Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My Sentiments Exactly

Back in November (on the first Sunday of Advent, at the start of the liturgical year),  the Catholic church began using a new English translation of the Mass, which is closer to the original Latin texts than the one that came out after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

When I walked into church that first Sunday, in addition to the Missals and hymnals in front of each pew there were cards outlining the new prayers and responses.  Since things had been the same for decades, I could say all the prayers by rote, so it's probably not a bad thing that I really have to concentrate now on what I'm saying.  When I started, I didn't have the new words memorized, so I read all the prayers.  Almost three months later I've committed some of them to memory and I'm gradually phasing out the sheet.

Most of the changes in wording are pretty minor, but there's one that continues to trip me up...and judging by the mumbling I hear from the people around me at Mass, I'm not the only one.  At five different points in the ceremony, the priest says, "The Lord be with you".  The response used to be "And also with you".   Now, its "And with your spirit".  The first few weeks I always said the old words.  Now I get it right more than half the time.

I had to laugh when I got this in an email today:


That's exactly how I feel when I get it right!

10 comments:

  1. LOL! Something similar happened to me when our church changed Bible translations. The one I had used for 30 years was now a little different in word choices! Verses I knew from memory now sounded different! I still have a hard time with some of the phrasing! ha.

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  2. I remember loving Mass said in Latin ...

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  3. That is too funny. Made me laugh.

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  4. Good for you, Kathy! I love that baby picture.

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  5. Cute! I also feel like that when I make a mistake time and time again and finally get it right! lol

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  6. you know I'm just responding less in church now!

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  7. i had no idea of the change! that's becuz i don't go to church often. my mom said in italy they have always responded: and with your spirit, so i guess it's a globally uniform thing. that image is a riot:)

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  8. I am an old dog....please no new tricks!....smiles

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  9. I've been telling people that they changed it from "And also with you" to "And also with you dammit".

    I think I've finally got that one mostly down, finally.

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  10. That's funny. Thankfully, I go to Spanish mass,and like a previous commenter said, in Spanish it has always been "and with your spirit". But in the rare event that I've had to go to English mass, I always have to follow the mass in the missal.

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