Reflections on the New Mass:
The first weekend of Advent in 2011 we will be coming together and celebrating the Mass together with a fresh, new voice. We will come together and worship as one body in Christ, a Mystical Body with one Mystical Voice.
The very first thing you will notice is the priest greeting you with… “The Lord be with you.” We used to respond with, “And also with you.” Instead we will respond instead with “And with your spirit.” When I first heard this new response, it sounded very foreign to me and not quite grammatically correct. I also was asking myself what difference does it make?
Last week I attended a conference called Mystical Voice, Mystical Body which was offered by the Archdiocese to help explain to Church staffs the changes in the Mass. The presenters explained to us that “And with your spirit…” does not refer to the spirit of the priest but rather to the spirit of the Lord that ordained priests receive at ordination. The priest, is offering us Christ’s greetings, not his own. Taken in this context the wording makes perfect sense.
The new wording may seem to be a bit formal, but as one of the presenters pointed out: “wouldn’t you greet Christ more formally than a buddy at the football field?” The language one uses needs to fit the occasion. When we come together at Mass we form the Mystical Body of Christ and speak from the Mystical Voice of Christ. We want our words to be more prayerful and reflective in Mass than the current translation allows. (Don’t you think “and with your spirit” sounds more prayerful than “and also with you?”). Let us all pray for an open mind and heart as we reflect on the new translation of the Roman Missal in the weeks and months to come.
- Holly Clark
The first weekend of Advent in 2011 we will be coming together and celebrating the Mass together with a fresh, new voice. We will come together and worship as one body in Christ, a Mystical Body with one Mystical Voice.
The very first thing you will notice is the priest greeting you with… “The Lord be with you.” We used to respond with, “And also with you.” Instead we will respond instead with “And with your spirit.” When I first heard this new response, it sounded very foreign to me and not quite grammatically correct. I also was asking myself what difference does it make?
Last week I attended a conference called Mystical Voice, Mystical Body which was offered by the Archdiocese to help explain to Church staffs the changes in the Mass. The presenters explained to us that “And with your spirit…” does not refer to the spirit of the priest but rather to the spirit of the Lord that ordained priests receive at ordination. The priest, is offering us Christ’s greetings, not his own. Taken in this context the wording makes perfect sense.
The new wording may seem to be a bit formal, but as one of the presenters pointed out: “wouldn’t you greet Christ more formally than a buddy at the football field?” The language one uses needs to fit the occasion. When we come together at Mass we form the Mystical Body of Christ and speak from the Mystical Voice of Christ. We want our words to be more prayerful and reflective in Mass than the current translation allows. (Don’t you think “and with your spirit” sounds more prayerful than “and also with you?”). Let us all pray for an open mind and heart as we reflect on the new translation of the Roman Missal in the weeks and months to come.
- Holly Clark
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