New Translation of the Roman Missal Thoughts

Last updated on: December 9, 2011 at 3:40 pm by Father Pablo Migone

New Translation of the Roman Missal Thoughts 2011-12-09T15:40:00-05:00 Father Pablo Migone

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When celebrating a bilingual Mass at Sacred Heart, I pray the Collect and Pray after Communion in both Spanish and English. I pray it in Spanish first without the concluding phrase followed imminently by the prayer in English with which I conclude.

Yesterday I prayed:

Oh Dios, que por la Concepcion Inmaculada de la Virgen Maria
preparaste a tu Hijo una digna morada,
y en prevision de la muerte de tu Hijo
la preservaste de todo pecado,
concedenos por su intercesion
llegar a El limpios de todas nuestras culpas.

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
prepared a worthy dwelling for your son,
grant, we pray,
that, as you preserved her from every stain
by virtue of the Death of your Son, which you foresaw,
so, through her intersession,
we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

As soon as the people answered Amen, I realized something amazing. Finally both prayers said the same thing! Both languages now express unity in the Church at prayer by praying with the same words and concepts. The English translation has been brought in line with other translations of the Mass by making it more faithful to the original Latin prayers.

While celebrating Mass in both languages for the two and a half years I’ve been a priest, I had noticed the much richer and formal language of the Spanish translation. Even when I was young and I would attend Mass in both languages, I enjoyed Mass in Spanish more, but not due to the music or the language. I always enjoyed the music more in English and had more ease speaking and understanding English than Spanish. As a priest I realized what made the Mass in Spanish more attractive – it was the beautiful, poetic language of the prayers. That has now been achieved in English with the new translation of the Roman Missal.

I laugh when the media tries to raise trouble by reporting how in the Creed we now say Jesus is “consubstantial” with the Father rather than “one in being” with the Father. They cite this as an example of where the language has become harder to understand. I asked a group of middle schoolers the other day what a substance was, one kid answered right away, “it’s a thing, something that exists.” So I told them that God the Father and God the Son are the same substance, they are the same thing, they exist together, they are consubstantial. They all understood it. Actually, I believe that “consubstantial” is clearer and easier to grasp than “one in being.”

The new translations of the Collects are much richer theologically. The premise for my homily yesterday came from the Collect. The prayers much more quickly raise the mind to God.

We will be glued to our pamphlets and hymnals for a while longer and I may at times get lost with the Missal, but I truly enjoy praying with the new translation. In a matter of months, we will all forget how it used to be and fully embrace the new translation.

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