Everyone in my Catholic circle has been talking about the changes to the missal. Most focus on the congregation's response, "and with your spirit," rather than "and also with you."I thought that was a somewhat unnecessary change but since I study the bible in the original languages, I am all for better translations, and somehow "and with your spirit" didn't rankle me very much.
After Mass yesterday, I thought quite a bit about the changes and how flustered and uneasy people seemed in the pews. I think one of the reasons we often have a translation different from the literal meaning of the text is because our own language does not fully capture the beauty or the unspoken meaning that underlies a prayer. Translating a language that no one actually speaks any more is a difficult task, and to render it with the same poetry and feeling as its original language is even more difficult.
One of my favorite parts of Advent mass was the part right after the recitation of the Our Father. At Boston College, where I was an undergraduate, the priest encouraged all of us to think about the words he said after our prayer, and to perhaps pray them ourselves during the season of Advent:
"Deliver us Lord from every evil,
and grant us peace in our day.
In your mercy, keep us free from all anxiety
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ."
With the new Roman missal, the priest now says,
"Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil,
graciously grant peace in our days,
After Mass yesterday, I thought quite a bit about the changes and how flustered and uneasy people seemed in the pews. I think one of the reasons we often have a translation different from the literal meaning of the text is because our own language does not fully capture the beauty or the unspoken meaning that underlies a prayer. Translating a language that no one actually speaks any more is a difficult task, and to render it with the same poetry and feeling as its original language is even more difficult.
One of my favorite parts of Advent mass was the part right after the recitation of the Our Father. At Boston College, where I was an undergraduate, the priest encouraged all of us to think about the words he said after our prayer, and to perhaps pray them ourselves during the season of Advent:
"Deliver us Lord from every evil,
and grant us peace in our day.
In your mercy, keep us free from all anxiety
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ."
With the new Roman missal, the priest now says,
"Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil,
graciously grant peace in our days,
that, by the help of your mercy,
we may be always free from sin
and safe from all distress,
as we await the blessed hope
and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ"
It's almost the same, but not quite. For some reason, the new translation just does not have the same beauty to it. Blessed hope does not have the same ring to it as joyful hope, and 'safe from all distress' is not the same as "keep us from all anxiety."
But alas. The change has been made. I think, however, that I will always say the old prayer when I pray the Our Father on my own.
In joyful hope.
we may be always free from sin
and safe from all distress,
as we await the blessed hope
and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ"
It's almost the same, but not quite. For some reason, the new translation just does not have the same beauty to it. Blessed hope does not have the same ring to it as joyful hope, and 'safe from all distress' is not the same as "keep us from all anxiety."
But alas. The change has been made. I think, however, that I will always say the old prayer when I pray the Our Father on my own.
In joyful hope.
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