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

I wonder if Guy has been spending too much time out there in the Piazza under the blazing hot sun!? 

o{];¬)

He wrote:

the NCR (you know…the "Wanderer" of the left)

Now, really!  That isn’t the case at all.  The NCR is far more to the left than The Wanderer is to the right!  There are quite a few publications which make The Wanderer look rather like… well, the NCR, now that I think of it!

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  The Roman Canon / 1^st Eucharistic Prayer – 1: The Preface

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2004

We move now to the Roman Canon, the “First Eucharistic Prayer” in the editions of the Novus Ordo, the Missale Romanum of 1970, of 1975, and the most recent third edition of 2002.  Again, our working tool will be very literal translations, recognizing that the translation will always be lacking, not trying to make translations to be used instead of the officially recognized texts, but prompting interest in, knowledge of and love for God, the Church, and Holy Mass as the source and summit of our Christian Catholic lives.  We must build awareness of the problems in the present official translations, not in a polemical way (though I might slip a bit here and there), but in a way that will inspire you to pray for those involved in preparing new translations and to write to them and tell them of your support.   In a recent conference in Rome held for the 40th anniversary of Second Vatican Council’s document on liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, I spoke with His Eminence Francis Card. George of Chicago (head of the USCCB committee on liturgy and a member of the Vatican’s Vox Clara committee).  In my feedback for the week, His Eminence knew these WDTPRS articles, said he liked them though he didn’t get to read all of them, and that he appreciated the positive support of people who take time to write.   Friends, we must tell these people of our desires and expectations for new translations.  The next set of translations will influence the next generations of the faithful.

Let us put the Roman Canon into some historical and functional perspective.  Where did it come from and what does it do?    Entire sets of books could be written on either question, much less a series of articles, or, audaciously, a few paragraphs.  I cannot allow myself to be anything like exhaustive. 

First, what is a “canon”?   The awe-inspiring A Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell and Scott and revised by Jones (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1940 – called also just Liddell and Scott or the LSJ – the intermediate version is called “Middle Liddell”) informs us that kanón means first, “straight rod, bar, especially to keep a thing straight”.   By extension it means, “a rule, a standard” and is also applied to a table or a list.   “Canon” thus means many things in English, including a secular or ecclesiastical law, rule, or code of law; an established principle as in ‘the canons of polite society’; a basis for judgment; and so forth.  In matters of the Church “canon” describes also a cleric attached to a chapter of a church or cathedral and, especially, the list of books in the “Bible” officially recognized as written with the inspiration of God.  Kanón in the Byzantine Rite is the arrangement of the nine odes according to the order in which they are to be sung.    The “Roman” Canon is the name for the First Eucharistic prayer in the Holy Mass in the Latin Rite.  In his letters Pope St. Gregory “the Great” (540-604) uses “canon” to describe the “Eucharistic Prayer”. The Gelasian Sacramentary has a heading before the prayer “Incipit Canon Actionis” before the Sursum corda (the so called “lift up your hearts”).  Since the 7th c. “canon” has been the title for this central, consecratory, part of Holy Mass.    I recommend that you read over the Catholic Encyclopedia article on “The Canon of the Mass” and also consult the great Joseph A. Jungmann’s two volume monument The Mass of the Roman Rite.   The less history I can do here, the more translation and commentary I can accomplish.

You will note in your older hand Missals, that the Canon was thought to begin after the Sanctus.  Later hand missals reflect better scholarship.  More accurately, the introductory dialogue before the Sanctus is considered to be part of the Canon, and so that is where we will begin our work this week.  The Eucharistic Prayer includes an introductory dialog between the priest (or bishop) celebrant and those present.  Ideally it is sung.

The Preface
LATIN TEXT (2002MR)

S. Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.
S. Sursum corda.
R. Habemus ad Dominum.
S. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.
R. Dignum et iustum est.

