EWTN Live - A Biblical Walk through the Mass - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ w Dr Edward Sri - 04-20-2011

as we remember our Lord's passion this Holy Week we'll see how Christ's Last Supper is represented to us that each Eucharist when we take a biblical walk through the mass tonight so please stay with us thank you and welcome I hope you're having a very good holy week this is a great time for us this is our week of all the weeks of the year when we really celebrate our very identity as Catholics and I hope that you get to the various ceremonies some of you Maronites should be over at the ceremony of the harbor because that's done on Wednesday night but the Roman Rite Catholics and most of the other rites will be celebrating the Lord's Supper tomorrow and then on Friday the Good Friday services and in the Eastern Rites on Good Friday night the burial of Christ if some of you are rolling right Catholics and have an Eastern Rite Church in your area try to go to that ceremony as well as the mass of the presanctified now in the afternoon and also don't forget the Easter Vigil this is when many of our brothers and sisters will be baptized and or confirmed and this is a great celebration try to be there for the celebrations throughout Oh as one of my Australian friends said let's not be submarine Catholics submarine Catholics pop up at Easter and Christmas and we want to be much more than that this is this is something about our very identity as Catholics to engage in the ceremonies so let's be there for them and celebrate them as our parish families tonight we have a guest he's a professor of theology and scripture at the Augustine Institute of masters and catechetical and evangelization program in Denver Colorado he's also the author of a new book a biblical walk through the mass so please welcome dr. Edward Shree good thank you papa good to have it great to be back thank you prefer to call it ever to Ted you know I go by Edward it's a funny thing I've many of my books and I go by my formal name which is Edward but all my friends call me Ted and when I show up at a conference or an event and people see Ted's three maybe on a conference they say oh is Edward that guy that wrote the book is that your brother so I preferred maybe keeping it all Edward it just makes it easier all right or the audience I'll go with Edward um the let's take a look at this book that you have on the mass because you've also done a new series for us I want to talk about that new series but I'd like to start off by talking about your new book a biblical walk through the mass this is a nice way to go through the mass step by step and you've done something that's very nice in that you've also included the new translation so this is really you know a step ahead on getting us ready for the the new translation of the mass tell us a little bit about this as a matter of fact tell us why did you use the new translation instead of the old translation I tell you what it was this is a project I've been thinking about writing about speaking about for really about ten years and I really eventually wanted to put it into one whole book walking through all the parts of the mass we can understand really what we're saying and doing in the liturgy because we as Catholics we go to Mass and the priest says O Lord be with you lift up your hearts we lift them up to the Lord you know as we as Catholics we know these words like routine if I poked you in the middle of the night and said lift up your hearts you might say we looked out to Lord here just we just know them by instinct but what do they really mean what does it mean to really say holy holy holy Lord our glory to God in the highest all of these words and rituals in the liturgy are rooted in Sacred Scripture and if we can understand their biblical background more we'll be able to understand what we're really doing at mass step by step through all the prayers and rites of the liturgy so I longed to to put together a book that would help just the average Catholic understand and participate in the mass more deeply and encounter Jesus there so I began working on this project and about a year ago you know the Vatican came out with the finally we're going to officially have the new translation they've been talking about for years but it was really going to happen and I thought well if this book is going to be helpful for people let's incorporate the new translation and one of the things you find in the new translation is just how much more it's going to bring out the scriptural allusions that you find in the the prayers of the liturgy I think that's one of the really important elements of this new translation a lot of I've had emails people saying well what's wrong with dynamic equivalence and which is the way that it was translated that you get the same sense without translating the word for word translation but one of the problems with that dynamic equivalence approach to translation is that a number of the very direct allusions to scripture verses were you know sort of glazed over and you couldn't tell where it was coming from a classic example would be when the priest you know lifts up the host it says behold the lamb of God behold him who takes away the sins of the world the response of the laity in the pews was oh Lord I'm not worthy to receive you'd only say the word and I shall be healed and you miss that with what the new translation how do you remember the new translation yeah I well I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof an allusion to the the Roman centurion exactly Jesus with con credible humility and and when we repeat those words it's as if we're standing in his shoes coming before our Lord saying where we're not where they'd have you come under the roof of our souls so to speak right and so we can approach Jesus with tremendous reverence great humility now in a way that you know it was vaguely alluded to in the in the older translation but I think this new translation brings out that connection much clearer right right and they're going to be a number of other illusions like that that are made more clear because the translation is more precise a little bit more direct exactly one of my favorite examples is right after that right after the priest holds up the hosts then here at the very end he's he says to us in the translation the older we had said happier those were called to the supper you know and that's you know that that's fine but it doesn't quite get at what's in the original Latin text in the biblical background there on the new translation will say the priest will say blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb see happy of those who are called to the supper just