Fr. Paul Keller, OP: On the Mass (part 3)

You may note - if you are a close follower - that we missed posting on part 2 of the Fr. Keller series. All I can say is, "sorry."

Now, on to part 3!

This reflection is brought to you by Anna.

The Mass is our participation in God's saving work. That's awesome! - but it's also way to important to make up as we go along. Thus, we have the missal which spells out exactly how we are supposed to say and do when we celebrate Mass.

So why the new translation of the Missal? In short, the last translation of the Missal lost much of the simple beauty and exalted language of the original Latin. The idea was to simplify it because average Joe and Mary Catholic can't understand this "exalted language". But wait a minute. The Mass is about God, after all, it is Heaven on earth. We can't perfectly understand God so we won't ever really understand the Mass. In addition, Joe and Mary Catholic are a little smarter than presumed. People are tired of "watered down" religion. We want the whole undisguised truth, the tradition that has been handed down from Jesus to the apostles to the Church today. People leave the Church because they don't understand the Mass. Perhaps the new translation will help awaken Catholics to the reality of the Mass - Heaven on earth and a participation in the saving work of God.