WELCOMING THE NEW TEXTS OF THE MASS

The Eucharistic Prayer

         

          After the gifts are prepared at the altar, the priest asks the people to “pray...that our sacrifice…may be acceptable.”  There is just one small change—one added word-- in the people’s response, to better reflect the Latin text.  The response is: “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands….and the good of all His holy church.”

 

          Then the priest invites us into this dialog:

 

Current Text                                                                        New Text

 

Priest: The Lord be with you.                                               Priest: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.                                                  People: And with your spirit.

Priest: Lift up your hearts.                                                   Priest: Lift up your hearts.

People: We lift them up to the Lord.                                  People: We lift them up to the Lord.

Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.                 Priest: Let us give thanks

                                                                                                                  to the Lord our God.

People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.           People: It is right and just.

 

            We looked at the “and with your spirit” in our third segment a few weeks ago, and the response is repeated here.  The last line has also changed, and this shorter response follows the Latin text.  The new response leads into the priest’s prayer which then follows, and which states, “It is truly right and just….”  This prayer, called the Preface, varies from season to season and reflects major feasts.

 

          At the conclusion of the Preface, we sing the great hymn of praise, the “Sanctus”

or “Holy, Holy, Holy.”  The first part of this hymn echoes the praise of the angels in heaven (see Isaiah 6:3).  The second part comes from the Gospel of Matthew (21:9) describing Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and quoting Psalm 118:26. There is one change in the Sanctus.

 

                   Current Text                                                                        New Text

 

Holy, Holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Holy, Holy, holy Lord, God of hosts.  Heaven and earth are full of your glory.                              Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.                                                         Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.            Blessed is he who comes

                                                                                                            in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.                                                         Hosanna in the highest.

 

 

 

            The words “God of power and might” aren’t a good translation of the Latin text at all; they’re more of a commentary or interpretation.  “God of hosts” is a much more accurate translation, and repeats the words from the book of the prophet Isaiah.  The reference is to the “heavenly host”—that multitude of angels surrounding the throne of God.  There is a wonderful commentary on these words in Isaiah in the Jerome Biblical Commentary (p. 270) which expands on the way this triple “Holy” is the writer’s way of expressing the wonderful uniqueness of God:   

 

          “By the triple repetition, the superlative is expressed; God is the all-holy.

            Holiness is the essential quality of God; its vast range of meaning indicates

            His otherness, utter transcendence, complete apartness from anything sinful or          merely finite.  God’s ‘glory’ is the radiation of this holiness upon the world.”

 

            “Hosanna” is a complex word that was used in Jewish prayer.  Originally it was a word of urgent supplication, like “come to our aid;” however, over time it turned more into a shout of jubilation.  By the time of Jesus, “Hosanna” also acquired Messianic overtones, in other words, it expressed the desire for a Messiah, a savior.

 

*********

 

          So far, we’ve looked primarily at the people’s words at Mass.  There is one change in the priest’s words, however, that seems so significant that we ought to say something about it.  When we come to the words of consecration, the text changes as follows:

 

            Current Text                                                                        New Text

 

Take this, all of you, and drink from it:                      Take this, all of you, and drink from it,

this is the cup of my blood, the                                  for this is the chalice of my blood,

blood of the new and everlasting covenant.              the blood of the new and eternal covenant,

It will be shed for you and for all                              which will be poured out for you

so that sins may be forgiven.                                     and for the many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this in memory of me.                                           Do this in memory of me.

 

            The change from “for all” to “for the many” may raise questions.  Didn’t Jesus die for all?  Absolutely!  But the text here reflects the Latin text (which says “many,” not “all”) and that text is based on the words of Jesus at the Last Supper.  In Matthew’s account (Mt. 26:28) and Mark’s (Mk. 14:26) Jesus says “for many.”  Those words of Jesus echo the words of the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the “servant of Yahweh” as “taking away the sins of many” (Isaiah 52).  Jesus may well have been identifying Himself as that “suffering servant” from Isaiah as He uses those words.  We may hear “many” as stepping back from “all.”  In the Scriptures, it has more of a sense of “not just a few but many.”

 

(This is the seventh in a series of ten articles prepared by Fr. Ritter and Joanne Denyer.  You may wish to save them all.)

All ten articles will be on our parish website: www.stjoesylvania.org