texting" is one such example, as in BTW for «by th

way"). In previous English editions of the Roman M issa

most Collects are two sentences rather than one. The new



The new translation of the Collect from the Vigil of

Pentecost pays attention to both elements - language and

register:

Almighty ever-living God,who willed the Paschal Mystery

to be encompassed as a sign in fifty days,

grant that from out of the scattered nations

the confusion of many tonguesmay be gathered by heavenly grace

into one great confession of your name.

In the Latin text of the Missal, "Pentecost:' a Greek

term meaning "the fiftieth day:' is rendered quinquagintadierum; and so, in the above prayer it is fittingly trans-

Sources of the Collect



More discernable in the new translation of the Collect

is their source in the Scriptures and tradition. Fo

example, Saint Paul reminds us that "What eye has noseen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered th

human heart, what God has prepared for those who lov

him:' is now revealed to us (1 Cor 2: 9-10). The Collec

for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time begins:o God, who have prepared for those who love you

good things which no eye can see,

fill our hearts, we pray, with the warmth of your love.

The Collect in this instance intones the passage from

Saint Paul's Letter almost verbatim, rooting us and ou



Preparing for the

New Roman M issa l, Th ird Edition :

Why Is There a Revised Edition?Father Dennis McManus

There is only one reason why the Church changes t

liturgy: to help us celebrate the mysteries of our redemp

tion more deeply. No matter the kind of change - mus

cal, ritual, or textual - the Church's motive is always

strengthen our unity with Christ, whose prayer befo

the Father has become our own in every liturgy.

choice to follow Christ an intensely personal one. In the



dark years of World War II, many Christians failed to live

their faith and often lost it as a result. One of John

Paul II's remedies for this modern kind of disbelief was

to insist that each of us take ownership of our own faith

by professing it at Mass as individuals. So, in place of

the usual plural, "We believe," the new translation of the

Creed will restore the ancient, singular form of "I

believe" - reminding us of the need to keep our faith

strong by keeping it personal. As Thomas More concludes

in the great film, A Man for All Seasons, when it comes to

faith, what's important is not simply "that I believe it, but

that I believe it!"

In just the same way, the Church will intensify our

beginning on the first Sunday of Advent in the year 2011.



Most of these changes will affect only the priest or dea-

con, while a few others will alter some of the more famil-

iar parts of the Mass for all of us. In every instance, the

Church will challenge us to pay more attention to how

we pray, and to deepen our understanding of what we

pray.

Another goal of the new translation is to highlight bib-lical texts and allusions throughout the prayers at Mass.

One example is especially powerful for its pairing of two

unlikely Gospel voices. We hear the first of these when

the priest holds up the body and blood of Christ after theLamb of God and says, "Behold the Lamb of God, behold

him who takes away the sins of the world!" Here, it is

Meeting the needs of the faithful



Some new elements have also been added to the

Roman Missal for new occasions, such as prayers over

the people at the end of Masses in Lent; the celebrationof vigil Masses on the evenings before the feasts of the

Ascension and the Epiphany; new blessings at Masses for

the sick and the dying, and some revised rubrics for the

many celebrations of Holy Week. These kinds of addi-tions help to update the Roman Missal, as the Church

stays current with the best ways to meet the needs of the

faithful in every season of life.

One of the most important goals of the Church's

reforms following the Second Vatican Council was to



Preparing for the Roman M issal,

Third Edition:

Sensing the SacredJames Monti

We render unto God here on earth what is right-

fully his particularly in the Mass. Pope Benedict XVI

has observed that "the Liturgy is not about us, but about

God." That which is "about God" is what we call sacred.

The sacred testifies to the eternal, to unchanging truths,

to the things of heaven. It is distinct from what is purely

earthly or temporal. Hence what is sacred calls for adistinct form of human expression, a different way of

We thus come to the essence of why our Holy Father



has given us a new translation of the Mass of Pope Paul

VI. The textual changes are diverse, but they all contri-

bute toward one harmonious end: to deepen the sense of

the sacred. Of course, such a reform implies that therewas a need for a "course correction" over what existed

before. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of great unrest

in the world and within the Church. Inthis turgid atmo-

sphere, some sought to push the envelope of liturgicalchange well beyond the revisions promulgated by Pope

Paul VI in his missal of 1970.

Restoring a sense of the sacredThe new translation restores to the liturgy such mean-

not a prayer, in contrast to the others - the three to be



retained - which are salutations addressed to Christ,

fittingly welcoming him moments after the miracle o

transubstantiation has made him present on the altar a

the consecration (third memorial acclamation: "Save usSavior of the world ...").

Why we need a heightened sense of the sacred

Some object to a "literal" translation of the Latin textbecause, they complain, the Latin text contains exces

sively long sentences and unfamiliar theological terms.

As for the first objection, the Letters of Saint Paul contain

many a long sentence. As for the second objection, if theliturgy introduces us to unfamiliar expressions not found

in ordinary conversation, we should see this not as an





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