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

With a heavy heart I tip my biretta to Fr. Richtsteig at Orthometer    o{]:¬(      for this very disappointing photo. 

There is a contest to see how many liturgical abuses you can spot.

Click the image for a larger view, if you can stomach it.

The image is of a … Mass, um, ... celebrated, so to speak, by His Excellency, Most Reverend Matthew Clark, Bishop of Rochester, NY (USA).

No comments required for this.

With due respect to Jeff Israely, whom I know, this article from TIME is seriously skewed.  (My emphasis and comments.)

A Step Backward for Pope Benedict?

By Jeff Israely/Rome

Two years into his papacy, Benedict XVI may be about to reclaim his reputation as a no-holds-barred traditionalist. Thanks to Benedict’s thoughtful manner, Church progressives had believed that the man who was once the hard-line Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger would cut some slack on areas of doctrinal contention — using his intellectual heft and traditional credentials as necessary cover. But as Benedict turns 80 on April 16 and marks two years as Pope on April 19, the once hopeful progressives have all but given up their fantasy of Benedict the Reformer.  [They need to give up other fantasies too, like the one where the Church doesn’t need discipline, or that everything can established from the bottom up.  Also, they need to come to grips that Benedict XVI IS a reformer: he is reforming them.] 

In the coming weeks, the Pope is expected to release a document that would allow the more widespread practice of the traditional Latin Mass, which was all but shelved with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone recently confirmed to Le Figaro newspaper that this motu proprio, or personal initiative of the Pontiff, will allow any priest to say the mass according to the old Tridentine rite (which is delivered in Latin with the priest facing the altar, his back to the congregation), [Well… almost right… ]  rather than have to seek approval from the local bishop as is now required.

Eighteen months ago, one Rome-based progressive cleric had said he was "surprised to see that [Benedict] seems to be open to hear new ideas." But today, the same priest is disappointed. [Maybe the cleric is the one who needs to be open?]  There has been no sign of any of the hoped-for reforms [Okay, get a load of this list…]: overturning the ban on communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, reconsidering the celibacy requirement for priests, allowing gays in seminaries, or a softening of the condom ban to allow for distribution in AIDS-ravaged Africa.  [Yah right… like those were gonna happen.  pfhfft   Alas, these progressive clerics wouldn’t be happy if the Pope threw condoms to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square.   They would always want something more, something even more in their own image.] The release last month of the Pope’s final document on what had seemed to be a convivial and intellectually open [okay… that’s the set up…] October 2005 bishops’ meeting on the Eucharist is a good example of [...and the pitch…] the Pontiff’s approach.  [Which is obviously dour and intellectually closed, I guess.] According to a senior Church official who participated: "He took all that debate of the Synod, and then gave us a document that simply defends the status quo." [He didn’t have to issue a document at all.]  This same official acknowledges a bit of past excessive optimism on Benedict: "People were hoping that with his intellectual acumen and understanding of theology, he’d be in a position to make some of these changes. Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t think we’ll see any of them."  [Thanks be to God.]

Of course, beyond the doctrinal front, plenty has changed these past two years for the Bavarian prelate and Vatican insider. He has become a world leader and has been learning lessons in tempering his ideas with public relations, having given controversial speeches and been confronted with fiery inter-faith conflict, particularly with Islam. [Or maybe he knew EXACTLY what he was doing?  He wasn’t exactly a rookie when he was elected.]  A trip next month to Brazil, the first ocean crossing and first time among the fervent flock of the Third World, will further test both the pastoral and political aspects of his job, as Latin America continues to deal with widespread poverty and the continent’s Catholics increasingly lose ground to Evangelical movements. Still the Pope has managed to keep up his writings, including the conclusion of a book he began in 2003 on the life of Jesus, which comes out Monday in Italian and German, and next month in English.

A significant part of any Pope’s job is to manage questions of doctrine and discipline. Benedict’s "no wiggle room" approach  [Which is why he said of his book, "If you disagree, go ahead and criticize."  Which is why he told young people on Palm Sunday, even if they didn’t resonate with the Church’s doctrine, at least be open to Jesus.  Sounds inflexible to me.] is increasingly seen in the context of his great battle to defend Catholicism on its historical home turf of Europe, where he sees a kind of cult of secularism. [And he would be right.] The Pope’s response is not simply to reaffirm the Christian values of the old continent, a goal also expressed by the continent’s more liberal leaders and theologians like Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Cardinal Godfried Daneels. [Who are pretty close in many things, actually.]  In addition, Benedict professes a very specific kind of Christianity, one based not only on the teachings of Jesus, but on abiding by the letter of ancient Catholic Church traditions [Hmmmm… he sounds like a … like a… what’s the word… a POPE, perhaps, the visible head and point of unity of the CATHOLIC Church.  Yes, I’ve read that somewhere.] as the only effective bulwark against rampant relativism.

