The new Roman Missal and the Divine Office

Since the universal Church has plunged into the new translation of the Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent, several questions have arisen about the place of some of the prayers of the Roman Missal in the Liturgy of the Hours, since there are certain prayers that the English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours and the English Translation of the Missale Romanum have traditionally held in common. Some of the concluding prayers on certain days of the week are traditionally the same prayers used at Mass that day-especially on the feast days of particular saints. The most obvious example of a prayer held in common is the use of the Confiteor or the Kyrie during the Penitential Act at Compline (Night Prayer). The English translation approved for use in the Liturgy of the Hours has not changed as of yet, and it dates to 1974 and first came into common use in the Anglosphere in 1975. The translation used in the English-speaking world is nearly universal, with the Grail translation of the psalms and canticles being used in every version in every English-speaking country.

The only difference between the editions issued for the United States and Canada and those issued for the rest of the world is that the U.S. and Canadian editions of the Office use the New American Bible as the translation for Scripture readings, while editions issued for the U.K., Ireland, and Commonwealth countries use the Jerusalem Bible and a few other English translations, including the Revised Standard Version, for Scripture readings. However, many web sources such as Divine Office, which intend to be faithful to the approved English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours are using the old versions of the Confeteor and Kyrie responses. Should they?

Although he is a layman, Jimmy Akin has done a fair amount of research into this issue for his podcast in order to answer a listener's question about the use of the new Mass translation outside of the Mass-especially where the Liturgy of the Hours is concerned. I've provided the link above in-text so that readers to this blog can have a listen at what Jimmy has been able to find out, but it would appear that we can begin to use the responses and prayers from the new Roman Missal where they are appropriate to the Liturgy of the Hours (i.e. Mass prayers, Kyrie, and Confeteor, etc.), including in group settings ("And with your spirit.") Indeed, we were using "and with your spirit" during the Office for formation last weekend. The changes in the Missal have given rise to the larger question: Will the English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours also be changing?

It seems to be the consensus of the folks who follow such things that the English translation of the Hours will eventually be changing, and that many of us who are currently in formation for the deaconate or the priesthood (and who will thus be bound by ecclesiastical promise to pray the Office every day for the rest of our earthly life) will live to see whatever changes may be implemented impact our daily prayer life-certainly the changes to the Missale Romanum already have done just that. However, it ought to be remembered that the Latin revision to the Missale Romanum was approved in 2000, and we are seeing its implementation in our own tongue nearly 12 years after the approval of the initial text. To my personal knowledge, an official revision to the Latin text of the Liturgy of the Hours has yet to be approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The text of the Divine Office which we currently use will continue to be the version that we use for the foreseeable future then, even as we embrace minor changes to it that are related to the changes we are experiencing in the Mass.