Vatican emphasizes Jesus is God and man

By Msgr. Pedro Lopez-Gallo

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments did not impose the new directives concerning the ban of the Hebrew name of God, YAHWEH, from the liturgy without first consulting the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The congregation, of course, also had the authorization of Pope Benedict XVI who, when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, was part of the Theologian Commission which has now issued the document.

The document explains, "The words of sacred Scriptures contained in the Old and New Testaments express truth which transcends the limits imposed by time and places."

In the course of centuries many things change, accidentally, culturally, and emotionally. The Church nevertheless, always preserves accurately the revealed truth according to apostolic tradition, even when certain modifications are needed.

In our short lifespan we have already witnessed how our fast-changing world has necessitated many changes to be accommodated in the language of the sacred texts. As a vivid example, consider how the words of the Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews referred to them as "Perfidi Judaei" (perfidious Jews). Today these words are offensive to our sensibilities, so the new Roman Missal Edition has omitted them.

The old prayer echoed the feelings of the first Christians, who attributed the death of Jesus to Jewish action. In fact His death was part of the redeeming plan of God to absolve humanity of their sins. The actual killers of Jesus were the Roman soldiers who were under the order of Pontius Pilate, Caesar's representative.

The Jews presented to him the case of a "revolutionary," asking him to condemn Jesus to death. Pilate asked, "What charges do you bring against this man and why do you not take him yourselves and try him by your own law?" They said, "He has claimed to be the Son of God" (Jn. 19:7)

This is the point that the Vatican wants to emphasize: Jesus is not only human but also God, being the Son of God. The Jewish people viewed God in a restricted sense, as One who encircles Himself in His oneness, and they did not acknowledge the mystery of the Holy Trinity as revealed to the world by Jesus.

The mission and duty of the Church is to preserve the integrity and fidelity of our Christian doctrine; the document therefore says, "In order that the word of God written in the sacred texts may be conserved and transmitted in an integral and faithful manner, every modern translation of the books of the Bible aims at being an accurate transposition of the original texts, without omissions or additions with regard to the contents, and without introducing explanatory paraphrases which do not belong to the sacred text."

It is of great interest to remember how much the value of the Old Testament was appreciated even before the birth of Christianity: one of the seven Ancient Wonders of the World was the famous Library of Alexandria. On one of my many trips abroad I made a point of visiting it to admire the Greek version of the Old Testament which today is still, perhaps, the most influential.

According to Jewish tradition, King Ptolemy II, persuaded by his chief librarian, commissioned 70 (or 72, say others) learned men, who were called the Septuagint, to translate the Old Testament. They worked for 40 years, from 285 - 246 BC, and their results were stored in this very renowned library in the time before the birth of Jesus.

Their text in Greek was the one that St. Jerome used for his translation of the Vulgate, the first version of the Old Testament in Latin.

The translation of the Septuagint was inherited by the early Christians, and the Fathers of the Church frequently used this version. As mentioned by the document, they concluded that during this pre-Christian era, the four Hebrew letters YHWH were translated as the Greek word Kyrios, which means Lord.

The Vatican, therefore, in editing the document, uses the argument of tradition and the theological meaning of God as revealed by Christ, as the One and Triune God.

Today, only octogenarian priests remember that in the former breviary, the prayer book of priests, was the proclamation of faith called Quicumque, meaning Whoever, which said:

"Whoever wishes to be saved must believe that this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity; neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. The three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are distinct, but they possess one Godhead, equal glory, and co-eternal majesty...."

The Apostles' Creed which we recite on Sundays is the same: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord," and later, "I believe in the Holy Spirit."

So continues this most beautiful and fervent proclamation on the Holy Trinity, that is not included in the four Hebrew letters YHWH.