In fact, the one major disciplinary about-face expected is this coming document on the Latin Mass, a concession to the ultra-conservatives, [You know that the word HAD to appear somewhere, didn’t you.  Anyone who is not nearly entirely wacko down in the ditch to the left of the road must be an "ultra-conservative"] who have been living and praying on the fringe of the Church since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council brought in mass in the vernacular. Said one Rome-based priest: [Who are these cowards?]  "Opening up the Latin rite to anyone would amount to the Church turning back the reforms of Vatican II."  [What a dope.] A Vatican official who has worked closely with the Pope said that loosening rules on the Latin rite has been a long-time personal goal of Ratzinger, who had led what turned out to be failed negotiations in the early 1980s to bring back into the fold the followers of the breakaway French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who have defied the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The Vatican official says that Benedict believes that the Council’s legacy "has been abused," and finding a way to widen access to the Latin rite [Ironic, no?  This is like saying that the Novus Ordo isn’t the Latin Rite.] "has always remained in his heart." Still, even mainstream members of the Roman hierarchy are opposed, fearing that it will exacerbate divisions within the Church. French bishops have openly argued against it. [ZUT ALOR!] The Pope’s old office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last spring, privately advised against the motu proprio, the Vatican official said.  [That, dear friends, is untrue.  The Congregation signed off on the MP a loooong time ago.] Still, Benedict does not appear swayed. The professor Pope may be happy to have a conversation on doctrine, but he knows he always has the last word.  [How cliché is that?]

Okay… not long ago people like me were accused of being an ultra-conservative Tridentine Rite spin doctor.  I think we can safely say that this author qualifies as an ultra-progressivist liturgically narrow spin doctor.

Gerard O’Connell of UCAN reports that His Eminence Stephan Cardinal Fumio Hamao has some strong opinions.  Read the whole piece, but here is what he says about Latin:

This inability to understand Asia and the Far East, he said, is somewhat reflected in Sacramentum Caritatis (Sacrament of Love), the new apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist. In that document, the pope speaks about Latin and suggests that Catholics learn some Latin prayers and Gregorian chants.

This is not a good idea, according to Cardinal Hamao, who taught Latin to the Emperor of Japan when he was crown prince. "It is impossible for Asians," he asserted. "Nobody knows Latin. Most priests don’t study it, and they don’t know it. That is European-centered. It is too much!"

Twelve years ago, when my daughter was baptised in Hong Kong, the priest who baptised her, Fr Bernard Tohill, SDB, had returned that morning from a short trip into the mainland. He had been asked to go and offer Mass in a small village about 300 miles into China for a community that had been without the Mass since 1949. He had relearned how to say the old Mass and was expecting be be saying Mass for about a dozen people.

When he arrived in the village, there were over 1,000 people waiting to hear Mass and after the first Mass he heard confessions for 6 hours straight. The following day he heard confessions for another 6 or 7 hours before celebrating Mass at which over 700 made their Communion.

The faith in this area had been kept alive by families and small groups meeting to pray the Rosary and to learn the Catechism, for over 45 years.

I was at the presentation of the Pope’s book, Jesus of Nazareth in the Aula del Sinodo on Friday 13 April 2007.  Others will write about or post the talks by the presenters.  You can pre-order the book in English, and help WDTPRS, by using the link above or here. 

Here are some of my personal notes.  I do not intend to recap the book (impossible) or speakk much about the press conference (a waste of time).  They are intended only to help you read Joseph Ratzinger’s work more fruitfully.

It is not new to receive a book from a Pope.  In the past, they were the fruits of interviews, or they were biographical or poetry.  But this is a work of theology.  That’s new.  Even though it is a work of theology, it is not a contribution to the Magisterium.  That’s new.  This point was heavily stressed in the presser.  This book is a contribution of “Joseph Ratzinger” to all who are interested in Jesus.  The novelty of this book is its context, coming as it does from a Pope. 

