The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061012.cfm

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

196 days have passed since Catholics in the United States began using the new translation of the Roman Missal. Our bishops were determined to learn from the mistakes of the past, and that we should be thoroughly prepared for that First Sunday of Advent. Bishops, priests, deacons, readers, musicians, singers and congregations should at least understand what the new expressions were; and, hopefully, what they meant. As with nearly everything religious, everyone had strong feelings on the matter; and almost everyone wanted to share them.

Overall, (I speak for myself), the transition seemed to go pretty well. Congregations struggled gamely with “And with your spirit;” the absence of some words and the addition of others. Parodies of the new words abounded on the Internet, and copies were distributed around dinner tables. I found the laughter helpful. Anything that’s truly good -- whether it be Edvard Munch’s The Scream, the Mount Rushmore statues, or Star Wars – deserves a parody.

As we began this process, I decided to express my own pique by reading the translation precisely, word-for-word, from start to finish; and let the chips fall where they will (but not the sacred crumbs). I had hoped to know the new expressions and free myself from slavishly reading the text by the First Sunday of Advent, 2013; but I’m not sure that will happen. That privilege may be reserved for the younger, fresher brains that will be ordained in the coming years. Fortunately I can bring my love of oratory and antique English to the effort.

Three things I have noticed:

1)  The Collects – formerly known as Opening Prayers – don’t seem to pile words on words as they used to. I never liked those opening prayers. They didn’t reflect the readings from the Lectionary, and still don’t. But the words now seem to be going somewhere toward a satisfying sentence with a spiritual meaning. This is because long Latin sentences tend to save their verbs for the latter part of the sentence, whereas English uses them sooner.

2)  I still don’t know why the Collect finishes with a partial sentence. The latter part of the prayer usually begins with, “Through our Lord Jesus Christ” etc. There is a theological explanation; I probably heard it; but I didn’t get it then and I still don’t.

3)  Finally, I have found in the new translation a stronger sense of the Church’s worthiness to celebrate the Mass and invoke God’s blessings. It may have been there in the old translation but I notice it more clearly now. For instance, the second Eucharistic Prayer now reads:

a.  Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection, we offer you, Lord, the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation, giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you.
The former translation read: In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread, this saving cup. We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you.

I can’t say why held us worthy is better, but I like it.

b.  Notice also that the former translation said we were standing in the Presence when, in fact, the priest was the only one standing! Did that mean all the kneeling people had not been found worthy? 

The new translation more accurately admits that we are in the Presence.

c.  If God deems us worthy to be here, we can drop our pretensions of unworthiness; although holy fear will still use the expressions as we approach the distribution of the Eucharist.

Personally, I don’t mind the stiffness (or stuffiness) of the new translation. Americans have a passion for informality that often steps over the boundaries of good taste. I prefer infinitives that are not split and sentences that don’t end with a preposition. People can go to ball games in tank tops and undershirts; they might even greet the President of the United States in torn blue jeans and filthy t-shirts; but let them dress up for Sunday worship. (And cover their tattoos, please!) Just because God hangs nakedly on the cross before us doesn’t mean we should appear that way.

On this feast of Corpus Christi we thank God for insisting that we should come and worship him: 

Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Matt 13:17)