Order of the Mass (New Translation Catechesis Part I)(Catholic Caucus)

Soon - probably in a year's time - we will have a new translation of the Roman Missal, approved by Vatican authorities and ready for use in the United States. At their annual November meeting that just concluded, the U.S. bishops approved the last section of the translation and forwarded it to the Vatican, where the rest of the translation has already been received and reviewed. Once the "recognitio" (approval) is given, it should take, we are told by publishers, about a year for the new text to be fittingly prepared and published.

In light of this coming new translation, I thought it would be helpful in our review of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to take a look once again at the Order of the Mass.

"At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood." This firmly held teaching of the Church, repeated in the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (47), is reaffirmed in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1323) and the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (Ch. 17, "Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Christian Life"). Every time we celebrate Mass, we do what Christ did at the Last Supper and what the Church has done at every Eucharist century after century from the rising to the setting of the sun in every part of the world. St. Thomas Aquinas sums up this mystery: "It [the Mass] is nothing else than the sacrifice which Christ himself offered."

Perhaps because we have such ready access to Mass and are so familiar with it, we can be tempted to take it for granted. Worse yet, we may be lax in our participation in this great gift. The more we learn about what actually takes place in the Eucharist the more we should desire it.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the celebration of the Eucharist is the fact that it has changed so little over twenty centuries. Its essential elements are found in the gospel narratives of the institution of the Eucharist. The liturgical structure of that celebration developed very rapidly in the early life of the Church and has changed only imperceptibly since. Even in many of the details, we find in the celebration of the Liturgy today an identity with what went before us for so many centuries.

In speaking about the continuity of the celebration of the Liturgy today with the most ancient forms, the Catechism holds up for examination the text of St. Justin Martyr: "As early as the second century, we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration. They have stayed the same until our own day for all the great liturgical families" (1345).

St. Justin Martyr was a devout follower of the Lord, convinced that he could bring others to the practice of the faith by explaining to them what Christians believe and how we worship. What we know about St. Justin has to be pieced together from various sources and writers. We are told that he was a Roman citizen. We also read that he was educated in Greece and there would have studied logic, philosophy and literature and would have come into contact with many of the leading currents of thought that swept the Mediterranean world.

Sometime around the year 155, he wrote to the pagan emperor Antoninus Pius, who reigned from 138 to 161, explaining what Christians did when they celebrated the Eucharist. In the Catechism there is a step by step outline in the words of St. Justin Martyr (1345). Were you to take this text and line it up against the Order of Mass that we use today, you would find very little difference and that only in the details.

In July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI, in his apostolic letter, Summorum Pontificium, highlighted the continuity of the Eucharistic Liturgy by pointing out that even in the face of numerous changes over the centuries in the Order of Mass, the differences we experience today between the 1962 Ordo and the 1970 Novus Ordo are expressions of the one same Eucharistic Liturgy.

As we learn in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the Church has always taken Christ's command to prepare the large furnished room where he would celebrate the Passover meal with them and institute the sacrifice of his body and blood as bearing on its own responsibility to give directions concerning the preparation of the minds of the worshippers and the place, rites and text of the celebration of the holy Eucharist. The norms that are used in the missal for the celebration of the Mass according to the Roman Rite "are also evidence of the great concern of the Church, of her faith, and of her unchanged love for the great mystery of the Eucharist" (1).

While the order of the Mass has experienced change over the two millennia of the celebration of the Eucharist in memory of Christ, when we come together at the table of the Lord we gather in the spirit of unity and faith. The Sunday celebration of the Eucharist commemorates the Resurrection of Christ and is therefore for Christians the Lord's Day, our holy day, the time to celebrate the memorial of his death and Resurrection that Christ asked us to do in his memory.

Jeez - I just don’t really understand the need to change the mass - so many young people don’t come to church frequently if ever and if they do and it is all different I think it will be a turn off. Shouldn’t the church try to keep people interested instead of turn them off - I don’t know any latin and don’t feel I need to to enjoy and benefit from going to Sunday mass. Can someone enlighten me?

There are a number of areas in the current Ordo that were translated incorrectly from the authoritative Latin. Some quick highlights, just off the top of my mind:

You know the standard greeting exchange: "The Lord be with you" "and also with you" -- in the Latin (as well as every other language), the response is actually "and with your spirit"

Right now, the penitential rite says: "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, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord, our God."

In the Latin, it should be rendered: "I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God."

In the Gloria, the current translation has "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth."

It should say, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will."

Right now, the Credo is translated: "We believe." It should be "I believe."

There are a large number of other errors that were inserted when the Novus Ordo was translated into English. This corrects the vast majority of them.

You said, so many young people don’t come to church frequently if ever and if they do and it is all different I think it will be a turn off.

I would say in return that there will be some issues for a few months, you are right about that. But it is important to understand that the only catechesis that the vast majority of people have after they get done with CCD (and perhaps, if their parents don't stress for the kids to be confirmed, the only catechesis they have since first communion) is through the Liturgy of the Mass. In my opinion, it is far more important to make sure that the order of Mass is correct. There are subtle doctrinal issues that arise from a bad translation...and those creep into peoples' beliefs from that translation.

FWIW

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.