The New Translation is welcome but will it change things?

It might. It just might, especially where there is a celebrant who has the gravitas to say the Mass with reverence and invoke respect for the Body and Blood of Christ.

But, in the majority of cases we are still facing an intransigent laity who refuse to listen to the messages emanating from Rome; who are so bound up in their own secular pleasures of guitar music, happy clappy singing, hand holding and kiss of peace embracing that the sensitivities of language, reverence and content will pass them by.



Photo: Rorate Coeli
Sorry, but I have nothing in common with these people!

 They will be aided and abetted, of course, by Father Smirk and his wonderful way of starting the Mass by turning his back on the Almighty in order to grin inanely and say: "Good morning everybody."

That is why, regretfully, I shall not be beating a path to the Ordinary Form of Mass. I do believe that, over the past 50 years or so, some people (priests and laity) have lost sight of what the Mass is about. There is a belief that now the Mass is about "ME"........and what "I" can get out of it. A jolly good sing song. A bit of "look at me, I'm on the sanctuary" or, worse, "I'm a special minister" (Ministerium Extraordinarium more like). A feeling that the worship of God and the re-enactment of the sacrifice on Calvary have been overlooked in the rush to 'modernise' and tailor the liturgy to suit one's own ego.
The great Archbishop Sheen, when speaking of how young people described attending Mass as "not getting anything out of it" used to say to them: "But you're not bringing anything to the Mass!" And that is true today. Congregations have forgotten to 'bring' anything with them. They have forgotten that they are there to witness a sacrifice, not a celebratory meal; they have forgotten that the Mass should be a complete and unchanging means of bearing testimony to Christ and His teachings; an opportunity for us to have a more intimate dialogue with the Holy Trinity so that we may confide our fears and make our requests in more august surroundings than the living room or kitchen. And they have forgotten that they are there to worship, love and revere God, and you cannot do that effectively by singing "I wish I was a wiggly worm" or dancing around the sanctuary in flowing robes.

So it is not the New Translation that I have issue with. It is the fact that human pride will continue to reveal itself by those who refuse to kneel to receive the Body of Christ, those who distort the liturgy and those who chatter both before and after Mass. I have nothing in common with them; I am a Catholic!

An informal insight into the new translation

I am guilty of not following, in any detail, the development and launch of the new translation. Not because I am not interested it's just that I think I am on the right bus (is this a good analogy?) and so tend not to look at the other routes.

I welcome the fact that the old and banal translation is out the door but that's as far as my knowledge goes until I met an old priest friend recently. He has his feet pretty firmly in the 'Ordinary' camp although, he does, at times celebrate the Extraordinary Mass.

He explained to me that he had been, in his words, "trying out the new translation". He went on to say how it had immediately begun to transform the atmosphere in the church.
"We have silence again, it is returning to reverence, the congregation is quiet"

He waxed lyrical; welcoming the return of the word 'soul' as in 'Lord I am not worthy to receive you, say but the word and (I) my soul shall be healed'.
Without using the word soul, he said, people forget that they possess one.
And the saints have returned; if their names are not present in the Mass then we forget to pray to them!

And then he changed tack and said: "What is it with the Bishops?" Now I try to tread a diplomatic line (believe it or not) when it comes to upsetting wise old priests so I looked blank (not hard) and said: "What about the Bishops?"
Then he, of course, went into how Friday abstinence was coming back and also how they were re-thinking some of the Holy Days ("and they only made that decision two years ago"). "Just what is going on?" He asked.
"I think that the Holy Father has been doing great work" Says I, meaning every word of it.
"Yes" he responded "but what else?"

"I believe that we are witnessing the  Holy Spirit  at work"

"Come Holy Ghost, Creator come..."

"Precisely!" said he and his whole face lit up with great joy that was wonderful to see.

I found his comments interesting to say the least and I shall pay much more attention to how the new translation is introduced and how it develops. I do not think that I will ever budge from my EF seat but I might, just might, be tempted to see what a "new new" Mass is like at some stage in the future.
I say that without any intent of sounding patronising.