Listen to the Word


Light of his glory D


rawn by the light of a star, the Magi revere the mystery of our salvation, but the faithful who have beheld his glory see his immortality in the


fragility of a child and in their mortal life.


Source: The new composition for the Missale Romanumof 1970 draws upon early texts men- tioned below. Analysis of literary forms The literary structure begins with the word


Quia, “because”, followed by two verbs estab- lishing two confessions, each with a temporal expression, one the word hodie, “today”, the other a temporal clause set in the past. The content of the prayer develops this lit-


erary structure. The first confession presents the mystery of salvation and its goal. The two clauses of the second confession elaborate this mystery of salvation. First confession: We give thanks by pro- fessing faith in what God has done in Christ, given in the causal clause, Quia ipsum in Christo salutis nostrae mysterium hodie … revelasti, “Because today you have revealed the very mystery of our salvation in Christ”, rendered as “Today you revealed in Christ your eternal plan of salvation”. This sentence echoes a preface that appears only once in the manuscript tradition, in the Verona collection of Mass booklets compiled between 561 and 574, which says: hoc prae- sertim die, quo ipsum salutis nostrae sacramentum et in lucem gentium revelasti, “especially on this day, in which you revealed the very sacrament of our salvation unto a light of the peoples”. The editors changedsacramen- tumto mysterium, but both can mean simply “mystery”. They added the phrase “in Christ”. The phrase in lucem gentium was changed according to the following. Goal: The final aim for revealing this


mystery is given in the prepositional phrase ad lumen gentium, “for a light of the peoples”, rendered as “and showed him as the light of all peoples”. Gentiummeans “peoples, nations, tribes”. The Latin text does not simply equate the Christ Child with the light of the peoples, rather it preserves the subtle nuance of the Nunc dimittis, the canticle of Simeon the prophet upon receiving the Christ Child in the temple with Anna the prophetess. He could now die in peace: “for my eyes have seen your salvation [salutare tuum] … a light for reve - lation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32; NRS, Vulgate).


18 | THE TABLET | 1 January 2011


Roman Missal 1974 … Christ … … God … Today you revealed in Christ your eternal plan of salvation


and showed him as the light of all peoples.


Now that his glory has shone among us you have renewed humanity in his immortal image.


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


In the Christ Child we see the very mystery of our salvation. This mystery is both light to the Gentiles and glory to Israel. The two con- fessions of the Preface are structured according to this distinction between light and glory, in that God has revealed the mystery of salva- tion for a light of the peoples, but God has restored us with the new glory of Christ’s immortality. This is why the light of the star draws the Magi from afar, but believers share in his glory. Temporal clause: The second confession begins with the temporal clause, cum in sub- stantia nostrae mortalitatis apparuit, “when he appeared in the substance of our mortal- ity”, reconfigured as “Now that his glory has shone among us”. This text does not refer directly to the Passion and death of Christ, but to the Christ Child’s human mortality. Every child is a mortal life, but the Christ Child offers us in our mortality his immortality. Second confession: In thanksgiving we pro- fess the mystery of salvation in Christ in the second causal clause, et … nova nos immor- talitatis eius gloria reparasti, “and … you restored us with the new glory of his immor- tality”, rendered as “you have renewed humanity in his immortal image”. This echoes a preface for Epiphany in the Roman parochial tradition of the Gelasianum composed between 628 and 715 (the text in square brackets) and in the Roman papal trad - ition of the Paduensis datable to 670-680: Quia cum Unigenitus tuus in substantia nos- trae mortalitatis apparuit, in nova[m] nos immortalitatis suae luce[m] reparavit,


The Christ Child teaches us not to seek invulnerability, writes Daniel McCarthy, but to embrace the vulnerability of our human condition and so to transcend our mortality in the way we live


EPIPHANY, PREFACE


Missale Romanum2008 … Deus:


Quia ipsum in Christo salutis nostrae mysterium hodie ad lumen gentium revelasti,


et, cum in substantia nostrae mortalitatis apparuit, nova nos immortalitatis eius gloria reparasti.


Study version of Missale Romanum2008 … God:


Because today you have revealed the very mystery of our salvation in Christ for a light of the peoples, and, when he appeared in the substance of our mortality, you restored us with the new glory of his immortality.


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


“because when your Only-begotten appeared in the substance of our mortality, he restored us in [unto] the new light of his immortal- ity”. The editors removed the explicit reference to the Only-begotten and changed the main subject from Christ so that the entire preface is directed towards God, Deus. Summary The composer of the Verona text and the recent editors of this preface showed great restraint in constructing the second confes- sion. The phrase cum … apparuit, “when he appeared”, describes a simple convergence in time between Christ’s appearing and God’s restoring us. Had the subjunctive been used, cum … appareretor apparuisset, “because he appeared, had appeared”, the connotations of his appearing and God’s restoring would have been much fuller, even theologically specu- lative. This restraint allows a parallel between the two elements of the divine-human exchange, as Augustine says: “in [Christ] the divinity of the Only-begotten was made sharer of our mor- tality [mortalitatis nostrae] so that we also may be sharers of his immortality [immor- talitatis eius]” (Epistle 187, 20; c. AD 417). This mystery of the divine-human exchange


develops as we time and again face up to our fragility and vulnerability, and transcend this human condition not by masquerading as invulnerable but by finding a fuller way of liv- ing our humanity.


■Daniel McCarthy OSB is a monk of St Benedict’s Abbey, Kansas, who writes and teaches on liturgy.


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