With Open Doors

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.

Tags: And with your spirit, Et cum spiritu tuo, Roman Missal, Roman Missal Chants, St. Andrew Catholic Church (Milford, Ohio)

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.

Tags: And with your spirit, Et cum spiritu tuo, Roman Missal, Roman Missal Chants, St. Andrew Catholic Church (Milford, Ohio)

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. 

Tags: And with your spirit, Et cum spiritu tuo, Roman Missal, Roman Missal Chants, St. Andrew Catholic Church (Milford, Ohio)