Tag Archives: And with your spirit

Andrew, the Bride and the Centurion: Holy Communion

20 Nov

It is an invitation to communion.

We are Andrew. “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.”

We are the bride. “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”

We are the centurion. “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

As we approach the altar for communion, we are Andrew. We are the bride. We are the centurion. It is an invitation to communion – holy communion!

Click here for today’s homily, “Andrew, the Bride and the Centurion.”

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A great Scrabble word!

16 Nov

Julianne Wallace, Campus Minister at St Joseph University Parish in Buffalo serving the University at Buffalo, writes on the Busted Halo website about the “Top Five Mass Changes” she thinks young adults need to know. 

#1: “And with your spirit!” 

“This response is more than just a greeting. This response is also a spiritual exchange between the priest and the assembly. The priest extends a greeting of the Lord’s presence and the assembly grants a similar greeting inviting God to be with the presider as we worship together.”  

#2: The Gloria 

“There are many minor textual changes to this prayer.  A change occurs in the Gloria when we sing together, ‘We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory!’ This five-fold invocation of praise poetically expresses the majesty and glory of God.” 

#3: “We to I” 

“This small change harkens back to when the person entering the Church says, ‘I do’ in the Credo formula. So the change from ‘we’ to ‘I’ is more consistent with how we have professed our faith throughout history.” 

#4: “Consubstantial” 

“That sounds like a great Scrabble word!” 

#5: The centurion’s faith and our response 

“As we come to the Eucharistic table, may we approach with the humble faith of the centurion and carry this humility with us through our everyday life.” 

Julianne finishes with, “And remember, we are not just saying this new translation; we are praying this new translation!”

 

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We Remember Who We Are

15 Nov

On November 13, two weeks before we are to begin using the new words given to us in the Roman Missal, Deacon Tim Schutte spoke at all the Masses about reminders and being reminded, focussing on the four times in the Mass when we chant, “The Lord be with you … And with your spirit.” He said, “We are reminded four times that Jesus is fully present to us right now.” In that simple,  spiritual exchange, “we remember who we are, in relation to each other and to Christ.”

Listen to his words, as spoken at the 9:30 a.m. Mass, by clicking here: “The Lord be with you … And with your spirit.”

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Falling In Love All Over Again

18 Aug

It is long overdue, but is coming soon. For forty years we have been using an English translation of the Mass prayers that has been in need of improvement.

Soon you will see a red booklet in the pews at St. Andrew. The “Revised Order of Mass with Additional Mass Settings,” with the new English text from the Roman Missal, Third Edition, has been published by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for use in our local parishes. This booklet will help us transition into some new words and music. We will move in slow, measured steps, beginning gently on September 11, and moving forward with more gusto on the first Sunday of Advent, November 27.

The new translation will do two things for us. It will make the English closer to the actual Latin in the original text, and it will help us hear the Bible more clearly. The words we hear and speak will be more closely connected to the Scriptures: “I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof” and “from the rising of the sun to its setting.” The words will connect us more closely to our tradition – “And with your spirit” replacing “And also with you” – and to the content of our faith, using words like “consubstantial” and “incarnate.”

Yes, it will take some getting used to. Some will welcome and cheer the change. Some might find it bothersome and awkward. But we will count on each other doing more growing than groaning.  

Overall, the new translation is quite lovely. It is lofty, yet modest and humble. It is going to be a very good opportunity for us to renew our appreciation of what we believe God does for us at Mass every Sunday, and for us to fall in love with the Mass all over again.

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And With Your Spirit: the words 1.3

17 Aug

At the very core of his being, a priest is a priest, ordained to stand in place of Christ at the altar and to act in the person of Christ at the sacrifice of the Mass. When the priest greets the people, they respond, “And with your spirit.” The people are, in a sense, speaking about the spirit that he received at ordination and the Spirit that is in him because of his ordination. In their response the people are saying, “Be a priest for us like Jesus would be a priest for us, if he were standing where you are standing right now. In fact, remember that you are standing in his place right now. Be a priest for us. God will be with you – and your spirit – to help you do well what you do now.”

This “Et cum spiritu tuo” is addressed only to an ordained minister: bishop, priest or deacon. So, it must have something to do with ordination. And it appears in the Mass at points where the bishop, priest or deacon is preparing to do something that is very closely related to his ministry as a bishop, priest or deacon.  

This is how it will sound if the dialogue is chanted: And with your spirit.

 

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And With Your Spirit: the words 1.2

16 Aug

As it was for Moses, Joshua and Gideon, so it was for Mary. “The Lord is with you” indicated that God was asking the person to take on a significant task, and that God was promising that He would be with them, so that they could do what God was asking them to do.

