Pray Tell reader Jeffrey BeBeau provides this interesting comparison of the proper texts for the Third Sunday of Advent.
III Advent – Gaudete
Comments
11 responses to “III Advent – Gaudete”
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Is it a typo that the prayer after communion starts by: “We implore you mercy, Lord” and not “We implore your mercy, Lord”?
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Fixed. Thanks, Claire.
awr
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Thanks, Jeffrey for putting this together.
While I have some knowledge of Latin and feel comfortable in dealing with the Vulgate using the resources of my bible computer program, I don’t do very well when it comes to translating either prayers, or hymns. So whether some of these are more accurate, I don’t know.
I like the 1973 in all these examples because it is simpler. If others can make a case that there is something in one of the other translations that better captures something in the Latin, I would like to hear it.
It is important to hear from people who don’t know Latin, since most of the people who are going to be hearing this will not have any knowledge of Latin.
The old GIRM said that the homily should develop some point of the readings or from the Proper of the Mass, Would be interested in anyone who has any idea of how any of these Propers might be used in a homily? I don’t think I can remember anything other than the traditional comment about this being Gaudete Sunday, and wearing rose vestements.
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At first glance, and using the 1997 text, which are the ones I prefer. There is a nice link between the Opening Prayer and the Prayer after Communion about preparation for the Birth of Christ. The Opening Prayer request the gift to be able to reach that day with and so be able to celebrate with joy. The Prayer over the Gifts and the Prayer after Communion give an indication of one of the ways that we can be properly prepared to do so, the celebration of the Sacraments.
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Just in case anyone cares for a view from the pews, here’s how this looks to me.
The antiphons are beautiful in all versions.
The collect and the prayer over the gifts are too complicated: understanding them when I hear them during Mass will be beyond me.
The prayer after communion is the most diverse over the various translations.
– “provisions” (2008) suggests either legal terminology or (for me, a French native) groceries, “eucharist” (1973) is a bit vague, “mysteries” (1997) even more so, but “sustenance” (2010) is very clear and unambiguous, and I like it best.
– “vices” (2008) is identical to “perversions” in my mind, and that’s a strange and very jarring term to use. I have faults and sins aplenty, but no outright vice, I should hope!
– But I am not sure what that line is supposed to mean about the eucharist. Are we (1997:) praying that it will free us from committing sins in the future, or (2008:) stating that, like confession, it has cleansed us of faults previously committed in the past, or (2010:) (strangely) praying that it will, at some future time, cleanse us of faults previously committed in the past?
– Finally, I am all in favor of explicitly reminding the listener that “the coming feast” is an allusion to Christmas and not to, say, the parish bazaar that afternoon, or the second coming of Christ at the end of times.That’s what I would say if I had a voice in the matter…
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Perhaps the present French and Italian of the collect/opening prayer for Gaudete Sunday (eventually to be revised, but in their own good time) may be of interest for comparison’s sake. Repeating the Latin might be of help here:
Deus, qui conspicis populum tuum
nativitatis dominicae festivitatem fideliter exspectare,
praesta, quaesumus,
ut valeamus ad tantae salutis gaudia pervenire,
et ea votis sollemnibus alacri semper laetitia celebrare.French:
Tu le vois, Seigneur,
ton peuple se pre’pare
a’ ce’le’brer la naissance de ton Fils;
Dirige notre joie ver la joie d’un si grand myste’re:
pour que nous fe’tions notre salut
avec un coeur vraiment nouveau.Italian:
Guarda. o Padre, il tuo popolo, che attende con fede il Natale del Signore, e fa’ che giunga a celebrare con rinnovata esultanza il grande mistero della salvezza.
Worthy prayers indeed, but I doubt that either would meet the demands of Liturgiam authenticam.
I suspect the Latin text is venerable, but unfortunately I have no critical resources at hand. Not all of the Latin collects are gems. I tend to think that this text doesn’t shine. It is hardly as memorable as the classic text for next Sunday: Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde, ….
Formal or functional equivalence, or somewhere in between? If prayer in the living languages is to be a reality, I tend to think that the third option must not only be permitted, but encouraged.
But then, I have lived too long.
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Shouldn’t it be “dirige notre voie”?
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I suspect, Father O’Leary, that you may be right. I took the text from Office Romain des Lectures: Livres des Jours (1976), p.57. That text does read: “Dirige notre joie vers la joie …. I don’t have the Missel Romain at home, but can check tomorrow.
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It is “dirige notre joie” (from my Missel des Dimanches).
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“the sacrifice of our worship”??? “to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with glad rejoicing”???
Bad, bad, bad.
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The source of the Collect is the Ravenna Scroll, aka Rotulus of Ravenna, copied in the late eighth century, but probably containing earlier material. One of the innovations in the 1970 Missal was the importation of several items from this source into the masses of Advent and Christmas. I remember hearing the late, learned and lamented Fr Chrysogonus Waddell OCSO saying that they were some of the trickiest prayers in the Missal to translate. It would be interesting to see what critics of the offered versions would put in their place.
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