Thursday, July 29, 2004

A Little Latin

Agnus Dei audio recording HERE







LATIN TEXT PRONOUNCEDENGLISH TRANSLATION
Agnus Dei AH-nyoos DAY-eeLamb of God
qui tollis peccata mundi kwee TOLE-lihs
pay-CAH-tah
MOON-dee
you take away the sin of the world
miserere nobis mee-say-RAY-ray
NO-beece
have mercy on us
dona nobis pacem DOUGH-nah
NO-beece
PAH-chem
grant us peace



The Catholic Church has spoken and sung in Latin since the liturgy was formed in the first centuries, becoming the official text of all Christianity, and down through the present time. Since 1963, (well, actually since the Protestant Reformation) liturgy has been spoken and sung in people’s everyday languages, as well.

You know Latin is ancient. There are fewer words in the Latin language than there are in the English language. Our current languages developed using many Latin roots, and words have become more specific in their meanings. So when you read an English translation of a Latin text, you get a specific approximation of the original prayer or scripture. But the original Latin contained many more concepts that have since been splintered off into other words. For instance, the word mundi is translated in the Lamb of God as world, but Whitaker’s Words Latin Translator tells you it might mean universe, heavens; world, or mankind.

So, knowing all those meanings, when we say, “qui tollis peccata mundi,” recognizing that Christ has power to “take away sin,” are we asking that he subtract the black marks on our personal scorecard? Or asking forgiveness for the scorecard of the whole world? The universe?

There’s a even another set of meanings of the word mundi, which refers to clothing and ornaments.

“The sins of the clothing”?!!

Well, think about it a minute. Think about English words whose root is mundi, such as mundane (ordinary), municipality (big city), and, for you Harry Potter fans, Muggle.

Saying,"qui tollis peccata mundi,” can we be asking for mercy as we realize that we are not always our best selves, letting stylish things and peer pressure lead us to do things that we would not otherwise do? That’s not so far-fetched. It happens all the time.

And what about the verb, tollis? It’s usually translated as “take away,” but there are other possible meanings, including lift, raise, destroy, remove.

Are we asking Christ to “take away” bad marks on a scorecard?

Or might we be asking that the consequences of mistakes be not as bad as they could be, but somehow “raised up,” seen in a kinder light, and perhaps even transformed by grace, good intentions, or kindness of others into something good?

A prayer for our times, isn’t it?

If you decide to give Latin a chance, whatever Italian, Spanish, or French you know will probably come in handy. These languages are direct descendants of Latin, and if a word sounds similar, it probably is. An interesting thing to remember, though, is that all during the centuries when these newer languages (and our own English) were developing, European culture was still singing and praying the original texts and phrases of liturgical chant in Latin. The Latin liturgy has been a continuing connection among all the people who said those ancient prayers. It has really never been broken.

We don’t sing Latin chant because it is old. We sing it because it is rich and meaningful.

If we come to know it well enough, we don’t sing it, anyway. It sings us, and we agree to be part of the song.

When you’re translating for yourself, in your own meditation and prayer, it’s not so much how accurate you are that matters, but how the connections enrich the meaning, making a difference in your understanding of God and of yourself.



Agnus
lamb (sacrificial offering)
Dei
(of) God

qui
who
tollis
lift, raise, destroy, remove
peccata
sin, wrongdoing, mistake,miss the mark
mundi
universe, heavens; world, mankind; dress/clothing/ornament

miserere
pity, have compassion
nobis
we, ourselves

dona
present, grant
nobis
we, ourselves
pacem
peace, harmony



PDF file suitable for inserting in bulletin. Permission granted to reproduce.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

What is "liberal"? What is "conservative"?

I'm still grokking the world I inhabited yesterday, in which I saw "Farenheit 9/11" with my daughter and came home to watch an hour or so of the Democratic Convention on broadcast TV.

The puzzle to us is why George Bush has such a loyal following. What do these people see that we can't? Michael Moore highlights this question well, simply by following scenes of anguish and carnage in Iraq with a segue to Britney Spears saying earnestly, "I think we should trust our President," or something to that effect.

It's so...high-school.

High-school. Traditional 50's-era memory-glorified high-school.

Linguists say that we individuals each maintain hundreds or thousands of dialects in our cognitive database, and answer within the appropriate dialect according to the situation we find ourselves in. I've often perceived an extension of this, in that the dialect just as likely predicates the actual response--its content as well as the style of the language. It's how our knowledge is stored: within our interactions with each other.

George Bush's mannerisms and capabilities seem to me to correspond to the successful high-school president or team captain. At that level, he would be a success. That's the level at which he functions, and, while so many of us are constantly appalled at his inappropriatness as a leader in the world, others may be (unconsciously) soothed and reassured as he fulfils familiar patterns of their primal experience.

So, is a "conservative" someone who reveres and operates within and hearkens to the shared ideal of 50's high-school behavior and a "liberal" someone who reveres and operates within and hearkens to the archetype of the 70's college student?

Maybe it's as simple as identifying the subset of those Americans who center their behavior in Philosophic cognitive patterns (Does this align with conservative?) and those who center their behavior in Ironic cognitive patterns (Does this align with liberal?).

Monday, July 26, 2004

Democratic Nat'l Convention--Thursday

We don't get cable TV here. Had to deal with network TV. Discovered that "Live Coverage" can mean the convention is going on in the background, but Tom Brokaw's head is covering up what you might have been able to see, and he and other talking dudes blathering about what we're going to see and hear later in the week covers up whatever it is that we might see and hear now. We changed the channel.

Glenn Close's 9/11 piece seemed forced and flat to me, but who knows? It was followed by a truly moving appeal from a woman who had lost 3 family members on one of the hijacked flights.

