One thing that really, really, REALLY bothers me is when people change the masculine pronouns that refer to God during the Mass or other liturgies. For instance, when the priest says, "Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours etc." And then the response is changed to "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of God's name, for our good and the good of all God's holy Church." Now in both instances where I inserted God's the word is of course supposed to be 'his', which is referring to God. This is especially noxious when it is done by one of my namby-pamby brethren. And why do people do this? I suppose they're afraid of offending some ultra-feminist nun that wears a pant suit instead of a habit.
I will admit that God is neither male or female, except of course for our Lord, the second person of the Trinity, who is still a man even though He has ascended into Heaven. But, even though God is neither male or female, to omit the masculine pronoun and change it to God doesn't make sense for the following reason. Christ, when His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, taught them to say "Our Father...". Are not fathers referred to with masculine pronouns? So why is it that some people, even some priests, insist on changing the words in our sacred liturgies? Well, I don't know why they do it, except for the reason listed above, but I can tell you that they are not supposed to do so.
First of all, in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), it states in instruction #24, "the Priest will remember that he is the servant of the Sacred Liturgy and that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative, to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass." (For those who don't know, the GIRM is the rule book for how priests are required to celebrate Mass.) And attached to this is a footnote that directs you to Sacrosanctum Concilium #22 which states, "no...person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority." In other words, for those who are guilty of doing this - stop it!
The words of the Mass have been carefully translated from the Latin original into a multitude of languages for a reason: to convey the same beliefs to all Catholics around the world. And when namby-pamby priests and the sheep they have led astray just change the words on a whim then that meaning is lost. As a result we begin to worship differently than our brothers in other parts of the world. If you want that then why do you want to be Catholic at all? I know I have asked that question in a different post and I will probably ask it many more times. It seems to make sense that if you want something different than what the Catholic Church is then why not just go somewhere else. On the other hand, you could stop trying to change what the Church is, and instead, become a part of it. Please, for your own sake and for the sake of your fellow Catholics, stop interjecting your own false opino.
I will admit that God is neither male or female, except of course for our Lord, the second person of the Trinity, who is still a man even though He has ascended into Heaven. But, even though God is neither male or female, to omit the masculine pronoun and change it to God doesn't make sense for the following reason. Christ, when His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, taught them to say "Our Father...". Are not fathers referred to with masculine pronouns? So why is it that some people, even some priests, insist on changing the words in our sacred liturgies? Well, I don't know why they do it, except for the reason listed above, but I can tell you that they are not supposed to do so.
First of all, in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), it states in instruction #24, "the Priest will remember that he is the servant of the Sacred Liturgy and that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative, to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass." (For those who don't know, the GIRM is the rule book for how priests are required to celebrate Mass.) And attached to this is a footnote that directs you to Sacrosanctum Concilium #22 which states, "no...person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority." In other words, for those who are guilty of doing this - stop it!
The words of the Mass have been carefully translated from the Latin original into a multitude of languages for a reason: to convey the same beliefs to all Catholics around the world. And when namby-pamby priests and the sheep they have led astray just change the words on a whim then that meaning is lost. As a result we begin to worship differently than our brothers in other parts of the world. If you want that then why do you want to be Catholic at all? I know I have asked that question in a different post and I will probably ask it many more times. It seems to make sense that if you want something different than what the Catholic Church is then why not just go somewhere else. On the other hand, you could stop trying to change what the Church is, and instead, become a part of it. Please, for your own sake and for the sake of your fellow Catholics, stop interjecting your own false opino.
RSS Feed