From the Pastor’s Desk June 22, 2014 Last Sunday, Trinity Sunday, the opening prayer at Mass said: “God, Our Father, by sending into the world the Word of Truth and the Spirit of Sanctification made known to the human race your wondrous mystery, grant us we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.” When I first read this, it occurred to me that the awkward sentence structure was difficult to follow because it is not the way that we normally construct good English grammar. It also occurred to me that many people might not pick up on the fact that “the Word of Truth and the Spirit of Sanctification” are references to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So I took it upon myself to add the words Jesus and the Holy Spirit to the opening prayer. In fact, I make similar editorial changes to the prayers of the Mass when the meaning of what is being conveyed is obscured by the language that is being used. Some pundits have referred to the new prayers of the Mass that were recently promulgated as “Latinglish,” referencing the way that Latin sentence structures are carried over into modern English with very awkward results. Before the new prayers of the Mass were issued several years ago, the opening prayer on Trinity Sunday said: “Father, you sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us holy. Through them we come to know the mystery of your life. Help us to worship you, one God in three persons, by proclaiming and living our faith in you. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.” In the newer version, the last line is not even a sentence and the body of the prayer has such an unusual sentence structure that it is very difficult to pray it as it is written. As a priest and a pastor, it is important for me to be in accord with what the Church teaches. It is also incumbent upon me to celebrate Mass with dignity and a solemnity that the Eucharistic Liturgy demands. Intelligibility by the faithful, therefore, is a very important value and one, which, in my estimation, trumps a rigid adherence to the explicit words of the Mass. So, on a regular basis, I pray the prayers of the Mass in a way that is congruent with what we are doing, namely praying that we, as the Church, can be devoted to God in a whole hearted way. This is in bold contrast to praying that “she” (meaning the Church) might be devoted to God in a wholehearted way, as if to suggest that somehow those who are praying are outside of the “she.” In praying the Mass in this way, I know I am outside the strict observance of what is required. But in so doing, I am able to pray in a way that is inclusive of all of us at Mass and is substantially in accord with the awkward translations of Latin texts. The rubrics of the Mass and the specific wording of prayers can sometimes get in the way of our experiencing a oneness in Christ and a oneness as a worshipping community. The liberty that I and other priests take in slightly editing the awkward translations of Latin prayers is less of an act of disobedience and more in keeping with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council that sought to bring the celebration of Mass closer to the people of God. “Latinglish” is not the vernacular that the Council called for. It is a well-meaning attempt to fix something that was not broken that our new Pope may decide to re-evaluate in light of the widespread criticism that the new prayers have engendered. God Bless! Msgr. Paul
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 15:01:44 +0000
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