There’s been much talk among many different Catholic circles in the English-speaking world about the upcoming, new, revised edition of the Catholic Missal, so I thought I would provide some of my thoughts on the topic.
Those of you who are not Catholic’s may not know what a missal is. Put simply, it is a book as thick, if not thicker, than the Bible, containing the readings for each mass to be held throughout each year. In the Catholic Church we work on a three-year-cycle for Sunday Mass and a two-year-cycle for the weekday Mass… so before you hear the same reading again, it will have been two or three years (depending whether it is a weekday or Sunday in question!) and thus it won’t get dry, and you will be at a different stage in your life allowing the Scripture to speak to you differently each time.
Because of the amount of readings that these would contain, generally the missal comes in two editions – a Sunday Missal and a Weekday Missal – though there are copies that have the two in one, just even thicker than the stand-alone. The missal contains the layout of the Mass, what is said by both the priest and the responses said by the faithful.
Now I have clarified that aspect, I will talk now about my own personal thoughts on the changes, due to come out sometime in 2011.
As many would know, the last major change to the Mass was at the Vatican II Council, which made many dramatic changes from the allowed layout of churches to the Mass being said in the vernacular rather than Latin. That was only in the 1960s, before that the Mass had been fairly much the same for many centuries.
Why then the change now, only some fifty to sixty years on? Seems a little rushed, does it not? Not really when you think about the ever-changing-world we now inhabit. The world has changed more in the last fifty-years than any other time in history with the advent of technology, now at a stage where once things are to be published, the news is basically obsolete with yet another new thing better due to replace it.
Not only man-made changes, either, but the world around us – the natural world. Did you know the last hundred years has seen more natural disasters than the entire two-millenia that preceded it? Earthquakes, tsunamis’s, volcanic eruptions. Some think these are all simply caused by man and the pollution we create, others see it as the beginning of the end of days.
Naturally, if the world we live in is constantly changing, then the Mass should change in order to keep up with what has largely become a secular, atheistic world. Many think that going to church makes one a Christian, not only that, but a good person. Nothing could be furthur from the truth! Many people who fill the pews each week while they may seem to be Christian’s with their responses, do they really mean it? What about in their lives during the rest of the week – do they live it, or even try to? Basically we have gone from a people ruled by religion where it was constantly on our minds, to a people who only have time for it on a Sunday – not only that but for just one hour.
There are also many who attend mass but they are so used to the responses, many of which are taught them at a young age, that it has become more of a habit of simply repitition, nothing more. I must admit that I have been guilty of this many times, even people I have talked to who are brothers, even priests, have also admitted it. Does that make a person bad? No, simply just makes a person human.
I have looked at several sections of the latest revision of the missal, and to me it all seems to be quite good. With Vatican II, I find that they went from a drastic change from the official church language of Latin to the vernacular, however they took many holy, moving words out of the liturgy. This new missal seems as though some of the holiness will make its way back into our liturgy.
One example I can remember from the top of my head is toward the beginning of the mass when the priest says “The Lord be with you” to which we respond “And also with you”. The latest missal we instead respond “And with your spirit” which really isn’t much difference, but it is a bit more holier than the one we have grown accustomed to.
This will not only help take people off their “auto-pilot” responses, but will perhaps help us live better as good Christian Catholic’s with the added “holiness”. If we say holy words more often, we will be opening our minds and souls more to the Holy Spirit.
There is of course no final edition of the new missal, and the things I have spoken of are only in the most recent revision. Things will change before the final is released, but it gives you a little taste at things to come.
In all, I see it as a good thing. Many may be annoyed at having to learn new responses, but so be it. It could in fact prove to be helpful with “Catholic’s Returning Home” an initiative to help re-educate those lapsed Catholic’s that wish to enter the fold of the Church once again. They will probably not feel as uncomfortable being there, having to learn the liturgy again, if those who have been there for a while must learn a new direction also.