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THE BISHOP'S VOICE: Embracing the New Roman Missal, Pt. 1
In just five short weeks, on the First Sunday of Advent, Catholics throughout the United States and in most of the English-speaking world will begin to use a new translation of the prayers of the Mass. Many of the new translations will affect only the prayers that are spoken by the priest or deacon, but some of the changes will call for the entire assembly to learn and become familiar with new words.
Forty-eight years ago, the fathers of the Second Vatican Council called for a reform of the church’s liturgy that would promote the “full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy” (Constitution on the Liturgy, 14). Among the reforms called for by Vatican II was the translation of the prayers of the liturgy from Latin, the only language in which the church prayed for most of her history, into the languages spoken by Catholics in the various countries of the world.
Following the promulgation of the Constitution on the Liturgy in 1963, there was a great demand for the work of translation to be done. In 1969, the first typical edition of the Missal of Pope Paul VI was published. The rites of the Mass were revised, and the missal was translated into English. At that time, those involved in the translation of the Mass — and the other liturgical rites — understood clearly that in time all the translations would need to be reviewed and redone. Long overdue, that time has now come.
The question I hear most from Catholics is, “Why?” Why do we need a new translation of the prayers of the Mass when most people seem happy with the translation we have? Let me cite two reasons.
First, the principle that guided the 1969 translation was known as dynamic equivalence. Simply stated, this form of translation sought to capture the meaning of the Latin text, but did not necessarily translate the text. As a result, the texts were easy to understand, but often failed to carry all the Latin words — and hence the full meaning and power of the prayers — over into the vernacular.
The liturgical prayers of the church very often make use of Sacred Scripture, but many of those scriptural texts did not make it into the earlier translation. You will notice that these are restored in the new translation. For example, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you . . .,” spoken before the reception of Holy Communion, is now “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof . . .” These words not only translate the original Latin, but they are the very words of the centurion that were spoken to Christ (cf. Mt 8:8). We should never set aside the inspired words of Sacred Scripture in favor of a paraphrase.
There is another reason why a new translation of the missal was needed. In an attempt to produce a Mass translation that was clear and easy to understand — although not always precise — the translators of 1969 gave us a rather pedestrian-sounding set of prayers. They were substantially devoid of the poetry that is at the heart of the Roman way of praying. The sentences were short and clipped. They reflected the manner in which human beings speak to one another, but they were not the kinds of words that one speaks to God.
Immediately noticeable in the new translation will be a certain elegance of style. And not only elegance, but also power, imagery and cadence. Compare the translations of the Collect (Opening Prayer) of the First Sunday of Advent:
OLD TRANSLATION
All-powerful God/increase our strength of will for doing good/ that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming/and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven.
NEW TRANSLATION
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God/the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming/so that, gathered at his right hand/ they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.
The new translation fills us with expectation and joy as we behold Christ coming to us, and as we run to meet him. No longer will we simply tell God to increase our strength of will. Now we will actually pray for that resolve. Praying, begging and imploring will once again be a standard part of our prayers. Note also that “righteous deeds” were formerly simply “doing good.” Righteous deeds are deeds of justice. We pray the Lord to make us a people who seek after justice in this world.
As is the case with anything new, the newly-translated prayers of the Mass will take some getting used to. But let’s hope that we don’t get too used to them too quickly. Now we have occasion to give renewed attention to the words we use to pray. And, in fact, this is the goal of any renewal of the liturgy: that we might give our minds and hearts more conscientiously to the prayers that we offer to God.
Bishop Sheridan will continue his reflections on the new translation of the Roman Missal in the next issue of The Colorado Catholic Herald.
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