makes it sound like it's any ordinary meal you know it's a supper but when you see blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb that's a reference to Revelation chapter 19 verse 9 which is a climactic moment in the book of Revelation really a climactic moment all of salvation history that's the great wedding supper of the Lamb where all throughout salvation history we know God is described as a bridegroom as a lover seeking his bride and Israel is the bride and when Israel's faithful she's the spotless pure wife but when she's unfaithful she becomes like an adulteress she becomes the impure wife she becomes a harlot even in many of the prophetic texts but even though Israel's been unfaithful the prophets foretold that God would still pursue his unfaithful wife like in Hosea 2 right he's going to loo her back and you see that culminated in Jesus Christ the bridegroom who lays down his life for his bride the church and then finally we get to Revelation 19 you have the great wedding supper of the Lamb where the the lamb is coming as a bridegroom Jesus to unite himself to us the church to his people in an intimate communion and that's the climax of all of the Bible that the great union in heaven and when the priest stands up at mass and holds the host and he says blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb he's echoing the invitation of the angel in the book of Revelation chapter 19 inviting us to that wedding supper and I think that may is making a profound point so it's almost as if we in the congregation we the people are receiving a wedding invitation and we're not any ordinary guests at this wedding we're the bride coming down the aisle to receive our bridegroom Jesus to receive his very body United to us in this profound intimate communion I think that's one of the most brilliant points of the new translation it's going to really heighten our understanding of the intimate union we have with God in holy munion yeah the other thing that I also saw with the old translation is that a number of people contrary to what the translators had said but a number of people would start doing their own dynamic equivalencies and making changes in the liturgy which they weren't allowed to do according to the Vatican 2 documents you know no one had the right not even the priests to make those changes but I for instance people send me emails on a regular basis saying you know well at our church they said our mother who art in heaven hallowed be thy name and is that allowed and I said would say no no it's not but you know the new translation by being more accurate and focusing on accuracy you know may take away some of that attempt to continue to make dynamic equivalencies when they're not part of the liturgy anyway even with the old translation they were part of it so that's an important thing too yeah you know I think another great advantage benefit of this new translation in addition to being more precise and faithful to the Latin in addition to carrying forward the great tradition that the Latin text hood had been carrying for centuries and in addition to the great biblical connections that will come out more I think is great side benefit is that it's going to this is a great opportunity for us as as a church and in the english-speaking world to to really reconsider what the mass is really all about and understand it better because starting next November that first Sunday of Advent when you when a Catholic walks into the church they're not gonna be able to just follow along you know they're going to need a guide or a book because the prayers in the new translation are going to be recognizable but substantially different and I think that's going to wake us up out of our kind of routine are looking at the liturgy in terms of commonplace of just responding to words of the priest says we're gonna have to look at these new words under and it might give us a chance to understand them and my hope is that this upcoming period of transition well the church will not just focus on maquette mechanical change in other words preparing people just to say new mass parts I hope this will be a great opportunity for catechetical and spiritual renewal that as we're again taken out of the routine well ponder anew the meaning of the liturgy and rediscover the great splendor of what is really happening in every mass yeah I think that's also the hope of the the American bishops and of the Vatican in approving this translation that they want us to have a sense of taking the liturgy more seriously mm-hmm so that's that's not not just your hope I think that that's part of the plan you know to to have the liturgy developed what what do you specifically do besides introducing the new liturgical formula what else are you doing in your book what I do in the book is basically go step by step through all the parts of the mast from the beginning sign of the Cross to the concluding thanks be to God and I go through all the major parts of the mass and it considered the biblical background so we'll look at things like how the sign of the Cross is in a sense prophetically foreshadowed some the early church fathers saw this in in that passage in Ezekiel 9 where there's the mark on the forehead of the Hebrew letter taw that is a sign of protection and a sign of covenant fidelity among those in Jerusalem who were faithful to God in the midst of great corruption among the elders in Jerusalem and then just so that folks know in old Hebrew the letter tau which is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet uh in those days it was shaped like a cross yes it took a different shape when they used the Aramaic alphabet but the and that's what modern Hebrew does it uses an Aramaic alphabet but in the old Hebrew alphabet it looks just like a cross look like a cross so you kids Christians looking back on that could see a prophetic foreshadowing of the the sign of the Cross which we make at the beginning of the mass which marks us off saying we desire to be faithful like those faithful Jews in Jerusalem in the midst of a culture that's corrupt and going astray from God and we also call on God's protection in our lives protection from a harm and evil and temptation and that's why I think some of the early church fathers saw the sign of the Cross powerful prayer when we are feeling discouraged in life when we're battling a temptation with impatience or with pride or with discouragement or with purity to make the sign of the Cross some of the church father says the demons flee at those moments and that's a beautiful thing to do and what we see is if we go through part by part of the mass every little detail practically has some allusion to Scripture and if we can understand