Feast of
St. Mark the Evangelist
Entrance
Antiphon
Mark 16:15b
Lectionary:
Go into all
the world, and proclaim the Gospel to every creature, alleluia.
NAB 1970/1986
Go into the
whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Nothing to
see here, really. I suppose the
lectionary text is marginally more poetic.
Alleluia, of course, isn't from the bible text. I suppose this is one of those little things
that causes changing a lectionary to take a decade.
First
Reading
1 Peter 5:5B-14
1 Peter 5:5B-14
Lectionary:
Beloved:
Clothe yourselves with humility
in your dealings with one another, for:
God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.
So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time.
Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.
Be sober and vigilant.
Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, steadfast in faith,
knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world
undergo the same sufferings.
The God of all grace
who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you
after you have suffered a little.
To him be dominion forever. Amen.
I write you this briefly through Silvanus,
whom I consider a faithful brother,
exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God.
Remain firm in it.
The chosen one at Babylon sends you greeting, as does Mark, my son.
Greet one another with a loving kiss.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Clothe yourselves with humility
in your dealings with one another, for:
God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.
So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time.
Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.
Be sober and vigilant.
Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, steadfast in faith,
knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world
undergo the same sufferings.
The God of all grace
who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you
after you have suffered a little.
To him be dominion forever. Amen.
I write you this briefly through Silvanus,
whom I consider a faithful brother,
exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God.
Remain firm in it.
The chosen one at Babylon sends you greeting, as does Mark, my son.
Greet one another with a loving kiss.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
New American Bible 1970/1986
And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility in
your dealings with one another, for:
“God apposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble”
So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that
he may exalt you in due time. Cast all
your worries upon him because he cares for you.
Be sober and vigilant.
Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking
for someone to devour. Resist him,
steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world
undergo the same sufferings. The God of
all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself
restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a
little. To him be dominion forever. Amen.
I write you this briefly through Silvanus, whom I
consider a faithful brother, exhorting you and testifying that this is is the
true grace of God. Remain firm in
it. The chosen one at Babylon sends you
greeting, as does Mark, my son. Greet
one another with a loving kiss. Peace to
all of you who are in Christ.
Exactly the same except for the
incipit, which provides an antecedent for the “you” in the reading as it
appears in the NAB.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17
Lectionary:
R. For ever I
will sing the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The favors of
the LORD I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, "My kindness is established forever";
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, "My kindness is established forever";
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
The heavens
proclaim your wonders, O LORD,
and your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can rank with the LORD?
Who is like the LORD among the sons of God?
and your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can rank with the LORD?
Who is like the LORD among the sons of God?
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
New American
Bible 1970/1986:
The favors of
the Lord I will sing
forever;
through all
generations my mouth
shall proclaim
your faithfulness.
For you have
said, “My kindness is
established
forever”;
in heaven you
have confirmed
your
faithfulness”
The heavens
proclaim your wonders,
O Lord,
and your
faithfulness, in the
assembly of
the holy ones.
For who in the
skies can rank with
the Lord?
Who is like
the Lord among the
sons of God?
Happy the people who know the
joyful shout;
in the light
of your countenance,
O Lord, they
walk.
At your name
they rejoice
all the day,
and through
your justice they are exalted.
For contrast,
the NABRE:
I will sing of
your mercy forever, LORD
proclaim your
faithfulness through all ages.
For I said,
“My mercy is established forever;
my
faithfulness will stand as long as the heavens.”
your loyalty
in the assembly of the holy ones.
Who in the
skies ranks with the LORD?
Who is like
the LORD among the sons of the gods?
who walk in
the radiance of your face, LORD.
they rejoice
in your righteousness.
And the
Revised Grail Psalms:
I will sing forever of your mercies, O LORD;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your fidelity.
I have declared your mercy is established forever;
your fidelity stands firm as the heavens.
The heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,
your fidelity in the assembly of your holy ones.
For who in the skies can compare with the LORD,
or who is like the LORD among the heavenly powers?
How blessed the people who know your praise,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
who find their joy every day in your name,
who make your justice their joyful acclaim.
The
response is an adaptation of the 2nd verse of the psalm, which
matches neither the lectionary text as the reader or cantor presents, nor the
NAB. The lectionary shows its allergy to
the use of the word “happy” when “blessed” is an option. I tend to agree with that decision. Many translations seemed to opt for “happy”
in the heady days of the mid 20th century, but I suppose the word
simply seems banal and overused now.
Here, the
NABRE shows how one must take the sour with the sweet when it comes to formal
equivalence translations. “I will sing
of your mercy forever, Lord” is magnificent in its simplicity and its
beauty. Other parts (“skies”, “sons of
the gods”, “war cry”) remind us that the original context of the psalms was one
much different from ours. The world of
the psalter is an untamed one, and to ignore that is frankly to ignore the
psalter. Notice the difference in Verse
3 between the NABRE and the original 1970 translation.
As you may
know, the Revised Grail Psalms are another choice for the liturgy. Rumor was that it would become the norm for
the Liturgy of the Hours and the Mass, but that may not end up occurring. I am unsure if that would be because the
Bishops' Conference is nervous about the official Psalter of the American
Church being so tightly controlled by GIA or their not wanting to see the NABRE
psalms orphaned after years of effort.
Perhaps someone with much more knowledge can add something to the conversation.
My first
instinct while reading the responsorial psalms back to back to back is that the
Revised Grail version is head and shoulders above the others, but I wonder what
an expert in Hebrew poetry would think of this.
