I hope the first few days of your Lent well fairly well. Let’s spend a little more quality time on the things of the spirit and a little less time on the things of the flesh, until Easter. As we say at Mass when the priest says “the Lord be with you,” we respond “and with your spirit,” right? Well, we don’t today, but from November on we will…. You have probably heard that the prayers we say at Mass every Sunday are about to change. They won’t change that much, and they will certainly change for the better. The most obvious change will be the “and with your spirit” rather than simply “and also with you.” Why in the world do we need to make these slight changes in the Mass prayers? The answer is that even a small change can make a big difference. When building a skyscraper, for example, a quarter-inch miscalculation on the ground can result in a 40-foot gap, 50 stories up. And so a little word like “Spirit,” if mistranslated in our Mass prayers, can cause some pretty serious damage when repeated by a billion people every week over 40 years. A bit of history: the Mass prayers were in Latin until 1970. That year, we received the first translation into English, and it was quick and imprecise. Forty years later (the Church moves slowly), we at last have a quality translation. It will take a little getting used to, but the revised translation is so much better. Case in point: “And also with you” does not really translate the Latin “et cum spiritu tuo.” That is much better translated “and with your spirit.” When the priest greets us at Mass, he does so in the Holy Spirit. It is not a casual “how are ya?” And we respond to the Spirit within him; not just with a friendly reply, but a sacred acknowledgement of the Holy Spirit present in that place. Want to learn more? I will be presenting a 70- minute class, with slides, on the newly translated prayers we will use at Mass. It will be this Wednesday, March 16, at 6:30 p.m. in the church. I will give out pamphlets with the newly translated prayers and offer explanations to all who attend.