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

The Holy Father has made a change to the text of the 1962 Missale Romanum.  Yes, folks, a change was made to the Good Friday prayers to the Jews.

Here is the note from the Secretariate of State:

Nota della Segreteria di Stato

Con riferimento alle disposizioni contenute nel Motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum", del 7 luglio 2007, circa la possibilità di usare l’ultima stesura del Missale Romanum, anteriore al Concilio Vaticano II, pubblicata nel 1962 con l’autorità del beato Giovanni XXIII, il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha disposto che l’Oremus et pro Iudaeis della Liturgia del Venerdì Santo contenuto in detto Missale Romanum sia sostituito con il seguente testo: Oremus et pro Iudaeis Ut Deus et Dominus noster illuminet corda eorum, ut agnoscant Iesum Christum salvatorem omnium hominum. Oremus. Flectamus genua. Levate. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui vis ut omnes homines salvi fiant et ad agnitionem veritatis veniant, concede propitius, ut plenitudine gentium in Ecclesiam Tuam intrante omnis Israel salvus fiat. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Tale testo dovrà essere utilizzato, a partire dal corrente anno, in tutte le Celebrazioni della Liturgia del Venerdì Santo con il citato Missale Romanum. Dal Vaticano, 4 febbraio 2008.

Note by the Secretariat of State:

With reference to the dispositions contained in the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum" of 7 July 2007, about the possibility of using the last edition of the Missale Romanum before the Second Vatican Council, published in 1962 by the authority of Blessed John XXIII, the Holy Father Benedict XVI has decided that the Oremus et pro Judaeis of the liturgy of Good Friday contained in said Missale Romanum be substituted by the following text:

Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, (with the result) that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men.

Let us pray. Kneel. Rise.

Almighty and eternal God, who want that all men be saved and come to the recognition of the truth, propitiously grant that even as the fulness of the peoples enters Thy Church, all Israel be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

This text must be used, beginning from the current year, in all celebrations of the Liturgy of Good Friday according to the aforementioned Missale Romanum.

From the Vatican, 4 Febraury 2008

Instead of getting worked up about this, I went out with friends for supper.  I had a nice a plate of bucatini alla matriciana, and some steak with a Gorgonzola sauce.  We enjoyed a Sagrantino.

I am informed also that the CDF did not see this text before its release.

That is neither here nor there, if the Pope wrote it himself and took care of the problem.

Frankly, I don’t think many Jews will be pleased with the prayer.  I don’t think many traditionalists will either.  So, I am not sure who benefits from this, but time will tell.

UK blogger and one of the frontrunners for the Archdiocese of Westminster, Fr. Timothy Finigan, provided some perspicacious comments about the Holy Father’s choice of beverages, correctly pointing out that His Holiness likes Fanta.  (I can confirm this, btw… I have seen him drink it with my own eyes, though years ago).

What I didn’t realize is that when Father provided us with some good real ale after Candlemass the other day, there was another choice as well!

 

I am off to Rome in the late morning. 

I should be returning to the UK on 12 Feb, though I am not at all sure where I am going to be!  The possibility for my return trip fell through, so I will have to scramble a little now for lodging, etc. 

Last night the wind absolutely howled with rain against the glass and roof of the upper story in the presbytery here in Brighton, so sleep was a little thin. 

I now have both theoretical and experiential knowledge that it does, in fact, rain a lot in England, though in the balance the weather has been good.  Yesterday as Fr. Blake and I walked around Brighton we mostly had sunny, though the air was chill.


UPDATE: The trip to Gatwick took about 1/2 and the check in with security only about 15 minutes, a real contrast to the last time I came through Gatwick, and it was total chaos.  So, being early, I found my airline lounge and am using time to work on the net for a bit.