Issue 01 - The Pilgrim - December 2011 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

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Behind the scenes The Pilgrim December 2011/January 2012
And with your spirit – introduc
In the new translation, the response
‘And also with you’ has been
changed to ‘And with your
spirit’.‘And with your spirit’ is an
accurate translation of the Latin ‘et
cum spirito tuo’. Remember that
we are part of the Latin Rite
Church, and we use an English translation
of the Latin Mass.
It was decided at the Second Vatican
Council that Mass could be
translated into the language of the
country concerned.
Previously Mass was always celebrated
in Latin, but it was felt that
people could not understand it, and
so were not participating properly.
But we should remember that even
in English – or Welsh, or French, or
Yoruba, or Fanti, or whatever - it is
always a translation of the Roman
Rite, which belongs to the Bishop of
Rome (the Pope). We are not free
to compose our own version of Mass
in English. It is more Biblical. Look
up for yourself Ruth 2:4 for ‘The
Lord be with you’, and the ends of
St Paul’s Letters to the Galatians,
Philippians, Philemon & 2 Timothy
for ‘And with your spirit.’
The previous translation of ‘And
also with you’ simply ignores the
Biblical origin of this part of Mass. If
you go through the new translation,
you will see time and again how the
revised wordings pick out much
more clearly how the various parts
of the Mass are very much based on
the sacred scriptures.
It is more ecumenical. Almost all
of the historic Churches which have
retained the ‘one, holy, catholic,
and apostolic’ order of the Church –
the Orthodox Churches, the Eastern
Churches, etc – have (in their own
language) the response equivalent
to ‘And with your spirit’.
With the revised words, the English
speaking Catholic Church is now
in tune with fellow Christians in
these other Churches.
It is more universal. Speakers of
French, Spanish, German, Italian
and other languages already answer
with the equivalent of ‘And with
your spirit’. There is no good reason
why English speakers should be out
of step with the rest of the Church,
which should be catholic (or ‘universal’).
Some people have suggested that
ordinary people will not be able to
understand the new words, but if
speakers of other languages can,
why should English speakers be unable
to
It reconnects us with the tradition.
Although the Mass was reworked,
and new translations made,
after the Second Vatican Council, it
was not a completely new Mass, but
a reformed or renewed Order of
Mass.
Likewise, the new translation is a
revised translation, but it is not a
new Liturgy or a new Mass: everything
else bar the translation stays
the same.
It is doctrinally clearer, because
the new translation “And with your
spirit” makes it plainer that the
priest is not acting in his own name
but only through the grace he has
received from God at his ordination.
The priest is only able to preside
at Mass through the Holy Spirit working
in him. Many of the new words
and phrases, especially in the Eucharistic
Prayers, recapture the
wonderful depth of our Catholic understanding
of the Mass.
The priest’s greeting ‘The Lord be
with you’ and our response “And
with your spirit” occur five times in
Mass, and are concerned with the
presence of Christ.
At the beginning of Mass, these
words both remind us that Christ is
present in Priest and people when
they gather to celebrate Mass, and
also help to bring that presence
about (by praying that it should be
so).
Before the Gospel, the greeting
again invokes the particular presence
of Christ in the proclamation of
the Gospel.
At the beginning of the Eucharistic
Prayer, it invokes the special presence
of Christ in the offerings of
bread and wine, which become His
Body and Blood.
At the Sign of Peace, the words
precede our most solemn Communion
with Christ Himself. which we
must go out to bring Christ to others.
For more information, I recommend
two small booklets from CTS.
‘Understanding the Roman Missal’
is by Dom Cuthbert Johnson, OSB,
and is priced £1.95.‘Companion to
the Order of Mass’ is by Mgr Bruce
Harbert and is £2.50.
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