What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  8^th Sunday of Ordinary Time

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2006

Let’s continue our comparison of the first draft of the ICEL translation of ordinary prayers of Holy Mass, the second draft, and our own WDTPRS version which we worked through in fourth year of this series (2003-04).  We have reached the Roman Canon’s Simili modo:  WDTPRS LITERAL VERSION: After the supper was concluded, in a similar way taking into His holy and venerable hands also this noble chalice, in like manner giving thanks to You He blessed and He gave it to His disciples, saying: All of you receive and drink from this: for this is the chalice of my Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out abundantly on your behalf and on the behalf of multitudes for the remission of sins.  Do this for my remembrance.  1^st NEW ICEL DRAFT: In the same way, when supper was ended, taking also this noble cup into his holy and venerable hands, once more giving you thanks, he blessed and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the cup of my Blood of the new and eternal covenant; it will be poured out for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.  2^nd NEW ICEL DRAFT (changes underscored): In the same way, when supper was ended, he took his precious chalice into his holy and venerable hands, and once more giving you thanks, he said the blessing and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant; it will be poured out for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.

The second draft still has the words “for all” as a “translation” of the Latin original pro multis.  I consider this to be the single most important point in the preparation of the new English version.  It is reserved to the Pope himself to establish the vernacular translation of sacramental forms.  Also, Pope Benedict himself wrote some years ago (and we have given this to you a couple times before):

“The fact that in Hebrew the expression “many” would mean the same thing as “all” is not relevant to the question under consideration inasmuch as it is a question of translating, not a Hebrew text here, but a Latin text (from the Roman Liturgy), which is directly related to a Greek text (the New Testament).  The institution narratives in the New Testament are by no means simply a translation (still less, a mistaken translation) of Isaiah; rather, they constitute an independent source” (emphasis added – God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, The Heart of Life (Ignatius Press, 2003, pp. 37-8, n. 10).

The Pope himself has said that all the linguistic and ecumenical kabuki dances notwithstanding (my description), the centuries old liturgical texts constitute an independent theological source which must be respected.  The Church established the Latin formula of consecration, for reason.  Those reasons are well explained in the catechism ordered up by the Council of Trent (cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part II, 4) which also clearly says that we cannot use the Latin “pro universis… for all”.  “But Father!  But Father!”, some will object, “That’s Trent!  Didn’t Vatican II do away with all that?”  The Second Vatican Council did away with neither a tittle nor a jot of the teaching of the Council of Trent.  Moreover, just because the newer Catechism of the Catholic Church is a sure reference for doctrine, that doesn’t mean that Catechism of the Council of Trent is either outdated or erroneous.

Our prayer this week was not in previous editions of the Missale Romanum before the Novus Ordo issued in 1969 but it was in the ancient Veronese Sacramentary among prayers for July.  The Sacramentarium Veronense (so name because it is preserved in a manuscript in Verona), was compiled in Rome between A.D. 558-590 and contains prayers used in Rome.  Let’s see the lame-duck ICEL version of today’s “Prayer over the gifts” right away and then dismiss it with a flick our mind.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
God our Creator,
may this bread and wine we offer
as a sign of our love and worship
lead us to salvation.

SUPER OBLATA (2002MR):

Deus, qui offerenda tuo nomini tribuis,
et oblata devotioni nostrae servitutis ascribis,
quaesumus clementiam tuam,
ut, quod praestas unde sit meritum,
proficere nobis largiaris ad praemium.


This Super oblata is super hard to put into smooth English.  There are some elegant touches.  I really like the little play of offerenda and offerta.  The alliteration on “s” gives a swift quality to this dense prayer.  There is an immediacy conveyed through the present tense.  This prayer and last week’s prayer have some common features.  Neither last week’s nor this week’s were in the post-Tridentine Missal but they were both from the month of July in the Veronese; both use the word servitium; both have an address form, last week maiestas tua, this week clementia tua; both use proficio; both have an ut, quod followed by a giving verb.   And, again, the ICEL is shorter than the Latin.

