Using language in harmony with God

THE recently published English version of the Latin missal is the one version for use at Mass in all the English-speaking countries. The type of language used is very much in harmony with its purpose. That purpose is the worship of God.

While definitely revealed by Christ, the mysterious reality of God transcends human reason and comprehension. May I put it this way: it is not the human mind that grasps God, the divine majesty grasps us. Throughout all the prayers in this book that very word “mystery” is repeatedly used, not in the sense of a merely obscure or inexplicable matter, but for that most profound reality: the tripersonal God who through Christ’s saving work and the mission of the Holy spirit invites us to share the divine life even here on this planet. We are to set aside the first day of each week, which we call the Lord’s Day, to shape ourselves according to that divine plan, which is the very meaning of human life.

Fr Tom Kelleher