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Thursday 7 February 2008

Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men.

Much sturm und drang over the Good Friday prayers from the General Intercessions in the Extraordinary Form, (i.e. in the '62 Missal,) and whether the Successor of Peter was right to simply change the one of them that speaks to our older brothers, on his own authority.

(Father John Zuhlsdorf's translations of the prayers)
Previously:
Let us also pray for the Jews:
that our Lord and God take away the veil from their hearts;
that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ to be our Lord.
Almighty eternal God,
who also does not repell the Jews from Your mercy:
graciously hear the prayers which we are conveying on behalf of the blindness of that people;
so that once the light of Your Truth has been recognized,
which is Christ,
they may be rescued from their darkness.
[through that same Lord?]


The new version:
Let us also pray for the Jews:
that our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts,
that they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men.
Almighty and eternal God,
who want that all men be saved and come to the recognition of the truth,
propitiously grant that even as the fullness of the peoples enters Your Church,
all Israel may be saved.
Through Christ Our Lord.


I can see how the carpers on the one fringe might mourn the loss of the "poetry" in the old one, ( I like a good metaphor myself, veil, blindness, darkness...)
But the positive metaphor, Christ, the Light of God's Truth is even more beautiful, in my (non-wordsmith, non-Latin scholar, non-poet, non-sensical,) opinion.
(And more surely more gracious? "I wish you weren't so ignorant" and "I hope you learn this beautiful truth" mean essentially the same thing, no? but what a difference!)

Some on that fringe have foolishly suggested the Pope cravenly changed to prayer in an attempt to "appease" those who objected to the old prayer.

And what of those who objected to the old version of the prayer, the carpers on the other fringe?(both within and extra the Church)
Well gee, Mr Foxman, why would you have any expectation that a prayer that expresses a theology you do not share would be pleasing to you? and yes, Fr Peckler, the Holy Father could have just used the corresponding prayer from the OF, and he didn't.

But for whom was he changing the prayer?

Let's think about this: the Liturgy is primarily for the worship of God and secondarily the sanctification of the Faithful. While good liturgy accomplishes evangelical purposes, it does that primarily by sanctifying the faithful who will then "go to the world."
The sanctification that is one goal of the Liturgy is the sanctification of the Faithful, the people who are already members of the Mystical Body; the prayers we pray, if they edify and educate, have as their aim not the edification and education of the world but of us who pray them.
The discussion that has been opened by this manufactured controversy, and fueled by the actions of the Pope and his lieutenants, (seeming delays, leaks, etc.) surely works to bring this prayer to the attention of the vast majority of the Catholic faithful WHO WOULD NEVER OTHERWISE HEAR THIS PRAYER OR PRAY THIS PRAYER.

Think, how many times have the Forces of Dimness pooh-poohed any mention of the Extraordinary Form? Oh, there’s no interest, no one cares about that, it's just a tiny radical group.
Really?
Curious, than that those same dismissers of the EF are themselves so interested in, one might say obsessed with, this prayer from the EF.

So, for whose benefit did he change the prayer?
PapaRatz changed the prayer for THEM, (for us, I should say, since I attend the OF.)
That for which the Church entreats God in that prayer is an eventuality WE need to long for and work for, the Truth that prayer expresses is one WE need to learn, but which has been denied and denied and denied, and is still denied.
Yes, Fr P, Cardinal K, loopy ecumenist.... whatever you may believe, whatever you have been taught, whatever you are currently erroneously teaching: Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men and God wants ALL men to recognize that, (believe,) and acknowledge that, (practice that belief.)
As Bishop Sklba put it, "Central to the concerns of the Holy Father is the clear articulation that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and his Church."
And there it is in the new prayer.
Unequivocally articulated.
Not obscured by a poetic metaphor.
God not only wants all to be saved but to know that their salvation is in Christ Jesus.
Some putative "Catholics" including those in the hierarchy, will continue to deny it, but they cannot say they haven't been told.

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