We need help for the words before we get to the grammar.  In our primary reference source, the Lewis & Short Dictionary, the verb ascribo means fundamentally “to annex by writing, to add to a writing” and it comes by extension to mean “to impute, ascribe, attribute to one the cause of something”.  Also, it means “to place to one’s credit, i.e. to settle, fix, designate, appoint”.   Unde is an adverb meaning “from which place, whence”.  In the L&S we read also, “Apart from relations of place, and referring to persons or things, from which as an origin, source, cause, means, reason, etc., something proceeds, from whom, from which.”   In the past we have looked at devotio from various points of view.  This prayer requires yet another.  L&S says, “a devoting, consecrating” and also “fealty, allegiance, devotedness”.  However, later in the entry for this “voice” (a “dictionary entry”) there is this: “any form of prayer”.   A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D. otherwise known as Souter says devotio can be “obedience, loyalty; worship, piety, religion; (with pron. adj.) loyal person (e.g., TUA, your loyal self)”.   Souter therefore also provided a justification for saying that clementiam tuam in our prayer could be a form of address.

How do we decide what case nostrae is?  Could the structure of the prayer give us a hint?  Once upon a time, I showed you what a chiasmus is.  This is an “X” shaped figure of speech that looks like AB-BA.  When the pairs are placed above each other, they form an X, like the Greek letter chi which looks like an “X”.  The ancient Veronese Sacramentary has prayers authored by St. Pope Leo I (+461), a stupendous stylist of Latin who often used patterns exactly like the one I described.  In today’s prayer we have tuo (A-dative pronoun) nomini (B-dative noun) above devotioni (B-dative noun) nostrae (?-pronoun) servitutis (C-genitive noun).  From this we could conclude that nostrae is dative.  You can still equally conclude that it is genitive, take your pick.  Folks, I know this is tedious for many of you, but I know that some people who read this are involved with making the new translations.  Believe me, they will be puzzled by this too.  Your patience with my complex explanations might help them do a better job and afterward we can hold them to account for their decisions.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who are now giving the things to be offered to Your Name,
and designate for the devotion of our service the things having been offered,
we beseech Your Clemency,
that You grant that that which You are giving from which there may be merit,
may be profitable for us unto a reward.

What a mess, right?  To untangle this we have to know that quod refers to an invisible id which is the subject of the infinitive proficere.  The subjunctive sit follows as a result.  This whole unit of thought is what we want to be granted to us from God, who is clement.  Let’s massage this a bit into a

STILL LITERAL BUT LESS SLAVISH VERSION
O God, who give the things to be offered to Your Name,
and designate for the devotion of our service the things offered,
we beseech Your Clemency,
that that which You are giving, whence merit may come,
You may grant us to be profitable unto a reward. 

Why would we offer anything to God’s Name (tuo nomini)?   First, we know God’s Name is Holy and it is not to be improperly used (cf. Ex 20:7).  The dictionary of liturgical Latin we call Blaise (p. 283) says that in Hebrew thinking, a name doesn’t just identify, it also expresses the very Person.  In John 3:18 we read about the salvific power of the Name of God: “He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (RSV).      

We have here a pairing of words which are, so to speak, two sides of the one and same coin: meritum and praemium.  Meritum or “merit” is the right to a reward (praemium) due to some work done.  Supernatural merit is the right to a reward for a work God determines is good and which is done for His sake.  This sort of work must be supernatural in its origin, that is, it is done under the influence of grace, and supernatural in its purpose.  God alone is the source of supernatural good and therefore He must designate it as such.  Consider the consecration in Holy Mass which contain the command of Jesus at the Last Supper and His description of what His commands lead to.  Christ tells us that consuming His Body and Blood are for eternal life (cf. John 6).  He commanded His Apostles to do what he was doing.  If we do what He commands for His sake and the reasons He described, then we merit the reward God designates.   The vocabulary (devotio, servitus, meritum, praemium) boldy communicate the truth of our stance before God.