Hillary Clinton's "introduction" was a rousing yet intelligent endorsement of the Democratic Party and the upcoming Presidential candidates. I was pleased to hear her call J. Kerry "a serious man for a serious job."

Bill Clinton's speech was effective, powerful, resonant. It was interesting to me how he said that the Republicans need a divided America. I was groping toward articulating that today, talking with Natalie, as we tried to figure out how it is that so many people seem to need to know that they are "hanging out" with the "elite," and in order to do that, they have to always be aware of somebody "other" who is not "elite."

He also reminded us that "strength" and "wisdom' are not opposing values. Thank you, Mr. Clinton.

It was a great relief, like a return to normalcy, to listen to the speakers at the Convention tonight--to hear the endorsement of common sense that our present leadership has brazenly abandoned. This is not my usual reaction to political conventions. Hopefully that signals an unusual campaign and election.

Natalie and I saw Farenheit 9/11 today, my second time, her first. It is a powerful movie. The most harrowing to me are the segments portraying the anguish of the Iraqi people surrounded by fire and chaos.

USATODAY.com - PPG working on self-cleaning counters that kill, resist bacteria

USATODAY.com - PPG working on self-cleaning counters that kill, resist bacteria

I'm ordering new countertop this week. Wish this was available!

Chant at St. B

New pastor likes chant. Also tabernacle & statues all over the front of church. Stuff on the altar. (And he put it all there by the first week.) Also sermons. Bells. Gestures from the 50's. Cardboard wafer bread. (Never mind the bread-baking ministry). Liturgy committee? what's that?

I sure miss scripture-breaking, servant leadership and respect for the presence of Christ in the Assembly of the People of God. Have to find it elsewhere? Bah.

But the good thing is, I guess, he wants chant. Of course we know it. Some of it.

Most musicians have been on vacation. I filled in once or twice. Jamie asked me to sing the resp. psalm, this week and last week. Maybe I will stay in the rotation. I'd like to be cantor, and can bring guitar and flute. Think I will.

Sunday we sang Agnus Dei Mass XVIII. I led it, and parish answered strongly. Fr. commented favorably on this at the end of mass. That's a good thing. Still, it needs to be explained to those folks who don't know what's going on. Perhaps a paragraph for the bulletin and a language explanation. Not next week, though.

Next week we introduce the Lee chant Gloria (Gather #254) for Ordinary time. Choir has learned it. We'll do this a capella, too. It worked well at HT.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

I spent the last two days reading. I've been looking for months for something I could get engaged in. Amy lent me her copy of I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. It's an angry book, and a peaceful, reconciling one. As I read it, I feel as if I were solving a whole lot of my relationship conflicts.

Nat's going to read it next. It has some things in it that I would never have been reading when I was her age, but that's the way everything is now. And in this book, the events, though extraordinary, don't seem to be at all forced or added. It's a very cohesive and insightful book. Do-it-yourself therapy in page-turner fiction.

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Last night we went bowling to kindof celebrate Amy's birthday. I can really get into that. You can be real competetive with the pins and real supporting of everyone as they play. Nice.

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Remember when we used to watch Mr. Spock and his super computer that you could find out all kinds of information on? Well, we've got it now, but who no one ever (that I know of) predicted it would be ONE computer that was made up of all of us, that we're all part of, that belongs to the world.

That's the reason I like blogs. And homepages. Business does not control the information on the internet. If individual people share whatever they feel is important: lists--insights, plans, hopes, thoughts, art, play, relationships--the good in the world is the guiding force.

You go, Google!

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

The New York Times > Washington > President Says U.S. to Examine Iran-Qaeda Tie

The New York Times > Washington > President Says U.S. to Examine Iran-Qaeda Tie

Hmm... wasn't it in Florida that the AlQaeda group trained for its 9/11 flights? And where else in the US have Al Qaeda members been based? Do you suppose those states should be preparing for "surgical" air strikes?

t r u t h o u t - Bill Moyers | This is the Fight of Our Lives

t r u t h o u t - Bill Moyers | This is the Fight of Our Lives



The veteran Washington reporter, Elizabeth Drew, says "the greatest change in Washington over the past 25 years - in its culture, in the way it does business and the ever-burgeoning amount of business transactions that go on here - has been in the preoccupation with money." Jeffrey Birnbaum, who covered Washington for nearly twenty years for the Wall Street Journal, put it more strongly: "[campaign cash] has flooded over the gunwales of the ship of state and threatens to sink the entire vessel.


This is Bill Moyers who created/hosted the wonderful PBS series with Joseph Campbell.

Monday, July 12, 2004

Keep it in the tail

I'm rereading Stephen J. Gould's seminal article: "The Median isn't the Message"

It's good advice to cancer patients, and it's good advice for human beings. You can't fix it all, you can't carry everyone. But you can steer in the right direction. And, at any particular moment, it's not the horrible baggage that counts the most, but whether we "keep ourselves in the tail" of the statistical landscape. Not the great lump of the middle ground, but the high road that ultimately carries the world.


Here's a more current illustration. It's a short video, quickly downloaded.
http://www.moveonpac.org/edwards.html

Who benefits from manufactured fear? The big business of arms sales and political control. Who loses? As far as I can see, we all do.

I prefer to check in on the side of the positive. Anything else is a big downward spiral.

PS
I see that Stephen J. Gould's "labor of love" lifework book is http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674006135/watchmakerpress"> The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. I'm heading to the library.

Friday, July 09, 2004

memory. hope.


Anywise, instead of dying, I got me a big piece of magic that night. It was hard to hang onto for a time, but I know no matter what else I experience in this world, scraps and pieces of that magic'll be with me forever. I don't question that."

from "Seven Wild Sisters," one of a dozen poignant, smile-and-thought-provoking stories in "Tapping the Dream Tree," by Charles de Lint.