Listen to the Word


come by the Incarnation, which teaches us to perceive divine glory revealed in human per- sons, communities, actions.


Glory in humanity T


he official English text plays on the dis- tinction between God made visible and God we cannot see, but the Latin text suggests this dichotomy has been over-


Roman Missal 1974 … Christ … In the wonder of the Incarnation your eternal


Source: This Latin text for the vigil of Christmas first appears in the Sacramentary of Padua, representing papal tradition from about 670-680. Analysis of literary forms


Our reasons for giving thanks are elaborated in a single confession (with its means) of the relevance of the Incarnation for us now, all of which then leads to an expression of God’s intention for us (with motor and means clauses).


First confession: We recount what God has done for us as a means of rendering thanks. Our motive for giving thanks is what God has done for us, given in a causal clause, Quia … nova mentis nostrae oculis lux tuae claritatis infulsit, “because the new light of your splen- dour has shone on the eyes of our mind”, rendered as “has brought to the eyes of faith a new and radiant vision of your glory”. Means: God has changed our perception by means of the Incarnation, given in the prepositional phrase per incarnati Verbi mysterium, “through the mystery of the Word made flesh”, rendered as, “In the won- der of the Incarnation your eternal Word”. Motor: Nestled at the beginning of the pur- pose clause, the temporal sentence, dum visibiliter Deum cognoscimus, “while we come to know God visibly”, is rendered, “we see our God made visible”. The Latin expres- sion of knowing God visibly shifts to knowing the visible God in the official English text, sug- gesting a narrow focus on the Incarnate One. Purpose: Through the Incarnation, God changed our perception of physical and human reality for the intended purpose, ut … per hunc in invisibilium amorem rapia- mur, “so that … we may be caught up into the love of things invisible”, rendered as “and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see”. The earliest text (Padua) and constant tex- tual variant says amore rapiamur, “by the love [of invisible things]”, where love becomes the active agent of our being caught up. Another early textual variant preserved in the current Latin text isin … amorem rapiamur, describ-


14 | THE TABLET | 11 December 2010


Word has brought to the eyes of faith a new and radiant vision of your glory. In him we see our God made visible


and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see.


The new English translation is being finalised and will appear here when available.


ing the motion of being caught up from where we are and moving into or unto the love of invisible things as to a goal. Similarly, the Ambrosian tradition has ad amorem, “unto the love”. A third early variant represented by the English text is in amore, “[we are caught up] in the love”, indicating that we already stand in the love, and from here we are caught up, but to what or by what we do not know.


Christmas is about how the Incarnation has changed our ability to see and so to love in the present


Means: Rather than the weaker expression per eum, “through him”, perhaps referring to Jesus, the Latin is stronger: per hunc, “through this one”, referring to the God we have come to know visibly. Summary


One might expect this Christmas Preface


to say that we have come to know the visible God, namely the Incarnate One, Jesus Christ. Given his departure in the Ascension, the Latin text of the Preface says, rather, we come to know God visibly, suggesting that God is known in visible ways such as in the body of Christ the Church, in the sacraments we celebrate, in the


While Advent celebrates the two-fold coming of Jesus, this Christmas Preface – one of three that may be used at Christmas and during its octave – helps the faithful to celebrate the presence of the one who departed and yet promised to remain with us always, writes Daniel McCarthy


PREFACE I OF THE BIRTH OF THE LORD


Missale Romanum2008 … Deus.


Quia per incarnati Verbi mysterium


nova mentis nostrae oculis lux tuae claritatis infulsit: ut, dum visibiliter Deum cognoscimus, per hunc in invisibilium amorem rapiamur.


Study version of Missale Romanum2008 … Christ … … God:


because through the mys- tery of the Word made flesh the new light of your splen- dour has shone on the eyes of our mind


so that, while we come to know God visibly, through this God we may be caught up into the love of things invisible.


Prepared in collaboration with Frs James Leachman OSB and Reginald Foster OCD.


people we serve and in the act of serving, lov- ing, befriending. The weaker expression, per eum, “through


him”, also would have favoured an emphasis on Jesus the Incarnate One, but the Latin has the stronger expression, per hunc, “through this God we have come to know visibly”, namely through the Church, the sacraments, service … The Incarnation teaches us to perceive the Transcendent One in the human person and community and our actions. This subtlety echoes the first part of the


Preface, which does not say that our eyes behold the Incarnate One, as if Christ had not departed and sent the Spirit. It says, rather, the Incarnation revealed and so taught us to perceive God visibly and so respond in love. Christmas is not about pretending we are at the manger centuries ago, and this moment in the liturgical year does not pretend that the Incarnate One has not yet departed in the Ascension. Christmas is about how the Incarnation has changed our ability to see and so to love in the present. Because of the Incarnation the Transcendent One is revealed in the human person and commu- nity and our actions in service and befriending and loving.


■Daniel McCarthy OSB is a monk of St Benedict’s Abbey, Kansas, who writes and teaches on liturgy. His analysis of the Prologue will follow week by week.


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