Non-Catholics often think that when Catholics talk about merit, we are saying we can earn salvation by performing good works. The Church doesn’t teach this. The Council of Trent said that “none of those things which precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification; for if it is by grace, it is not now by works; otherwise, as the Apostle says, grace is no more grace” (13 January 1547 Session VI, Decree on Justification 8, cf. Rom 11:6).   Holy Church teaches that Christ alone merits anything in the strictest sense.  Man by himself does not merit supernatural rewards (cf. CCC 2007).  When moved by grace we do those things God promised to reward (cf. Rom 2:6–11 and Gal 6:6–10). God’s grace and His promises are the source of all our merit (CCC 2008).  We must make a distinction between condign merit, awarded because it is fully deserved and our action was proportioned to the reward, and congruent merit, awarded by God’s generosity for imperfect works.  The Bishop of Hippo St. Augustine (+430) eloquently teaches (ep. 194, 19 – read this out loud): “What, therefore, before grace is man’s merit, by which merit he receives grace, since every good merit of ours does not work in us except by grace and since God crowns nothing other than His own gifts when He crowns our merits?”  The theology of this teaching, even the key phrase of Augustine, is in Preface “de sanctis” – (De gloria Sanctorum): “…et, eorum coronando merita, tua dona coronas….”  Clearly the Church continues faithfully to hold to her traditional theology of merit and grace.

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  8^th Sunday in of Ordinary Time (or Quinquagesima)

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2003

GJB, who clearly picked up my play on words with the “Big Apple” and Callimachus’ adage about the “mega kakon” hollers from the hollers via e-mail: “I’m just a country boy who loves the back roads and hollers of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The thought of going to the Magnum Malum causes me to tremble…. Scriptiones tuae in Peregrinatore mihi delectant….You put a lot of work into your columns. It is appreciated.”   And I appreciate your kind words, GJB.  HE of TN also offers me e-mail and information: “The current February 2003 issue of the FSSP newsletter includes an article "The Collect II: The Oration" by "A Fraternity priest".”  I didn’t know there was a “Collect I” article, much less a “II”.  I do not get that newsletter.  Hopefully I will scare up a copy of those articles or someone will be kind enough to supply me with them.  They sound interesting. 

We have all often had the feeling, I think, that the processes of the Church seem unending, like Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce revived.  But it also happens that, when things seem quite bleak in the God’s house, Rome can surprise the dickens out of us and act decisively and for the good. 

Most of you will remember some time back reports that the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) issued stunningly strong, even stinging, letters to a bishop in a diocese where English is spoken regarding how a priest had refused Holy Communion to a communicant who had knelt.  The CDW letter of 1 July 2002, over the signature of the former Prefect Jorge Card. Medina-Estévez Further, said that it is never permitted to refuse communion to a Catholic who wants to receive it during Mass, except when it poses the danger of grave scandal to other believers: “Priests should understand that the congregation will regard future complaints of this nature with great seriousness, and if verified, it intends to see disciplinary action consonant with the gravity of the pastoral abuse.”  In the weeks that followed reports of that letter, some people with whom I spoke poohpoohed the report, suggesting with the old liberal saw that it hadn’t been published in the proper instrument of promulgation etc.  Well, no more.  It is now available in the November/December number of Notitiae, the official publication of the same CDW.   Also in that same issue of Notitiae we find a letter of the CDW’s undersecretary Fr. Mario Marini to someone who had written to the Congregation to complain of the same problem:  Fr. Marini writes: “In consideration of the nature of the problem and the relative likelihood that it might or might not be resolved on the local level, every member of the faithful has the right of recourse to the Roman pontiff either personally or by means of the dicasteries or tribunals of the Roman Curia.”  He goes on: “Please be assured that the congregation takes this matter very seriously, and is making the necessary contacts in its regard.…  At the same time, this dicastery continues to be ready to be of assistance if you should need to contact it again in the future.”

