Saint Brendan Church
2800 Oakwood Ave.
Youngstown, Ohio 44509
330-792-3875
A Roman Catholic Community
Saint Brendan Church
2800 Oakwood Ave.
Youngstown, Ohio 44509
330-792-3875
A Roman Catholic Community
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Welcoming the New Roman Missal
“From the Rising of the Sun to its Setting”
In our modern world, we are often eager to communicate information very quickly, and so what we write is usually simple and direct. The language that we have used in our worship since 1974 tended to be simple and direct in that sense. It has served us well for 37 years.
But our Holy Father, Blessed John Paul II, hoped that we might recapture some of the imagery and poetry of the Latin liturgy, and so he called for new translations into modern languages. One example of that imagery and poetry occurs in the Third Eucharistic Prayer. The wording from 1974 was as follows:
Father, you are holy indeed, and all creation rightly gives you praise. All life, all holiness comes from you through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, by the working of the Holy Spirit. From age to age you gather a people to yourself so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name.
Although the Latin prayer is one sentence, the English is rendered more simply in three sentences. It expresses the thought well. But the new translation brings out more of the dignity and the poetry of the Latin. It is worded as follows:
You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and the working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.
The older translation speaks of the People of God making an offering all over the world – from east to west. But the newer one, closer to the imagery of the Latin, makes reference to time as well as space. “From the rising of the sun to its setting” calls our attention not only to this offering all over the globe, but also all day every day. As we welcome the new Roman Missal, we can make a point to be aware of its poetry.
Fr. Bill Loveless