Would a WDTPRS column be complete without citations from our illustrious Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary?   First, dominus means “one who has subdued or conquered; hence, a master, possessor, ruler, lord, proprietor, owner.”  Dominus came to be a form of a address, such as “Lord” or “Sir”.   The address of “My Lord, My Lady” is still common in the world.  In Romance languages we have (It.) Signore, (Fr.) Seigneur, (Sp. Señor).   Monsignor would be “my lord”.  It is always good to be polite to monsignors, by the way.  This is an honorary title that connects them, for whatever motive of their good service in the past, directly to the Pope’s household.   They remind us that we have a universal Church and union in the Bishop of Rome, who is the Vicar of Christ insofar as he is the Successor of Peter.  Being made a monsignor doesn’t make the priest more of a priest (a fact lost on some monsignors) and it is not a sacramental reality.   Some wags suggest that the matter and form of a “sacrament of monsignor” would be the conferring of the cassock with the purple or red trim with the words “In pace in idipsum” to which the newly made monsignor would respond “Dormiam et requiescam” (cf. the older, traditional rite for Christian burial).  Vobiscum is a combination of the preposition cum requiring an ablative, with a pronoun.   It is a general rule that cum follows personal pronouns.   This is an ancient greeting among Christians as we see in 2 Thess 3:16: Dominus sit cum omnibus vobis.

Sursum (a contraction of sub-vorsum, antonym deorsum) is an adverb meaning “from below, that is, up, upwards, on high” denoting either motion upwards or (rarely) simply location of something high up.    Dignum could give us cause to write volumes.  We can associate this word influenced by rhetorical categories and so forth, with aptum (that which is apt or suitable) and pulchrum (that which is beautiful).   Here it is with iustum.  Dignum et iustum est harkens to Jewish morning prayer forms and is rather like an “Amen”, a solemn approbation.   Iustum, from iustus, means not only what is “just, righteous; in accordance with law, right, equitable, just” but can also indicate in the plural (iusta) a religious ceremony properly carried out.        

St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) delivered sermons which were literally written down by stenographers as pronounced, and we have many of them.  He described the liturgy in his church in Hippo 1600 years ago.  Friends, consider how ancient what you do at Mass actually is!   This was old when Augustine said:

After the greeting, which you know, that is Dominus vobiscum, you heard Sursum cor… and when you heard it from the priest, Sursum cor, you responded Habemus ad Dominum…. And when you heard that your hearts were lifted upward unto the Lord, it follows that the priest says, Domino deo nostro gratias agamus (s. Denis 3,6, – cf. PL 46,835 – c. AD 405-11; cf. also s. 227 and de vera religione 3,25, et al.).

The so-called Apostolic Constitution in Greek of the 4^th c. also witnesses to this same exchange.  There is some controversy in modern scholarship about the Apostolic Constitution so I won’t look at it too closely.  Augustine remarks (cf. s. 227 – PL 38, 1100 ff) that it is the response Habemus ad Dominum which presses the priest to move to the next step, bringing us to the core of why we are gathered: gratias agamus Domino … eucharistésomen toi kuríoi… let us give thanks to the Lord.

What do we have here?   In this dialog we have one of the most ancient of Christian prayers which has its roots in blessing prayers (berakha) of the Jews and of the ancient Church of the East as well.    It is dramatically different from the simple invitation to prayer used by the priest everywhere else: Oremus… Let us pray.   This is a dialog with a distinct scope and different stages, passages from one concept to the next in a movement toward the whole purpose of why people are gathered: thanksgiving to God (Greek: eucharistein). 

