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

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  1^st Sunday of Lent – Roman Station: Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior – “St. John Lateran”

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2006

Hurtling in its orbit about the Sun the spinning globe of our planet Earth has with its partner the Moon whirled us again in their delicate lavolta to the season of Quadragesima, Lent.   Though the world will begin its return to life in the northern climes, in the south it is harder to connect to “Lent” as meaning “spring”, from Old English lencten.  Lent is a penitential season.  Our altars and our priests have put on their ascetic purple.  As the law indicates all instrumental music ought to be suspended except for occasional use in support of congregational singing.  Decorations and flowers should be removed.  This is a holy time of fast and prayer and almsgiving when we consider our sins, Christ’s Sacrifice, and our judgment.

Each day of Lent has its own prayers for Mass and its own Roman “station.”  The stations are an ancient tradition.  Every day during Lent, on Ember Days, Advent and pre-Lenten Sundays and great feasts like Pentecost (for a total of 84 days), the clergy and people of Rome would “collect” at an appointed church (which gives us the term for the first prayer of Mass, from ecclesia collecta).  They would go in procession to a nearby station church (from Latin statio) where the Bishop of Rome or his deputy would say the Mass.  Since many station churches are dedicated to a martyr, this custom is still observed through the efforts of a confraternity dedicated to the cult of martyrs.  The names of the station churches were printed in the pre-Conciliar Missale Romanum on their proper day.  Quite often the prayers and texts for the Mass subtly referred to the patron saint of the station church or to an event associated with it. The name of the station church of the day is still included on the calendars printed for offices of the Vatican Curia. 

The station tradition was once observed throughout the world.  People could gain indulgences by visiting churches designated by the bishop of the place where they lived.  In the Latin editio typica altera of the Missale Romanum of 1970, on the page preceding Ash Wednesday it is strongly recommended (valde commendatur) that this Roman custom be maintained, at least in larger cities.  In the ICEL Sacramentary there is a comment about visiting churches on the introductory page for the Lenten Season.  In a very interesting phrase, the Sacramentary says: “The Roman Missal strongly encourages…”  Perhaps we can conclude from this that ICEL consciously prepared something other than a translation of the Roman Missal since they referred to the Missale Romanum like that. 

Today’s prayer was the Secret of the Mass for Ash Wednesday according to the older, “Tridentine” Missale Romanum.  It is also an ancient prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary.  Interestingly, in the Gelasian this prayer comes after a whole series of prayers over penitents in the rites for doing public penance.  Here we read how the penitent on Ash Wednesday would dress in cilicium (an amazingly scratchy and uncomfortable garment of goat’s hair).  He would go to church, prostrate himself on the ground before the bishop who would pray over him, and he would do penance until Holy Thursday when he would be reconciled. 
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At any rate, today’s prayer is in the section “In ieiunio prima statione feria IIII … For the fast on the day of the first station, Wednesday”:

SUPER OBLATA (2002MR)
Fac nos, quaesumus, Domine,
his muneribus offerendis convenienter aptari,
quibus ipsius venerabilis sacramenti celebramus exordium.

As we have seen before in WDTPRS, the word sacramentum is complicated.  It usually is interchangeable with mysterium.  In today’s “Prayer over the gifts”, sacramentum refers not so much to the Eucharist but the forty day Lenten discipline.  The fast of Lent was seen by the Fathers of the Church as a participation in a sacred mystery which had the power to transform us because it conforms us more closely to the mystery of the dying and rising Jesus.  Pope St. Leo the Great (+461) in his magnificent sermons about the season of Lent refers often to the season as sacramentum.  Thus, I choose to say in our WDTPRS version “season of mystery.” 

Double-check apto in your handy Lewis & Short Dictionary something.  It is also “to prepare, get ready, furnish, put in order” and is constructed with the dative or and find “to fit, adapt, accommodate, apply, put on, adjust,” etc.  It is often used with the dative: to make apt or fit for.  Sometime the ablative is used to indicate that with which something is fitted, furnished, or provided.   Thus, in our prayer we might argue that Fac nos…his muneribus offerendis… aptari means either, “make us apt/suitable/ready to for offering these gifts” or “make us fit through these gifts which are to be offered.”  Take note that the examples of its use in the L&S, apto is a fitting word for military contexts: “to be suitable, readied for arms, etc.”

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Make us fit, we beg, O Lord,
for offering in a suitable manner these gifts,
by which we celebrate the beginning of this venerable season of mystery.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
Lord,
make us worthy to bring you these gifts.
May this sacrifice
help to change our lives.

How silly.  The Latin prayer gives us the first step of a mysterious journey which can transform us.  The context of the offering of the gifts of bread and wine to be transformed on the altar seems to bind us closely together with the sacrificial elements.  This reinforces in my mind the element of transformation in the Lenten season.  This transformation requires self-emptying.  It is almost as if we need to pour ourselves out so that we can be filled back up by God.  This process of self-emptying is a trial, a running battle.  We need armor and arms.  The Church is teaching us that we need to be on guard constantly during Lent with the great weapons of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, for which we pray to be made “apt”.  The abovementioned St. Leo explained (s. 42 my trans.):

“We must then moderate our freedom of eating food so that our other desires may also be reined in by same rule.  This is the time for gentleness and patience, peace and serenity, in which, once all stains of sins are put aside, we must strive to obtain the continuing duration of the virtues.  Now the firm resolution of pious souls is accustomed to forgive offenses, pay no heed to insults, and forget past injuries.  Now let the faithful soul train itself for the arms of justice, upon both the right hand and upon the left, so that through glory and obscurity, infamy and fame, praises will neither puff up a tranquil conscience with pride, nor abusive taunts wear it down.  In the midst of works of mercy (opera misericordiae), be not afraid of any lessening of your earthly faculties.  Semper dives est christiana paupertas! Christian poverty is ever rich!” 