So it is for the people whom God gathers for Mass. The priest greets them, “The Lord be with you.” In this opening greeting the people are given a mission and a promise, “You have found favor with God. God’s grace is in you. Be God’s people. Celebrate this Mass. The Lord is with you now and will be with you until the end of time.”

To the priest the people respond, “And with your spirit.” They are remembering, and they are reminding the priest, that he has been ordained a priest for them, to represent Christ and to do what he is about to do: to celebrate the Mass with them.

In this exchange of greetings – “The Lord be with you … And with your spirit” – the priest and the people recognize their relationship with each other, and they declare that they both have roles to play in the celebration of the Mass. In effect, they are saying, “You are God’s people …. And you are our priest.”   

This is how it will sound if the dialogue is chanted: And with your spirit.

 

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And With Your Spirit: the words 1.1

15 Aug

 When you are speaking to someone who knows you well and who is in tune with how you think, you might start to say something, and that person will complete … your sentence. If you are in relationship with that person, you find it to be a bit endearing, “Yes, we are one in what we are and in what we do.” 

The exchange of greetings between the priest and the people at the beginning of Mass can be enjoyed in that context. In writing to Timothy in his second letter, Paul greets his friend, “The Lord be with your spirit.” Knowing Paul well and being in a good relationship with him, Timothy could have completed Paul’s sentence. Paul begins, “The Lord be …” and Timothy continues, “… with your spirit.”

As a priest, I like the feel of thinking that the people and I could say the same thing to each other. Since the Holy Spirit is at work in both of us, I could rightly speak to them, as Paul spoke to his congregations, “The Lord be with your spirit.” And they could rightly respond to me, as Paul spoke to Timothy, “The Lord be with your spirit.” But at Mass, instead of saying it twice, we say it just once, splitting it in two parts, each of us speaking half of it. It is like we are so connected and are so joined in what we are about to do that I begin and they complete … the sentence, “The Lord be [with you] … [and] with your spirit.”

From the very first words spoken at Mass, and at very key places in the Mass when something real important is going to be done, the priest and the people establish clearly that they are dependent on each other, as together, and together with Christ, they offer the sacrifice of the Mass.

This is how it will sound if the dialogue is chanted: And with your spirit. 

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And With Your Spirit: the words 1.0

14 Aug

A woman who had made the transition from the old way to the new way of celebrating Mass back in the late 1960s and early 1970s doesn’t mind the change from “And also with you” to “And with your spirit.” She says, “I like it. It makes it more special.”

It makes it more special, because this is not the way we usually greet each other when we see each other in the morning or when we meet each other during the day. When we are at Mass, though, we are doing something special, and something special is taking place.

It makes it more special, because this new English translation is closer to the actual Latin words that are in the Missal: Et cum spiritu tuo. Even better, it makes it more special because it brings us closer to the translations that many of the other people in the world already use, including those who speak Spanish (Y con tu espíritu), French (Et avec votre espirit), Italian (É con il tuo spirito) and German (Und mit deinem Geiste). When I get back to the Holy Land, I am going to check to see if the Arabic translation of the people’s response has some form of the word “spirit” in it.

It makes it more special, because this translation touches something deep in our Catholic memory. In the presence of anyone who has worshipped at Catholic Mass for longer than forty years say, “Dominus vobiscum,” and they will respond, “Et cum spiritu tuo.” They remember attending Mass when everything was spoken in Latin. And they remember that, when it was first permitted to translate the Mass into English, this response was translated, “And with your spirit,” just like they will say it again now. This “newer” translation is actually an “older” translation. Keeping in touch with our tradition is a big thing for Catholics.

This is how it will sound if the dialogue is chanted: And with your spirit.

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And With Your Spirit: the chant

13 Aug

There are five times in the Mass when the people will respond to the priest or the deacon, “And with your spirit” – (1) as we begin the Mass, (2) as we are about to hear the Gospel, (3) as we enter into the Eucharistic Prayer with the Preface, (4) as we prepare to leave, and (5) at the Sign of Peace. The response of the people used to be, “And also with you.” This change in the English translation of the prayers and responses of the Mass might be the most difficult one, because it comes up so often and will catch the people off guard, at least until they get used to it. If these dialogues between the priest and the people are spoken, the people might remember their new response at the beginning of the Mass, but would probably slip back into the old response, as Mass continues. But if these dialogues are chanted, the people are more likely to be reminded what their response is. Listen to the chant: Sign of the Cross and the Greeting. 

 

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