It has been said many times, by persons far wiser than me, that even non-Catholics are able to recognize that the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo Missae do not represent, as Benedict XVI insisted, “a twofold use of one and the same rite,” and this merely by way of passive observation.
That said, there are subtle, frequently undetected, differences that testify to this reality as well.
How subtle?
So much so, in fact, that they continue to reveal themselves to me even after having attended thousands of Novus Ordos followed by more than a decade of assisting exclusively at the Traditional Roman Rite, which includes the following exchange:
Priest: Sursum corda.
Server (responding for the faithful): Habemus ad Dominum.
As just about every serious Novus Ordo regular will tell you, even if Latin isn’t his cup of tea, this means:
Priest: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
But does it really?
Before we go on, we need to be clear that while the Latin text of the Novus Ordo missal is the normative text (upon which all translations are based), the translations themselves are authoritative in their own right (no pun intended).
The vernacular editions are far more than just supplemental aids meant to assist the faithful in their worship, rather, the language of the people is coded in the Novus Ordo’s DNA, the pedigree of which goes all the way back [note sarcasm] to Vatican Council II which opened the way for its use.
People can argue all day long over how much vernacular Novus Ordo liturgies should have, but the fact remains that, in the overwhelming majority of times and places, the vernacular is the better part of the rite as celebrated. A Novus Ordo offered entirely, or even mostly, in Latin, by contrast, is a rare exception.
Secondly, in the lead up to the Third Edition of the Roman Missal for the Novus Ordo Missae (debuted in English, 2011), the vernacular translations were extensively debated, voted upon by bishops’ conferences, and codified by the Unholy See, a process that went well beyond what is required in order to secure an imprimatur for a Traditional Latin Mass hand missal.
That distinction made…
While it may very well be old news for many readers, I only recently noticed that the English translation in my Latin Mass missal renders Habemus ad Dominum as “We have them lifted up to the Lord.” [Emphasis added]
Big deal?
Well, yeah, kinda.
A little research into the Latin phrase, Habemus ad Dominum, leads to some interesting discoveries.
Word-for-word, Habemus ad Dominum most literally means, “We have toward the Lord.” The subject, albeit not repeated, is understood to be corda (hearts) insofar as Habemus ad Dominum is a direct response to Sursum corda.
Habemus ad Dominum, therefore, is most properly translated, “We have them (hearts) toward (or lifted up to) the Lord.”
As we will discuss in some detail, the Novus Ordo response, “We lift them up to the Lord,” says something rather different, not just in a grammatical sense, but also in a liturgical and theological sense.
At this, let’s begin our comparison by considering how we might best understand, “We have them lifted up to the Lord.”
Firstly, we may understand Habemus ad Dominum as an acclamation that expresses our present disposition, i.e., we are affirming that what “we have” (Latin: habemus), what we possess, are hearts that are “lifted up to the Lord,” with “lifted” being an adjective describing the state of the heart.
Simple enough, but this invites a deeper question: If it is true that this is what we have (which is no small claim), then how, by what, or by whom, do we find ourselves with hearts lifted up to the Lord?
In the vernacular Novus Ordo, the answer is as plain as it is deficient: “We the faithful lift them up to the Lord.”
The Latin expression Habemus ad Dominum, however, does not assign the action of “lifting” to anyone, in fact, the verb to lift is not present in the Latin text at all. In other words, the response itself does not address the matter of how, by what, or by whom are our hearts are so lifted.
This leaves the question open to exploration, that is, it invites us to enter more deeply into the sacred mysteries that are taking place, and made present, in the sacred liturgy.
Upon pondering this idea further, one notes that the Ordinary of the Traditional Roman Rite leading up to the exhortation, Sursum corda, has already provided insights into the answers we are seeking.
Before continuing, however, we must establish a theological understanding of how it is even possible for fallen men who, by virtue of original sin, have been rendered distant from God, to have hearts that are lifted up to the Lord.
The short answer, of course: Jesus Christ.
It is Jesus to whom we are configured in Baptism; dying with Him and rising with Him to new life; reconciled with the Father; sanctifying grace restored; justified in the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity as infused into the soul by the sacrament of initiation into the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.
In other words, it is only through, with, and in Christ and His Church that we may rightly claim to have hearts lifted up to the Lord.
In the Bread of Life discourse, which necessarily brings our focus back to Holy Mass, Jesus declares:
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven … No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him.” (cf John 6:41,44)
It is right, therefore, for us to consider that we do not so much lift our own hearts to the Lord (as the Novus Ordo English translation claims), rather, it is the Lord who comes to meet us, it is He who draws the human heart to Himself. Fallen man, apart from God’s grace, is incapable of lifting his heart up to the Lord.
This is not to suggest we are passive bystanders in the Mass, or in the work of salvation more broadly, rather, our part is to co-operate with the Lord and His saving grace.
Consider as well that the Mass is the unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, the action of He who said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.” (John 12:32)
All things… including the hearts of the faithful.
At Holy Mass, in addition to the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross being re-presented, the Lord once more comes down from heaven in the form of living bread in the Most Blessed Sacrament. It is precisely in anticipation of this august moment that the priest exhorts the faithful, Sursum corda. It is as if he is alerting all present: Behold, the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him, that we may be ready to go in with Him to the marriage feast. (cf Matthew 25:6-10)
Even earlier in the Roman Rite, one gets the sense that the faithful are being prepared for this profound encounter with the Lord.
Firstly, there is the Confiteor whereby we confess to Almighty God that we have sinned. This is followed by the cleansing prayers of the priest, which serve to make us more presentable for our meeting with the Bridegroom.
And then, in a low voice as he approaches the altar, the priest prays: Take away from us, we beg, O Lord, our iniquities so that with pure minds we might merit to enter into your Holy of Holies.
We might also think of the three small crosses that we make prior to the reading of the Gospel. About this gesture, Dom Prosper Guéranger wrote:
[The priest and the faithful] at the same time, signs himself on the forehead, the lips, and the breast, asking, in virtue of the Cross, which is the source of all grace, that he may always have the Gospel in his heart, and on his lips, and that he may never be ashamed of it.
In this, one gets a clear sense for the necessity of God’s grace in preparing the human heart for divine encounter, be it in the Word proclaimed, or in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
We might also consider the prayer uttered by the priest prior to announcing the Gospel, which begins, Munda cor meum, a phrase that means, “Cleanse my heart.”
Although this prayer, properly speaking, is the priest’s own prayer, it is not improper to understand that the hearts of the faithful are, in some sense, being prepared as well. As Pope Pius XII explains with respect to Holy Mass:
The people unite their hearts in praise, impetration, expiation and thanksgiving with prayers or intention of the priest, even of the High Priest himself. (cf Mediator Dei, 93)
At this, the utter deficiency of the common Novus Ordo rejoinder, “We lift them up to the Lord” has presumably been made clear.
Think about this the next time you pray, Habemus ad Dominum, at Holy Mass, perhaps even offering a brief prayer for those sincere persons in your life who are caught up in the Novus Ordo world, totally unaware of the magnificent treasure that has been stolen from them.
[NOTE: The Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese translations more properly reflect the actual sense conveyed in the Latin. The French translation, however, is very similar to the English. The takeaway (for me anyway) isn’t that some national bishops’ conferences are more determined to get it right than others, rather, it is that the conciliar Vatican has a laissez faire attitude toward the Mass that only further testifies to its inauthenticity.]