Leo is talking about how we paradoxically become wealthier in God by divesting ourselves of possessions and food for the sake of the poor and our own souls.  God makes one weakened by fasting strong by His grace.  The proximity of the words misericordia … dives, and the theme itself, reminds me of the 1980 encyclical of Pope John Paul II Dives in misericordia on the riches of God’s mercy.  Dives is an adjective for “rich”, but also “abundant”.  God is the “Father of mercies”, the “Creator of mercies” so to speak.  We in turn must be “pro-creators” of mercies.  In what we sacrifice for mercy, we win back plentifully.  Do you remember the present Pope’s magnificent homily at the beginning of his ministry as the Vicar of Christ?  Listen to how our Popes, Leo, John Paul, Benedict, separated by over fifteen centuries, make our ears and hearts ring with the same exhortations.  Thus, Pope Benedict on 24 April 2005:

“If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? And once again [Pope John Paul] said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life. Amen.”

Knowing that we will need additional strength and armor during Lent, the third edition of the Missale Romanum of 2002 has restored the ancient “Prayer over the people”… the “Oratio super populum.”  At the end of Mass, after the Post communion prayer, the priest exclaims Humiliate capita vestra Deo!... Bow down your heads to God!” and pronounces a blessing.  Let’s follow these during Lent, since you will not have them in any ICEL version yet.

ORATIO SUPER POPULUM (2002MR):
Super populum tuum, Domine, quaesumus,
benedictio copiosa descendat,
ut spes in tribulatione succrescat,
virtus in tentatione firmetur,
aeternae redemptio tribuatur.

The attentive among you are surely blinking at that tentatione. Did you expect temptatione?  Is this an Italian typo that slithered into the Latin because they rushed to print?  Latin tentotempto = which means basically “to handle, touch, feel a thing”.  Also, tento/tempto is “to try the strength of, make an attempt upon, i.e. to attack, assail” and then “to try; to prove, put to the test; to attempt, essay a course of action”.   Succresco, a rare verb, means “to grow under or from under any thing; to grow up”.  Please note that the Oratio super populum was, before the Council, not given on Sundays.  It was a weekday practice.  Still, I did not find this prayer in the Lenten section in the older Missal.  It is, however, in a somewhat different form in the 1962MR on Good Friday in the so-called “Mass of the Pre-sanctified” as the first of three “thanksgiving” prayers. 

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Upon Thy people, O Lord, we beg Thee,
let a plentiful blessing descend,
so that hope may grow in time of tribulation,
valor may be strengthened in time of temptation,
and eternal redemption may be granted.

I really wish we could say for virtus, “the virtuous strength and courageous fortitude befitting soldiers of Christ in this Church Militant” but this would be over-the-top.  I found on the website of the Birmingham Oratory in England, founded by Servant of God John Henry Card. Newman (+1890), a version they prepared for those who attend their Masses.  It is very nice!  Here it is:

BIRMINGHAM ORATORY:
May the fullness of Thy blessing come down upon Thy people, O Lord,
so that their hope may grow amid tribulation, their courage may be strengthened amid temptation, and eternal redemption may be granted to them.

May you have a grace-filled Lent.  If you are not already very disciplined in the spiritual life do not take on too much for your Lent, some penance which will overwhelm your resolve so that you fail and quit.  Give up something that means something to you and also choose some positive thing to do as well, a work of mercy.  Use well this sacramentum, this mysterious season.

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  1^st Sunday of Lent – Station: St. John Lateran

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2005

The season of Lent and Easter is an important component of our Christian formation and pursuit of holiness.  Lent is a mystery which transforms.  But the season won’t be effective unless we fully and actively participate in it.  This means we must prudently plan our Lenten disciplines and also be opened up to graces by means sacramental confession and Holy Communion.  Lenten discipline includes penitential practices and works of mercy which culminate in and find meaning in the Easter or Paschal mystery.   During Lent our lives mirror the Lord’s Passion and resurrection.

Each of the days of Lent has its own special Collect and “Station”, though WDTPRS can only follow Sundays.  The Roman Stations are an ancient custom. There were Station Masses each day during Lent, on Ember Days, Sundays of Advent and certain other great feasts for a total of 84 days per year.  On Station days the clergy and people of Rome would “collect” together at an appointed church.  After prayers (including the Collect), they would march in solemn procession to a nearby “standing still” church, the statio, where the Pope or his deputy would say Mass.  The names of the Station churches were printed in the Roman Missal and very often the prayers and texts for the daily Mass pertained to the patron saint of the Roman Station church, or to some historical event associated with the place. The custom of Stations was kept all over the world.  People could gain special indulgences by visiting churches designated by the bishops where they lived.  In fact, the Ordo, a little book containing practical information for the whole liturgy each day published every year, still mentions the practice of the Stations and recommends their observance.  In the Latin Missale Romanum of 1970, on the page before the liturgy for Ash Wednesday, it is strongly recommended that this Roman custom be maintained. 

COLLECT - LATIN TEXT (2002MR):
Concede nobis, omnipotens Deus,
ut, per annua quadragesimalis exercitia sacramenti,
et ad intellegendum Christi proficiamus arcanum,
et effectus eius digna conversatione sectemur.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
Father,
through our observance of Lent,
help us to understand the meaning
of your Son’s death and resurrection,
and teach us to reflect it in our lives.