Cor (pl. corda) means much more than just “heart”.   Closely connected with nous “mind”, cor… kardia… is more our interior emotional landscape, that in us which loves and grieves and fears and suffers and plans.  Corda can be “hardened” (cf. 2 Cor 3:14) or “strengthened” (cf. 2 Cor 1:20-22).  This is a dimension of man given short shrift in a rationalistic approach to liturgy by which everything must be simplified and rendered easily “understandable” so as to promote a shallowly interpreted “active participation”.  We humans grasp things on more levels than just the intellect.   So, corda is very inclusive, pointing to the very center of who we are.  This is the dimension of us that must be “up!” before we can begin the consecratory part of the Mass.  The preposition ad can indicate either motion towards or proximity near or next to something.  Our hearts must be ad Dominum: going toward Him on high, next to Him in His presence.  Remember that in the Risen Jesus our human hearts (mind, desires, aspirations) are already seated at the right hand of the Father!   Will this affect the way you speak this dialog?  Ad can also mean “in conformity to which, from which, or for which, any thing is or is done”.   We are made ad imaginem Dei…according to the image of God (Gen 1:26ff – Vulgate).  Is the heart of who you are in conformity with God, in whose image you are made?   Are you striving to present it always upward to Him, rather than mire it in the world and its seductions?  Is it with Him now or has the life of grace been killed in your soul through mortal sin?  “Habemus ad Dominum”?

Saint Cyprian presents Sursum corda as the disposition that every Christian should have as he begins his prayer, that is, he should leave behind all carnal and mundane thoughts which might keep him from fixing his attention entirely on the Lord (cf. De dominica oratione 31, CSEL 3, 289).  St. Augustine connects this part with the words of St. Paul: quae sursum sunt quaerite… seek ye the things that are above (Col 3:1)!  I am very tempted to translate simply: “HEARTS UP!!”  I am not an advocate of boisterous liturgy, but sometimes when I hear these prayers, and I sense the depth and the breadth of them through countless generations bursting from well-springs of Christian experience nourished by the actual blood of those who first prayed them, and I hear responses at Mass which are anemic, pale, timid, feeble, thin, mumbled, I simply want to stop everything, take people by the collective hands and say: “Do you NOT GET THIS??!”  Like Leo the Great in his homily for Christmas I want to stop and shout “O Christian!  Be mindful of your dignity!”  We are not Christian and Catholic today by our own merits merely.  When we pray these prayers we transcend by the Holy Spirit working in us as we pray, space (connecting us to Catholics everywhere) and time (connecting us with generations before us) and even the veil of this world (connecting us to the heavenly host before the throne of God).  Our Mass is an echo of the past, a link with Catholics across the globe, and fore glimpse of the continuous liturgy in action before the throne of God.   

LITERAL TRANSLATION:

S. The Lord be with you!
R. And with your spirit!
S. Raise your hearts on high!
R. We now have them present to the Lord!
S. Let us then give thanks to the Lord our God!
R. This is worthy and just!

Could those be questions?  “Are your hearts with God, in conformity to Him?  Shall we then give thanks to the Lord our God?”  Truly, this is worthy and just!  Let our next translations also be dignum et iustum for what we are doing in Holy Mass.

This is extracted and edited from an article in the WDTPRS print version in The Wanderer published in 2004.

Many arguments have been forwarded to justify the choice to translate pro multis as “for all”.  In Latin pro multis means “for many”.  All the Latin rites, historical or modern, have pro multis and not pro omnibus or pro universis. 

Some preliminary notes.  We get “pro vobis et pro multis … for you and for many” in the formula of consecration from a blending of the accounts in Mark 14:24 (translated from Greek: “this is my blood of the covenant (diatheke) shed for many (tò peri pollôn)”) and Matthew 26:28 also says “for many” together with Luke 22:20 (translated from Greek: “Likewise also the cup, after the supper, saying ‘This cup is the new covenant (diatheke) in my Blood which will be poured out for you.’”   The choice to fuse these together had theological significance. 

Our patristic sources, such as the writings of the 4th c. Doctor of the Church St. Ambrose of Milan, when describing the words of consecration in the Eucharistic liturgy, has pro multis and not pro omnibus, etc.  The liturgical formulas were from Scripture.  The 4th c. Doctor of the Church St. Jerome, who translated from Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin giving us a Bible translation called the Vulgata, chose to use pro multis when translating the Greek tò peri pollôn (genitive plural of polus) in describing Jesus’ words at the Last Supper.  