that scriptural background it'll shed light on what we're really saying what does it really mean another example I use is the very opening words the Lord be with you you know many Catholics thinks that's just like a an ordinary greeting you know so and also with you Father good morning father well as matter of fact that's one of the things that sometimes happened people would say the Lord within also to you good morning good morning back how much row are you today I'm fine how are you you know it was another kind of dialogue that was highly secularized would sometimes take place instead of this more sacred dialogue that was especially set apart for Massa was set apart from the ordinary dialogues of every day exactly in as you know those words the Lord be with you those are key biblical words all throughout salvation history God uses those words or his his messengers the Angels uses those words to address certain people that he's often calling to play a critical role in his plan of salvation whether it be Joshua before he's going into the Promised Land you know there's all these powerful armies God says be of good courage I will be with you or Gideon and judges 612 as he's being called a rise up help lead the people and protect them from the Midianite to oppression and it's going to be a very daunting task and God says I will be with you or Moses and exodus 3 at the burning of bush when he's called to go back to Egypt where they were trying to kill him and confront the wicked dictator Pharaoh he's very nervous he doesn't feel adequate he doesn't want to do it says choose someone else but God says I will be with you and the message I think throughout salvation history is that God will often call us and he stretches us outside of our comfort zones but he's going to be with us in our particular vocations our particular callings and especially at the beginning of mass we have to realize that we're being invited to something that's quite profound we're entering the sacred mysteries of the holy liturgy we're going to encounter holy words speaking to us and the liturgy the word were in encounter God's real presence among us in the Eucharist and to get ready for this we need God's presence to help us and so that's why the priest says at the beginning of the mass the Lord be with you now what's the new response going to be you know the response this is one the biggest noticeable changes is we're not going to say and also with you as in the old translation going to say and with your spirit which is not just faithful to the Latin but the Latin again is faithful to some scriptural references that you find in st. Paul but even more so it's faithful this great tradition of understanding the unique activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the priest particularly to offer the mass when the priest was ordained the same spirit that dwells on all of us starts working through the priest in a unique way to celebrate the sacraments and in particular to offer the Holy Sacrifice the mass so the beginning of the liturgy the priest tells us to get ready as we're getting ready for this holy encounter with God's Word and with the Eucharist he says the Lord be with you may God be with you as you embark on the sacred journey of the liturgy now and then we say and may he be with your spirit with that same holy spirit that is within you from your moment of your ordination to equip you to offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the mass we're not simply saying good morning and good morning we are talking about sacred preparation for our encounter with God in the liturgy right you know this it's interesting to me um being by ritual it's not only in the Roman Rite that it's done with your spirit it's also in the Arabic and Aramaic in the Maronite liturgy and with your spirit America you know so it's something that is beyond one right it's something that gets that you know because the different rites are used in the same kind of language it's trying to get at a reality that is transcendent of one tradition or another right and that's another thing I like to highlight in the book is that the new translation will see all throughout is actually it's going to unite us more with our brother and sister Catholics around the world because most languages don't say and also with you in there you know they say and with your spirit same thing with the Creed for example you know we the only major language English to translate credo in Latin I believe to the plural we believe and I think the new translation again is going to be really helpful here to really personalize that act of the creed because it's one thing to say we believe I'm a member of one group and we all believe this and there's nothing wrong with that but I think Sunday after Sunday when I stand up and recite the Creed in the new translation I'm going to say I believe and that's going to be a personal act of faith where I'm gonna have to plant the flag in my own life and say I believe this I entrust myself to the Lord and one things I get into the book is that that biblical background of belief because we know from a biblical perspective belief is not just an abstract intellectual endeavor as the Catechism brings out an article 150 belief does involve an intellectual assent to all the truths of the faith but it also is a personal entrusting a carnal rotzinger likes to write about this when he looks at the word for where we get the word Amen you know back in Hebrew meaning to take our stand on someone else he writes about this a number of his books you know so I what is the foundation for my life and so when I stand up Sunday after Sunday I'm not just simply saying oh yeah I check these beliefs off I still believe all these doctrines no but we're doing that but we're even more so saying I desired to entrust more of my life to you Almighty God to you Father Son and Holy Spirit I want you to be evermore the foundation for my life as a matter of fact this coming sunday is Easter Sunday and on Easter Sunday we don't say the Creed you know in the Roman Rite we don't say the Creed we renew our baptismal vows and there are two things I think that are very important about that one is that since most Catholics were baptized as infants this is a way to renew your vows that you made and not to be able to say well hey they made me take it when I was a little kid and I didn't know what I was saying and it's not fair well we're giving you a chance every year to renew your baptismal vows and it is in a certain sense I think with the new translation with the I believe it becomes a personal chance and not just once a year but really every every Sunday every holiday obligation I to say that when we recite the