Quadragesima is the Latin word for the season of Lent, literally “fortieth” (from quadraginta “forty”) for the fortieth weekday before Easter (Ash Wednesday).  In Souter’s A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D., we find quadragesimalis is the adjective form for “forty” and means “Lenten”.   Pope St. Leo the Great (+461) used the phrase quadragesimale ieiunium, literally “the Forty Fast”, for Lent.   In our WDTPRS version let us say “forty-day” together with “Lenten” (“Lent” comes from the Old English lencten for “spring”).   Exercitium indicates military and other practices for preparedness, “exercises”.  Christians of the Church Militant must exercise the virtues and pious practices to fulfill their mission, the vocation in life.  Arcanum means something that is “closed” and thus, “a secret thing or place.”  It refers to sacred rites and sanctuaries and “a sacred secret, a mystery”.  The always handy Lewis & Short Dictionary reveals that the verb sector is “to follow continually or eagerly, in a good or bad sense” and also “to run after, attend, accompany.”  It also can be “imitate.”  Effectus is “a doing, effecting” but in respect to the result of an action it means “an operation, effect, tendency, purpose.”  We can get at both of those meanings with “consequence.” Conversatio will fool you if you are not careful.   It means “conduct, manner of living” and not just “conversation.” 

Early Christian writers lacked specialized vocabulary for their new theology and so made up new words or adapted existing words and gave them new meaning.   Sacramentum was first used in a Christian context by Tertullian (+ c. 225).  In early Christian writings in Latin sacramentum translates Greek mysterion, “mystery”.  Its root is sacer, “dedicated or consecrated to a divinity, holy, sacred” (like sacerdos… “priest”).  Sacramentum had a legal/juridical meaning as a bond or initiation confirmed by an oath.  In the military sacramentum was the initiation into service and the oath taken by a soldier.   In the Christian context, sacramentum referred to the pledge and profession of faith made by catechumens when they were baptized and initiated in the Church.  Sacramentum pointed to the content of the faith the Christian pledged he accepted.  Thus, sacramentum involves the mysteries of our salvation, the meaning of the words and deeds of Christ explained in a liturgical context, the liturgical feasts themselves, and the rites of initiation themselves (baptism, confirmation, Eucharist).  St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) used sacramentum also for marriage, the laying on of hands at ordination, anointing of the sick and reconciliation of penitent sinners.  We can say for sacramentum something like “sacramental mystery”, or simply “mystery”.  So, in Latin texts, sacramentum can mean more than just the English word “sacrament”.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Grant to us, Almighty God,
that, through the annual exercises of the forty-day Lenten mystery,
we may both make progress in understanding the hidden dimension of Christ
and imitate the consequences by worthy conduct of life.

Even though this is a prayer during Mass sacramentum here refers not just to the sacrament of the Eucharist, but also its ancient meaning: the forty-day long discipline of Lent which mysteriously bonds Christians and Christ more closely together.  The whole season of Lent is a transforming mystery, a “sacrament”, during which our practices have consequential effects: they bring us into the mystery of the dying and rising Jesus.  This transforming bond with Christ is brought about through denial of self and good works for others, penitential mortification and works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal.  In Lent the words of the Baptist must ring in our ears daily, even hourly: “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30).   When He increases in us, we are more who we are supposed to be.  Thus, we have to make “room” for Him by our self-denial.

Keep two things about Jesus firmly in mind: He is eternal almighty God and He is fully human.   He took our human nature into a bond with His divinity in order to save us from our sins and also to reveal to us who we really are (cf. GS 22).  Through His words and deeds in Scripture (and continuing teaching through the Church), Christ reveals us more fully to ourselves while showing us the invisible Father.   We some things about Christ (and ourselves) can only be known through an ongoing relationship with Him in which He increases and we decrease.  We perhaps might measure the length and breadth and height of the Cross (cf. Ephesians 3:18-19), but part of It is hidden: the part under ground which holds it up.  The sensible accidents of the Eucharist can be studied, but the divine reality is hidden from our senses.  We pierce through the mystery to the hidden mysteries through faith and penance.  As our prayer says, Lent – the quadragesimale sacramentum – is a season during which we learn things about Christ, and therefore about ourselves, we can learn in no other way.

Holy Mass and Christian life cannot be separated.  It is no wonder people feel so deeply hurt by liturgical abuses or, on the other hand, attempts to change the Church into something it is not through liturgical experimentation.  The Eucharist is the “source and summit” of Christian life.  Change the way we say Mass and we change Christian living.  This means something for how you participate at Holy Mass, whether it is in Latin or English, whether it is rubrically flawless or laden with abuses.   Whatever we might say about the people at Mass, the sacred ministers and so forth, we can never lose sight of the primary focus: Christ the High Priest is the real actor in our Holy Mass.  Mass is much more than play or a memorial event.  Through the sacramental mystery of Holy Mass we participate in those same mysteries of Christ and in their effects: redemption, sanctification and salvation.  Abuses make these harder to see, but they are nonetheless present and we can still actively participate in them.  This extends beyond individual Masses to the whole of the liturgical year with its feasts and seasons.

