At the end of this month we will be embarking on the adventure of the new translation of the Roman Missal. Those of us who remember the Mass in Latin will remember that when the change in the language of the Mass was made, many people felt that a lot of the mystery had gone away from the Mass. Part of that lessening in a sense of the mystery was caused, in my opinion, by the choice of elementary English vocabulary and syntax, and a preference for an English that would simplify the precise, lofty and elegant Latin words and expressions that are meant to open to us the doorway to the mystery of who God is.
We will be hearing over the coming years a richer language and noticeably longer sentences. Why? In order to convey the beautiful and profound theological connections that exist in the Latin original. We’ll hear a more formal, more reverent and far more humble approach to how we talk with God than the more casual, informal translation we have been used to. This new translation is meant to help us recover a sense of mystery of what it is that we are doing when we enter into this direct contact with the Living God in the Eucharist.
The reason we have vestments instead of street clothes, vessels made of precious metals instead of pottery, and all the other uniquely churchy things, like sacred music and art and architecture, is to help us enter into another world when we come to Mass. And the more we can be open to the mystery of this other world that is called the Kingdom of God, then we start knowing more and more of the One who is beyond all of our imaginings. This is what it means for us to worship, to gather together in the liturgy of the Mass, to be fed by our Lord, both with His Word and with His Body and Blood.
Because in the Eucharist we are invited into the inner life of God. We are invited to realize more and more of how the Father empties Himself perfectly into the Son, and how the Son in turns donates all of Himself back to the Father, and how this perfect giving back and forth between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit; and the more we catch on, the more we participate in the very inner life of the Triune God. This self-giving of the Persons of the Trinity is at the core of understanding how the Mass is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The wise virgins of the Gospel understand this, even if they become weary and drowsy waiting for the mystery of God to engulf them. They are fully prepared to wait and to be ready for when the Bridegroom comes, even if He delays.
The unwise virgins are totally unprepared to wait and be ready for when the Bridegroom comes “at an hour we least expect.”
Our ultimate union with God comes when we die and, hopefully, pass through the judgment successfully and are found to be ready and waiting, and then we shall become like God for we shall see Him as He is. In the meantime the Eucharist is the training ground, the foretaste, of how to be in the presence of God.
Think of it this way: the weekly Mass is our school of learning what heaven will be like. Whenever I hear a Catholic say they are “spiritual but not religious,” it usually boils down to their not going to Mass, or religion on their own terms, without the community, without the structure, without worship and without the commitment.
However, my response to such an attitude is that if one is not at home at Mass, one will not be at home in heaven. After all, the New Testament presents heaven as an unceasing act of worship of which we join in when we sing with all the heavenly host: "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts...” Heaven is portrayed as an unceasing hymn of praise, as participation in the wedding feast of the Lamb, of which the Mass is this experience on earth.
Being prepared for that hour of the coming of the Son of Man, however, entails more than worship. Perhaps it best phrased by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta:
"What are the oil lamps in our lives?
They are the little everyday things:
faithfulness, punctuality, kind words,
thoughtfulness of another person,
the way we are silent at times,
the way we look at things,
the way we speak, the way we act.
Those are the little drops of love
which make it possible for our life of faith to shine brightly."
So, may our new translation be matched by the little things we can do to prepare for meeting our Lord when he comes with all the angels.
