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How did the Roman Missal originate?

In the early Christian Church, many of the prayers that were said at Eucharist were memorized and handed down by word of mouth. Eventually the prayers were collected and written down in books known as sacramentaries (book of sacraments). Scripture readings were recorded in other books and the Psalms were written in a book called the Psalter. Throughout the ages, as these manuscripts were passed down, modifications and additions were made. Eventually, all the chants, prayers, instructions and scriptures were organized into one book. It was written in Latin and as the texts contained in it continued to evolve over the next five centuries it became quite large. After the Second Vatican Council, the Mass was translated into many different languages (the vernacular).

Priests Prayer
A Walk through the New Mass
While the congregation says the ‘Lamb of God’ prayer, the priest breaks the host and quietly says these words.
Former: New:
Lord Jesus Christ,
with faith in your love and mercy
I eat your body and drink your blood.
Let it not bring me condemnation,
but health in mind and body.
May the receiving of your Body and Blood,
Lord Jesus Christ,
not bring me to judgment and condemnation,
but through your loving mercy
be for me protection in mind and body,
and a healing remedy.

The new version is a fuller translation, reintroducing the explicit reference to judgment (iudicium) contained in the traditional Latin. The former text also omitted the notion of healing (medelam). These words have been brought back because they are seen as important themes in the Missal.

The present tenses of I eat and I drink in the former version seemed strange to some people, since, when the priest speaks these words, the acts of eating and drinking still lie in the future. They can, however, also be interpreted as denoting habitual actions. The new text (and the Latin) can with ease be read as referring both to the individual act of Communion that is about to take place, and to the habit of receiving Holy Communion.

Based on the DVD ‘Become One Body, One Spirit, in Christ’.
©2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.
 

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