In our Collect, Holy Church calls the season of Lent a sacramentum, a “mystery”.   There is an intimate bond between the whole Lenten cycle and the Person of Christ Himself.  The Lent and Easter cycles make present for us, in a sacramental way, the reality of the Paschal Mystery, Christ’s life, passion, death and resurrection.   Remember!  Sacramental reality is no less real than the sensible reality we normally pay attention to.  When we participate actively in Lenten practices, God the Father conforms us to His Son who died and rose.  During Lent each year the Church conforms herself to the dying and rising Jesus.  This is why traditionally the Church stripped the liturgy of its ornaments: music and all decorations such as flowers.  On Passion Sunday (the Sunday before Palm Sunday) statues and images would be draped and hidden.  Bells would disappear on Good Friday and there was no Mass at all. The Mass experiences a liturgical death so that at Easter, when everything returns ten-fold, our joy can be that much sweeter, the flowers that must more florid, the music more splendid, the church that much brighter.  In our Collect today we are humbly asking God to make this annual series of disciplines and exercises effective in our lives so that we can have the joy the deprivations promise.

To be good Catholic Christians our lives must take on the qualities of the mysteries we profess.  Our participation in these mysteries is not just in this or that particular Mass, for an hour or so on Sunday.  We are asked to participate actively and fully in the whole liturgical year.    In church and outside of church this participation does not end.  At the conclusion of each Holy Mass the priest or deacon commands, Ite, Missa est.   From the verb mitto “to send”, the form missa (for missio) is like that of collecta (for collectio).  So Ite, missa est can be translated as “Go! It is the dismissal!” or even, “GO!  Dismissed!”, or even “Go out there and get back to work!”  This literal version of the dismissal is stern sounding compared to the warm and fuzzy end of Mass we sometimes experience in church, when priests or deacons often say the most absurd things out of a desire to sound relevant or pious.  But the starkness and force of the Latin indicates we are being sent out with urgency into the world, back to our Christian work in the world.  We are commanded to bring Christ into every corner of the world where we have some presence.  He must be present in our words and in our deeds.   But we cannot bring or give what we do not have.

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  1st Sunday of Lent – Station: St. John Lateran

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2003

As the seasons change and the world whirls its course through the cosmos, we return now to the beginning of the liturgical cycle of Lent and Easter.  As is proper before a great feast the Church gives us a time of salutary penance.  Our vestments will be purple, our decorations stark if we are attentive to the meaning of the season: no flowers, no instrumental music.   It is time to fast and to pray, to give alms and to examine our consciences in the desert.

The season Quadragesima or Lent is so important that each day has its own proper prayers for Mass as well as its own “station”, a very ancient tradition. As we have explained in the last two years in these WDTPRS articles, from time immemorial on 84 days (Ember Days, Sundays in Advent, pre-Lenten Sundays (Septuagesima, etc.), great feasts like Pentecost) the clergy and people of Rome would “collect” together at an appointed ecclesia collecta church for preliminary prayers (perhaps the origin of collecta for the opening prayer of the Mass, at the ecclesia collecta).  Then they would march in procession singing litanies and other chants to meet the Bishop of Rome or his deputy at a different “stopping” church nearby and participate in the “station” Mass (from Latin statio).   In Rome a confraternity dedicated to the cult of martyrs now maintains and revives this beautiful tradition.  Before the Second Vatican Council the names of these station churches were printed in the Roman Missal before the text of Mass each day.  Quite often the prayers and texts for the daily Mass subtly referred to the patron saint of the church where they were said, or to some historical event associated with the place.  The station tradition was once observed throughout the world and people could gain indulgences by visiting churches designated by the bishop of the place where they lived.  The little book called the Ordo, published every year and containing practical information about what Mass is to be said each day, still cites the practice of the stations and recommends their observance.  In the Latin 1970MR, it is strongly recommended (valde commendatur) that this Roman custom be maintained, at least in larger cities.  This is represented in stronger terms in the newest 2002MR.

In our Lenten articles I will be adding a bonus: the 2002MR has put back into use the ancient “prayer over the people” or Oratio super populum.  This was delivered after the Post communion prayer.  Before the final blessing and last Gospel, the congregation was invited to bow their heads for the oration/blessing.  Once again those who attend the Novus Ordo have this back after a decades long hiatus.

POST COMMUNIONEM
LATIN (2002 Missale Romanum):
Caelesti pane refecti,
quo fides alitur, spes provehitur et caritas roboratur,
quaesumus, Domine,
ut ipsum, qui est panis vivus et verus, esurire discamus,
et in omni verbo, quod procedit de ore tuo,
vivere valeamus.

This prayer is a new composition for the 1970MR Novus Ordo.  The attentive listener picks up references to Matthew 4:4 (qui respondens dixit scriptum est non in pane solo vivet homo sed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei) and John 6:51 (ego sum panis vivus qui de caelo descendi).

According to the astonishingly complete Lewis & Short Dictionary, the verb reficio (whence derives refecti) means, “to make again, make anew, put in condition again; to remake, restore, renew, rebuild, repair, refit, recruit” and thence refectus , a, um, is “refreshed, recruited, invigorated”.   In a seminary or ecclesiastical institution a dining room is called a “refectory”.  The verb proveho signifies “to carry or conduct forwards, to carry or convey along, to conduct, convey, transport, etc., to a place” and “to go, proceed, advance, move, drive, ride, sail, etc., to a place” and “to carry on, along, or forwards, to lead on; to promote, advance, exalt, raise”.  Alo is “to feed, to nourish, support, sustain, maintain” and esurio “to desire to eat, to suffer hunger, be hungry, to hunger.”