In Greek polus means “many” or “much” or even “most” as in the majority: it does not mean “all”.  In the ancient Church, no one said “for all” instead of “for many”.  In the Greek Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, Jesus uses a form polus “many”.   The liturgical rites of the East retained a form of polus.  The rites of the Latin West have ever used pro multis.

Theological challenge, especially heresy, forces us to reevaluate our doctrines and their formulations. Theological revolt and heresy constrain Catholics to go deeper.  Disputes bear great fruits in the long run.  During the 16th c. the Church was compelled to battle the Protestant heresies concerning the Eucharist, grace, and justification, the nature of man, etc.  The long process of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) deepened our understanding of the faith and gave clear expression to what we believe.  We find the Church’s teaching enunciated succinctly by the Roman Catechism or Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), the practical guide for pastors of souls.  

This is what the Roman Catechism says about the pro multis topic.  This is really important:

But the words which are added for you and for many (pro vobis et pro multis), were taken some of them from Matthew (26: 28) and some from Luke (22: 20) which however Holy Church, instructed by the Spirit of God, joined together.   They serve to make clear the fruit and the benefit of the Passion.  For if we examine its value (virtutem), it will have to be admitted that Blood was poured out by the Savior for the salvation of all (pro omnium salute sanguinem a Salvatore effusum esse); but if we ponder the fruit which men (homines) will obtain from it, we easily understand that its benefit comes not to all, but only to many (non ad omnes, sed ad multos tantum eam utilitatem pervenisse).  Therefore when He said pro vobis, He meant either those who were present, or those chosen (delectos) from the people of the Jews such as the disciples were, Judas excepted, with whom He was then speaking.  But when He added pro multis He wanted that there be understood the rest of those chosen (electos) from the Jews or from the gentiles.   Rightly therefore did it happen that for all (pro universis) were not said, since at this point the discourse was only about the fruits of the Passion which bears the fruit of salvation only for the elect (delectis).   And this is what the words of the Apostle aim at: Christ was offered up once in order to remove the sins of many (ad multorum exhaurienda peccata – Heb 9:28); and what according to John the Lord says: I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you gave to Me, for they are Yours (John 17:9).   Many other mysteries (plurima mysteria) lie hidden in the words of this consecration, which pastors, God helping, will easily come to comprehend for themselves by constant meditation upon divine things and by diligent study. 

(My translation and emphasis. Part II, ch. 4 (264.7-265.14) from the Catechismus Romanus seu Catechsimus ex decreto Concilii Tridentini ad parochos ….  Editio critica.  Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1989, p. 250. Cf. The Catechism of the Council of Trent.  Cf. trans. John A. McHugh & Charles J. Callan. Joseph F. Wagner, Inc.: New York, 1934, pp. 227-28.)

Naturally those working towards a new English translation must cope with all of this.  And God help them! 

What is the status quaestionis … the “state of the question”?   What current evidence can we find for what is happening around this thorny problem?  We can look at that in another moment.

 

So, off they go!  A delegation led by Archbishop Claudio Celli has been in China since Sunday, June 25.

Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong told AsiaNews that the visit is "a friendly gesture," but added that "I do not expect the talks will progress very quickly."

Sooo…. at that papal fortress of newmakers the lights dim, the spotlight flashes on and focuses whle the curtain opens and the director of the Holy See Press Office steps into the bright light.  He taps the mike, clears his throat and says carefully:

"I have no comments to make…."

Uh huh.  Clearly nothing is going on. 

Everywhere in the northern hemisphere diligent and charitable priests have, I hope, reminded their flocks how they ought to dress when they come to church.  Rather, they will have at least reminded them how not to dress.  Right now there is a heat wave here in Italy and you can take off only so much.  Or can you?

