Another Highlight

Today I went to daily Mass at St. Joseph's and discovered another great change in the new translation. In Eucharistic Prayer 3, the previous line was "may He [Jesus] make us an everlasting gift to you..."

The new line now has "eternal offering." I don't mind too much about everlasting/eternal, although the latter seems to point more directly to heaven than the former. The main thing that stood out was the word "offering." Gift is a synonym of offering in some senses, but they're not an exact match. An offering brings more baggage, so to speak. All the Old Testament sacrificial offerings (most notably the Passover lamb) come to mind. The word "offering" also brings up the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary... and our participation in it!

1 Cor 10: 16-18 "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?"

Col 1:24 "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church"

With these two passages, St. Paul is trying to convey how intimately we're involved in the sacrifice of Jesus. We're not just outside observers! We are partners in the sacrifice and we can take our own sufferings and offer our sacrifices in union with Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.

Having "offering" in Eucharistic Prayer 3 adds layers of richness to the words.

New Liturgical Year, New Translation for Mass!

Today is the first Sunday of Advent! Gone is the season of Ordinary Time... gone are green vestments... the apocalyptic readings of the past month have taken a back seat to the great time of preparation. Also gone is the translation of the Mass that was used for my entire life. It's a bit surreal to think about, not to mention that this will be the translation of the Mass that I'll hear until I die. The third edition of the Roman Missal was used today at our parish for the first time--and I have a number of thoughts about it. Here they are, in no particular order of importance.

• I've read a lot of articles and blog posts on this subject, and there's frequent mention of the passing of the previous translation as if a loved one had died. There were other less charitable comments sniping at the Magisterium, infuriated that the bishops didn't ask them about their feelings on changing the translation. My experience has been nothing like that, however. I can't relate to either of those at all... and the "pastoral sensitivity" reflex I gained in the seminary screams at me, that I'm wrong for not relating to those feelings. I don't feel guilty in this case, however. In fact, I look with a degree of scorn on ICEL of the 1960s and the authoring of the previous translation. I don't have a problem with Magisterial authority that promulgated the old translation. I do have a problem that ICEL left out words, phrases, and watered the prayers of the Mass down. Hearing some of the more poetic language today (in addition to bigger, theological words like 'consubstantial'), regaining the riches of the Latin text... LOOK AT WHAT WE'VE BEEN MISSING FOR 40 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can dismiss me as a church geek but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. (shout out to Fr. Brooks Beaulaurier!)
• One of the best quotes I found about the above sentiment is a brief quote from a "First Things" article by Wolfhart Pannenberg, quoted in the Magnificat companion. I believe he said it so well that I need not comment about it: "The absolutely worst way to respond to the challenge of secularism is to adapt to secular standards in language, thought, and way of life. If members of a secularist society turn to religion at all, they do so because they are looking for something other than what that culture already provides." (full article here)
• As I experienced greater liturgies as a result of my time in the seminary, I started to view the style of Mass I saw from my youth as very horizontal. Yes, the horizontal dimension of the liturgy is very important... but it's secondary to the vertical dimension. We don't come to pat ourselves on the back or be in community: we come to worship God. Every other aspect of the Mass flows out of that. The language of the new translation seems to recapture the vertical dimension. It was never absent (nor could it be) but it was not highlighted as prominently.
• One of my favorite lines was: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb." Love it on multiple levels! For one, this is cool for me because I'm reading through the Book of Revelation right now. The "supper of the Lamb" comes right from Revelation, referring to the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rev 19:9). Secondly, I like how it highlights the marriage/wedding imagery of the covenant between Christ and his Church. I love the intimacy of the image... and it means so much more to me now that I've been married for a little over a year. I have a better picture of the love God has for me because of the love that my wife has showed me.
• Fr. Philip, our pastor, noted some things about the new translation that were worth writing down. He related a point from a talk by Fr. Jeremy Driscoll, a.k.a. best teacher ever: elements of the prayers come directly from Jesus (the institution narrative at the last supper), directly from St. Paul's pen (the introduction to the Mass, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you..."), and come from the history and tradition of the Church. How amazing is that???? The Roman Missal is so much bigger than us! (my words, not Fr. Philip's, lest he get in trouble) We can't forget in the varied reactions to the new Missal that it transcends country, century, and culture! When we participate in Mass every week, we are joined to the one Eucharistic sacrifice; we are in mystical communion with the Holy Trinity, the Angels, the Communion of Saints, and with every Mass said "from the rising of the sun to its setting" (Euch. Prayer 3, Mal 1:11). To quote The Matrix, that'll bake your noodle. What an amazing blessing that the Church cares so much about the Mass that she has given us this new translation to better enter into it!

I don't always speak my mind such, especially on the first bullet point. Pressing the 'publish post' button makes me a little nervous. If anyone other than my parents, father-in-law, and sister reads this and would like to discuss it further, please, let's discuss! I'd ask your gracious consideration of my opinion and I will return the favor.

Light Bulb Moments

I thought I'd set a personal record for posting twice in one week. As I was reading the Book of Revelation, I had one of those "light bulb" moments. In cartoons since I was a kid, if any character died or pretended to die, an angel-version of that character (Wiley Coyote, for example) with wings and a harp would slowly ascend up to heaven. I never thought much of it. There are angels in heaven, harps are peaceful instruments, heaven is peaceful; there you go!

In Revelation, St. John has a number of visions of heaven. In Rev 14:2, he describes a voice coming from heaven that "was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps." Later in Rev 15:2, there are "those who had conquered the beast... with harps of God in their hands."

I found that very interesting! What better place to look for a visual image of death & heaven than the book of Revelation? I don't know what it says about me that my first thought was in the direction of cartoons rather than anything pious. Still, I think it's a reasonable conclusion that someone on the Looney Tunes animation team was a Christian. There may be other reasonable explanations, but I haven't consulted the omnicient Google yet...