Old ICEL RIP...

I have to confess to feeling a little bit strange, knowing that tonight was the last time we shall use the old ICEL translation for the responses at Sunday Mass (still a few more days until September).

Don't misunderstand me, I am absolutely delighted that the "lame-duck translations" (as the inimitable Fr. Z terms them) have finally shuffled off this mortal coil. We have had the new translation of the Canon for a while, and it is a vast improvement. I have been mentally responding "And with your Spirit" to help get myself accustomed to the changes. And I shall make an extra effort to attend the 6pm Mass next Sunday so as to usher in the new responses.

But part of me is experiencing a pang. Not a pang of regret. Definitely not! A lot of people feel uncomfortable with change, and "Better the devil you know" is a saying most people can relate to, but it isn't even that - the new translation is such an improvement, that I am eager to use it. I guess that it is just the realisation that we are witnessing the end of an era. The old translation is the only one I've known (at least it was, before I encountered the Extraordinary Form of Mass), and I didn't need to read the responses from a missal or mass sheet...

As I said, it's just a little... strange!

(Oh, and before you say anything, yes, I know the photo is of the Divine Office, but the shoddy workmanship of that liturgical book rather exemplifies the state of the old ICEL translation!)