Following up on last week’s Lost in Translation on the “Dominus Vobiscum”, here are some excerpts from William Durandus’ Rationale Divinorum Officiorum (IV, 14), the Summa Theologica of medieval liturgical commentaries, which explain its use and meaning in the rite of Mass
When the angelic hymn (i.e. the Gloria in excelsis) is finished, the priest, turning towards the people, greets them by saying, “The Lord be with you”, which is taken from the book of Ruth (2, 4), for thus do we read that Boaz greeted his harvesters. Likewise, the prophet in Chronicles (2 Par. 15, 2) greets king Asa and those who were with him, and the Angel greeting Gideon says, “The Lord be with you.” (Judges 6, 12) Boaz is a figure of the Savior, who took Ruth the woman of Moab as his wife, and this greeting signifies the greeting which Christ made to the Apostles after the Resurrection.
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| Landscape with Ruth and Boaz, ca. 1823-25, by the Austrian painter Joseph Anton Koch (1768-1839). |
Therefore, in all the prayers of the Mass the priest begins with “The Lord be with you”, (he lists the exceptions). For since through this greeting the wish is expressed that the Lord be with his people, and He is with them through the spirit of sevenfold grace, therefore the Church has ordained that the people be greeted in the Mass seven times.
5. The choir and the people answer “And with your spirit”, which is taken from the Second Epistle to Timothy (4, 22) in which is said, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit,” for the mutual greetings of this sort signify that the priest and people must be of one mind. The meaning is, “You are about to make prayers for us to the Lord, and because the Lord God approves and hears only those prayers which come forth from a good heart, we likewise also pray for you, so that He without Whom there is no good thing may be with your spirit, and so that He who is with you in the mouth be also in the heart and remain in you.” … by this response the people refers itself solely to the action of sacrifice to which the priest goes forth, in which he must be wholly lifted up through the spirit, and completely separated from all earthly cares.
But after the choir answers, he turns towards the altar, that is to the east… and, as if he had very little confidence in his own goodness, he gathers to himself the whole Church, saying as the representative of all, “Let us pray.” This means, “Pray together with me, all of you, so that we may the more swiftly obtain what we ask,” since it is impossible that the multitude should not be heard… by saying, “Let us pray”, he exhorts others to pray, because Christ himself told his disciples to pray, saying, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation,” (Matt. 26, 41), Afterwards he prays because Christ afterwards prayed… we have this custom from the ancients, who regularly put “Let us pray” before their prayers.
7. The bishop … who must be perfect, and bears an express likeness to Christ, in order to show himself as the vicar of Christ, when he is about to pray the first time (at Mass) uses the word of the Lord, saying, “Peace be with you”, the first thing the Lord said to his disciples when He appeared to them after the resurrection. … but afterwards he says, “The Lord be with you” in the manner of other priests, to show that he is one of them.
8. A deacon does not say “The Lord be with you” at the Hours, since he does not thus bear the type of Christ … as the priests who use it in the person of Christ. However, he does say it when he is reading the Gospel, because then he fulfills the office of a preacher, and pronounces the teaching which comes immediately from Christ Himself. He also does this when blessing the paschal candle, because then he represents the resurrection of Christ. Now there are some who say nevertheless that in the Divine Offices which they are bound to say, they can licitly they say this, since we do not read that this is prohibited, but the general use of the Church contradicts this, so that they may know themselves to be inferior to the priests. (In Durandus’ time, there was no lack of priests to lead the Divine Office, but the Church did later change this custom generally, so that deacons would also say, “The Lord be with you” at the appointed places.)
9. It should be noted that the people are greeted seven times in the Mass, so that the seven capital vices may be excluded, and they may receive grace sevenfold, for the mystery of the Mass is referred to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
10. Now although we regularly turn our face towards those whom we greet, nevertheless the priest turns himself to the people only on the four of these occasions. For at the greeting which is done before the Gospel, he does not turn himself, because he is already intent on announcing the words of God. He also does not turn before the preface, for he is already intent upon the sacrifice of the altar; nor before the kiss of peace, because he already holds the Body of Christ in his hands, and has his heart lifted up to God, wholly intent on treating it with reverence; for no one putting his hand to the plow and looking backwards is fit for the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9, 62)
11. … the priest always turns to the people by the right, and turns back towards the altar on the same side, as if to say by doing this, “The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me: the right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength.” (Ps. 117, 16) This also signifies that in the Lord’s tomb, the Angel sat on the right side. Thirdly, by this the priest indicates that he has a right intention for himself and for the people, which reaches out to the heavenly fatherland, which is signified by the right side according to the words of the Song of Songs (2, 6 and 8, 3), “His right hand shall embrace me.” … by turning and greeting the people and then turning back, he exhorts both himself and the people to pray, and prayer must be done for eternal things, which are signified by the right side, for which reason, Christ is said to sit at the right hand of the Father. … Nevertheless, after he says “Pray, brethren” he turns himself to the left … which is more imperfect and weaker, to denote the imperfection of any priest apart from Christ Himself.
