Habemus Liturgiam!

According to Rocco, and as published now worldwide (apologies for my laxity) the U.S. Bishops have approved the new translation of the Mass. Further on, Rocco has provided an overview of the amendments the USCCB has made, all of which wait for the recognitio of the Vatican. Generally speaking, I'm with everyone else who agrees that it will probably take about two years before we see this new translation rolled out to its first use.

A friend complained this weekend (I'm apparently becoming the focal point of questions on our Church - not that I mind, but not that I asked either) that she had memorized the prayers and was quite proud that she did not need to read the Missal(lette). My response was to point to my mother-in-law and say, "the changes here are nothing in comparison to learning the Mass in a whole new language like she had to". In the end, it is only a few words we lay people will have to learn anew and within a few weeks the new translation will be memorized just as the previous had been. In the interim, I can only hope that people use this newfound slight discomfort as an opportunity to rediscover, or perhaps discover for the first time, the momentous event that is the Mass. True, many have memorized, but I often wonder just how many have internalized. Time will tell.