How true! This is precisely what I found in the Divine Liturgy celebrated in the Maronite Catholic Church. Words matter ... as they express our heartfelt emotions.
…. The liturgy creates a universe brimming with fruitful spiritual life, and allows the soul to wander about in it at will and to develop itself there. ….
The liturgy has no purpose, or at least, it cannot be considered from the standpoint of purpose. It is not a means which is adapted to attain a certain end — it is an end in itself." Excellent and exactly correct.
…. The liturgy creates a universe brimming with fruitful spiritual life, and allows the soul to wander about in it at will and to develop itself there. ….
The liturgy has no purpose, or at least, it cannot be considered from the standpoint of purpose. It is not a means which is adapted to attain a certain end — it is an end in itself."
Excellent and exactly correct.
Without deliberate exercise of the Spirit, the flesh will eventually overtake.
Agreed. And I’m not so sure there were no bad motives.
For instance, “Et cum spirito tuo” in the ICEL translation is, “And also with you.”
What was wrong with the obvious translation: “And with thy spirit”?
“Thy” is no longer commonly used in English, but everyone knows what it means. Its equivalent is still is in use in most modern European languages other than English, and represents the familiar form of the second person, as opposed to the more polite and distant “you.”
More significant is the omission of the word “spirit.” It would hardly seem accidental that the word “spirit” was omitted EVERYWHERE from the Mass. Could it be that the chief translaters such as Donald Trautman didn’t believe in such a thing as “spirit”? It certainly looks like it.
British Catholics sometimes refer to this as the loss of Smells and Bells.
That's a new one to me.
Sed contra: ...
Sure, we should always give God our best, and the liturgy ought to be an instance of that.
Sure, the words, the setting, the music all matter.
BUT the gift of the Secred Body and Precious blood is beyond all else. And in a pig-sty, with words written by inarticulate clowns or, worse, even by the translators of the NAB it is still the “still point” of the turning world, the focus of the saving act of God.
So, let’s make the setting as excellent as possible. But this diamond would shine in a ring from a Crackerjacks box.
**But Christ did not give us the liturgy to be a message-delivery system. **
Great statement!
Here we go with the real purpose of the Liturgy of the Mass!
Next day BUMP!
We had a priest, who was on the committee, come to our Parish and give a talk about the need for the changes. He said much of what this article said, and the folks in our Parish enjoyed hearing the explanations. We had a couple of hundred people total in the two nights on which he spoke, and we were surprised that many showed up!