Fr. German’s Message
Beginning with Sunday, November 27th, 2011, the first Sunday
of Advent and first Sunday of the new Liturgical Year B, the new English
translation of the Roman Missal will be used in all Masses celebrated in
English.
Beginning with the first weekend of August, we started a series of
messages related to the changes in this
new English translation. These
reflections can help us understand the liturgy of the Mass and to better participate in it.
There are some words that have
changed in the new English
version for the response of the faithful to the invitation before the Eucharistic prayer, for the dialogue before the preface and for the Sanctus.
The response of the faithful to the invitation before the Eucharistic prayer.
May
the Lord accept
the sacrifice at your hands for the praise
and glory of His
name, for our
good and the
good of all
His holy
Church.
The word in bold print corresponds
to the change in relation to the former translation which we use today.
The word holy that was added
invites
us to recognize the holiness of the Church.
The Church has made mistakes through history and John Paul II
recognized it when he asked forgiveness for the mistakes of the past. Being governed by and consisting
of men and women, the Church can’t escape these imperfections of our humanity.
But when we affirm the holiness of the Church we proclaim that the
Holy Spirit is present in this imperfect
Church which is on its pilgrimage to heaven. The Church
is holy because she receives and
distributes the Holy Spirit
when she celebrates the sacraments.
The dialogue before the preface.
Besides the change: And
with your spirit, which we explained in
the bulletin of August 6th/7th, there is a small change in the third part
of the dialogue between the priest and the congregation before the preface.
From now on, the faithful will answer:
It is right
and just.
This change was made to bring the
translation closer to the original Latin version used for
centuries.
The Sanctus.
At the end of the preface and before the Eucharistic prayer, the priest invites the assembly to join
the angels and archangels to praise the Lord.
The Sanctus is a repetition of the song of the angels as it appears
on Isaiah 6,3.
The new English version reads:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts ... Now we are closer to the praise of the angels in the Old Testament.
The celebration of the Mass reminds us that the
sacrifice of Christ is the
fulfillment of the promise in the Old Testament and that the veneration
of the angels of the Old Testament continues with the veneration of the
Christians
in the
Eucharist.
Have a great week
Fr. Germán September 3rd/4th 2011