Consubstantial

Everybody's talking about the changes in the Missal. Personally, I'm sick of hearing about it. That's all I read about in my diocesan newspaper, on other blogs, in Chapter,on iCatholic TV, and radio...ad nauseum. Yet I hear that people say they haven't heard anything about it.

Are they blind, deaf, and dumb? Don't they read their Catholic periodicals? Don't they watch and listen to Catholic TV and radio? Don't they listen to homilies, read their parish bulletins, and go to parish activities?

Don't they read blogs?


SIGH. Guess not.

I really don't know what the big deal is about. I lived through the big change from Latin to English. I certainly can live through the change from "one in being" to "consubstantial." Consubstantial is more precise. When I say "one in being" I imagine a spousal relationship. That's hardly the image one should have for the relationship between God and Jesus. And that's the purpose of the Nicean Creed--to prove that Jesus is God.

Besides, it's not new to me. I still have my First Communion Prayer Book. "Consubstantial" was the word that I read, as a child. The Latin was on one page:

Et in unum Dominum Jesus Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Pate natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo; Lumen de Lumine; Deum verum de Deo vero; genitum non factum; consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt.

and the Enlish was on the opposite page, right beside the English:

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. Gog of God; Light of Light; true God of true God; begotten,not made; consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made.

If children could read then, what everyone is arguing about, now, then I think the new translation will readily be accepted. Besides, I attended Mass where the New Translation was used, and I overheard the comment, "I don't see any difference?" I don't know if the pic I took of my childhood's missal is readable, but the footnote on the bottom says, "...kneel down to adore God for the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation." I get a kick out of the fact that we children knew the word "ineffable." Well, why not? We knew consubstantial; why wouldn't we know ineffable?

For a really thorough and understandable explanation from somebody other than a "simple old lady fingering her Rosary beads", I'll point you to Fr. Cessario's article in the Jan. 14, 2011, Pilot, "Preparing for the Changes in the Roman Missal, 3rd Edition: 'Consubstial with the Father'