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Having been renewed by heavenly bread,
by which faith is nourished, hope advanced and charity strengthened,
we beseech, O Lord,
that we may learn to hunger for Him, who is the bread living and true,
and we may be able to live,
by every word which proceeds from thy mouth.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
Father,
you increase our faith and hope,
you deepen our love in this communion.
Help us to live by your words
and to seek Christ, our bread of life.

The origin of the Oratio super populum is quite complex and hard to pin down.  Turning to Fr. Joseph A. Jungmann’s monumental two volume The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development we find a history of this prayer at the beginning of the section concerning the close of the Mass (II, pp. 427ff).  Something Jungmann emphasizes that caught my attention is the fact that we are at a “frontier” moment, the threshold of the sacred precinct of the church and the world.  When properly formed we want the influence of our intimate contact with the divine to carry over into the outside world.  The use of this prayer is very ancient, found in both the Eastern liturgies of Syria and Egypt and in the West.   Unlike the Postcommunio, the object of the prayer is not “us”.  Instead, the priest prayers for and over the people, not including himself as he does in the prayer after Communion.  By the time of Pope Gregory the Great this was only in the Lenten season, probably because this is perceived to be a time of greater spiritual combat requiring more blessings.  Indeed it was extremely important for those who were not receiving Holy Communion, as was the case of those doing public penance before the Church, the ordo poenitentium.   How important was this prayer to the Romans?  In 545, when Pope Vigilius (537-55) was conducting the station Mass at St. Cecilia in Trastevere, troops of the pro-Monphysite Byzantine Emperor Justinian arrived after Communion to take the Pope into custody and conduct him to Constantinople.  The people followed them to the ship and demanded “ut orationem ab eo acciperent… the they should receive the blessing prayer from him”.  The Pope recited it, the people said “Amen” and off went Vigilius who would return to Rome only after his death. 

ORATIO SUPER POPULUM (2002MR)
Super populum tuum, Domine, quaesumus,
benedictio copiosa descendat,
ut spes in tribulatione succrescat,
virtus in tentatione firmetur,
aeterna redemptio tribuatur.

Yes, this has the verb tento instead of tempto.  Don’t think that the Italians slipped into Italian in the preparation of the 2002MR.  Latin tento = tempto which means basically “to handle, touch, feel a thing”.  Also, it means “to try the strength of, make an attempt upon, i.e. to attack, assail” and then “to try; to prove, put to the test; to attempt, essay a course of action”.   Succresco, a rare verb, means “to grow under or from under any thing; to grow up”.  Please note that the Oratio super populum was not given on Sundays, but on weekdays of Lent.  I did not find this prayer amongst the Oratio super populum prayers during Lent.  However, something about this prayer tugged at the sleeve of my memory.  I found its source in the 1962MR on Good Friday in the so-called “Mass of the Pre-sanctified” as the first of three “thanksgiving” prayers.  The 2002MR version was edited and scrambled, but the1962MR is unmistakably the basis for the newer version: Super populum tuum, quaesumus, Domine, qui passionem et mortem Filii tui devota mente recoluit, benedictio copiosa descendat, indulgentia veniat, consolatio tribuatur, fides sancta succrescat, redemptio sempiterna firmetur.  We do have a new idea in the newer prayer, however, in the word virtus, which is “manliness, manhood, i. e. the sum of all the corporeal or mental excellences of man, strength, vigor; bravery, courage; aptness, capacity; worth, excellence, virtue” which also means “moral perfection, virtuousness, virtue” and “military talents, courage, valor, bravery, gallantry, fortitude”.

MY LITERAL RENDERING:
Upon thy people, O Lord, we beg thee,
let a plentiful blessing descend,
so that hope in time of trouble may grow up,
valor in time of temptation may be strengthened,
and eternal redemption may be granted.

I really wish I could say for virtus, “the virtuous strength and courageous fortitude befitting soldiers of Christ in this Church Militant” but, given that this is the beginning of Lent and it would be over-the-top wordy, I write “valor”.

Some quick news is in order.  It may seem that Mr. John L. Allen, Jr. of the left-leaning NCR is the only good source of info these days about what is happening in Rome on the liturgical front.  I am guessing that the reason he is so readily entrusted with inside news is that he is both respectful and somewhat objective in his reporting.  His latest column The Word Form Rome (21 Feb 2003) reveals that the new directors of ICEL have met with the CDW and they had a good meeting.  They hammered out some operating procedures and overhauled some statues and personnel.   Mr. Allen includes a fascinating comment: “Though no details from the meeting were released, sources tell NCR that solutions more or less acceptable to all parties were reached. To some extent those compromises will give Rome the oversight authority it has been seeking….  While critics of the ICEL overhaul regard the congregation’s desire to vet staff and advisors as a Vatican power-grab, sources in Rome offer a different interpretation. It is important to protect ICEL from the various liturgical watchdog groups in the English-speaking world, they say, such as Adoremus and Credo, who go over the backgrounds of ICEL personnel with a fine-tooth comb. The process of granting a nihil obstat, from this point of view, is a means of insuring that the agency’s key personnel have no theological skeletons in their closet.”  (Emphasis added.)  “Theological skeletons”?  Such as the desire to have the translation accurately reflect what the prayer really says?  This is all very interesting stuff, to be sure.  Note that Mr. Allen said, “sources in Rome” and not “in the Vatican” or “in the CDW”.  I am guessing that in Mr. Allen’s conversations with interested parties floating around the City, many tried to put the best possible spin on these developments, which must be scary indeed for the old guard who gave us the 1973 version we examine in this column and the recently rejected translation of the lame-duck 1975MR.  You might risk turning into “theological skeletons” by offering your Lenten fasting for all those involved in these difficult endeavors.

