Hmmmm Strange that the little blue highlights that should have alerted me to new posts were not working.

Good summary of “changes” or some would say restoration of the proper translation of language of the Liturgy. However it is important (I think) to point out that for Catholics, and hopefully all Christians, the Liturgy and the Scriptures are not ossified, unchanging and dead, but rather living parts of the life of the Living Church.

“And Also With You” reflects a period in the life of the Church when people sought to return in their lives a part of their spirituality that they felt was overshadowed by formalized rites. Some people felt the need to loosen up the manner in which Catholics worshiped. The return to a translation into the vernacular more closely identified with the Latin of the Roman Rite (while perceived by some as a step backward) is in fact evidence (in my mind) that the Liturgy is still alive, and not just a formal ritual with no meaning. When Jesus warned about not praying as the Pagan does, He was not telling us to eject from our lives liturgical and ritual prayer, but to not simply recite a formula without thinking of what we were doing. Both the old and modern practices of the Liturgy can lend themselves to this formulaic rote ritualizing of one’s religion, as opposed to a living and nurturing use of ritual to nourish one’s spiritual life.

There is an old Jewish saying, “What the son wishes to forget, the grandson wishes to remember.” I saw this on a recent trip to New York. The older members of a family I know there (and I’m rapidly approaching being in their group) Spoke of how wonderful life is today with air conditioning and iPods etc. The grandkids were all facinated with many of the items in the house that would be considered, antique and collectables. There are shops that have brought back the feel of 60, 70 and 100 years ago, things the older generation would rather forget, like having to go to five or six different shops to get groceries, whereas today we have supermarkets where you can get everything by walking down five or six aisles. The younger set are running around from market to market trying to get the freshest items, and learn about how to use what they buy from a shopkeeper who specializes in a limited selection of items.

With the Liturgy we see this too. If you go to a Traditional Latin Mass, in most places the congregation is primarily people who don’t remember the Latin Mass, but have “rediscovered it” they become very involved in learning all they can about the Rites, and their meaning. You will find a few older members in the congregation who just could not “get with it” after the new rites came into use. You will find the greatest resistance to the return of the Old ways from the older members of the congregations that attend the new rites. Why? Well they grew up in a time and place where everything was black and white, no options, you just did what you did because you were told to do it. Today they seek freedom of expression. For the younger set, the choice to go to the Latin Mass is liberating because they can by choice enter into a Mass that reflects for them the mystery, and beauty that they feel was lost.

Both liturgies, authorized by the Magesterim are reflections of the Same loving God, and same promise of salvation. They may appear to be different, but they are really the same worship and promise of God’s love to us, as well as our Worship and love to God. So too the 26 or so Eastern Rite Liturgies, which outwardly appear to be different to those not accustomed to them, but in reality are the same worship of God as the Latin or Vernacular Roman Rite, but according to the customs of the places that they developed.