Catholic Replies
Editor’s Note: Responding to a recent question about why the acclamation “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again” is no longer used at Mass, R.M.W. of New York offers this explanation:
“Although it is certainly theologically sound (quite sound, in fact!), as well as emotionally stirring, the reason ‘Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again’ was removed is because it is not actually a part of the text of the Roman Missal, but was an illicit addition to the previous English edition (the Sacramentary of 1975), along with ‘Dying you destroyed our death. rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory,’ as well as all of the ‘Alternative Opening Prayers.’
“In keeping with the principles expressed in Liturgiam Authenticam, the new edition of the Roman Missal not only sought to render a more authentic, accurate translation of the Latin editio typica, but also to eliminate any and all illicit additions concocted by liturgists and bishops’ conferences.
Sadly, the improved translation seems to have missed out on correcting the acclamation ‘When we eat this bread…’ which, by retaining the previous, faulty translation, renders an almost Lutheran-sounding expression (consubstantiation). After the priest pronounces the words of institution, the Eucharistic element is no longer ‘bread,’ but the Body of Christ, and retaining the reductive term ‘cup,’ instead of ‘chalice’ (calix/calicem), is also most unfortunate.”
Q. I note that a number of attendees bring their own hardbound missals to Mass each Sunday and consult them frequently. Considering that we’ve had no new missalettes in a decade or so, this seems understandable, though “worship aids” are provided as one enters the church. There are a few who even bring along large, gilt-edged Bibles to read all throughout the liturgy. It is known that one may earn a plenary indulgence by spending a certain amount of time reading the Bible daily. Does this include during Mass? — M.S., via e-mail.
A. Catholics who go to Mass every Sunday for three years will hear about 7,000 verses from the Bible. They will hear readings from the Old Testament, from the Psalms, from the Gospels, and from the letters of St. Paul. So, there is no need to bring a Bible to Mass, and it would be wrong to do so since it would take one’s attention away from the Holy Sacrifice being celebrated on the altar.
Regarding indulgences attaching to reading Holy Scripture, the Manual of Indulgences says that “a plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who read the Sacred Scriptures as spiritual reading, from a text approved by competent authority and with the reverence due to the divine word, for a least a half an hour; if the time is less, the indulgence will be partial” (n. 30.1).
So, reading the Bible at Mass would not qualify for a plenary indulgence. If there are no missalettes available, why not use Magnificat magazine, which contains all the prayers and readings for each day, as well as meditations, biographies of the saints, hymns, and thoughtful and inspiring commentaries?
Q. I have one of those questions that we probably can’t answer with certainty while here on Earth, but I submit it for your thoughts and comments. At an Institute of Catholic Culture presentation some time ago , I recall a priest commenting that words like the “hand of God” or the “face of God” are simply euphemisms because God is a spirit, He has no hands or bodily features. I understand that we in this earthly realm cannot see spirits in the spirit realm. However, I have difficulty understanding that spirits in the spirit realm (Heaven) have no form or features.
Are not Jesus and Mary in Heaven in spirit and resurrected bodies with hands, faces, and other features? When they focus on God the Father, the angels, or the saints in Heaven, just what do they observe? Are we not made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27)? — D.M., via e-mail.
A. Yes, we are made in the image and likeness of God, but that has nothing to with physical features. What it means is that we resemble God in our ability to think, to choose, and to love. But this doesn’t tell us much about Heaven, nor could St. Paul after being transported to the “third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). Saints who were privileged with visions of Heaven also lacked the ability to describe it. For example, St. Catherine of Siena said that “human words cannot express the value and the splendor of heavenly treasures.”
And St. Teresa of Avila could only say that “the things I beheld were so great and wonderful that the very least of them would suffice to dazzle the soul. . . . No human being can properly conceive them.”
We know that the happiness of Heaven consists chiefly in seeing God “face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12), in the sense that we will know that we are in His glorious presence, although there is no physical dimension to God, and in sharing His joy and happiness forever. There are other joys, such as seeing Jesus, Mary, and the saints, as well as family and friends that we knew on Earth, but the one supreme happiness is union with God.
Before the final judgment, those in Heaven do not have bodies, except for Jesus, Mary, and possibly Elijah. However, these spirits are aware of what is taking place on Earth. Recall that Jesus said that “there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance” (Luke 15:7). And the Letter to the Hebrews says that “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (12:1).
After the final judgment, we will no longer be spirits, but will have resurrected and glorious bodies, like that of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Our bodies will have four qualities: dazzling beauty and clarity, immunity from death and pain, freedom from restraint by matter (Jesus was able to pass through closed doors), and the ability to move through space with the speed of thought. Our glorified bodies will become spiritualized, that is, they will remain human, though with what Fr. John Hardon, SJ, calls “an immortality coming from the divine strength, which enables the soul to so dominate the body that corruption can no longer enter what had formerly been subject to decay” (The Catholic Catechism. p. 266).
In his encyclical Benedictus Deus (1336), Pope Benedict XII said that even before the general judgment and the resurrection of the body, those souls who died in God’s grace “have been, are, and will be in Heaven, in the heavenly Kingdom and celestial paradise with Christ, joined to the company of the holy angels. Since the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature” (DS 1000, cf. LG 49).
“To live in heaven,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “is ‘to be with Christ.’ The elect live ‘in Christ,’ but they retain, or rather find, their true identity, their own name” (n. 1025). It says that “by his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has ‘opened heaven to us. The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ” (n. 1026).
The CCC says that “this mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: ‘no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’” (n. 1027).
Lastly, the CCC says that “because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is, unless he himself opens up his mystery to man’s immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it. The Church calls this contemplation of God in his heavenly glory ‘the beatific vision’” (n. 1028).
