A question about wording and Indulgences

[sputnik277034]

hey everyone, this is question that is closely related to my previous question.

this one about the wording of prayers and Indulgences.

alot of the prayers I use are ‘Thee’s’ and ‘Thou’s’ and ‘Thine’s’…I am dyslexic and find it hard enough with modern language.

is it permissible to change these archaic words for ‘You’ and ‘Yours’ and still receive the Indulgence ( under the usual conditions of course) or do I HAVE to use the the archaic wording in order for it to be valid?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It should be fine to use “You” and “Yours” in place of “Thees” and “Thous”.
Most of these prayers weren’t originally written in English to begin with, so this is simply a translation issue.

 

[1ke]

Yes it is fine to use you and your.

Remember, prayers are not magical incantations, to believe the efficacy of a prayer is tied to saying the words a particular way is superstition.

 

[Hereiam]

If the Mass is a prayer, why are there rubrics?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If the Mass is a prayer, why are there rubrics?

A priest can probably speak to this better than me, but a couple reasons are so that there is some consistency in the Mass from place to place - a Catholic can go to a Mass anywhere in his country or in the world and see pretty much the same Mass - and also because the Church needs to set some strong guidelines so priests do not just start doing their own thing and in so doing they and their congregation lose track of the actual motivation and meaning behind certain gestures and prayers. It is not a matter of the priest having to say certain magic words or genuflect a certain way for Jesus to be with us, but rather that bishops and the Vatican need to exert some control over the whole thing to avoid a lot of upset and misunderstanding if priests just started changing things willy-nilly. Ritual is important, not because it’s a magic spell, but because it promotes a deeper understanding and appreciation for why certain prayers and gestures are used at Mass. In the same way, there are some rules for how one gets the Indulgences, but having to use particular pronouns like thee and thou are not part of those rules.

 

[Hereiam]

Understood. It was more of a theological question in response to a post with an answer that was sounded like it was meant to be inclusive of all prayer.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s a legitimate question, especially since people outside of Mass and not seeking something like indulgences are quite free to pray as they please, even make up all their own prayers.