Liturgical language that works. The Case for Latin. What Catholics pray for during Mass: Should they watch their language?
From Mundabor about new UK lectionary:
It is a very Protestant thinking that the vehicle (the language, the translation) used to convey [Scriptural] truths and . . . values should be constantly updated to keep pace with the changes in spoken language or, more probably, the loss of literacy and general dumbification of the population. On the contrary, there is value in words remaining the same and reinforcing the sense of immutability, of timeless truths.
Indeed.
That said, consider:
The Case for Latin: Why Worship Benefits From a Sacred Language
Philip Kosloski argues that Mass is a spiritual event that goes beyond hearing Scripture.
While it is true that part of the Mass is meant to be instructive and intelligible, the overall character of the liturgy is meant to be much more. Instead, what is meant to be the focus is that, in the “liturgy, heaven joins earth, the invisible becomes visible, and the symbolic is the real (sign and reality)” (Mystical Body, Mystical Voice: Encountering Christ in the Words of the Mass, 27).
Do not miss the forest because of the trees.
This hidden reality should then be expressed in the language that is used at Mass, for “the language that we use during the liturgy is the Mystical Voice of the Mystical Body, a ‘hymn of praise that is sung through all the ages in the heavenly places’” (Ibid, 29).
Well. Why not? Welcome emphasis on the supernatural.
Rather than being a mere proclamation of scripture, the liturgy is meant to bring others into a mysterious realm where one can peer through a window into Heaven. The use of the Latin language accomplishes this mystical goal of the liturgy just like the iconostasis veils the Divine Mysteries in the Eastern Church.
Look, if the mass isn’t this, it’s a pep talk or can fall into it.
“In the West, the function of icons and veils is taken in part by [the Latin] language” says Father Christopher Smith, a parish priest, who explains what many have discovered in this way. “It emphasizes the mystery and the transcendence of a God who, despite His closeness to us, is still always beyond our reach”
Yes!
Another factor that diminishes worshipers’ experiences;
What Catholics pray for during Mass: Should they watch their language?
Praying for peace is a good idea, but for an “end to violence” or even the specific “end to violence in Chicago”? That’s praying for the end of the world, which will be a wonderful thing, to be sure. The earliest Christians prayed for it. But we might add an Augustinian “not yet.”
Why not “less violence”? Or “fewer killings on our mean streets,” something we can take seriously without calling for an end to life as we know it. (Unless we are truly asking for the Final Coming.)
Or an end to vote-stealing. Why not expand social-justice discussion to troubles behind the obvious — poverty and the like — into political corruption, which does poor people no good and like everything else affects them most of all.
Or we are asked to pray for the deceased who “rest in the loving embrace” of God, which is romance-novel talk. “May he or she rest in peace” works nicely. It’s prayer for the souls in purgatory, suffering but also confident that some day they will see God face to face. Do we need this loving-embrace talk? One cringes.