The book is intended to be “pastoral”.  At the same time it is to be “a rigorous work of theology”.  I am not sure how the pastoral thing is going to work out: the Italian edition has 446 dense pages.   And I mean conceptually dense.  It is truly the work of Joseph Ratzinger.  As a matter of fact, all the editions I saw (Greek, Polish, Italian, English, German, Italian, French, Spanish) print the name “Benedict XVI” much larger than the name “Joseph Ratzinger” on the dust cover, but he signs his preface: “Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI”, as if, for the sake of this book, his being Pope is incidental.   I am not sure that his being Pope will be incidental for sales, however. 

He wrote the book duing the last few summers, which astonishes me, given his many cares.  Clearly he gave a lot of thought to it before he wrote it.  Thought and prayer, which turns out to be an important dimension of the book.  Without snuffing out faith in his intellectual examination Pope Ratzinger remains an objective hunter after the Truth.  So, the Pope puts himself into the modern public square, the post-Christian and post-modern areopagus.  He does so as a man of rigorous intellectual discipline but also a man of faith.  Faith not just in abstractions, but in a Person.

Returning to that notion of "pastoral" a couple side comments are in order.  For a very long time now there has been a false dichotomy between “pastoral” and anything intellectually exacting.  I can’t say how many times I hvae heard bishops and priests divorce "pastoral" and all those other bad things like being smart, or being exacting.  Many are therefore baffled by the Pope’s life-long ability to work within both categories. 

In the book, one of the Pope’s goals is to employ the historical-critical method of exegesis, a scientific method, which embraces its advantages and also recognizes its limitations.  For example, in his preface he reminds us that the historical-critical method, as indispensible as it is, nevertheless is forced to leave the Word of God in the past only.  But the Word is always in the now too, it is present.  Exegetes must not fall into that trap.  Ratzinger examines biblical with an eye to their completeness, which is not in contradiction with the historical-critical method, but develops it in an organic manner and turns it into theology true and properly understood.

Another relevant tangent: His Holiness has a global or “organic” vision of theological method.  The same goes for liturgy.  This is a key to understanding one of his motives for a derestriction the older form of Mass.  The older form would influence the newer form, and vice versa, resulting in a tertium quid.  What His Holiness is doing in this book is what he has done in all the fields which interest him.  Whether it has to do with the “source and summit” of Christian life (the Eucharist and It’s celebration), or a vision of Europe which has the indispensable structure of Christendom at its core, philosophy or theology, or explaining the relationship of faith and reason, Ratzinger does not create false divisions.

The Holy Father, as a working theologian, therefore makes use of the modern tools of scientific method, but always with logical priority given to what is known by faith in revelation.  Therefore, he does not destroy the very biblical texts he so closely examines.  This has been a problem of the application of the scientific method of the Scripture scholarship, that is the study that does not reduce the Bible to literature only, for many decades.  

You will remember that during his Mass for Holy Thursday the Pope caused a bit of surprise by using modern research on the nature of the Last Supper.  In his book, Benedict makes use of modern research on the figure of St. John the Baptist.  As Pope, he demonstrates that he is willing to move outside the golden cage of pontifical precedents and Patristic glosses.  The Pope doesn’t limit himself to Denziger-Schoenmetzer.

Since Joseph Ratzinger during his long career as a theologian has not fallen into the trap of reducing the object of his contemplation to a formula or abstraction there is a chapter on prayer, in which he explains the “Our Father”, which is the prayer Christ taught us.  The Pope stays very close to the Scriptural texts in every move he makes in this book.  Card. Schoenborn related his personal experience of the Pope as a teacher and then colleague.  He said that the Pope never was without his little Nestle-Aland edition of the New Testament in Greek.

One of the engines driving Pope Ratzinger’s book was his reading a work 15 years ago by a rabbi, Jakob Neusner, A Rabbi Talks With Jesus.  Benedict returns often to his insights.  For example, His Holiness recounts his reading of Neusner’s book, wherein Neusner spends a day with Jesus, following him in an interior dialogue and then returns to his study of Torah with other rabbis.  One rabbi says to the interior Neusner, “613 precepts were given by Moses, 365 negatives ones corresponding to the number of days of the year and 248 positives corresponding to the number of parts of the body.  David comes along and reduces them to 11… Isaiah reduces them down to 2.  Habakkuk distills them to one only, as it is written: ‘The righteous one will live by his faith (Hab 2,4)’.  ‘And so’, a rabbi asks the interior Neusner, ‘is this what Jesus has to say?’,  Neusner responds, ‘ Not quite, but almost.’  The other rabbi: ‘What did he leave out?’  Neusner: ‘Nothing.’  The other rabbi: ‘Then what did he add?’  Neusner: ‘Himself.’  The point being that Neusner will not follow Jesus because of the radical “I” of Jesus’ message.  Neusner cites Matthew 19:21: “If you want to perfect… follow me.”  For Ratzinger, this helps create a conceptual bridge: “The perfection required by the Torah, being holy as God is holy (cf. Lev 19,2; 11,44), now consists in following Jesus.”