Do you need to write?

His Eminence
Francis Card. Arinze
Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship
     and Discipline of the Sacraments
00120 Vatican City

Always be respectful in tone regarding everyone about whom you write, especially the offending priest, etc.  Keep it very brief – one side of one sheet if possible.  Provide facts about what happened before anything else (date, time, place and exact names).  Provide how it made you feel in one separate brief unexaggerated statement.  Do not teach the CDW its job (which it knows already) or the law (it wrote it).  If you can include letter(s) of others to corroborate what happened, all the better.   Do not hand write it if you can help it: Europeans and others from around the world learn a different style of handwriting and thus the hand of foreigners is often hard for them to read – type or word process it if possible.  Keep a copy of everything you send.   These are good rules of thumb when writing to anyone who is constrained by duty to pick through papers in greater quantities than you can imagine.

POST COMMUNIONEM
LATIN (2002 Missale Romanum):
Satiati munere salutari,
tuam, Domine, misericordiam deprecamur,
ut, hoc eodem quo nos temporaliter vegetas sacramento,
perpetuae vitae participes benignus efficias.

 This prayer appears to be composed for the Novus Ordo, though it may have some roots in the Veronese Sacramentary.

 Let us get at some vocabulary first, using as always our comfy Lewis & Short Dictionary.   We had the verb vegeto as recently as the Post communion prayer of the 4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  It meant then what it means now: “to arouse, enliven, quicken, animate, invigorate.”  The only use of vegeto I found in Sacred Scripture was in Gen 9 in the story of how God wiped everyone out but Noah, et al., and then, when the chastisement was over he set a rainbow in the sky as a sign of his pact that He would not do it again: et recordabor foederis mei vobiscum et cum omni anima vivente quae carnem vegetat et non erunt ultra aquae diluvii ad delendam universam carnem…. (Gen. 9:15). 

 The adverb temporaliter is an adverb from the adjective temporalis from the noun tempus (“time”).  Temporaliter means “for a time, temporarily”.   I think we must be a little careful not to confuse this with English “temporally”, which has to do also with boundaries of space and time as well as with material things, “temporal” or “secular” things.  On the other hand, the adjective perpetuus, a, um means “continuing throughout, continuous, unbroken, uninterrupted; constant, universal, general, entire, whole, perpetual.”

 Satio, as you might guess, is the verb meaning basically “to fill, satisfy; to sate, satiate with food”.  Related is, of course, the adjective satis, “enough, sufficiently (objectively, so that one needs nothing more; whereas affatim subjectively, so that one wishes nothing more).”   Today, as I read this, there leapt to mind the elegant phrase of Horace at the beginning of the Epodes (1,32): “satis superque me benignitas tua ditavit…. Enough and more than enough has your kindness enriched me.”  The word satis is often found with superque through all ages of Latin literature and common speech (it is found in Plautus, for example).    While it was originally applied to the poet’s famous patron Maecenas, could we not say the same for the Eucharist?

 LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Having been filled to satiety with the saving gift,
we beg, O Lord, your mercy,
that by means of that same sacrament by which you are enlivening us now for a time,
you will kindly make us participants of life everlasting.

 We find in this the brilliant contrast of differing time streams, one which is interrupted and one which is uninterrupted.  The contrast hinges on the words temporaliter and perpetua.  We receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist occasionally even if (in terms of our earthly life) frequently.  In other words, our reception of God in Communion is interrupted, both in the sense of the once (or, according to Canon Law, twice) a day when we are properly disposed and also in the sense that we will one day die and then not be receiving Communion in the Blessed Sacrament any more.  In this moment of Holy Communion we recognize in this prayer that we are looking forward to a reception of God in the celestial liturgy of the Heavenly Banquet in a way that is uninterrupted, both in the sense that our communing with God will be continuous and also that it will never need to end in death or anything else forever.  Our reception of Holy Communion, when we are baptized and properly disposed in the state of grace, is the height and perfect mode of our “full, conscious and active participation” so desired and enjoined upon us by Holy Mother Church.  It is a foretaste of what is to come.  It is the food for the journey here that simultaneously fills us and leaves us with the knowledge that, while it contains everything, even the very divinity, the very Person, of the one whom It symbolizes, we are destined for something even greater than Holy Communion… if that can be imagined.  We have it all “already, but not yet.”  Our Holy Communion leaves us with great expectations.