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  First Sunday of Lent – Station: St. John Lateran

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2002

Once again it is feedback time: several of you, including JB of LA in CA by snail mail (more proof that there are readers to the west of the muddy Mississippi), wrote energetic denunciations of my assertion that on Epiphany we write C+M+B on our doorways (initials of the traditional names of the Magi).  They are insistent that it should be G and not C.  I looked in the Latin version of the old Rituale Romanum for the actual blessing and, glory be, I found that the Latin names are in fact Gaspar, Melchior et Baltássar!  I conclude from this that if you do the blessing in English you might use C, while if in Latin a G.  I am not sure C/Gaspar minds one way or the other.    BPB of Ontario, Canada says that s/he follows WDTPRS together with a friend.  Is it too much to hope that the friend is the Lewis & Short Dictionary?  At any rate, I hope they have good discussions.  CBM, who teaches Latin at a University, wrote not about the work we do here with Latin each week, go figure, but rather in support of the parody song idea mentioned a couple weeks back.  LC of PA wants a contest for high school students to translate some of the ICEL prayers.  Great idea, even though I am not sure what that means: would they translate the original Latin to English or translate ICEL versions back into Latin so that we can see how they really differ?   If there is interest in this, maybe something can be organized in conjunction with The Wanderer.  Remember, make a suggestion to a priest and he will probably make you do the work. Dare we imagine that high school Latin students can do as good a job as ICEL did?

Once again we come in the great cycle of the liturgical year to the important season of Lent.  It is a penitential season.  Purple vests our altars and priests.  Flowers and other ornamentation are customarily removed or sparse.  Traditionally all instrumental music is suspended except for occasional use in support of the congregational singing.  In this holy time the Church fasts and prays.  We reflect on our sins and on the great gift of Christ’s Sacrifice, with which the season comes to its climax.

So important is Lent that each day has its own special prayers for Mass and its own “station.”  The Roman station Masses are a very ancient tradition. Every day during Lent, on all Ember Days, Sundays in Advent pre-Lenten Sundays and certain other great feasts like Pentecost for a total of 84 days, the clergy and people of Rome would “collect” together at an appointed church (when one origin of the word for the opening prayer of the Mass, the ecclesia collecta) and would then march in procession to a different church nearby where the Bishop of Rome or his deputy would say the station Mass (from Latin statio).  This is still done in Rome, especially through the efforts of a confraternity dedicated to the cult of martyrs (many station churches are dedicated to a martyr).  The names of the station churches were always printed in the Roman Missal on the proper day.  Quite often the prayers and texts for the daily Mass subtly referred to the patron saint of the church where they were said, or to some historical event associated with the place. The name of the station church of the day is still included on the calendars that hang in the offices of the Vatican.  The station tradition was once observed throughout the world.  People could gain indulgences by visiting churches designated by the bishop of the place where they lived.  The little book called the Ordo, published every year and containing practical information about what Mass is to be said each day and has other relevant liturgical pointers, still cites the practice of the stations and recommends their observance.  In the Latin editio typical altera of the Missale Romanum of 1970, on the page preceding Ash Wednesday it is strongly recommended (valde commendatur) that this Roman custom be maintained, at least in larger cities.  In the ICEL Sacramentary there is a comment about visiting churches on the introductory page for the Lenten Season.  In a very interesting phrase, the Sacramentary says: “The Roman Missal strongly encourages…”  Can one conclude from this language that ICEL was consciously preparing something other than a translation of the Roman Missal if they obliquely refer to the Missale Romanum like that?   A high school student might have simply translated what he read… but I digress.

As we have seen before in WDTPRS, the word sacramentum is complicated.  It is good to review it thoroughly.  First used in Christian Latin by Tertullian (+ second quarter III c.), sacramentum translates Greek mysterion.  Its root is sacer (like sacerdos… “priest”) “sacred”.  It gained a legal/juridical meaning as a bond or initiation confirmed by an oath.  Sacramentum was an initiation into military service and the oath of service made by a soldier.  Since early Latin Christian writers lacked the specialized vocabulary for their new theology they were constrained to adapt existing words and give them new meanings or simply create new words (neologisms).  This is what happened with sacramentum.  First, they used it as the pledge and profession of faith made by catechumens when they were baptized and initiated in the Church.  Second, it had nuances of the content of the faith that had been pledged in regard to the mysteries of our salvation, the meaning of the words and deeds of Christ explained in a liturgical context, the liturgical feasts themselves, and the rites of initiation (baptism, confirmation, Eucharist).  St. Augustine (+430) used sacramentum also for marriage, the laying on of hands at ordination, anointing of the sick and reconciliation of penitent sinners.  In our super oblata, the word sacramentum is not so much the Eucharist but rather, in a more ancient sense, the forty-day long discipline of Lent.  Lent was seen by the Fathers of the Church as a participation in a sacred mystery having the power to transform us.  It is a season during which our practices conform us more closely to the mystery of the dying and rising Jesus.  For example, St. Leo the Great in his magnificent sermons about the season of Lent refers often to the season as sacramentum.

SUPER OBLATA:
LATIN (1970 Missale Romanum):
Fac nos, quaesumus, Domine,
his muneribus offerendis convenienter aptari,
quibus ipsius venerabilis sacramenti celebramus exordium.

This prayer identical to the secret of the Mass for Ash Wednesday according to the older, “Tridentine” form of Missale Romanum.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Make us fit, we beg, O Lord,
for offering in a suitable manner these gifts,
by which we celebrate the beginning of this venerable season of mystery.