This little episode from Pope Benedict’s book is an object lesson in his theological method.  He is always concerned to keep faith and reason in the right perspective, but always in play in their proper roles.  Moreover, Ratzinger has always used interesting non-Christian or non-Catholic, or even errant doctrines as springboards for theological work.  No one who has read enough Ratzinger is surprise that he does this, even though his nimbleness leaves one a bit breathless.  For example, I think it can be argued that Joseph Ratzinger probably knows more about Liberation Theology than anyone.  If might surprise some that he uses points of Liberation Theology in one of his own works on liturgy.  Consider using the image of Christ is “Liberator” when working theologically with liturgical issues.  This is what he did in A New Song for the Lord: Faith in Christ and Liturgy Today.

The Pope sets out like so many, to search for the Historical Jesus.  Someone is always doing this, of course.  Jesus is usually morphed into someone else every thirty years or so, and always at the expense of Jesus Himself.  These these searches wind up emphasizing one dimension of Christ into order to underscore another.  Understanding that there will always be more to say about Jesus, the Pope offers this work, fully expecting that it will be met with resistance and criticism from some circles. 

But this book was not really written against modern theological work and socio-historical research, that is, as a polemic.  The Pope recognizes how much modern work as contributed.  He strives to present a more logical and comprehensible figure than what we have found in the last few years of trumpeted “discoveries” about the “historical Jesus”.  For Benedict, the Jesus presented in the Gospels is a believable figure. 

As Card. Schoenborn phrased it in the press conference for the book’s presentation, the penchant for seeing Jesus as a Revolutionary or the lover of Mary Magdalene, to name but a couple distortions, can be dumped into the ossuary of history.

I kindly ask that you now say a prayer for Msgr. Richard Schuler, pastor emeritus of St. Agnes in St. Paul, MN (USA).

The weight of years and long illness are weighing extremely heavily on him right now.  This is a very appropriate time to pray for him.

Msgr. Schuler over his many decades of service to the Church made profound contributions, especially in the sphere of vocations to the priesthood and in defense and promotion of good liturgical music, according to what the Church actually wrote about it.  When one day it will be possible to look back and see with greater clarity what happened after the Council, his influence will be noticeable.
 

Here is the draft of the Roman Canon, the 1st Eucharistic Prayer:

I will emphasize texts of special interest.

To you, [The Roman Canon begins with "Te", "You", often decorated as a Crucifixion.  The idea is that the first word focuses on God, not on us, as the present version does.]
 ... most merciful Father,
we therefore humbly pray
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
We ask you to accept and bless + these gifts,
these offerings,
these holy and undefiled sacrifices,
which we offer you first of all
for your holy Catholic Church.
Be pleased to grant her peace,
to guard, unite and govern her
throughout the whole world,
together with your servant N. our Pope
and N. our Bishop,
and all Bishops who, holding to the truth,
hand on the catholic and apostolic faith.
Remember, Lord, your servants N. and N.
and all gathered here,
whose faith and devotion are known to you.
For them we offer you this sacrifice of praise
and they offer it to you for themselves
and all who are theirs,
for the redemption of their souls,
in hope of health and security,
and fulfilling their vows to you,
the eternal God, living and true.

In communion with the whole Church,
they venerate above all others the memory
of the glorious ever-virgin Mary,
Mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ,
† then of blessed Joseph, husband of the Virgin,
your blessed Apostles and Martyrs,
Peter and Paul, Andrew,
James, John,
Thomas, James, Philip,
Bartholomew, Matthew,
Simon and Jude:
Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus,
Cornelius, Cyprian,
Laurence, Chrysogonus,
John and Paul,
Cosmas and Damian
and all your Saints:
grant through their merits and prayers
that in all things we may be defended
by the help of your protection.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
[I cut out the proper Communicantes.]

