Cleansing Fire

Defending Truth and Tradition in the Roman Catholic Church

“And with your spirit. And with your spirit. And with your spirit.”

December 2nd, 2011, Promulgated by b a

There’s been so much hype about the new translation and I can’t believe it’s finally here.  To prepare, I watched videos, listened to lectures, read about it, etc.  Last week it finally came.  Our parish has mass cards to help us out.  So I’m staring directly at the mass card, completely conscious of the fact that the new translation is finally here and the priest says, “The Lord be with you”, and I say, “And also with you… shoot!”.  It was my first time, so I cut myself some slack.  I wasn’t the only one having a hard time breaking the habit.  Today I went back to mass and was ready this time.  “And with your spirit.  And with your spirit.  And with your spirit,”  I mumbled on my way to mass.  The moment came and I don’t think I did any better than my first time.  A couple weeks of screwing up wouldn’t be so bad, but I fear unless I don’t do something more proactive I’ll drag this transition out way too long.  “I’ve got to fix this”, I thought.  The geek in me came up with a grand plan of making a long audio clip that was mostly silence, but would randomly speak, “The Lord be with you” so I could train myself.  Ideally this plan would have some way of shocking me if I didn’t say the right words.  Then reality hit and I realized I didn’t have time to create such a system, so I asked my wife to randomly say “The Lord be with you” to me and scold me appropriately.  (note: there are times when a wife can fulfill the duties of the computer).  Hopefully this will help.

The real reason for this post is I wanted to ask you – what are doing to kick the habit?

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10 Responses to ““And with your spirit. And with your spirit. And with your spirit.””

  1. JBCatholic says:

    When I came into the Church, my wife and I came out of our first Mass feeling lost with our responses. A year later you couldn’t tell us from a cradle Catholic. (except that we had a very purposeful genuflection…just kidding!) The same applies to this new translation, next Advent we wont even remember we have the helper cards.
    Sentire cum Ecclesia,
    JBC

  2. Jim says:

    Jim M. here: I’ve been going to daily Mass this week, and found myself saying: “And also with you”, as often as I said: “And with your Spirit”….sometimes I said: “And also with your Spirit!” …….its gonna take awhile to break a forty year habit!

  3. Diane Harris says:

    Glad you asked. I’ve gone back to wearing my chapel veil for Advent (except on days I forget and leave it in the car). I don’t think a chapel veil will work for you, Ben. Anyway, it keeps slipping off my head and each time I pull it back I say to myself “And with your spirit.” (It’s easier than putting a tack in my shoe.) And I hold onto the prayer card all the time so I’m ready. And I stop listening to everything else and watch and wait for the priest to say “The Lord be with you.” And then I loudly say “And also with you …. and your spirit.” Then I visibly slap myself on the side of the head. (It’s a new gesture but not approved in the new missal.) By next week I think I’ll be saying “And also with you and your spirit and the whole blinking lot of et cum spirit 2-2-0’s!” And bouncing my head off the pew in front. Whoops….back to the chapel veil.

  4. Raymond F. Rice says:

    Diane; Your response reminds me of going to church in Catholic elementary school for the first time in 1948. If the women and young girls did not wear a veil or hat, they put fresh Kleenex on their heads. They all looked like sisters of charity in training!!!

  5. Mary-Kathleen says:

    I have used the Daily Roman Missal for the N.O. Masses for the last twenty years. For ‘The Order of the Mass’ Latin is on the left-hand page and English on the right.

    About five or six years ago I finally got fed up with the lame translation of “et cum spiritu tuo” and “credo in unum deum” so I started saying “and with your spirit” and “I believe in one God” at that time (and even wrote the words out in my missal).

    My transition this Advent has been joyful and easy. (And I have a brand new Daily Roman Missal from the Midwest Theological Forum with the corrected translation.) Oh Happy Day:)

  6. Bernie says:

    I wouldn’t have any problem if it wasn’t for the numb-skulls around me! (just kidding)

  7. JLo says:

    Hilarious, all of you! Love this exchange… thanks, Ben.

    We all seem to be having the same experience! My husband and I go most days, so we’ve been to four since last Sunday when this all started. When I get it right, he get’s it wrong; then we switch. I saw father actually smile this morning as I belted out “And also with you!”

    And Raymond… I was one of those sometimes wearing Kleenex gals! You gave me a double laugh, though, because you wrote “fresh” Kleenex. LOL!

    +JMJ

  8. Abaccio says:

    I have been muttering the new translation for the past two years…so I dont need the card anymore. I forgot the word holy in the response to the orate, fratres the first two times though! I have been going to daily Mass all week. The 6:30 AM crowd has GOT it! The 4:45 and 12:10 PM crowds still stumble. There was one woman “of a certain age” who used all old trans and wouldn’t look at a card, but even the rest of the messer-uppers were trying “and also with your spiritohcrap” seems rather common! I see the most mess ups before the Gospel. I am willing to bet that new trans will be tougher on Sundays than weekdays though!

  9. christian says:

    After saying “And also with you.” out of habit twice last Sunday along with most if not all of the congregation, and then the mass stalling briefly at those points while we corrected our response with “And with your spirit,” I had no difficulty this Sunday with giving the correct response.
    I remember the original Latin words of priest and congregation – “Dominus vobiscum” and “Et cum spiritu tuo,” so it is easier to make the connection to the new words.

  10. Raymond F. Rice says:

    Being consistent, I am looking around for a parish that uses the old translation before it was hijacked by the current administration in Rome and fighting any bishop who wants to impose the new translation on the laity !!! What’s good for the Tridentines is good for the Novus Ordoes!

    Ps: Still wondering about the millions of homeless and /or nomadic people who are saying ” unworthy to enter under my roof” and then saying ” what’s a roof” or “I hope I get a roof someday”??

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