Based on my exposition of sacramentum above, you can see why I choose to say “season of mystery.”  The deep and complex verb convenio gives is the adverb convenienter: “fitly, suitably, conformably, consistently.”   If you double-check apto in your handy Lewis & Short Dictionary you see that it means “to fit, adapt, accommodate, apply, put on, adjust,” etc.  It is often used with the dative: to make apt or fit for something.  It is also “to prepare, get ready, furnish, put in order” and is constructed with the dative or ad.  Sometime the ablative is used to indicate that with which something is fitted, furnished, or provided.   Thus, in our prayer we might argue that Fac nos…his muneribus offerendis… aptari means either, “make us apt/suitable/ready to for offering these gifts” or “make us fit through these gifts which are to be offered.”  You might want to say “worthy” or “properly disposed.”  It strikes me that the first version is more apt for this context of the Mass.  From the examples of its use in the L&S you see that apto is a fitting word for military contexts: to be suitable, readied for arms, etc.   Perhaps the prayer today, on a Sunday whose theme rightly is temptation of the Lord in the desert, can bear a military overtone, since we need to be on guard constantly during Lent with the great weapons of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  As St. Ambrose said: “Behold, dearly beloved, the sacred days are drawing near, the acceptable time, of which it is written: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation (cf. 2 Cor 6, 2-3).  And so you must be more earnest in prayer and in almsgiving, in fasting and in watching.  He that till now has given alms, in these days let him give more; for as water quenches a flaming fire, so does almsgiving wipe out sin (cf. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 3, 30-31).  He that till now fasted and prayed, let him fast and pray still more: for there are certain sins which are not cast out except by prayer and fasting (cf. Mark 9, 29).”   And the abovementioned St. Leo: “We must then so moderate our rightful use of food that our other desires may be subject to the same rule.  For this is also a time for gentleness and patience, a time of peace and serenity, in which having put away all stains of evil doing we strive after steadfastness in what is good.  Now is the time when generous Christian souls forgive offences, pay no heed to insults, and wipe out the memory of past injuries.  Now let the Christian soul exercise itself in the armor of justice, on the right hand and on the left, so that amid honor and dishonor, evil report and good, the praise of men will not make proud the virtue that is well rooted, the conscience that has peace, nor dishonor cast it down.  The moderation of those who worship God is not melancholy, but blameless.”

ICEL:
Lord,
make us worthy to bring you these gifts.
May this sacrifice
help to change our lives.

I suppose that the ICEL translator here simply assumed that sacramentum here meant the Eucharist rather than the season of Lent.  I think that is not what the prayer really says.  The words sacramenti… exordium or “the beginning of the sacramentum” tell me that this is something other than the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.  That might work on Holy Thursday, but not on the first Sunday of Lent.   Keep in mind that in the older 1962 Missale Romanum this prayer originally was said on Ash Wednesday, the very beginning of Lent.  But this is probably the first day of Lent that most people are actually in church, since Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation.  What surprises me in this is that ICEL called the Eucharist a “sacrifice” which is rather nice to see.  Thus, in the ICEL version there is no mention at all of the venerable and transforming season of Lent which seem to me is a central point of the prayer. 

The Latin version seems to be taking us on the first step of a wondrous and mysterious journey which will eventually transform us when we reach the end.  The context of the offering of the gifts of bread and wine to be transformed on the altar seems to bind us closely together with the sacrificial elements.  This reinforces in my mind the element of transformation in the Lenten season.

What Does the Prayer Really Say? First Sunday of Lent – Station: St. John Lateran

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2001

Each of the days of Lent has its own special collect and “station.”  Sometime ago I mentioned the station Masses and promised to return to them.  The Roman stations are an ancient custom, whereby each day during Lent, on Ember Days, Sundays in Advent and certain other great feasts for a total of 84 days, the clergy and people of Rome would “collect” together at an appointed church and, after prayers (including the collecta), would then march in solemn procession to a nearby station church where the Bishop of Rome or his deputy would say Mass.  This custom is still maintained in Rome, especially through the efforts of a distinguished confraternity dedicated to the veneration of martyrs (often these station churches are dedicated to a Roman martyr).  The names of the station churches for each day were printed in the Roman Missal and very often the prayers and texts for the daily Mass pertained to the patron saint of the church where they were said, or to some historical event associated with the place. The name of the station of the day still appears on the calendars that hang in the offices of the Vatican.  The custom of the stations would be kept all over the world and people could gain indulgences by visiting churches appointed by their own bishops where they lived.  In fact, the little book called the Ordo published every year and containing practical information for the whole liturgy each day still mentions the practice of the stations and recommends their observance.  In the Latin Roman Missal of 1970 we clearly read on the page directly before the liturgy for Ash Wednesday that it is strongly recommended that this Roman custom be maintained.  In the ICEL Sacramentary I have there is a comment about visiting churches on the introductory page for the Lenten Season.  In a very interesting phrase, the Sacramentary says: “The Roman Missal strongly encourages…”  Apparently, those preparing the English Sacramentary self-consciously were making something other than a translation of the Roman Missal if they refer to the Roman Missal like that.

COLLECT:
LATIN (1970 Missale Romanum):
Concede nobis, omnipotens Deus,
ut, per annua quadragesimalis exercitia sacramenti,
et ad intellegendum Christi proficiamus arcanum,
et effectus eius digna conversatione sectemur.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Almighty God, grant us
that, by means of the annual exercises of the forty-day mystery,
we may both make progress in understanding the mystery of Christ
and by worthy conduct of life imitate its consequences.

