The Tablet reports that Pope Benedict has ordered German bishops pray “for many” not “for all” in the German translation of the Eucharistic Prayer.
The Pope said he was writing “to avoid a split” in the Church after (German Bishops Conference President Archbishop Robert) Zollitsch told him during a March visit that “the bishops in the German-speaking world were still divided on this issue”.
Benedict said that when the Roman Missal was translated into German in the 1960s there was “exegetical consensus” that the word “many” was a Hebrew expression for an entirety. “This exegetical consensus … no longer exists,” he said.
Will the bishops accept this bit of scholarship from the scholarly pope, that the exegesis, which was clear fifty years ago, has muddied in the two generations since?
From this Sunday’s Gospel:
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16)
The NAB note ponders these mysterious “other sheep.” Maybe the “dispersed children of God” mentioned in John 11:52, and maybe other Christian communities on the outs with those who received John’s Gospel. My own sense is that “other sheep” are a lot more widespread than is supposed. In fact, if all wooly hides were exposed to view, I imagine that even I would be surprised who was counted among the Shepherd’s flock. God seems to take a great pleasure in turning expectations upside-down. I think Pope Benedict can feel more secure and unified thinking of Christ’s salvific act “for many” instead of “for all.” If there are exclusions, the first would probably be within the Church itself.
God chose an elderly man to father a nation, a virgin to bear a savior, fishermen and tax collectors to be his closest disciples. Two-thousand years later, and I have no evidence God has abandoned the first, best plan and neglects the unexpected.
My take is that if people want to insist on “many,” they’re still going to get their socks knocked off by some wheat/chaff and sheep/goat revelations in the future.
29 April 2012 at 10:31 pm
My take is that if we don’t pray for all we’re not loving as God calls us to love.
30 April 2012 at 5:59 am
In fact, Catholics do pray for all. As it happens, the narrative in question is technically not a prayer at all, but a recount of a Scripture passage. That’s one reason why I see the kerfuffle over the passage as less important than others do. “All” versus “many” says a lot more about the unity of the Church and the state of Catholic hope and generosity than ir denies or accepts about the reality of the called. Besides, when it comes to inclusion, orthopraxis means a lot more than any vain attempt at a proper Biblical exegesis. We can read in the Bible whom God called. That should be chilling enough for those who want a smaller, purer band of believers. Grace and good luck to that band of believers. They’re going to need it.
30 April 2012 at 11:49 am
The sad part about all of this is the deification of adherence to Latin verbiage. There is not now nor ever has been anything sacred about Latin. Turning it into some kind of mysterious magical incantation is heretical.