New Translation Monday: Eucharistic Prayer III, Part II (Institution Narrative)

As a reminder, past editions of the New Translation Catechesis can be accessed via the top menu bar.

We continue our journey through the third Eucharistic Prayer by taking a look at the sacred Words of Institution.  Of course, at this point we have been through the corresponding passages in both the Roman Canon and Eucharistic Prayer II.  Thus, many of the changes will be familiar.  Let’s begin by looking at the familiar 1978 translation:

“On the night he was betrayed, he took bread and gave you thanks and praise.  He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT IT: THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

When supper was ended, he took the cup. Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT: THIS IS THE CUP OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND EVERLASTING COVENANT. IT WILL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR ALL SO THAT SINS MAY BE FORGIVEN. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.”

The new and improved version is:

“For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread, and giving you thanks he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT O F IT: FOR THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and giving you thanks he said the blessing, and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT: FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT; WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.”

We will not discuss the all-important words of consecration, written in all capital letters.  The current, new, and Latin versions are identical with both the Roman Canon and the second Eucharistic Prayer, which we have already discussed in detail.  Instead, we will focus on the introductory phrases.

In the introduction to the words over the host, notice that the phrase now begins with the word “For.”  This comes from the Latin conjunction enim.  We have seen this theme many times before.  The Latin goes out of its way to join together the different parts of the Eucharistic Prayer, desperately trying to get the priest and the listener to understand it as a single reality, a unified action.  The word enim is actually the second word in the Latin, the first being Ipse, which translates “himself,” another word that has been restored in the new translation.  I wanted to give a long theological defense of “he himself” over “he”.  I wanted to say something about this indicating that Jesus himself was the one offering the sacrifice ... all of which is true.  However, I wasn’t able to formulate this enough to make it worthwhile, and it seemed like a stretch.  Thus, I think I’ll simply leave it this:  the Latin says “himself,” and therefore so should the translation.

The other changes were already discussed in the piece on the Roman Canon.  Rather than reworking the same Latin, I will simply remind you of the implications behind the changes.

First we have the change to the use of participles (“giving you thanks” versus “gave you thanks,” and “saying” versus “said”).  As we would expect, the Latin uses participles, not past tense verbs.  That being said, we might ask why this is the case.  I previously went out on a linguistic limb and said that the use of participles indicates that the action was not simply something that happened in the past, but some action that has a perpetual nature to it.  (I admit that this is a bit more of personal opinion than is usually in these posts.)  We know that the action of the Mass is a singular reality.  Each instance of the Mass is an instance of one sacrifice.  In other words, the Mass, be it one said in the here and now, one from a hundred years ago, or one that will occur a hundred years in the future, is a re-presentation of the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.  Even the Last Supper fits this bill, though I suppose the term “pre-presentation” might be more appropriate.  This is what it means to call Christ’s sacrifice “eternal,” which is not to indicate that it goes on without end, but that it is an ex-temporal reality.

Second, the phrase “said the blessing” has been restored as a good rendition of benedíxit.  It is a bit of a stretch to render this word as “praise”, which is presumedly what the current translation did in combining it with “thanks” to get “thanks and praise.”

For the reader that missed the discussion of these changes before and wants to check the Latin:

Ipse enim in qua nocte tradebátur

accépit panem

et tibi grátias agens benedíxit,

fregit, dedítque discípulis suis, dicens

This takes us to the introduction to the words over the chalice.  Here, I think all of the changes have been discussed in previous posts on the other Eucharistic Prayers.  I will only emphasize the use of the word “chalice” (calicem) over the ordinary “cup.”  There is indeed a difference, and even the dictionary recognizes this, which defines “chalice” as, “the wine cup used in the Christian Eucharist.”

Finally, although I mentioned this in previous posts, it is worth discussing again the phrase Símili modo, which translates, “In a similar way.”  This is a phrase that allows us to join together the consecration of the host with those for the chalice.  The two consecrations form a single reality.  While both are necessary, each of the two species, post consecrationem, are the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And for those who missed the original discussion and want to dive into the Latin:

Símili modo, postquam cenátum est,

accípiens cálicem,

et tibi grátias agens benedíxit,

dedítque discípulis suis, dicens