We have to dig into our dictionaries when we look at these subtle prayers.  Sometimes Latin words look like familiar words in English and we can be fooled by them if we are not alert.  I provide vocabulary so that you can see my reasons for picking the English words I do and the other possibilities too. In my literal version of the collect, for quadragesimalis I chose to say “forty-day” rather than “lenten” (which comes from the Old English for “spring”) in order to get at the root meaning of the word.  Again there seems to be military vocabulary in our prayer, reminding us that we belong to the Church militant.  Exercitium has a reference to military and other kinds of exercises.  It is not hard to leap from those practices that soldiers use to remain fit and coordinated to the disciplines of the Christian life whereby we advance in sanctity.  Sacramentum is pretty complicated.  First used by Tertullian (who probably died in the second quarter of the 3^rd century), in the early Latin Christian writings sacramentum translates Greek mysterion.  Its root sacer indicates a religious overtone (like sacerdos… “priest”).  It eventually took on a legal meaning and came to indicate a bond or initiation confirmed by an oath.  As such it referred to initiation into military service and the oath taken by the soldier.  Early Christian writers lacked specialized vocabulary for their new theology.  Thus, they were forced either to adapt existing words and give them new meaning or simply create new words.  The previously existing word sacramentum was adapted by Latin writers.  It came to have two streams of connotation.  First, sacramentum had baptismal overtones as the pledge and profession of faith made by catechumens when they were baptized and initiated in the Church.  Second, it carried nuances of the content of the faith that had been pledged in regard to the mysteries of our salvation, the meaning of the words and deeds of Christ explained in a liturgical context, the liturgical feasts themselves, and the rites of initiation (baptism, confirmation, eucharist).  St. Augustine (+430) used sacramentum also for marriage, the laying on of hands at ordination, anointing of the sick and reconciliation of penitent sinners.  In our collect, sacramentum refers not  just to the sacrament of the Eucharist (used as it is in a prayer for Mass).  It seems to have its more ancient meaning in this collect: the forty-day long disciplines of Lent are a mysterious affirmation of the sacred bond between us and Christ.  Lent is seen as a mystery that transforms.  It is a season during which our practices conform us more closely to the mystery of the dying and rising Jesus. 

Back to vocabulary: arcanum means something that is “closed” and thus means, “a secret thing or place.”  It refers to sacred rites and sanctuaries.  We find by means of the handy Lewis & Short Dictionary that sector can indicate “to follow continually or eagerly, in a good or bad sense” and also “to run after, attend, accompany.”  It also can be “imitate.”  Trickier is effectus.  This word means “a doing, effecting”.  In respect to a the result of an action it means “an operation, effect, tendency, purpose.”  I try to get at both of those meanings with the word “consequence.” Conversatio, on the other hand, is very often in Christian contexts “conduct, manner of living” and not just “conversation.”  Now we must draw this all together and conclude.

Christ is the real actor in the liturgy.  He is the High Priest.  Our liturgical celebrations are so much more than plays or memorials.  In a sacramental way we are able to participate in those same mysteries of Christ and in their effects: redemption, sanctification and salvation.  In our prayer, we are humbly asking God to make effective in our lives this annual series of disciplines and exercises.   There is a very close connection in the collect between the whole of the Lenten cycle and Christ Himself.  The Lenten cycle reflects the Paschal Mystery.   As a result, through our active participation in Lenten practices, God the Father conforms us to more to the image of His Son who died and rose.  If we are to rise to new life, we must endure the Cross.  Each year the Church conforms herself to the Cross in the liturgy of Lent.  This is why traditionally the Church stripped the liturgy of its ornaments: music and decorations such as flowers.  On Passion Sunday statues and images would be draped and hidden.  Bells would disappear on Good Friday and there was no Mass. It is as if the Church experiences liturgical death so that when everything returns ten-fold at Easter, our joy can be that much sweeter, the music that much more beautiful and the church that much brighter and florid.

Lent is that special time of penitential preparation that culminates and finds its meaning in the Easter mystery of the resurrection.  Easter is particularly connected to the sacrament of baptism, when initiates descend into the tomb of the water, like the People of Israel fleeing death and Pharaoh and emerging from the sea in freedom, like Christ going into the earth and coming forth again, the first fruits of a new creation.  This Paschal Mystery, mirrored in the lives of the baptized, is renewed in us when we participate fully and actively in the Church’s liturgy which each year re-represents the mystery of our salvation, the cycle of the life, death, resurrection, ascension and return of the Lord as King.  Our participation is not just in this or that particular Mass.  We are asked to participate actively and fully in the whole liturgical year.  Our lives must take on the qualities of the entire presentation of the mysteries of our salvation, from Creation to Second Coming.  In other words, we are not to be active participants at Sunday Mass only.  At the end of Mass the priest or deacon commands, Ite, Missa est… “GO!  You are dismissed!”  This is stern sounding compared to the warm and fuzzy end of Mass we sometimes experience. But the starkness and force of the Latin indicates we are being sent out with urgency into the world, back to our Christian work. 

The season of Lent and Easter is a profound component of our Christian formation.  It is a mystery that transforms.  But it won’t be effective unless we fully and actively participate.  Lent is hard work, too.  This means we must prudently plan our Lenten disciplines and also be opened up to grace once again by means sacramental confession and Holy Communion.

ICEL:
Father,
through our observance of Lent,
help us to understand the meaning
of your Son’s death and resurrection,
and teach us to reflect it in our lives.