Listen to the Word


Guiding hands of God T


he preposition in followed by the object viam indicates movement, “unto, into, on to”. In the title of this Preface, Deus Ecclesiam suam in viam


salutis conducens, “God leading his Church together on to the way of salvation”, this con- struction unfortunately means that the Church is not yet on the way of salvation. Rather, she is off the way but advancing on to, unto, into the way of salvation. The official English title corrects the Latin to say, “God Guides His Church along the Way of Salvation”, which would be in via or per viam.


Source:This Preface to the second Eucharistic Prayer for use in Masses for various necessi- ties was new to the Missale Romanumof 2002 but appeared in previous vernacular editions.


Analysis of literary forms God never forsakes, continues to work, led Israel, accompanies and leads forward the Church on her pilgrim way. First confession:We confess how God acts,


first with a negation, Qui opera sapientiae tuae numquam derelinquis, “who never forsake the works of your wisdom”, given as “For you never forsake the works of your wisdom”. Second confession: And we confess what


God continues to do, sed in medio nostri adhuc providus operaris, “but you, provident, are still at work in the midst of us”, given as “but by your providence are even now at work in our midst”. Latin has two different ways to say “of us”. “Love of us” is amor nostri, but “both of us” is uterque nostrum. Although in medio nos- trum is proper, in medio nostri is used throughout the Missale; both appear in the Vulgate and New Vulgate. The adjective providus describes the Lord as “provident”. Third confession:We confess the saving work of God, In manu potenti et brachio extento populum tuum Israel per desertum duxisti, “With powerful hand and arm outstretched you led your people Israel through the desert”, given as “With mighty hand and outstretched arm you led your people Israel through the desert”. The first part comes from Psalm 136:12,


where the Hebrew uses the preposition “in” in the phrase “in a powerful hand” to express the idea of instrumentality meaning “with a powerful hand”. In Latin, instrumentality would be expressed here without the pre - position “in”, which was, nevertheless, added in the Vulgate and in this new Preface to reflect the underlying Hebraism. Both English texts


Roman Missal 2010 … Lord … For you never forsake the works of your wisdom,


but by your providence are even now at work in our midst.


With mighty hand and outstretched arm you led your people Israel through the desert.


Now, as your Church makes her pilgrim journey in the world, you always accompany her by the power of the Holy Spirit


and lead her along the paths of time


to the eternal joy of your Kingdom, through Christ our Lord.


© International Commission on English in the Liturgy.


revert to the underlying idea of instrumen- tality “with powerful hand” without preserving the Hebraism “in a powerful hand”. The less correct spelling brachio rather than bracchio comes from the Vulgate. Fourth confession:We confess God’s on- going work, nunc autem Ecclesiam tuam … Spiritus Sancti virtute semper comitaris, “but now with the power of the Holy Spirit you ever accompany your Church”, given as “Now … you always accompany her by the power of the Holy Spirit”. Amplification: The participial phrase


describes the Church as, in mundo peregri- nantem, “on pilgrimage in the world”, restated in a correlative phrase, “as your Church makes her pilgrim journey in the world”, giv- ing greater prominence to the Church’s initiative. Fifth confession: We confess that God leads us to the goal, eamque per temporis semi- tas in gaudium aeternum regni tui conducis, “and all along the paths of time you lead her ahead into the eternal joy of your king- dom”, given as “and lead her along the paths


Missale Romanum2008 … Domine …


Qui opera sapientiae tuae numquam derelinquis, sed in medio nostri adhuc providus operaris.


In manu potenti et brachio extento


populum tuum Israel per desertum duxisti; nunc autem Ecclesiam tuam in mundo peregrinantem, Spiritus Sancti virtute semper comitaris, eamque per temporis semitas


in gaudium aeternum regni tui conducis,


per Christum Dominum nostrum.


This prayer, like the pilgrim Church, inhabits many cultures and languages to help us confess our faith today, writes Daniel McCarthy


PREFACE: GOD LEADING HIS CHURCH TOGETHER ON TO THE WAY OF SALVATION


Study text … Lord … who never forsake the works of your wisdom, but you, provident, are still at work in the midst of us.


With powerful hand and arm outstretched you led your people Israel through the desert; but now with the power of the Holy Spirit


you ever accompany your Church on pilgrimage in the world,


and all along the paths of time


you lead her ahead into the eternal joy of your kingdom through Christ our Lord.


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


of time to the eternal joy of your Kingdom”. Means: The Lord accomplishes all of this, per Christum Dominum nostrum, “through Christ our Lord”.


Summary


All of Creation is swept up in the way of sal- vation, which begins in God the creator of the world and source of all life and leads to the eternal joy of God’s kingdom. Irenaeus of Lyon said that God created the world with the two hands of the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit (Adversus Haereses 4, 20, 1). In the Preface, God never forsakes things created out of wisdom, and is ever at work in our midst. After Israel had passed through the waters, with mighty hand he led the people through the desert, an image of the baptised on pilgrimage in the power of the Spirit and through Christ our Lord, the two guiding hands of God.


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


1 October 2011 | THE TABLET | 15


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