Creed it's like a renewal of our wedding vows you know you think someone exchanged their vows and there's couples when they were first married and then 20 30 or 50 years they may renew their vows in a certain sense when we were baptized that's when we entered our covenant relationship with God and every time now we go to Mass especially with the new translation when we say I believe it's a reaffirmation of our baptismal promises it's a it's a renewal in a sense of those vows we recommit ourselves to entrust ourselves evermore to God well as a matter of fact in the baptismal vows the response is do you renounce Satan and the response is personal I do exactly I do and you believe in God the Father Almighty I do too it's always I do this I make that commitment of faith and by saying I believe in the Creed we're definitely you know dealing with the personal commitment that is that you've been talking about here is that personal commitment to the faith and saying that I'm going to be believing this absolutely think about that at that moment in the liturgy each individual stands up and they're standing before Almighty God in the entire congregation and they're making a great pledge of fidelity of loyalty to their God and they're saying I believe in the father and the son the Holy Spirit I believe in it sure not only that they exist and not only all that they've revealed but belief in that biblical sense of and I and trust my life to you every Sunday you know that's why we repeat it I think you know because intellectual faith in a certain sense I can grow in and study more but even more so every week I need to reaffirm my surrender of my entire life that saying yes to Jesus Sunday after Sunday and I think that's what we're doing in the Creed yeah yeah no I think that that's an important part of the new translation and it always made you know less sense to say we believe when the Latin word is cradle I believe right so it's we talk about as the cradle we even use the word cradle as English word nowadays which your credo well it's not what your feet your faith is in general but what is my I by I believe you know that's that's important element what are some of the other elements that you go through you know I really I cover all the different parts of the mass maybe another example we cook that would be the Gloria I spend a little time looking at those words that we recite from the Gloria which again I like to say is like a biblical mosaic so many of the images come from all different passages from the Bible a lot from the Gospel of John and references to titles for Jesus Christ such as Lamb of God Lamb of God in the new translations say not just only son of the father but only begotten son which is some language you find in John I think that's another great example what's the difference being you know only son of the father and only begotten son of the father that language of only begotten is interesting in John's Gospel in the Johanna and literature we know that John emphasizes how we're all called to be children of God we're all called through the life of grace to participate in the life of the son and call God our Father that's a big theme in his letters and in the gospel but John goes out of his way to highlight Jesus's unique sonship we we are sons of God by grace but Jesus is Son of God by nature and one of the titles you find for Jesus right there in the prologue in Chapter one of John's Gospel is he's the only begotten Son pointing to that unique relationship that he has with the father different than what we have I think that's an important point to make another thing I look at in the Gloria I love to make this point is you know the opening words where do they come from those opening words come from the angelic hosts over the fields of Bethlehem you know on Christmas night you know they're singing glory to God and the highest and peace on earth to men of goodwill I think it's fitting that we as Catholics recite those words it's fitting that we as Catholics recite those words right at the beginning of the mass because in a certain sense when we go to Mass the mystery of Christmas the mystery of Bethlehem is made present again in the sense that just as the Angels welcomed Jesus into this world with those words glory to God in the highest so do we participate in their praise of Jesus welcoming him preparing for his coming down upon our altars as the bread and wine will be changed into the very body and blood of Jesus so I think it's fitting that we repeat those angelic words of praise at the beginning of the mass as we're preparing to welcome our Lord once again as matter of fact one that I've been giving some lectures about the angels in the past few months and one of the things I emphasize is how the Angels teach us to praise God they lead us in worship and one of the examples is the glory oh you know we learn from the Angels how to praise God another place is the Sanctus the holy holy holy where we also learn a song of the Seraphim the highest level of the angels and we preach that at the mass exactly and I think the new translation will make that connection to Isaiah six even more clearly that passage that says we were as a has this vision of the divine throne room and he sees the Seraphim they're bowing down before God and saying holy holy holy Lord God of hosts now used to say Lord God of power might and that's true that God is the Lord God of power might I think the new translation makes a connection to Isaiah more clearly and highlight because that's the word that's used it's about exactly that's that's the language that's there in the original Latin text and that Isaiah connection is important because it shows that God isn't just powerful he's so powerful he's the God not just over visible creation but of all that is invisible even the angelic hosts they are angelic armies he's got over and it reminds us of how did the angels when they were near God what did they do they're you know they're bowing down they don't feel worthy to it said to be close to God's presence you know they cover their faces and go into their wings they cover their faces out of humility out of humility and profound reverence of drawing near into God's presence what are we doing right at that moment of the liturgy when we sing the song - when we sing the holy holy holy this is the moment right before we get on our knees and we enter the most sacred part of the liturgy we're preparing for those words of institution the words of consecration when the I am blood of Christ his soul and divinity is now going to be manifested right here with us and and we're preparing to receive that very God within to us and Holy Communion and so right before we enter in to that critical