You may have seen in the Catholic Voice that Archbishop Lucas spoke about the “New Roman Missal.” The Missal is “the ritual text containing prayers and instructions for the celebration of the Mass” … in other words, the big red book that the presiding priest uses at Mass. This is the third version of the Roman Missal since the Second Vatican Council.

“Pope John Paul II announced a revised version of the Missale Romanum during the Jubilee Year 2000. Among other things, the revised edition of the Missale Romanum contains prayers for the observances of recently canonized saints, additional prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayers,
additional Votive Masses and Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Intentions, and some updated and revised rubrics (instructions) for the celebration of the Mass.”

In conjunction with the revised Missal, a new English translation (because the original is in Latin) for all English speaking countries around the globe was called for in 2002. Since then, countless linguists, bishops, and other experts have worked diligently on this in order to
produce a revised “English” Roman Missal, Third Edition.

Why is this important for you to know? Because the Missal contains the acclamations and responses we say at Mass as well as the prayers of the priests which we open our ears to hear. Some of these texts have been re-translated, including some of the well known responses and acclamations of the people, so we will have to work together to learn them.

As we prepare ourselves for the new tools given to us in the revised
Missal, we will be taking a closer look at what the Mass is really all about, mainly, our response to God’s gift of Himself and how this affects us in our day to day lives.

The first use of the new text of the new Roman Missal will be next year on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.

All quotes Based upon Roman Missal Formational Materials provided by the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "2010. http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/index.shtml.