 I think it is not by accident that, because of satiati, I was reflecting on the word satis which I looked up again in our mutual friend L&S though I knew its meaning well.  Once again my old curiosity was rewarded: satis indicates the sort of fullness by which we no long need anything more, whereas another related word, affatim is used to describe the sort of fullness by which we no longer wish for anything more.  I grant that this limps a little, but could this distinction not describe the sort of satisfaction we have in this earthly life and the kind we will have in the life to come?  Could we translate today’s prayer something like this? 

 ELABORATED TRANSLATION:
Having been filled to satiety with the saving gift,
we beg, O Lord, your mercy,
that by means of that same life-giving sacrament by which you are enlivening us now in a way that is by its very nature interrupted both by the course of the earth’s revolution and also the terminus of death,
you will kindly make us participants of the kind of unending life which is not ever to be interrupted either by momentary breaks or even a final cessation.

 Having gone through this examination and exploration of vocabulary, and having made some associations with Scripture and with other literature, that version above is more or less what I hear in my head now when I read aloud our sonorous Latin.  Never let it be said that the new compositions for the Novus Ordo are lacking in depth and dignity.  I find this Latin prayer deeply satisfying indeed. It does not leave me wishing for more.  Then I read the version we still, alas, hear in our churches on Sunday and I am brutally snapped back into these hard times of ours as if by the cold damp thwack of the twist in a kitchen towel:

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
God of salvation,
may this sacrament which strengthens us here on earth
bring us to eternal life.

Like hungry Oliver extending his poorhouse bowl and fearing the blow about to fall, I am begging, please, Your Excellencies,… may we please have some more?

What Does the Prayer Really Say? Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2001

This is the Quinquagesima Sunday according to the Latin Church’s traditional calendar.  This week will bring the beginning of Lent.  Once upon a time we would be getting ready for our season of fasting by clearing out the animal fats from the house by “fat Tuesday” and Ash Wednesday and also firming up our lenten resolutions.  Just because the terms of our season of fast have been somewhat softened in recent years does not mean that we should not be preparing well to enter into the spirit of Lent.  The joy of Easter is not something to be missed.  When we prepare well by fasting, our joy will be increased.  The contrast of serious penance and elation and celebration is part of the Christian paradigm of life.  We ought not cheat ourselves and those who depend on us out of the kind of joy that comes only after a period of penance.  This rhythm of the year also helps us to read and hear our prayers at Mass.

COLLECT:
LATIN (1970 Missale Romanum):
Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine,
ut et mundi cursus pacifico nobis tuo ordine dirigatur,
et Ecclesia tua tranquilla devotione laetetur.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Grant us, we beg, O Lord,
both that the course of the world be set by your methodical peace producing plan for us
and that your Church may be made joyful by means of tranquil devotion.

Some vocabulary: cursus can mean anything from “course, way, journey” to “course of a ship”, the “flow of conversation” and “postal route”.  Dirigo is “to give a particular direction” or “to lay or draw a straight line”.  It was used, among other things, to indicate ordering an army to march to a certain point or to direct or steer a ship on its course.    Ordo means too many thing to get into in depth.  Suffice to say that it can refer to the “methodical arrangement, class or condition.”  By extension it is applied to everything from the “orders” of the clergy, the way trees are planted, the lines of an army, or the banks of rowers in a ship.”  Pacificus is a composite of pax and facio meaning “peacemaker” or “peaceable”.  The problem with that laetetur is that it could be from the deponent laetor or passive from laeto.  Because of those ablatives in that clause, I am opting here for the passive, like dirigatur.   Among the things that devotio means are “fealty, allegiance, piety, devotion, zeal.”