Like the Grail Psalms themselves, this revised version seems to be sandpapered
of any rough edges and obscure bits. In
the NABRE, some of the psalms sound like dirges, some sound like war songs, and
some sound like prayers. In the Grail
Psalms, by contrast, they all sound like prayers. I'm not sure if that is a bad thing or a
great thing. The vocabulary of the Grail
Psalms seems to have been preserved in this Revised Version—perhaps this joyous
familiarity is simply that it sounds a lot like the Liturgy of the Hours.
Alleluia Verse
1
Corinthians 1:23A, 24B
Lectionary:
We proclaim Christ crucified:
he is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
he is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
New American Bible 1970/1986:
But we proclaim Christ crucified, Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God.
Note that the NAB text would make more
sense with I:23B included. So far in
this study, the lectionary seems to use the most freedom in the antiphons and
alleliuia verse. Here, the lectionary
has mercifully added a verb to the final clause. Perhaps some Greek expert will tell us if the
NAB's odd syntax there is faithful to the Greek or simply a snatch of English
which is odd to these ears.
Gospel
MK 16:15-20
Lectionary:
Jesus appeared to the
Eleven and
said to them:
"Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
"Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
New American Bible 1970/1986
He said to them:
"Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
"Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
These two texts are exactly the same
except for the incipit and the deletion of the word “so” in the
lectionary.
Communion Antiphon
Matthew 28:20
Lectionary:
Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,
says the Lord, alleluia.
New American Bible 1970/1986:
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
The “and” which make this last verse
of Matthew so pleasing to the ear is unnecessary when shorn of its context as
an antiphon.
Final observation:
The NAB 1970/1986 proves to be all but identical to the
lectionary.
The first comparison with the NABRE reveals the limits of
a formal equivalence approach to the Old Testament, as well as some of that
translation's underrated beauty.
6 comments:
Robert,
Thank you so much for your analysis. Your effort could be used as an example of "fair and balanced" commentary. An example, is your analysis of the Grail Psalms versus the NABRE Psalms. In your statement "In the NABRE, some of the psalms sound like dirges, some sound like war songs, and some sound like prayers. In the Grail Psalms, by contrast, they all sound like prayers" you provide your basis for your decision favoring the Grail Psalms; while at the same time you provided me the basis for my preference for the NABRE Psalms.
Great Effort!
Jim
Yes, "fair and balanced" indeed! Robert really hit on the differences between the NABRE and Revised Grails psalms well.
I'm starting to appreciate the Revised Grail psalms. They have a style. Clearly a lot of attention was paid to making it readable, rhythmic, and beautiful.
Regrading "war cry", I do like that in the NABRE! It may be that the NABRE is choosing a different manuscript tradition or something like that in this case however. Most other translations have something closer to the Grail, or in between: the RSV and NRSV have "festal shout", the NASB has "joyful sound", and the NET has "how blessed are the people who worship you." Perhaps someone who knows the underlying texts can comment. It seems that some variation of "shout" or "cry" is more literally, but not necessarily "war" cry. But I'm guessing.....
Speaking of those who know the underlying text, I haven't heard from Carl Hernz in a while. Are you out there Carl? I miss your insights!
I may be mistaken about this, but I believe the Entrance Antiphons, Alleluia verses, etc., are not actually taken from the NAB. Those, along with some of the core LOTH texts like the Gospel canticles, are original liturgical translations from ICEL.
So, that would explain why some of those liturgical chants stray more from the NAB text than the lectionary readings, which really are just slightly altered readings from the NAB.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure about that.
That would make a lot of sense, JDH.
I quite like the antiphons. Where I go to mass during the week they say both antiphons and the alleluia verse. Many places I've gone only do one out of the three or less.
One entrance antiphon that has been in my head for a long time appeared sometime during the winter. (I think it was in Ordinary Time shortly before Lent started). It was something like, "God led me out into a place of freedom. He saved me because he delighted in me."
I looked at a bunch of translations of the psalms looking for where that rendering originated and couldn't find it.
What a beautiful, beautiful snatch of scripture.
A large part of the reason why the NAB keeps getting revised is because the Holy See keeps rejecting it for use in the lectionary without significant revisions. This is why the Psalter was revised in 2011, because the Holy See rejected the 1991 Psalms for their excessive inclusive language.
I'm not sure why they don't seem to be able to create a Biblical text that would be judged to be appropriate for use in the lectionary 'as is', without significant revisions. I don't know where the problem is, with the Holy See for not making it clear what they want or with the bishops for not being willing to do it the Holy See wants it. It may be a little bit of both.
For the antiphons, let's not forget those in the Roman Gradual as another option -- really, in the official (not the US version) of the GIRM, unambiguously the preferred option. The antiphons most frequently (pretty much exclusively) used are from the Roman Missal,* granted, but are quite literally afterthoughts, created after the post-Vatican II explosion of options rendered a single-volume Missal containing all the texts impractical, thus necessitating the separate Lectionary volumes for the readings and the RG for the Propers -- which led to the question whether antiphons should be added back into the RM for priests saying private Masses so they would not need the separate RG to say Mass. This was famously decided by survey, but then instead of adding the authentic, historical RG antiphon texts back to the RM, they created a whole new set supposedly for ease of recitation. Ultimately, the RG fell into virtual desuetude, although it is integrally part of the broader "Roman Missal" comprising the modern priest's volume, the Roman Missal per se (formerly the Sacramentary), the choir's Roman Gradual, and the lectors' Lectionary.
*The O.P. says the antiphons are from the "Lectionary," and I don't have immediate access to the books, but I'm pretty sure the antiphons do not appear in the Lectionary but rather the Missal. I know that's the case for the weekday volumes; I'm not so sure about the Sunday volume, however, as I do not lector for Sunday Masses.
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