The new version of the prayer: The Holy Father Changes the Good Friday Prayer
Let us pray also for the Jews: May our God and Lord enlighten their hearts, so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, savior of all men.
Let us pray. Let us kneel. Arise.
Almighty and everlasting God, who desirest that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of truth, mercifully grant that, as the fullness of the Gentiles enters into Thy Church, all Israel may be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Much debate has ensued in both the Catholic and mainstream press about the pros and cons of this change. Certain Jewish leaders have complained that the prayer is still offensive because it seeks to convert Jews. Some Catholics believe that the prayer wasn?t broken in the first place; why fix it? Virtually no one cheered the change. And as usual, most ignored it. In our opinion, this is a perfect example of the famous saying visible on the stained glass window behind the high altar of St.Joseph Church (Detroit, USA): ?Roma locúta, causa finíta.? Rome has spoken; the case is closed. Nothing heretical has been published. The essence of the prayer is the same. Obey and support this great Pope. Let us consider the side benefit of this change: By this single act, our Holy Father has unfrozen the ?1962 Missal of John XXIII?. Arguably, it is now the ?2008 Missal of Benedict XVI.? The Extraordinary Form Missal is not an historical artifact, but a living liturgy of Holy Mother Church. Those who fear that this is the beginning of unwanted changes to the Classic Form of Mass ignore the fact that the Mass has evolved over the centuries exactly by small modifications just like this one. No reasonable person can accuse Pope Benedict XVI of being unsupportive of the Tridentine Mass, or an agent of excessive change. Rather, he is simply following in the footsteps of earlier Popes, organically developing the liturgy. A Possible Typo: Careful readers will notice that unlike all of the other ?Great Intercessions? in the Good Friday Liturgy, this revised Prayer for the Jews ends with an abbreviated ?Per Christum Dóminum nostrum.? Such shorter conclusions are common in the Novus Ordo, but not in the Tridentine. The full length ?Per Jesum Christum Dóminum nostrum?? conclusion would be contextually consistent with other Tridentine Collect-style prayers. But unless Rome issues a correction, we shall pray as directed. |
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