The Bible and the Mass

By Father Randy Stice

In previous columns we have looked at various aspects of the Mass. First and foremost, it is a unique encounter between the triune God and his people, the event that nourishes and sustains our relationship with God and forms us into the people of God, his body the Church. At the same time, it is an authoritative expression of the Church’s faith—we pray as we believe, and liturgical prayer strengthens and forms us in the faith. The translation of the new Missal is intended to clarify both aspects of the Mass.

A third aspect of the Mass is its biblical character. The Second Vatican Council affirmed the vital relationship between Sacred Scripture and the Liturgy: “Sacred Scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. . . . It is from the Scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force, and that actions and signs derive their meaning” (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 24).

Because of this intrinsic relationship between sacred Scripture and the liturgy, the translation into the vernacular of biblical words and images in the Mass is vitally important. The power and richness of the liturgy are diminished when its relationship to Scripture is obscured. This is why one of the key principles of Authentic Liturgy is that “the manner of translating the liturgical books should foster a correspondence between the biblical text itself and the liturgical texts of ecclesiastical composition which contain biblical words or allusions” (No. 49).

Let me give two examples from the new Missal. In the current translation of the Gloria we sing, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.” This is a reference to Luke 2:14, the praise offered by a multitude of the heavenly host to the infant Jesus. In the new Missal we will sing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will,” a more accurate translation of Luke 2:14. According to the Catechism, the angels’ “song of praise at the birth of Christ has not ceased resounding in the Church’s praise: ‘Glory to God in the highest!’”

This reminds us of an important aspect of the Mass: we are not the only ones present. “In each celebration of the Eucharist, the Church is taken up into the eternal liturgy in which the entire communion of saints, the heavenly powers, and all of creation give praise to the God of the universe.” As St. John Chrysostom wrote 16 centuries ago: “Think now of what kind of choir you are going to enter. Although vested with a body, you have been judged worthy to join the powers of heaven in singing the praises of him who is Lord of all.”

A second example is the prayer before Communion: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” This is what the centurion with the sick slave said to Jesus: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof . . . But say the word, and let my servant be healed” (Luke 7:6-7). With the new Missal we will say what the centurion said: “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” And remember, Jesus praised the centurion for his faith and healed his servant. The words of the centurion can strengthen our faith in Christ’s power to transform our lives and our world.

St. Teresa of Avila was convinced that the Jesus we receive in Communion is the same Jesus who performed such miracles. “Why doubt,” she asks, ”if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while he is within us and that he will give what we ask of him, since he is in our house? His Majesty is not accustomed to paying poorly for his lodging if the hospitality is good.” For St. Teresa, receiving Communion truly meant that Jesus was “entering under her roof.”

The Mass, permeated with the words and events of sacred Scripture, makes us contemporaries of the heavenly host at the birth of Jesus and of the centurion who implored—and received—the Lord’s mercy. This is why the Second Vatican Council taught that “the sacred liturgy is full of the divine words.” The new Missal shows forth these divine words with freshness and power.

Here is a link to the new Missal, including all of the biblical references in the Mass.

Father Stice is the director of the diocesan Worship and Liturgy Office.