Catholic Mass to get new wording
 

Roman Catholics will have to learn new wording for some of their most familiar prayers.

The Vatican is rolling out a new translation of the Roman Missal, the text around which the Mass and its prayers are built.

It's the first major revision since Pope Paul VI issued the original Missale Romanum in Latin in 1970.

The English translation was released in 1973 and revised two years later. Those translations were prompted by the Second Vatican Council of 1962, which did away with the Latin Mass and decreed that Masses should be celebrated in each parish's local language.

Pope John Paul II ordered the latest translation in 2000. The first use of the new text will happen about a year from now, on November 27, 2011, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops' conference has been conducting workshops all year to help local clergy and lay ministers prepare for the changes.

Here's a sampling of the wording changes, some of which are throwbacks to phrasing from the late 1960s and early '70s:

Greeting and other dialogues

Old: (Priest) The Lord be with you. (People) And also with you.

New: (Priest) The Lord be with you. (People) And with your spirit.

Ecce Agnus Dei (This is the Lamb of God)

Old: (Priest) This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper. (People) Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.

New: (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. (People) Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

There are also significant changes to the Penitential Act (“I confess to Almighty God …”), the Gloria (“Glory to God in the highest …”), the Nicene Creed (“We believe in one God …”), the Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might …”), and other parts of the Mass.

To see all the changes and a revised order of Mass, go to the bishops' website.

"The long-term goal of the new translation is to foster a deeper awareness and appreciation of the mysteries being celebrated in the Liturgy," the bishops write on their website.

"The axiom 'Lex orandi, lex credendi' - ‘What we pray is what we believe’ - suggests that there is a direct relationship between the content of our prayers and the substance of our faith."


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