A missed opportunity - the Preface Dialogue

When the English version of the Roman Missal was being revised at the beginning of this century, there was much discussion of whether 'And with your spirit' should replace 'And also with you'.

Less discussed was the second exchange in the dialogue:

Celebrant: Lift up your hearts.

People: We lift them up to the Lord.

This was a missed opportunity. 'Lift up your hearts' is not the only possible translation of Sursum corda, for sursum does not always denote movement upwards: it can also denote 'being above'. An example is Colossians 3,1: quae sursum sunt quaerite = 'seek the things that are above'. 

Moreover, sursum corda need not be interpreted as a command. It can also be an invitation: 'Let our hearts be on high'.

'We lift them up to the Lord' is not an accurate translation of Habemus ad Dominum, for habemus does mean 'we lift', but rather 'we hold'. So the people's response can be translated 'we are holding them before the Lord'.

The Preface Dialogue with which we are familiar occurs also in several ancient Greek liturgies, and is still in use today among the Greeks. Their texts support the translation I have proposed.

This translation gives us a more level playing-field between priest and people. Instead of a command that the people obey, he issues an invitation to which they have already responded. This fits his role, for in the Roman Rite it is usually the Deacon who issues commands, while the Priest offers invitations.

The translation we have, and have had unbrokenly since the Roman Rite began to be celebrated in English, goes back to the work of Thomas Cranmer, who devised the Book of Common Prayer in the sixteenth century as the Reformation developed. Cranmer abolished the liturgical role of the Deacon, so that any commands had to be made by the Priest. The influence of Cranmer's texts was greatly strengthened after the Second Vatican Council by the International Consultation on English Texts, much of whose work was adopted for Catholic liturgy. Unfortunately this body, although claiming to be ecumenical, contained no representatives from the Eastern Churches.

The Second Vatican Council sought to return to a more primitive, collegial model of the Church. The Preface Dialogue sensitively translated would have assisted that process, fostering an image of the priest 'among' rather than 'above' the people. Some other vernacular translations are closer to what is proposed here. Italy, in particular, has 

In alto i nostri cuori / Sono rivolti al Signore

'Let our hearts be on high' / 'They are turned towards the Lord’.

The people’s response suggests that they have no need of the Priest’s invitation, for they have already done what he encourages.

The next element of the dialogue needed no change: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God is a perfectly faithful translation of the Latin. Notice also that it is an invitation, not a command. If Sursum corda had also been translated as an invitation, the Priest’s role would have been more consistent.

The people's response became It is right and just. This too is faithful. It was chosen because the Priest immediately echoes it as he begins the Preface. That is, he takes his cue from the people.

The Preface Dialogue has come down to us from very early times in both Latin and Greek. It belongs to the period to whose ecclesiology the Second Vatican Council sought to return. But those responsible for our English liturgy have imported into this ancient Dialogue, used at every Mass, an ecclesiology from sixteenth-century England.