moment of the Eucharistic liturgy we echo those words of the Angels to remind us we better respond here with profound reverence in humility if the Seraphim didn't feel worthy to be close to God we suik sinners we definitely shouldn't feel worthy to be crying near to his presence now he invites us and so we come but yet we recognize what a tremendous gift this is and so we say holy holy holy Lord God of even those hosts in heaven that did not feel worthy to be near you wonderful we need to take a break but we're going to come back and we're going to continue talking about this wonderful book and the mass and the scriptural basis so please stay with us thank you welcome back I know this is Holy Week but there are plenty of chances to keep coming over here on pilgrimage if you are a chant have a chance to come and join us on pilgrimage please do so you can call our pilgrimage department at two zero five two seven one two nine six six that's two zero five two seven one two nine six six or you can also contact them by going to our website www.weg.net work and also up in hands full with the sisters as well as scheduling for the programs and tours of the network so we'd love to have you come and join us and enjoy the beautiful beautiful spring time that we have here in Alabama so please come on down you ready for a question sure all right we have one question from our studio audience fruit ma'am where are you from Minnesota Minnesota and what's your question how do you think the average person in the pew is going to respond to all of these new changes all right I think the changes are going to be pretty big and substantial like I mentioned you're not going to be able to just walk into mass the first Sunday of Advent next next fall and and be able to just follow along because the the prayers will be very recognizable the order of the mass remains the same it's just that the actual prayers are going to be retranslated and almost every prayer is affected by this translation so I think the average person's if they don't know and they're not ready they're going to walk in and say what happened yes it would be somewhat disconcerting for some people and that's why I think that the u.s. bishops conference is really going out of their way to try to really prepare people you know I didn't live through the changes from the Latin to the English after Vatican 2 I did but I could speak to this more than I could but I've heard many people say there wasn't a lot of training in many diocese and it was very abrupt and was very unsettling and caused a lot of tension and difficulties for people and I think the church is aware of that and I know the bishops conference is doing great work and the u.s. bishops conference has a great website you can go there website and learn a lot about the new translation there are a lot of diocese you know what their website is I think it's just USCCB dot org I think I think so you know I think that I know that I'm the publisher for my book is also having a website with a lot of free materials it's a guide to the mass comm a guide to the mass comm might be a way to also get some materials on this business I think the churches has learned from what happened in the late 60s early 70s and and and they're really trying to prepare people my hope is that that on the national level will trickle down to diocese and to parishes and I've come across already some diocese that are doing just great work doing preparation with their priests with their catechist and most of the preparation I think for the average layperson will start taking place in the fall that's the strategy that the bishops conference has been encouraging that in the fall leading those months leading up to the new translation there'll be a lot of preparation let's just hope that a lot of individual parishes and diocese will carry that out well yeah I know this diocese has already had training for the priests and that there will be more training around the country there's a team from the USCCB the bishops conference to go around the different dioceses and train them and my own provincial sent us all a letter saying to cooperate with this and you know make sure that we were part of it so the various leaders of the Catholic Church are trying to encourage it now know one of the things that I remember when the Train changes first came back from Latin into English it was a gret it was a gradual change we had some parts of the mass still in Latin and some parts in English then eventually the whole thing went English I remember being sort of surprised that that is even as a kid that the whole mass was going to be in English I thought that the consecration would stay in Latin but it didn't uh you know everything was changed into English and for a while uh people were very careful in following the instructions but for after a little while we I'd say within a couple years of the changes priests began to do divergencies do you think that we'll have that same process go on again I hope not I hope we'll see a smoother transition and a great eagerness to welcome this new translation and implement it well I can say this I in Denver I get a chance to meet a lot of the younger seminarians here and I'm meeting a lot of younger seminarians increase around the country and I sense this younger generation loves this new translation they're so excited I've taught I've met some priests who told me they've already downloaded it offline and they're practicing getting ready you know and they're very enthusiastic about the new translation so my hope is that you know with you know this younger generation I think they're much more open to the new and they see the great value it's that this new translation will have that it will be welcomed well I do wonder you know other priests who may have been used to the older translation and really liked it for them I think it's going to be difficult and I've seen some articles of people criticizing the new translation do we really need this and and I think change is going to be very hard for for a lot of people but but I again I do think the bishops conference has done an excellent job I attended one of those seminars when they came to Denver and they really just very good on all fronts of trying to help people through the upcoming change and I'm hopeful a little it'll go smoothly yeah I I'm thinking so too ah there may be some financial crunch with this because you know some of the parishes you know already are having trouble staying open you know because of finances and so in having these new books you know for the liturgy is going to be somewhat expensive but I'm hoping that that'll be able to be something they can overcome because it's you know the liturgy is so