Pope Benedict XVI called the Missal and other texts in development when he invited groups of Anglicans to come into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church “a treasure to be shared”
This second reflection looks at the second half of the Mass as found in Divine Worship: The Missal (DW:TM). The first part can be found on the parish website.
This reflection seems to go well with the conclusion of this week’s gospel “Render... to God the things that are God’s.” I read recently that “The Eucharist reminds both clergy and laity that the Church exists first to worship God and to bring souls into communion with Him.” This, of course, can be done with any Missal approved by the Holy See. The Roman Missal anticipates that preparation of our hearts and minds for worship happens before Mass, and DW:TM provides opportunity for additional preparation within the Mass itself.
Rome has been very generous in showing a “both and” approach rather than “either or” when compiling DW:TM. Part of the Anglican experience was substituting the Offertory verse with a short selection of scripture verses for the whole year, while the Prayers over the Offerings were omitted entirely. Mother Church not only restored the missing verses and prayers but also retained many of the “Sentences” even adding one from the Book of Tobit. The offertory continues with English translations of the Latin offertory prayers. These prayers are longer and there are more of them, but time spent worshiping God is always time well spent.
There are only two forms for the Canon of the Mass, which you would recognize as Eucharistic Prayers 1 and 2. Perhaps the only noticeable difference is that the 3rd “mystery of faith” reads O Saviour of the world, who by thy Cross and precious Blood hast redeemed us: save us and help us, we humbly beseech thee O Lord.
Another example of generosity is that while Anglicans replaced the post-communion prayers with a single, longer, all-purpose prayer, DW:TM not only has post-communion prayers restored, but also retained the single prayer which begins Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee that thou dost feed us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ… I have heard that when the liturgical tribunal was working on DW:TM the question was raised about including the single prayer and the reply from one member was “How could we not?”
A final note which might surprise you is that there is almost no Latin in DW:TM except for the scripture references (e.g. Lent IV’s Introit begins Rejoice ye with Jerusalem and the reference is Laetare Jerusalem (Is. 66:10,11…) I want to express my admiration for the ease with which you all switch from English to Latin and back again, not only in the texts of the Mass but also in hymns. To borrow another phrase from Pope Benedict XVI, this is indeed “mutual enrichment”! I look forward to continue worshiping with you as we “Render … to God the things that are God’s.”
Fr. Kipling Cooper
