Office for Divine Worship

The  new English translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal will show forth the deep scriptural context of the prayers at Mass. A good example of this is the Invitation to Communion during the Communion Rite.  At this point in the Mass, the priest holds up the consecrated host slightly above the paten or above the chalice and currently says:  This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Happy are those who are called to his supper.  Together with the people the priest adds:  Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed. As with the other texts of the Mass in the Roman Missal, the original Latin words have not changed.  What will be different at Mass on November 27 is the new translation.  It will better reflect what the Latin actually says.  This is the new English translation of the words of the priest:  Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.  Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.  Then, priest and people together will say the following:  Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

Words of this invitation said by the priest evoke an image in the bible’s Book of Revelation (19:9):  “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (from the New Revised Standard Version Bible:  Catholic Edition).   The second part, said by the priest with the people, is a reflection of Luke 7:6-7.  That passage contains the story of the cure by Jesus of the Roman centurion’s servant.  The soldier, not a Jew, sent for Jesus to come to cure his servant.  Later, the officer sent friends to Jesus, who was not far from the house.  The message was that Jesus should not trouble himself, for the centurion was not worthy to have the Lord enter under his roof, or even for the officer to come to him to speak directly.  The soldier asked that Jesus simply say the word so that the servant be healed.  Our Lord praises the faith of this non-Jewish soldier, and of course, the servant was healed from afar.

This gospel story from Luke has been the background for the Invitation to Communion for centuries.  Some Catholics may remember these words from the hand missals used in the 1950’s and 60’s to help the faithful to better understand the Mass when it was entirely in Latin.  In the history of the development of the Mass the Church has taken these scriptural words of Luke’s gospel and adapted them to the liturgical context.  The healing request is now for our souls (not for a servant).  However, other words remain, especially “roof” (tectum in Latin), which represents our own abode or physical bodies into which Christ will be received in Holy Communion.  In the gospel story, the Lord did not enter into the centurion’s house, but at Mass the Lord in the Eucharist does enter ours. 

This scriptural background is what the Church would have us understand and be thinking about as we prepare to go to Holy Communion.  It is not that we have to be specifically conscious of it each time the words are said at Mass.  However, it is the deeply spiritual and prayerfully felt scriptural background of the Invitation to Communion.  The forthcoming English translation now opens up the passage for the faithful in a way that has not been there before.  Although what Catholics have been saying for the last forty some years is good, the new translation of the original Latin text is even better.  Indeed, that is how it is with so many of the English texts of the Mass, which will come into use on November 27 with implementation of the third edition of the Roman Missal.

Dominus vobiscum, “The Lord be with you;” Et cum spiritu tuo, “And with your spirit,” are a greeting by the celebrant and the response of the people that occur four times in the Mass:  at the introductory rites (with two added options for a priest, and a formula for a bishop), at the gospel, at the preface dialogue, and at the concluding rites.  Perhaps of all the changes in the new English text of the third edition of The Roman Missal (to be implemented on November 27, 2011), this one may cause the most notice by the faithful.  Some may remember it from their hand missals from the 1950s and 1960s before the reform of the liturgy by Vatican Council II.  Also, it was used in the first translations of the mass texts in English before the publication of the English translation of the missal of Pope Paul VI of 1970.   It is not, consequently, totally unfamiliar to many Catholics.

            To say “with your spirit” is a more accurate translation of the Latin words.  As a translation it is based on the principle of “formal equivalency,” which is the principle operative in all the new English translations of Latin liturgical texts.   In fact, speakers of French, Italian, Spanish, and German, have been saying “And with your spirit” since the 1970s.  Because this greeting/response at Mass has ancient liturgical usage, and to show unity with the universal Church, what is said in the English vernacular should accurately reflect the meaning of the ancient Latin text.    

            The use of the greeting goes back to the Old Testament.  The Book of Ruth (2:4) gives us a view of its use in the everyday life of the Jews:  “Boaz himself came from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, ‘The Lord be with you!’ and they replied, ‘The Lord bless you!’”    In the Gospel of Luke (1:28) the angel Gabriel greets Mary in this same way before the announcement that she is to be the mother of the Redeemer.

            The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (# 50) offers an explanation of the meaning of this greeting’s use at Mass: 

“. . . by means of the Greeting he (the priest) signifies the presence of the Lord to the assembled community.  By this greeting and the people’s response, the mystery of the Church gathered together is made manifest.” 

So priest and people in this liturgical dialogue establish the context in which the important action of the Eucharist will occur. 

The “spirit” of the people’s response refers to the spirit of the priest.  It does not mean his human spirit (or soul), but the Holy Spirit that he received at his ordination which empowers him now to act in the person of Christ the Head of his body, the Church.  Supporting this, St. John Chrysostom, a bishop of the late 300s and early 400s, and others, say that the wish of the people (“and with your spirit”) reminds the priest that it is the Holy Spirit in him that accomplishes the sacrifice of the Eucharist. 

Thus, this new English text shows forth the deep scriptural and spiritual background of the ancient greeting at Mass used by the priest with the response of the faithful.