Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Mysterium Fidei



The Latin is rendered in the present English Missal as “Let us proclaim the Mystery of Faith”. The new translation of the Missal which has been sent to the Bishops, I understand, renders it simply as, “The Mystery of Faith”.
The Latin seems to make this phrase in the Ordinary Form is either an acclamation of the priest, or words that indicate the Mystery of Faith, Jesus Himself. In the Extra-Ordinary Form it is part of the words of Consecration.


It is then followed by the peoples acclamation,
I have gently dropped the one which begins, “Christ has died ...”
1. It is something cobbled together by the English speaking bishops, it is not in the Latin Missal
2. It seems to deny the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, it speaks as if the Lord is not there.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm rather wondering if you're ahead of Fr Tim in being chief English Priest blogger! (Don't tell him i said that!)....

Dr. Peter H. Wright said...

I find myself totally in agreement with the comment by Francis on the previous post.

Where Solemn Mass is celebrated in the Novus Ordo in the style of Brompton Oratory, the sung Latin of the central part of the Canon seems well able to cope with the interpolated "acclamation" (also sung in Latin.)

Otherwise, Francis is right.

Increasingly, the acclamation at this most solemn moment of the Mass can be a distraction, and can even dispel some of the sense of the awsome mystery of the moment.

(Rather ironic, given that the priest uses the word "Mystery" to invite the peoples' acclamation.)

I wonder if the acclamation is a good idea at all.

Father Ray is so right about the
acclamation :
"Christ has died, Christ is Risen .."
You'd think the next words would be "Christ is present in the Eucharistic species " or words to that effect.

Yet another good reason for a full revision of the 1970 Missal.

Dorothy B said...

It takes me ages to compose a comment, and then I'm not happy with it, and scrap it. But here goes.
Why do we have more than one version?
Since they are supposed to express the same holy mystery, why do they in fact say different things?
Even allowing for the impossibility of human language containing the sublime in its fullness, why do at least some of them seem just plain inadequate?
I may have phrased this very badly, but I'd be interested to know what others think.

Anonymous said...

Chief English Priest Blogger! What a wonderful title and, of course, you are. I find the acclamation a distraction and entirely undesirable.

Fr Ray Blake said...

No, The Great Herm, he is chief amongst us,
At his Fennish shrine, in it its Blackness,
There we bend the knee.

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