New Translation Monday: The Greeting

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Due to Holy Week, the Paschal Triduum, and the celebration of Easter, we will take a week off of the ever important Roman Canon that has been our recent object of study.  Instead, let’s take this short week to discuss the greeting that the priest issues at the start of Mass.  There are three options in the current translation:

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Or: The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Or: The Lord be with you.

In the new translation, there are still three options, but with a few differences, which I have placed in bold:

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Or: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Or: The Lord be with you.

The Latin Missal contains the same three options:

Grátia Dómini nostri Iesu Christi, et cáritas Dei, et communicátio Sancti Spíritus sit cum ómnibus vobis.

Vel: Grátia vobis et pax a Deo Patre nostro et Dómino Iesu Christo.

Vel: Dóminus vobíscum.

The first option has only one difference.  (Though I suppose the addition of the commas, which match up with punctuation in the Latin could be considered a second.)  The Latin word communicatio is translated as “fellowship” in the current translation and will be corrected to “communion” in the new.  A Latin dictionary will list “fellowship” as a possible meaning, yet “communion” is better for two reasons*.  First, it is almost identical in its phonetic structure to the Latin,  Second, the communion that is created by the Holy Spirit is no mere fellowship, a term that has a much wider use in the English language.  The communion that occurs through the Holy Spirit is the constitution of the mystical body of Christ.  It is fully appropriate to invoke this communion at the beginning of the Eucharistic celebration, for it is this Sacrament in particular through which the Holy Spirit imparts his communion.

The second option contains two changes.  The first is that in the new translation the “grace” is offered to you rather than wishing it be with you.  As far as I can tell, there is no major theological difference between the two, though the use of the word “to” has more of a connotation of gift, and grace is God’s free gift to us.  Comparing it with the third option, there does seem to be a difference between the Lord being with us and his grace being offered to us.  However, the Latin word vobis is most likely the dative case (a direct object), and therefore should be rendered “to you.”  It is true that vobis can also be the ablative case (which could then be rendered “with you,” but it is missing the word “with” (cum); again compare with the Latin in the third form: vobiscum.

The other difference in this option is the change of “of God” to “from God.”  Again, I am not convinced that there is a major theological difference, but “from” better connotes the sense of gift giving.  Besides, the Latin is a Deo.  The correct Latin for “of God” would be Dei (the genitive case).  The preposition a can in some cases be rendered as “of,” but “from” is far better in this context.

Regarding both these changes, there is another, perhaps more important reason why the new translation is preferred.  The greeting itself comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Recall that one of the goals of the new translation was to provide more obvious connections to the Scripture references from which the text is derived.  In the seventh verse of Romans 1, Paul greets the people of Rome with, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (NAB).  The very same greeting occurs in 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:3, Philippians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, and Philemon 1:3.  Much to our surprise (or perhaps not so surprising after all), the new translation is word-for-word identical with these verses.*

The third option (“The Lord be with you”) contains no changes.  The current and new translation is a perfect rendering of Dominus vobiscum.

On a final note, one of the more prominent changes to the Roman Missal is the people’s response to these greetings, a response that occurs multiple times throughout the liturgy.  Rather than, “And also with you,” the faithful will respond, “And with your spirit.”  This was the topic of the inaugural post in the New Translation Monday series.

* The first greeting occurs word-for-word in 2 Corinthians 13:13.  The NASB renders communicatio as “fellowship,” while the NRSV renders it as “communion.”