important you know and if people can pay attention to that in their parish maybe be just a little bit extra generous to help them you know take care of covering those costs for the new books that would be helpful as well I think that's another point point to make in this time of transition is that some people in the average person in the pew might be wondering what with all that's going on in the church in the world do we really need to focus on a new translation this is going to cost a lot of time and energy and effort and do we really need this and I think it's important I that when we go to Mass this is that we're worshipping God and how we worship God is important you know our relationship with Jesus is the most important thing in our lives and the words that we use in the liturgy really do matter you know there's that famous saying like serve on deluxe credenzie you know the law what does that mean the law of prayer is the law of belief and some people expand that and sale XVII vending you know the law of prayer is a law of belief in other words the the way we pray shapes our belief the way we talk to God kind of we affects how we view God and how we view our relationship with him and Lexia vendee if you expand that on people would say well that affects the way that we live our lives so I'll give an example and what's one of the points I draw it in the book is if you look at the the prayer the confiteor the I confess to Almighty God prayer in the older translation we said you know I that I have sinned through my own fault and that's fine but in the new translation it's going to more accurately reflect the Latin where we say and I have sinned through my own lumina fault through my fault through my own fault through my most grievous fault now so people no matter what's the big deal what's the difference saying through my own fault and repeating it three times why do we really need to focus on adding that out and then they ask what's the big deal and I'd say it is a big deal because just on a let's say on a human relationship if I did something you know let's say I actually just bumped into your foot or you know excellently spilled your water I might say oh I'm sorry you know not yet you're not you know if I just said I'm sorry and I just bumped into you that's one thing but let's say an intimate personal relationship like with my wife I did something that hurt my wife a neglected or I said something I hurt her feelings I don't just say oh I apologize and move on with my day you know I might say you know when we deeply hurt someone and we really feel badly about it we say oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that i I knew I shouldn't have done it that way I'll please forgive me we say I'm sorry multiple times in different ways don't we that's an ordinary human chips and the end if we do that and our relationships here on earth how much more so we should do this with God and so when I sin against Almighty God you know I didn't just step on his toe I'm not just apologizing you know when I sinned against God I want to make a heartfelt contrition and I think the Latin text and the new translation that brings that out more really helps us to express a heartfelt contrition to God so I don't just say oh god I apologize for what I did this week I say I've sinned really through my own fault I take responsibility for the exactly through my own fault through my most grievous fault and I got to think that's another great example in the new translation of how we're it's going to really enhance our worship of God and really help us to approach him with greater humility and reverence right right no I think that that's going to be right um one one of the things we were talking before the break about the Sanctus and how we sing the song of the angels and the Seraphim ah and we're going to have a more accurate translation because include all the heavenly hosts uh not just power might but but the God of hosts which includes all the angels another thing that I also like about the preparation for the Canon a mass that comes with that is the the line blessed as you comes in the name of the Lord because Jesus had said you will not see the Son of Man until you say blessed is he who comes the name of the Lord and we won't see Jesus until we say that so that that's another element of bringing in scripture exactly we're going to see our Lord are those going to be present with us here in the Eucharist we could think of it that way think of it of course at the end of time as well but another thing that that's an allusion to is the events of Palm Sunday exactly remember that's what the people said is they were welcoming Jesus into the holy city exactly they repeated those words and I think that's very fitting because we're getting ready to welcome that same Jesus present in the Eucharist when we receive in my Holy Communion so I think it's once again fitting that we use those very words from Scripture from the events of Christ's life to welcome him into our in the Luigi just like those Jews did on Palm Sunday into Jerusalem right right yeah that's a quote from psalm 118 and it's a and it's a great psalm that includes bringing up a poems you know to the altar so it's the number of allusions that you know the more we understand scripture the better we'll understand the mass and the more we understand master better we'll understand scripture that these are going to play back absolutely I think that sheds light on one of those big questions people have asked about the words of institution you know the big change from Jesus blood being shed for all is in the old translation to now we say you know being shed for many well I don't know if you remember the old chant the old old translation of the new translation because it used to be for all men hmm and because of the controversies about sex inclusive language people started changing it for all men and women for all for all people for all this that nothing and you know that was one of the places where dynamic equivalence you know house trouble cause confusion very much so the language that Jesus actually uses at the at the Last Supper is for many and so the promo teases is accurately translating that a number of New Testament scholars point out that what Jesus is referring to and he speaks of for many is the feem of the many in Isaiah and especially as a chapter 53 in the suffering servant and I think this is a very good move because it's going to preserve the Latin tradition of chromel T's for many and as Cardinal renze said he wrote a letter explaining why this is so important to preserve this is that it points to well certainly Jesus died for all that's clearly revealed in the New Testament but the for many