The following appeared in the National Catholic Register. It’s worth the read, I guarantee it!
By Jimmy Akin
The Register recently asked me to do a post on what I saw at Mass this Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday using the new translation of the Roman Missal.
Happy to oblige! So here’s what happened . . .
I arrived at Mass a few minutes early and took my seat in the pew. The particular parish I was attending had not done a lot of prep work for the new translation.
In fact, I saw that the Roman Missal they had was still in its shiny, new shrinkwrap.
And behold, there were seven seals upon its shrinkwrap.
I heard the cantor proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the Missal and break its seals?”
And no one in the parish was able to open the Missal or to look into it, and I wept much that no one was able to open the Missal, for I was really looking forward to the new translation.
Then the pastor said, “Weep not. This will only take a moment.”
And when the pastor opened one of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living choir members say, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!”
And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider was a liturgist; and a crown was given to her, and she went out conquering and to conquer.
When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living choir member say, “Come!”
And out came another horse, bright red; its liturgist was permitted to take peace from the parish, so that people should form factions and grumble against one another; and she was given a great sword.
When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living choir member say, “Come!”
And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and its liturgist had a set of political talking points in her hand; and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living choir members saying, “A dearth of jobs in the economy; but do not harm the taxes or the new medical care program!”
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living choir member say, “Come!”
And I saw, and behold, a green horse, and its rider’s name was Envy, and Bitterness followed her.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of the parishioners who had been slain for complaining about liturgical abuses and for the witness they had borne.
They cried out with a loud voice, “How long must we suffer this squishy, 1970s translation?”
. . .
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-four-liturgists-of-the-apocalypse#ixzz1f0sTDm1Q
Tags: Liturgy, New Translation, Orthodoxy at Work, Thou Shalt Laugh
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No problems that I noticed at Holy Cross. Fr. Wheeland began preparing his parishioners in September which, I’m sure, helped quite a bit.
OLV was incredible as it always is. Transitions like this are always helped with a great priest leading the way!
Very smooth in our parish, I noticed lots of people smiling, that’s good! We also had good preparation by Father Pastor. There was also a neat cardboard cheatsheet in the front of the missalette.
[non-DoR alert]
No probs here. The biggest, what I would have expected, was and with your spirit. Nailed the opening, OK for the latter two, but the Gospel response was pretty botched. Time will heal…
Amazingly, I don’t see much commentary that the celebrant has 98% of the changes, so bravo to ours who, albeit somewhat ploddingly, nailed things. It’s amazing how the Eucharistic prayer III is now more impressive than the previous prayer I.
Another change that no one seems to complain about (yay) but no one seems to commend (???) is was incarnate instead of was born (…of the Virgin Mary, Nicene Creed). ‘Born’ is fine, but ‘incarnate’…invested into body. Body…. humanity…. Eucharist. Fantastic improvement. This might be my favorite part.
Overall a good job by all involved. The changes did align me more towards the mystery of the Mass, but to be fair part of it was the novelty of it all.
Now if only the otherwise decent youth choir’s percussionist would have tried to channel God instead of Keith Moon. (with apologies to fogies like myself who sometimes cannot tell the difference 😉 )
One guy asked me after Mass what “consubstantial” meant. I told him. I also told him that if he makes a few mistakes the first month, it is not a matter for confession.
I was at a Mass today with a much older, retired priest. Even though I might at times find things to criticize in a homily or opinion, I do admire that he hasn’t taken the easy way out and disappeared to a Florida golf course, or just passed on the challenge of the new liturgy and fully retired. However, today, as I saw him get lost in the new Missal, trying valiantly to do what he is supposed to do, in the right order, with the right words and gestures, he reached a point during the Mass when I thought he was going to burst into tears. Several times within a few minutes he just reverted to the prior language, in some detail, collected himself and then tried the new missal again. Once he did the same part twice. I just want to say to priests finding themselves in this position, overwhelmed and embarrassed, that we can see you are doing your best, and we are grateful for your priesthood; please don’t give up. And if it takes 5 or 10 minutes longer, so what? God understands, and so do most of the people you serve. Take your time, as much as you need. It is a good lesson for us, that no matter what the challenges, we should just keep trying.