Roman Missal Update

In mid-August, we will begin to prepare for the changes that will take place at Mass in the new translation of the Roman Missal.  The “official” date of transition will be Sunday, November 27, 2011 – the first Sunday of Advent.

The majority of the changes will affect the priest.  However, several changes will be for the people.

 “And with your spirit”

The first change concerns our response to the priest’s greeting “The Lord be with you.”  Our response will be “And with your spirit,” instead of the now customary “And also with you.”

Contrary to the popular assumption, in the response “And with your spirit,” the word “spirit” does not mean the soul as opposed to the body, and does not deny that the body must be a dwelling place for the Lord.  The word “spirit” refers to pneuma, a key term in the Greek New Testament.  Its meaning ranges from the person of the Holy Spirit, to his manifold gifts within us, to the highest part of our own souls.  Our “spirit” is  like our inner “radio antenna,” the very top of our selves through which the Holy Spirit enters us so that our Spirit-filled spirit may in turn transform our souls and our bodies. Thus when we return the priest’s greeting by saying “And with your spirit,” we state that the Lord is present to his spirit, and we also wish that the Lord may be even more intensely present in him so as to rekindle in him the spirit if courage, love and self-control, the chief virtues of the minister according to St. Paul.  The greeting then is an acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus’ presence in the congregation and the minister, and a wish that his presence may fill us with his Spirit and transform us unto his image and likeness.

 Next week:  “For Many”