But only say the 'word,' what word?

[vince2paul]

What does it mean when we say “but only say the word and I shall be healed” during the mass?
And what word is this?

Thanks all

 

[Phemie]

What does it mean when we say “but only say the word and I shall be healed” during the mass?
And what word is this?

Thanks all

Have you never heard any of your friends say something along the lines of “If you ever need anything from me just say the word and I’ll be there to help.”

Just say the word in this case would mean “Just say that my sins are forgiven and I my soul will be cleansed.”

 

[SMHW]

To better understand this you have to refer back to the Gospel, specifically Matthew 8:5-13.

This is the story of the centurion who asks Jesus to heal his sick servant. Jesus offers to go to the sick servant but the centurion answers that it isn’t necessary. The centurion says, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” And Jesus answers, “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.”

We’ve borrowed this scripture for the Mass. For years our prayer (repeated three times) was , “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. Speak but the word and my soul will be healed.” In this case, it is not the roof of a building but rather the symbolic roof of our soul. This prayer was later “modernized” to what we say today. I believe it is going to be changed back to something closer to the original with the new English translation.

In the case of Jesus and the centurion the “word” was actually several words: “…let it be done for you.” But the word of Jesus is more than mere sounds. It encompasses the will and power of God. When God speaks, things happen.

At Mass we are not just asking Jesus/God to say a word, (or several words). We are asking that He act in our lives.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

What word?

Any word that the Lord would use to cause healing.

Jim

 

[DaveBj]

This thread reminds me of that line in the Psalms, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”

SO!



DaveBj

 

[graceandglory]

ShaZamm!


.
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sorry, couldn’t help it.

 

[Archus]

Spatula

 

[cgunning]

What does it mean when we say “but only say the word and I shall be healed” during the mass?
And what word is this?

Thanks all

AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLEASH AND HE LIVES AMONGST US,AND TRUE HIS HOLY WORD WE ARE HEALED.PRAISE THE LORD FOREVER AND EVER

 

[Titus]

Spatula

Ah ha! Another devotee of the Holy Spatula, the little known 13th Apostle.

 

[adstrinity]

Spatula

And now I know, the REST of the story. Thank you.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

What does it mean when we say “but only say the word and I shall be healed” during the mass?
And what word is this?

Thanks all

This is a passage in which the English, without mistranslating the underlying Greek, does not translate it adequately. To give dictionary equivalents of words is only one step in translation.​

What the text of the gospel in Latin says is, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof, but say with word only, and my son shall be healed”. This is good as a “crib”, but it is not *idiomatic *English. It is very stilted, like someone trying to walk on eggshells - whereas the Latin of the Latin Bible, & the Koine Greek of the NT, were very close to everyday Latin, & Koine Greek, idiom.

For liturgical use, the text is adapted slightly - “son” becomes “soul”: which is the word for word meaning of the Latin. “soul” is the English for Greek & Latin words meaning “soul”; but the Greek of the gospel text is an inadequate translation of what the word means: Greek thought distinguishes soul from body, whereas the Jews did not: a dead nephesh or soul is a dead person or animal, whereas a living nephesh or soul is a living one. Translation of texts is next to impossible, because words come with many associations.

The English phrase, “only say the word and my soul shall be healed” emphasises the words “the word” - the reason is that English emphasises words that Greek & Latin (for instance) do not; & it has a definite article, whereas Latin does not. English relies on **stress, **& rhythm, & word-order instead of case-endings, which it has almost entirely lost; & it is often happens that a word or nuance one language does not emphasise, is emphasised - & may even need to be supplied - in another. As has happened here. Conventions such as underlining, word order, italics, bold text, punctuation, use of unusual vocabulary, are all ways of showing how the emphases are distributed in a sentence.

“Only say a word” in English under-translates the Latin: “only say a word” does not bring out the authoritativeness of the words of Jesus - in English, it tends to mean no more than “Do say something, anything, it doesn’t matter what”: but this is almost the opposite of what the text means. So to underline the authoritativeness of the words of Jesus, “the” is inserted before “word” - even though no equivalent to “the” is present in the Latin.