highlights that while Jesus died for all not everyone welcomes that gift into the life or lives by that grace of salvation that they received and it's important to keep that there but another thing I like to note is that that the for many in the Last Supper narrative that Jesus uses alludes to Isaiah 53 in the suffering servant the Lamb that's led to the slaughter who's going to offer his life as a sacrifice for sin offers his life for many and in the greek septuagint for many is used three times in Isaiah chapter 53 and as you know in Isaiah and what was the Greek Septuagint a lot of okay I know that's the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament text that was commonly used in the New Testament era and that the New Testament often is referring to right now about 300 out of 360 quotations are from the subject from the Septuagint yes but in Isaiah the theme of the many refers to the many nations so there's actually even in Isaiah the idea of the many has a certain universal perspective of that there's going to be this lamb that we led to the slaughter who will offer his life for sin and dying for the many nations so I don't think that the new translation is in any way trying to limit the universal scope of Jesus's death on the cross but it is being more faithful to the original text of the Bible and what Jesus actually said to the Last Supper and it's it's pointing out the point the Cardinal renze makes that you know sometimes people may not welcome that gift in their lives we need to to recognize that important theological aspect of of the way God's salvation works right now one question that some people bring up is an important question why didn't they get it right the first time why are we doing another translation and why didn't they get this done you know so well the first time back in the 1960s and 70s sure Oh what would you say to that but you can imagine the lat the massaman somebody in Latin for centuries and all of a sudden we need a new English translation and so there are groups that are working together on a tight deadline having to work very quickly under pressure to put something out I can understand that you know they may not be able to come out with the best product under the under those conditions the other thing is that you mentioned earlier the mode of translation that was popular in that time and that was being used you know by the translators was this dynamic equivalence which is a looser translation of not having to get a word-for-word translation but more trying to just pass on the general sense of a text and you know dynamic equivalence has certain values for certain settings I think now you know 30 years after later 40 years later you know the church is seeing that might not be the best approach to translation for the Sacred Liturgy and we want to really preserve the great tradition that the Latin text was carrying that that Latin text of the mass really captured a lot of important theological points like consubstantial for example it also carried on the biblical tradition that we saw clear biblical allusions and it also really positioned the the persons worshiping in an attitude of greater reverence before God and in the heightened language that you find in the Latin text so I think it was important to carry that forward and and when you use dynamic equivalents you're going to lose a lot of that it's not going to be as clear and I think now since you John Paul the second and and in the new translation now is trying to be a tighter closer more of a formal correspondence kind of translation that really will capture so much of this beautiful theological tradition the biblical allusions and help us to worship God with this heightened language with an attitude of greater humility and reverence now you know and one of the the things just to think back on this there were a number of Latin translations of the Bible for instance and the mass itself when it went from Greek as a mass was in Rome was originally in Greek and when they started to include some Latin in the mass this caused a great uproar you know that they wanted the traditional make sure that we stick with the Greek that back in the third century and it took about a hundred years before the mass got his final form in Latin so it was not something that was done earlier at the beginning of the church it was something that came you know a couple hundred years later and you know this is something to keep in mind that it took a while for the Latin translation to get to its beauty in the first place from the translations of the Latin from Greek and we're going to the same kind of thing I think at this same translations have always been sources of consternation and debate and conflict you know throughout the ages in the church in whether it's translating texts of Scripture or translating texts of the mass so we're going to have a few bumps on the road and some people have criticized Vatican 2 for causing these troubles but I don't think that's that's a fair assessment Vatican 2 had a lot of good insight too maybe the way it was actually implemented in the translation might not you know it wasn't all bad there was some good in it but you know we saw areas where the translation could be improved and we're going to improve that here in the new translation coming up and like you said it'll take some time for that dust to settle and and but I think this new translation is really going to just really advance the ball forward and really help us to enter into the liturgy in a very profound way and and I think the new translation is much more faithful to that tradition of many many centuries of the Latin text right and you know that the question is going to be um will this translation live longer than 40 years you know the last translation was only about 40 years which is in the life of the church a short amount of time sure um do you think that this will have greater longevity it certainly has the potential for greater longevity I think right out of the gates people had a lot of questions about that original translation whereas now I think a lot of the leaders right church are sensing we really like this this is where we need to go I think there's a greater sense that this is gonna be something very positive for the church so I think there's a great potential it'll last a lot longer yeah I I think so as well um I again I can remember you know just the fighting over the words of the consecration of the wine you know and and there'd be all these battles and people just translating on their own and doing their own approaches because they had sensitivities to sects inclusive language and they wanted to be faithful to the text sometimes sometimes not you know the