New Good Friday Prayer for 1962 missal

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CathCon has the new good friday prayer translated from the German edition of Vatican Radio.

In Latin
Oremus et pro Iudaeis
Ut et Dominus Deus noster illuminet corda eorum ut agnoscant Iesum Christ salvatorem omnium hominum.
Oremus. Flectamus Genoa. Levate.
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, ut omnes qui vis salvi fiant homines et ad agnitionem veritatis veniant, concede propitius ut plenitudine Gentium in Ecclesiam Tuam intrante omnis Israel salvus fiat. Per Christum Dominum Nostrum. Amen.

The translation of latinist Gero Weishaupt:

We pray for the Jews.
That our God and Lord enlighten their hearts so that they recognize Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all mankind.
Let us pray. Kneel down. Arise.
Eternal God Almighty, you want all people to be saved and to arrive at the knowledge of the Truth, graciously grant that by the entry of the abundance of all peoples into your Church, Israel will be saved. (Or: that the whole of Israel will be saved if the abundance (fullness) of all peoples enters into Your Church). Through Christ our Lord.

This replaces the old 1962 prayer:

Let us pray also for the Jews: that almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us pray. Let us kneel. Arise. Almighty and eternal God, who dost also not exclude from thy mercy the Jews: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The prayer currently said in the Novus Ordo is:

Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your Church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
Neil_Anthony said:
What was the text of the old one?
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A lot more truthful and to the point.

Let us pray also for the Jews: that our God and Lord would remove the veil from their hearts: that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Let us kneel down.
Arise.
Almighty and everlasting God, Who drivest not away from Thy mercy even the Jews: hear our prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people: that acknowledging the light of Thy truth, which is Christ , they may be rescued from their darkness. Through the same our Lord. Amen.
 
Don’t the two prayers (before and after) ultimately mean the same thing, though?

e.g., remove the veil from their hearts
vs.
enlighten their hearts
 
I trust our Holy Father but I’m concerned outside social forces are pressuring Catholics to make our prayers more politically correct. I don’t see why our prayers have to be pleasing to those who are not Catholic. I am pleased that the modification still mentions Jews recognizing Jesus Christ… I am not pleased that people make a fuss about our prayers, and we go and change them. :twocents:
 
I think it’s good to not use prayers as a way to insult people. Like right in front of someone praying out loud “Lord, please make this person less of an idiot”. If you can rephrase it to something that asks the same thing, but isn’t an insult, wouldn’t God prefer that? It’s more loving.
 
Neil_Anthony said:
I think it’s good to not use prayers as a way to insult people. Like right in front of someone praying out loud “Lord, please make this person less of an idiot”. If you can rephrase it to something that asks the same thing, but isn’t an insult, wouldn’t God prefer that? It’s more loving.
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I agree we shouldn’t seek to insult people, but this is a prayer offered in our Churches. It is not something we go about praying throughout the day, we don’t have it on bumper stickers or T shirts. The prayer is not to hurt Jews but the honest desire for all people to know the love and redemption that we have found in Christ. If we are going to stop or change our prayers praying for other faiths, I certainly hope those people that say our prayers are hurtful are going after the JWs and the Mormons. Is it insulting when they arrive on the doorstep, actively trying to convert, insisting theirs is the way to happiness and peace with God?

If they can have their evangelism, why can’t we have our prayers?

I guess I am struggling with this, I don’t understand how other people’s opinions of our faith should matter. 🤷 Hopefully, some time will temper my pride on the issue.
 
Great new prayer…says the same thing as the old one except it is more clear in its meaning.

Way to go Papa Ratzinger!
 
But isn’t this change only for the TLM?
What about the OF?
A quote form the link provided.

"While I appreciate that the text avoids any derogatory language towards the Jews, it is regrettable that the prayer explicitly aspires for Jews to accept the Christian Faith, as opposed to the text in the current universal liturgy that prays for the salvation of the Jews in general terms. "

David Gifford, chief executive of the Council of Christians and Jews, said: “I am saddened. They could have gone much further and built on the work of the Second Vatican Council.”

He said this will add to the “suspicion and dismay” already created by the restoration of the Tridentine Rite, which can now be celebrated without permission of a bishop. “I am extremely sad that another opportunity has been missed.”
 
Maybe they’ll use the same prayers in both forms from now on!

That would be a cool precedent.
 
I must say that I am deeply saddened that His Holiness changed the prayer. However, I must say it is not at all bad. I would be happy if it was used in the Novus Ordo and it had an optional use in the Mass of 1962. But I must say to those that say Pope Benedict XVI is trying to be a liberal here and changing the liturgy on a whim, I can tell that this prayer is well thought out and still has the same meaning. I prefer the former but I will accept this one if I must. It is better than it could have been.
 
Rachele_Ann said:
I agree we shouldn’t seek to insult people, but this is a prayer offered in our Churches. It is not something we go about praying throughout the day, we don’t have it on bumper stickers or T shirts. The prayer is not to hurt Jews but the honest desire for all people to know the love and redemption that we have found in Christ. If we are going to stop or change our prayers praying for other faiths, I certainly hope those people that say our prayers are hurtful are going after the JWs and the Mormons. Is it insulting when they arrive on the doorstep, actively trying to convert, insisting theirs is the way to happiness and peace with God?

If they can have their evangelism, why can’t we have our prayers?

I guess I am struggling with this, I don’t understand how other people’s opinions of our faith should matter. 🤷 Hopefully, some time will temper my pride on the issue.
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Well, the prayer is said pretty publically, since masses are on TV etc. But even if they were said completely privately, I think the prayer really does reflect a strong negative attitude towards Jews. For example, the phrase:

“drivest not away from Thy mercy even the Jews”

Wow… even the Jews!? No way, God will even not drive THEM away? Wow God sure is patient and forgiving 😉

“The blindness of that people”… it’s singling out the Jews as being more blind than the other non-Christian religions.

