Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Day #101: Nearing the End, and the New Translation


Hello all! It's hard to believe that I have been in Gaming for over 100 days now. The semester has gone by so quickly, which I was expecting. We had our meeting last night where we were given the run down of the schedule for the next 8 days. It was a little intimidating, but we'll pull it off, I'm sure. Mark Kalpagian, the Student Life director, and Professor Maria Wolter (she wasn't at the meeting last night, but she said it in my last ethics class yesterday morning), both said that we were the second best group of students they have had here in Gaming. Hopefully it'll stay that way for our final days in Gaming. I have finals on Friday and Saturday, and the Rome pilgrimage this weekend, then finals on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we finish packing, clean our room until it shines like the top of St. Peter's Dome, and get ready to go home. Rome is going to be nuts, please pray for us that we all make it there and back alive and as well as we possibly can be after two nights on a bus. The bus leaves Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm, we'll arrive at in Rome at 6 am Sunday morning. The Beatification is at 10 am. We spend the day in Rome and leave at 7:30 pm. Then more finals, yuck! Christian Marriage is going to be a nightmare... So lots of prayers please! Tonight is the Easter Ball! We get to wear our traditional Austrian garb, so I'm excited. My friend Elisabeth Hofer is doing my hair. 

It has been a good semester, but I am looking forward to returning home and being a music major again. Yes, I started packing Sunday night. I'm sure I'll shed a tear to leave this beautiful place, but I'm ready to go back.

Here is a brief commentary on the new translation of the Creed for the Roman Missal which is being implemented this Advent. I encourage you to read it. It is going to be an adjustment, but the new translation expresses our Catholic theology so much better, and is truer to the text, which is also extremely important, especially because we are stating our beliefs, AND as C.S. Lewis knew all so well, grammar and language are extremely important.

I have to run to German, my last German class of the semester! Keep me in your prayers over the next few weeks! Thanks! God bless!


The Creed

On all Sundays and Solemnities, the “Symbolum” (Symbol) Profession of Faith or Creed is either sung or said.  This is a summary of the orthodox faith, and as we prepare to enter into the sacred mystery of the Eucharist to become one in Christ we call to mind the mysteries of our faith that we share as one.  The text of the Creed goes back to the first two Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea I (325) and Constantinople I (381) where a precise wording that does not violate the mysteries of our Apostolic was agreed upon.  The words enshrine the mystery of God and of Christ.  It is through faith that we are united with God through a share of his self-knowledge that comes to us in a manner accessible to the human intellect.  Since salvation comes through faith, the Church has always jealously guarded how that faith is articulated.  

The New Translation is much more precise in those areas where the wording has changed, although certain adaptations for the English language still exist.  These will be pointed out as we progress through the Creed.  There is no room here to explain in full the significance of each article of the Creed; that’s the job of The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and one could write volumes on the significance of the Nicene Creed.  Below you will find the entire Creed presented, and then we will pass through phrase by phrase pointing out the changes in the translation and commenting on their significance.
Current TranslationNew Translation
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is seen and unseen.

We 
believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.  Through him all things were made.


For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:

All bow during these two lines.

by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered, died, and was buried.  On the third day he rose again infulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.  With the Father and the Son he isworshipped and glorified.  He spoke through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.  We acknowledgeone baptism for the forgiveness of sins.  Welook for the resurrection of the dead, and life of the world to come. Amen
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of allthings visible and invisible.believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only BegottenSon of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made,consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
At the words that follow up to and including andbecame man, all bow.
and by the Holy Spirit wasincarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered deathand was buried, and rose again on the third day inaccordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, whowith the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Commentary:

The first thing that you will notice in the New Translation, as compared to the Current Translation, is that the use of the first-person singular pronoun, “I”, has replaced the first-person plural pronoun, “we”, in each occurrence. The approved Latin typical text, from which all translations come, begins with the word “Credo.”  This is a first-person singular (“I”) conjugation of the Latin verb credere (to believe).  The Greek texts as they come from the early councils do begin with “We believe,” but for liturgical use both the eastern Byzantine liturgy and the Latin Roman liturgy have used a version of the Creed that is in the first-person singular (“I” instead of “we”) since the sixth century.  
Why would the Church do this?  One possible explanation is that the “I believe” is a reminder to each person present that the entire faith must professed in a personal manner.  In baptism each person makes a profession of faith personally before being initiated into Christ’s death and resurrection, before becoming a member of His body.  Here we reaffirm that faith.
Current TranslationNew Translation
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is seen and unseen.I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of allthings visible and invisible.


Commentary:

Visible and Invisible: The One God in Three Divine Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is revealed in a certain way through His works.  All created things, in so far as they exist, are good.  To be or to exist is good, and this is a reflection of God’s very essence, which is being.  Every created thing has an origin and a cause that points to something that came before and was responsible for its coming into being.  God is the cause of all causes, as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, and not simply one among a handful of other causes. 

To speak about God as the maker of “all things visible and invisible” is to state a belief in something beyond pure materialism; one acknowledges the creation of a spiritual order as well.  This belief is not communicated by the words “seen and unseen”.  If I am in the sacristy before Mass, I am “unseen” by the congregation but by no means am I “invisible.”  The angelic realm is both created and invisible as are our immortal souls.  Replacing “unseen” with “invisible” removes the possibility of a strictly materialistic understanding of the created order from our profession of faith as rendered into the English language.