Homily for 8 Mar 2018

8 Mar 2018

(School Mass)

[Open hymnal to #137] At the end of Mass here on Thursdays we place the Body of Christ on top of the altar.  And we do that so people can spend some quiet time with the Lord; so people can just be with the Lord for a little bit.  And when we do that we sing that song, “O Saving Victim.”  

Now, you see the English words, and underneath that there are other words, too.  And there’ve been a lot of students who’ve asked, “What’s that other language there?  Can we sing that too?”  And the answer is, “Yes, we can,” and the language is called Latin.  In fact, did you know that almost all our prayers here at Mass are in Latin?  They are...it’s just that they’re translated into English so we can better understand what we’re saying. 

But that brings up an important question: Why would we sing in a language we don’t understand?  We already have a translation in English...let’s just use that.

And the answer is that: Latin does not change.  Latin doesn’t change.  Words in Latin always mean the same thing; their meanings never change through time.  But that’s very different than English.  The English language is always changing; how we use words changes, our vocabulary changes, and even the meanings of words change through time.  That’s why the Church has to retranslate its prayers every now and then: Latin doesn’t change, but English does.

So if we were to pray in Latin, it’s not because it’s a “holier” language, or because it’s better...it’s because Latin stays the same.  Even though we might not entirely understand it, we do know that it’s stable and consistent, and we can learn to understand what it means.

The cool thing, though, is that that’s how we think about God, isn’t it?  God is unchanging.  God is very stable and faithful; he’s very consistent in who he is.  And we’ll spend the rest of our lives trying to understand him and his ways more and more.  So, it’s okay to pray in a language we don’t entirely understand because, you know, the God we’re praying to is a God we don’t entirely understand either.

So let’s look at this hymn…

     ["a" is pronounced "ah"

      "e" is pronounced "aye"

      "i" is pronounced "ee"

      "o" is pronounced "oh"

      "u" is pronounced "oo"]

O salutaris Hostia,

O   saving   Victim

Quae      caeli        pandis    ostium:

Who   of heaven    opens       gate              

          O saving Victim, who opens wide

          the gate of heaven:

Bella         premunt      hostilia,

Conflict   presses on    enemies

Da     robur,      fer      auxilium.

Give strength,  send       aid                       

          Conflict presses on by our enemies,

          give us your strength, send your help.

Uni          trinoque    Domino

(To) one   threefold     Lord

Sit sempiterna gloria,

be    forever    glory/praise                         

          To the One-in-Three Lord

          be glory and praise forever,

Qui   vitam    sine    termino

who   life    without   end

Nobis       donet     in    patria.   Amen.                 

to us      he give     in  homeland                

          Who gives to us life without end
          in our homeland.  Amen.


There’s something mysterious about singing in Latin.  But that also helps us to remember that there’s something mysterious and wonderful about our God; he loves us and helps us in ways we can’t always understand.  And it’s okay to not understand.  It keeps us humble, and makes us trust the Lord and say to him, “Da robur, fer auxilium”...give us your strength, send us your help...we need you Lord because we don’t always understand.”