Author: Bryan Baldwin

All punctuation and capitalization appear here as they are in the original.
The Gloria
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace on earth to people of good will.
We praise you,
we bless you,
we worship you,
we glorify you,
we give you thanks for your great glory,
Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father.
Lord, Jesus Christ, Only-begotten Son,
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us;
you take away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father,
have mercy on us.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

Alix and I went to the National Gallery Sunday (for the second time in a month, no less) and spent some time looking at the Van Eyck Eric explicates so well below.
My favorite canvas in the gallery is on tour, having been replaced by a triptych, which, while good, is a pale disappointment to anyone looking for the Raphael.
See the gallery’s website for more information on this piece. Please, no emails telling me why the race, locale, structures, or colors are all historically incorrect. We don’t care, and neither should you.

NCR reporter John Allen interviewed Cardinal Pell about Vox Clara on March 11. The interview may be found here. My favorite question and response:

Let me ask you something I hear from a lot from non-experts, which is that as important as questions of translations may be, the quality of liturgical experience is much more influenced by how good the homily is, how beautiful the music, and how welcoming the community. If you really wanted to do something about liturgy, wouldn’t it make more sense to address these other variables?

…[T]hese other things are enormously important. Whether they are so clearly superior to this issue I think is debatable, but it’s not a debate that’s particularly worth having. You see, it’s a very difficult thing to do anything about the welcome in a community, the quality of preaching, but here with these translations – that’s something that we can improve. Also, if you get the right quality of language, it can be a great help to worship, in calling people to prayer. You’ve only got to look at the enduring influence of something like the Book of Common Prayer, or the King James Bible. Even though its language is no longer appropriate, the King James Bible was written to be proclaimed. You’ve only got to get up and read it and you can feel that. I don’t want a quaint translation. I want something that is clear, though not everyday by any manner or means…