Bishop Vasa explains how it will help the Church grow in faith.
by SUE ELLEN BROWDER10/12/2011 Comment
Bishop Robert Vasa is the bishop of Santa Rosa, Calif. Like all bishops throughout the country, he is planning to implement the new English translation of the Mass on the First Sunday of Advent.
Liturgy, the prayer of the Church, reveals our faith and our life. Liturgy is that timeless place in time where man encounters God in a communion of love. How we pray forms the foundation for how we believe.
Bishop Vasa spoke about what the Church is trying to show us with the new translation of the Roman Missal.
What is liturgy?
The liturgy is the work of Jesus. It is the work of God in our midst. There has been a great emphasis since the 1960s on what we are doing for God as opposed to what Christ is doing for us. Liturgy lifts up the mind and heart to God; it puts us in contact with Jesus’ saving works and deeds. Liturgy takes us out of where we are and lifts us up into that place where we are not yet.
And what do these changes in liturgical language tell us?
When we study the language in the new translation, we see that it consistently shifts us into an acknowledgement of the otherness of God, the God who is not us. It emphasizes the centrality of God and his grace, as opposed to the anthropocentric, man-centered approach, where we make it so much about us and what we’re doing. The elevation of language — the increased richness of the language — tells us this is not an ordinary, daily, routine event.
There’s a lot of fear about this new translation.
I would say this: In terms of the laity, there is precious little cause for any concern or anxiety because everything that affects the laity directly is found on one two-sided, 8½- by-11-inch sheet.
Now, the priest has about a thousand pages of text that is absolutely brand-new to him. It will be important for the priest to take a few moments before Mass to sit down and study the texts to make sure that there’s not some twist in the language that’s going to cause him to stumble.
Some people say the new Gloria is too complicated.
Well, most people have to pick up the Gloria and read it anyway. Most of the Glorias we have sung in the Church in the last 20 years have been some sort of artistic rendition of the Gloria. To have a new standard translation and a mandate that this translation is to be used exclusively in written and in sung versions will actually make the “Glory to God” less complicated, because it’s going to insist on this translation and not something “equivalent to it,” especially when sung.
When we study the language in the new translation, what should we be looking for?
The new translation affords us an opportunity to look at the words in the Mass and ask, “How and why is this different?” I think if people do this, they will find that the new translation offers a great opportunity for deeper prayer and reflection. Sometimes that new translation will challenge our accustomed thought and behavior patterns and hopefully lead us to a deeper intimacy with Christ…
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