Listen to the Word


Temples of the soul M


ore compendium than profession of faith, the extended prayer requires a different format for this commentary.


Source: This new composition was first included in the Missale Romanum of 1975.


Creation, response: The distinction


between secular and sacred finds no place here, because God made all of Creation a temple to the divine glory. The distinction is whether Creation fulfils the divine intention by mak- ing the divine name renowned. The curious negative statement non renuis, “you ... do not refuse”, followed by the passive impersonal sacrari, “to be dedicated”, is rendered posi- tive in the official English “you allow” and personal “us to consecrate”. Within Creation as a temple certain places are distinguished for their suitability for celebrating the divine mysteries. This church: Just as the bread and wine are “the work of human hands”, so, too, the building was constructed with human labour and dedicated to the divine majesty. The build- ing is called hanc ... orationis domum, “this house of prayer”, emphasising the divine mys- teries celebrated there. An image typically prefigures its fuller reality, but here the metaphor is mixed as the image is prefigured. Temple, city:The next line introduces the


two elements developed in the rest of the prayer. The verb adumbrare is typically used of typology according to which the Old Testament type is fulfilled in its true reality: Christ. Here the subject of adumbratur, is veri Templi mys- terium, “the mystery of the true Temple is represented [here]”, and so this church points to its true reality: Christ, revealed in human history. The second verb praenotatur, “[the image] is prefigured”, points to the opposite direction toward the eschaton, the heavenly Jerusalem. Temple: The body of Jesus Christ, the son


of God, is the true Temple. The house of prayer was made with human labour, the body of God’s son was born of the Virgin; the for- mer was dedicated to the divine majesty, the latter dedicated to God. Typically we speak of the Blessed Virgin, but the prayer refers to the alma Virgine, literally the “nourish- ing Virgin”. City:The church is described as a holy city over time; built on the foundation of the apostles; Christ Jesus the cornerstone. It


14 | THE TABLET | 12 November 2011


Roman Missal 2010 … Father … For you have made the whole world a temple of your glory,


that your name might everywhere be extolled,


yet you allow us to consecrate to you apt places for the divine mysteries.


And so, we dedicate joyfully to your majesty this house of prayer, built by human labour.


Here is foreshadowed the mystery of the true Temple, here is prefigured the heavenly Jerusalem.


For you made the Body of your Son, born of the tender Virgin,


the Temple consecrated to you,


in which the fullness of the Godhead might dwell.


You also established the Church as a holy city, built upon the foundation of the Apostles,


with Christ Jesus himself the chief cornerstone:


a city to be built of chosen stones, given life by the Spirit and bonded by charity,


where for endless ages you will be all in all and the light of Christ will shine undimmed for ever.


Missale Romanum2008 … Pater … Qui templum gloriae tuae universum mundum fecisti, ut nomen tuum ubique clarificaretur,


sed et loca divinis apta mysteriis non renuis tibi sacrari.


Hanc ergo orationis domum, humano exstructam labore,


maiestati tuae exsultantes dicamus.


Hic veri Templi adumbratur mysterium


et caelestis Ierusalem praenotatur imago. Corpus enim Filii tui, ex alma Virgine natum, templum effecisti tibi sacratum,


in quo inhabitaret plenitudo divinitatis. Ecclesiam autem sanctam constituisti civitatem, super fundamentum Apostolorum aedificatam, summo angulari lapide ipso Christo Iesu; sed electis construendam lapidibus, Spiritu vivificatis,


coagmentatis caritate, ubi tu per infinita saecula omnia omnibus eris


et Christi lumen fulgebit perenne.


This Preface is used at a church dedication, writes Daniel McCarthy. But there is no distinction between secular and sacred in the building because God made all of Creation a temple


PREFACE: THE DEDICATION OF A CHURCH


Study text … Father … who made the entire world a temple to your glory


so that everywhere your name might be renowned,


but you also do not refuse that places prepared for the divine mysteries be dedicated to yourself; Rejoicing, therefore, we dedicate to your majesty this house of prayer, constructed with human labour.


Represented here is the mystery of the true Temple, and the image of the heavenly Jerusalem is prefigured: for you made the body of your Son, born of the gentle Virgin,


a temple dedicated to yourself in which the fullness of divinity might dwell.


Yet you established the Church, a holy city, built on the foundation of the Apostles


– Jesus Christ himself being the most noble cornerstone – but a city to be constructed with chosen stones, enlivened by the Spirit, joined together by love, where you will be all things for all people through endless ages, and the eternal light of Christ will shine.


© International Commission on English in the Liturgy.


continues to be constructed with the elect, the baptised bound together in love. Doxology: Parallel to both the prayers of dedication and the Eucharistic Prayer and so superfluous here, the Preface has its own brief doxological formula, which adds little to its


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


content. After referring to the Spirit, the prayer concludes with Christ the eternal light.


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


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