Despite the wordy literal translation I have given, I will lend to this a rather poetic aspect.  Notice that in our collect’s vocabulary there are traces of military and nautical imagery.  Try reading this prayer with the mental image of a ship.  Its great Captain sets its course upon the sea.  So great is the Captain that He can command calm waters and a favorable wind as well.  The ship can be seen as the word.  In this case I see the ship as the Church in the world, the Church Militant, which is not an unfamiliar image to those familiar with the Barque of Peter.  The sea it sails upon is the deep and turbulent world we live in.  The Captain is our Lord Jesus Christ, who calmed the stormy waters and commanded Peter to walk to Him upon them.  He entrusted His ship to Peter, to steer it in His stead.  Once all has been put into proper order, made “ship-shape and Bristol fashion”, our own sense of loyal zeal, our devotion, is the wind that the Captain uses to steer the ship upon the course He sets, carrying us its crew to the port and safe haven.  Perhaps I adopt this nautical image from the fact that I write this on the 192^nd birthday of Abraham Lincoln and the Whitman’s great encomium is echoing in my mind:

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

            O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

            Fallen cold and dead.

The Christological imagery perhaps helped me make the connection.  The word pacificus brought to mind an antiphon of First Vespers of Christmas: Rex pacificus magnificatus est, cuius vultum desiderat universa terra... The peacemaker King, whose glance the whole world longs for, has been exalted.  Is not the sight of God, “in whose will is our peace”, our true desire?  Is that not the port and safe haven we journey towards in the turbulence of this world?

A further word about that devotio...devotion.  Before the creation of the universe God knew each one of us and desired us and loved us.  He called us into existence as a precise point in His great plan, His economy of salvation.  He gives us a part to play in that plan and gives each of us the tools and talents we need to fulfill it.  If we devote ourselves with real devotio to our state-in-life and strive to carry out His will, God will give us every actual grace we need since we are furthering His great plan.  This is why I suggest above that our devotion can be like the wind that the Captain uses to direct our great ship.  More than just being the “hands on deck”, we play a vital part in the actual forward motion of the ship.  We are not merely being hauled along upon the alien merits of another.  While we truly depend on Him and Him alone, while we truly do not merit what He provides, mysteriously it is His plan and will that His work becomes ours and ours His.

ICEL:
Lord,
guide the course of world events
and give your Church the joy and peace
of serving you in freedom
 

It is very hard to strike a balance between the literal, which can be awkward and wordy, and the simple, which can be banal and miss the real impact of the prayer.  Now and then I receive some feedback from you, gentle readers.  Some of you point out that my literal versions are pretty clunky and ask for something smoother and more poetic.  I respond saying that I know they are clunky and I was not pretending to provide anything poetic.  I am studiously trying to avoid providing alternatives to the ICEL version, as if I were some who could properly do so.  Only the Holy See and our bishops should do that.  I just want by these articles to dig into what the prayers really say.  Hopefully these offerings will inspire you to pray for our bishops and encourage them to give us better translations!  Still, always obedient to my readership, rather than critique the ICEL version this week (which stands or falls on its own), this time I will offer something of a smoother translation.

A Somewhat Smoother Version:
Grant, we beseech you, O Lord,
that the course of the world be steered by your plan for peace
and that your Church be filled with joy from tranquil devotion to that plan.

Or a bit more poetic:
O Lord, we beg Thee to grant
that the peaceful steerage of the world’s course be set according to Thy plan
and that Thy Church be made full with joy from our tranquil devotion.

May you all begin and benefit from a grace-filled season lenten penance.  Do not forget as part of your good works during this time to pray for our Holy Father and all our bishops.  They give us the liturgical texts that help keep our ship and we who are bourne by it upon its course towards the port and safe-haven of heaven.