variety of approaches and it did cause confusion and and there was a one of the things that happened that I think is also going to be a difference Pope Paul the sixth is welcomed certain kind of experiments within certain limited you know realms you know that that the liturgy some parameters right but one of the things that happened is some people say Oh everything is up for grabs and we can experiment on everything in the liturgy and you know so you had uh some liturgical experimentation that went very wild for instance the the et Mass there's a one pre celebrated a mess honoring the extra-terrestrial movie ET you know so there were crazy experiments as well and I think all of that is settled down already right that settled down even before this new translation but the new translation doesn't invite this kind of openness to experimentation there's that and then I also do think once again the bishops conference doing an outstanding job with all these workshops preparing diocese and priests liturgical leaders to get ready for this and if that does again trickle down and you see parish is beginning to implement what the USCCB is is intending to do and using other resources you know I think there's going to be a lot out there to help people zoom in on the trend new translations so everyone's going to know this is what we're supposed to be doing now and explaining if we can help explain the changes that's one of the things I really wanted to do in the book was really you know the book is about all the parts of the mass but I do zoom in on some of the more substantial changes in the in the new translation and really help the average layperson understand this isn't just a random change or this isn't just more faithful to Latin what's being faithful Latin for a reason and if we understand it biblically we'll see this is why this change is gonna be so helpful and this is what it really means and when we say this or we do this in liturgy there's we understand what we're really saying doing now and so I think that the with by being ahead of the game and really preparing people between now and next November I think we can try to minimize some of the the chaos that could have happened if we hadn't been ahead of the game like that right right we've been talking about your book and it's been fascinating um but I've forgot to mention your new series very much uh you're doing a brand new series for us what's it going to be on it's called men women and the mystery of love and it's based off a book I wrote a number of years ago on john paul ii work called love and responsibility about men and women relationships and this is a lot of fun we had a really fun time working with a lot of students in focus and at my school the Augustan institute lover responsibilities one of those gems of john paul ii so it's not as well-known everyone's all excited about theology of the body which I'm very excited about too but I think love and responsibility is even more exciting it is so immediately practical for people's lives I remember years ago I was preparing to teach a class on theology body for university students and I remember using my winter break to go back and I wanted to read love responsibility get the background right and I was in this Abbey crypted Benedictine monastery actress in Kansas where I taught and I was down there every day reading level responsibilities and it would be about you know I read 10 to 12 pages in an hour partly because it's thick right it's dense but also even more so because I was just deeply moved by what jp2 was saying about what real love is and what marriage looks like and it was like a marriage examination of conscience for me challenging me to live my marriage better and it also had so many practical insights for I knew that the young people single people in dating relationships how do you navigate a relationship with the opposite sex what is love what is friendship how do I lay the foundation for an authentic relationship of love how do I avoid just another disaster in my relationships and I knew it would be so helpful for the young people I was teaching on college campuses and the young adults I was working with and focus and so I began spending my theology body class we spent half of that class on loving responsibility and once we had those principles down we could understand theology embody a lot so over the years I was teaching in various settings for marriage marriage conferences men's conferences women's conferences for adults and with college students and young adults and theology on taps and I just got a sense that a lot of people found loving responsibilities so helpful so I wrote the book men women the mystery of love and eventually we decided to put it into a series here for EWTN all right well that sounds pretty good and like you say you have some students from focus which is a group of students who are on campuses on doing campus ministry as well as a student from your own Institute Gustin Institute yes yeah so I teach it the Augustan in Denver Colorado which is a master's program we have various degrees in Scripture or theology and catechetical sand evangelization and we're launching a new youth ministry tract as well we just found out in our fifth year we're a young school but we become the sixth largest master's program in the country that's doing work for preparing people for ministry work and we certainly have a lot of people to come on our campus but we've launched two years ago a distance ed program that's booming we have people from all over the world well I'm knowing with us as a matter of fact people ask and this is a great I've been out to the st. Augusta Institute and it's a great program one of the problems with programs is that they run out of this one runs out of time and we've already done that so I want to thank you Ted very much for being here it's great to have you here and want to give you a blessing for this Holy Week may Almighty God bless you and keep you cause his face to shine upon you the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and again we want to remind you that this network has brought to you by you we can't do a new series with with Ed without your help and bring him here for this program and the other programs we do so please keep us in between your gas bill your electric bill in your cable bill and we'll be able to pay all of our bills god bless you and have a great Easter thank you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 47,557

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Keywords: EWTN Live - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Catholic

Id: CkcmsxgW7_Q

Length: 56min 29sec (3389 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 21 2011