Therefore, Lord, we pray:
graciously accept this offering from us, your servants,
and from your whole family:
order our days in your peace,
and command that we be delivered from eternal damnation
and counted among the flock of those you have chosen.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
[I cut out the proper Hanc igitur]

We pray, O God:
be pleased to bless, recognize,
and approve this offering in every way:
make it spiritual and acceptable,
that it become for us
the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who, on the day before he was to suffer
took bread into his holy and venerable hands:
with eyes raised to heaven
to you, O God, his almighty Father,
giving you thanks he said the blessing,
broke the bread
and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take this, all of you, and eat of it,
for this is my Body,
which will be given up for you.
In the same way, when supper was ended,
he took this 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  [WHAT???? This will surely be corrected!]
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in memory of me.

The mystery of faith.

We proclaim your death, O Lord,
and profess your resurrection
until you come in glory.
or —
When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup,
we proclaim your death, O Lord,
until you come again.
or —
Saviour of the world, save us,
for by your cross and resurrection
you have set us free.

Therefore, O Lord,
as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed passion,
the resurrection from the dead,
and the glorious ascension into heaven
of Christ, your Son, our Lord,
we, your servants and your holy people,
offer to your glorious majesty
from your own generous gifts,
the pure victim,
the holy victim,
the spotless victim,
the holy Bread of eternal life
and the Chalice of everlasting salvation.
Be pleased to look upon them,
with a serene and kindly gaze,
and to accept them
as you were pleased to accept
the gifts of your just servant Abel,
the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith,
and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek,
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.

In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God,
bid that these gifts be borne
by the hands of your holy Angel
to your altar on high
in the sight of your divine majesty,
that all of us who receive
the most holy Body and Blood of your Son
through this sharing at the altar
may be filled with every grace and blessing from
above.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Remember also, Lord, your servants N. and N.
who have gone before us with the sign of faith
and rest in the sleep of peace.
Grant them, O Lord, we pray,
and all who sleep in Christ,
a place of refreshment, light and peace.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

To us sinners also,
your servants who hope in your abundant mercies,
graciously grant some share
in the communion of your holy Apostles and Martyrs:
with John the Baptist, Stephen,
Matthias, Barnabas,
Ignatius, Alexander,
Marcellinus, Peter,
Felicity, Perpetua,
Agatha, Lucy,
Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia,
and all your saints,
into whose company we beg you admit us,
not weighing our merits but granting us pardon,
through Christ our Lord.
Through whom
you constantly create all these good things, O Lord,
you make them holy and fill them with life,
you bless them and bestow them on us.

Through him, and with him, and in him,
to you, O God, almighty Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
is all honour and glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

In the future, at Holy Mass, your full, conscious and active participation will be aided by more accurate translations.

Imagine you are at Mass and this is how it begins:

V. The Lord be with you
R. And with your spirit.

V. Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, that
we may be ready to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned greatly
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault.
Therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels ad Saints,
and you my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Truth is victorious again.

Those who think we are all too stupid to understand Mass texts without them being dumbed down complained vigously about words and phrases that were tooo harrrd.  None were harder than translating consubstantialis Patri in the Creed as "consubstantial with the Father".

Here is the text in the new ICEL draft:

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only-begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

I love the smell of accuracy in the morning. 

A new draft of the ICEL translation is circulating and it is interesting to review it with an eye on those controversial bits. 

Not only did people freak out about "dew of the Spirit in the 2nd Eucharistic Prayer being tooo harrrd  for us dopes to understand, we are also not bright enough to grasp accurate translations of text like the response we make before Communion… the one based on the words spoken to Jesus by the Centurion. 

The retooled ICEL, Vox Clara and the Holy See apparently think are are smart enough.

Here is the draft version:

Lord, I am not worthy
that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word
and my soul shall be healed.

Ahhhhh…. refreshing! 

I am sure veterans of WDTPRS will remember with a smile my rants, fisks, and Patristic glosses on the image of "dew" in the proposed new translation of the 2nd Eucharistic Prayer.

There were some people, such as H.E. Donald W. Trautman, Bishop of Erie, who were beside themselves that anyone would consider speaking about the "dew" of the Holy Spirit in the new translation.  They think people are too thick to understand that.

A draft of the new ICEL translation is out and around.  Look what I found in the 2nd Eucharistic Prayer:

You are indeed the Holy One, O Lord,
you are the wellspring of all holiness.
Therefore, make holy these gifts, we pray,
by the dew of your Spirit,
that they may become for us
the Body + and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The good guys score again!