![]() When we respond to the priest with “and also with you” we are seeing it as responding to the priest per se, but when we respond with “and with your spirit” it draws our attention away from the person of the priest but to Christ. Knowing that in every Sacrament, regardless of who the priest is officiating it we can be assured of the fact that Jesus Christ is the one who truly administers the Sacraments through the priest. ![]() Cardinal George, quoted from “And with your spirit” That is a statement of faith, a statement distorted by transforming it into an exchange of personal greetings. In other words, the people are saying in their response that Christ as head of the Church is the head of the liturgical assembly, no matter who the particular priest celebrant might be. ![]() The spirit referred to in the Latin is the spirit of Christ that comes to a priest when he is ordained, as St. Cardinal George accurately explains the reason behind why we respond with “and with your spirit” So, when we respond to the priest’s greeting “The Lord is with you” with “and with your spirit”, we are actually responding to Christ who celebrates with us and for us the Sacraments of the Church. Catholics should understand that whenever the priests celebrates the Sacraments particularly the Eucharist it is Christ who transforms the bread and wine through the priest speaking the words of institution. While the first reason is easy to understand, second one needs to be explained further. ![]() The Church wishes us to have a more profound understanding of the liturgy and to foster intimate knowledge that in every Mass celebrated by the priest, he serves as an alter Christus. But the former is the literal English translation of the Latin phrase “Et cum Spiritu tuo”, whereas the latter was more of a dynamic equivalence. While in meaning and in essence the phrase “and with your spirit” and “and also with you” are fundamentally the same. ![]() There are two fundamental reasons why the Church changed the response to “and with your spirit” from “and also with you”. But some are keen enough to notice that there was a sudden change with our response to the priest’s greeting, for 40 years we’ve been responding to the greeting “The Lord is with you” with “and also with you” but why is in the New Translation of the Roman missal it was changed to “and with your spirit”? Was there an error with the response “and also with you”? The Liturgy is the life of the Church, it draws from the Liturgy graces to persevere in carrying out the public ministry of Christ for all ages, therefore we can be absolutely sure that the Church makes no mistake in its liturgical traditions and practices. For those who are not theologically and liturgically inclined this appears to be just a regular greeting in the Mass or a routinely action that we are all accustomed to for years. If you are a regular Church goer you are familiar with the part of the Mass wherein the priest will say “The Lord be with you” (Latin: Dominus vobiscum) and the congregation will respond with “And with your spirit” (Latin: Et cum spiritu tuo). ![]()
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