I think it represents more than praying for their conversion, its a product of the notion that the Jews are even worse than any other religion because they rejected and killed Jesus. And that attitude led to so much persecution of the Jews.
 
So does this mean that we’ll have to get new missals that contain this new prayer?:confused:
 
The Masses said throughout the year have specific readings and prayers etc. to focus on the specific day or feast. Holy Week is no exception. The prayers and readings for Good Friday speak to the exact events of that exact day of the Passion almost 2,000 years ago. To change them for pc reasons is very sad. The new prayer in the OF of may they grow in the love of His name? They reject Him as our savior. This day in our Church history is why the original prayer is so accurate. The truth will never change of all needing to repent and be baptized, even if many these days rationalize that the truth is to harsh. “You brood of vipers.”
 
Jehu said:
CathCon has the new good friday prayer translated from the German edition of Vatican Radio.

We pray for the Jews.
That our God and Lord enlighten their hearts** so that they recognize Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all mankind**.
Let us pray. Kneel down. Arise.
Eternal God Almighty, you want **all people to be saved **and to arrive at the knowledge of the Truth, graciously grant that by the entry of the abundance of all peoples into your Church, Israel will be saved. (Or: that the whole of Israel will be saved if the abundance (fullness) of all peoples enters into Your Church). Through Christ our Lord.

The prayer currently said in the Novus Ordo is:

Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your Church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Isn’t the prayer in the TLM more reflective of the duty of the Church. To call all men to conversion?
The prayer in the OF is more reflective of an attitude expressed by Cardinal Kasper which calls for no conversion.
Only one of these prayers can be right.

The National Council of Synagogues and
The Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, USCCB
August 12, 2002

bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/cjrelations/resources/documents/interreligious/ncs_usccb120802.htm\

"The Roman Catholic reflections describe the growing respect for the Jewish tradition that has unfolded since the Second Vatican Council. A deepening Catholic appreciation of the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people, together with a recognition of a divinely-given mission to Jews to witness to God’s faithful love, lead to the conclusion that campaigns that target Jews for conversion to Christianity are no longer theologically acceptable in the Catholic Church.“

"More recently, Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Religious Relations with the Jews, explained this practice. In a formal statement made first at the seventeenth meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee in May 2001, and repeated later in the year in Jerusalem, Cardinal Kasper spoke of “mission” in a narrow sense to mean “proclamation” or the invitation to baptism and catechesis. He showed why such initiatives are not appropriately directed at Jews: The term mission, in its proper sense, refers to conversion from false gods and idols to the true and one God, who revealed himself in the salvation history with His elected people. Thus mission, in this strict sense, cannot be used with regard to Jews, who believe in the true and one God… Therefore, and this is characteristic, there exists dialogue but there does not exist any Catholic missionary organization for Jews.
From the point of view of the Catholic Church, Judaism is a religion that springs from divine revelation. As Cardinal Kasper noted, "God’s grace, which is the grace of Jesus Christ according to our faith, is available to all. Therefore, the Church believes that Judaism, i.e. the faithful response of the Jewish people to God’s irrevocable covenant, is salvific for them, because God is faithful to his promises… Nonetheless, the Church does perceive that the Jewish people’s mission ad gentes (to the nations) continues. This is a mission that the Church also pursues in her own way according to her understanding of covenant. The command of the Resurrected Jesus in Matthew 28:19 to make disciples “of all nations” (Greek = ethnē, the cognate of the Hebrew = goyim; i.e., the nations other than Israel) means that the Church must bear witness in the world to the Good News of Christ so as to prepare the world for the fullness of the kingdom of God. However, this evangelizing task no longer includes the wish to absorb the Jewish faith into Christianity and so end the distinctive witness of Jews to God in human history.
Thus, while the Catholic Church regards the saving act of Christ as central to the process of human salvation for all, it also acknowledges that Jews already dwell in a saving covenant with God. The Catholic Church must always evangelize and will always witness to its faith in the presence of God’s kingdom in Jesus Christ to Jews and to all other people. In so doing, the Catholic Church respects fully the principles of religious freedom and freedom of conscience, so that sincere individual converts from any tradition or people, including the Jewish people, will be welcomed and accepted.”
 
Neil_Anthony said:
“The blindness of that people”… it’s singling out the Jews as being more blind than the other non-Christian religions.
Click to expand...
I see what you mean, and you then correctly link these attitudes with anti-Semitism, one of the most shameful things Christians have ever engaged in.

However, it does occur to me that, given that Christianity arose out of Judaism, Judaism is the one religion we would see as being more blind than others (because they ought to know better, figuratively).
 
Although critical of the change, I must note that the translation seems to be a departure from the sense of the original. A more accurate version would be the following:

Almighty Eternal God, who wishes all men to be saved and to arrive at the knowledge of the Truth, graciously grant that as the fulness of the Gentiles enters your Church, all Israel may be saved. Through Christ our Lord.

The highlighted phrase was rendered in such a way as to give the impression that the conversion of the Gentiles might be some kind of condition or causal requirement for conversion of Jews. In reality the prayer alludes to the end-times conversion of Jews announced in Romans 11.
 
Not terribly surprising move by Benedict, but also no big deal, ultimately: some Jews will still whine and whine that the prayer offends them (what they really want is no specific intercession for Jews at all), and others will somewhat reasonably complain that the Vatican just can’t help tinkering with the liturgy.

Note though that the fact of changing the prayer reminds some who need reminders that oh yes, the Good Friday service can be celebrated with the 1962 Missal (for the sake of the reading-comprehension-challenged who tried to argue back in July that the '62 Missal wasn’t licit during the Triduum).
 
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