I picked up this story from the wire.  What do you think?

‘I had to protect her from community’s judgment’ says priest (ANSA) – Treviso, June 27 – A young Italian mother was turned away from her son’s christening because her dress was too short .

As the ceremony was starting, in front of another couple, the priest told Chiara Limido to go and put a more suitable dress on if she wanted to see her son baptised .

Mrs Limido left the ceremony in tears and returned some time afterwards with a longer dress on, having missed most of the baptism .

Her husband Randolfo said he was thinking of suing the priest, 42-year-old Father Loris Fregona .

"I tried to keep cool, out of respect for the other family present", Mr Limido told a paper in this northeastern city .

"The priest is entitled to apply a dress code in his church. But he subjected my wife to public humiliation – blackmail even" .

A friend of Mrs Limido said: "Chiara’s dress was completely normal, a nice black outfit that covered her shoulders. It was a few inches above the knee but there is a heat wave, after all" .

On Tuesday, Father Fregona said he was forced to take action to protect Mrs Limido "from the judgement of the community" .

He said he felt no need to apologise to the family .

The local bishop’s spokesman said: "A parish priest has a duty to point out if there is something wrong with somebody’s clothing" .

This, folks, is a problem.  Of course no one want to be "mean".  Priests in general are not meanies… well… some are, but you know what I mean.  At the same time, here in Italy, this summer even more than last summer, women are dressing in a way that is… well… even more slatternly than ever. The story says "few inches" above the knee.  I don’t know how many a "few" is, but if the skirt was anything like you see around Rome these days…

It is alarming in the extreme to see how the dominant (read: domineering) MTV culture has convinced girls and young women that they must dress like prostitutes.  When the ANSA story describes the skirt as "short", I believe it.  In no way can I be considered a prude, but frankly what kids are wearing in Rome is truly indecent.  And this is not limited only to the young Italians.  In a way the tourists from northern Europe and North America are worse. 

Just how do they get that "clothing" out of those spray cans, anyway?

For some reason I cannot quite fathom, the dress for young men these days is far less problematic.  On the other hand, I hear from various sources that young men are getting more and more unconfortable with the way young women are comporting themselves.  But that is the stuff of other entries.

And where are the parents of the teenagers who go out out dressed like sluts?  Alas, sometimes they are walking along side them, apparently oblivious to the damage their permissiveness is doing to their children and to others.

And the things written on their apparel!  God save us!

I was not there at that parish and have no idea what the exchange between this parish priest and that family was like.  I don’t know if he was kind or nasty about sending this young woman out.   It was a small community, apparently.  In these parts that still makes a difference.

I can also sympathize with the priest, of course.  I have had weddings and funerals in the USA to which some young women come dressed like hookers.  It’s is so crass and tasteless as to leave me speechless… and that doesn’t happen very often.

There is a story, one of many, about the great and supremely witty Pope Benedict XIV (Lambertini).  This is back in the days of powerded wigs and dramatic décolltage.  According to the tale, during a well-attended to do of the papal court the Pope took an apple from a fruit bowl and gave it to a woman who was displaying herself in a manner somewhat more "dramatic" than was usual.  When she querried the Pope as to why he had given her the apple, His Holiness responded "When Eve ate the apple, she realized she was naked."

It is sad that this baptism drama happened at all.  I am puzzled whey the priest didn’t wait to start the baptism until after she returned, but maybe there were reasons for that too. 

"But Father!  But Father!", you’ll object.  "At least they are coming to church.  Jesus doesn’t care how they are dressed!"  Oh yah??  Don’t hand me that line of BS, ‘cause I am not convinced. 

Perhaps we need to entertain for a moment that the priest did her and other people there a kindness by drawing a line. Forever after she will know that at least one person indicated to her that some ways of dressing are simply wrong.  It might have been the first time in her life that concept became real for her.

Again, I am sad that there were hard feelings, but not every lesson is life is without its scraped knees and red faces.