The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-12-26

In order to honor the three-fold
birth of the Son of God, First, there
is His temporal birth in the Stable
of Bethlehem, which is honored in the
Midnight Mass, the Gospel of which
tells the story of that birth from est.
Luke II, 1-15). Second, His Spiritual
birth in the souls of Christians, hon
ored in the second Mass at daybreak.
The gospel of this Mass tells of the
shepherds setting out for Bethlehem
and recognizing there the truth of the
words told them by the angel. (St.
Luke II, 1920 Third, His eternal
birth in the bosom of His Father.
This is celebrated in the regular Mass
of the day, the Gospel of which is
taken from the beginning of that ac-
cording to st. John. This Gospel is
usually read at the end of Mass on
other days. 1t explains the mystery
of the eternal generation of the Word,
which was in the beginning, which was
with God and which was God, and
which was made flesh and dwelt
among us.
The verse of ST. Luke II, II is usu-
ally given in English by non-Catholics
as follows: "GIory to God in the high
est, and on earth peace, goodwill
toward men," In our Gloria in Elk
ceIsis, at Mass, find it translated in
the prayer books in this way: "GIory
to God in the highest; and on earth
peace to men of goodwill" Which is
right?
The Protestant translation was
made from a Greek text which did
not represent very advanced state of
scholarship. Ours is made from the
official Latin version of the Church.
When the English Protestant revisers
published their Revised Version of the
New Testament in the year 1881, they
gave the verse thus: GLORY to God in
the highest, and on earth peace among
men in whom He is well-pleased.' -
This is nearer to our version. In the
margin they placed the notes: Many
ancient authorities read, peace, good
pleasure among men," and "Gr. men
of good pleasure" where "Gr." means
that they thought the following words
were a better rendering of the best
Greek text. This change was accept
ed by the New Testament members
of the American Revision Committee,
which acted in harmony with their
English brethren; and it stands in
the New Edition issued by the same
American members in the year 1900.
The Twentieth Century New Tesla
ment" which announces itself as a
translation into modern English, made
from the original Greek by company
of about twenty scholars representing
many sections of the Christian
Church has it thus GLORY to God on
high, and on earth peace among men,
among whom He finds pleasure" Fa-
Their Fouard, an eminent French scho-
lar, says it ought to be rendered
GLORY to God in the highest of the
heavens, and peace upon earth unto
all men beloved of God" The word
in the original which we render as
goodwill is used to signify the good
will which God has for us, and thus
declares that peace is given to men
so loved by God. The goodwin in
question is not human but divine; of
course Gods goodwill and love for
man creates goodwill, return of love,
on mans part to God, if man cooper
ate with divine grace. But peace cam
not come from mans goodwill alone;
in fact mans goodwill, whenever it
really exists, is gift from God, and
part of the gift of peace upon earth.
Pelagians and all pagans and infidels
exaggerate the power of man and say
that man may have a good will and
real peace, real welfare by his own
unaided efforts; Calvin went just as
far i'll the opposite direction, denying
that man can do anything good even
when aided by God. This is the rea-
son why the followers of Luther and
Calvin adopted the new translation OF
the Gloria in Excelsis." Modern non
Catholic scholars as a rule do not
feel bound by the heresies of the six
teenth century, when closer study OF
the text of the Bible tells them that
the Church was right all the time.
This is why they prefer to come back
nearer to the old way of translating
the passage. Now that the bitterness
of those old controversies is gone, it
does not seem to matter so much how
a difficult and obscure passage like
this is rendered so long as one does
not definitely commit himself to here
sy in the translation, and honestly
tries to give the sense of the original.
OF course, the loyal Catholic will al
WAYS adhere to his own Bible, espe-
cia1ly at time when so many men of
goodwill" outside the pale of the
Church are being enabled to see the
truth in so many ways.
Why are Secret Societies condemn
ed by the church,
Secret societies are condemned by
the Church ID Because all of them
in a greater or less degree aim at
substituting themselves in place of
the Church. They teach distorted
faith, replacing divine revelation with
mere naturalism and humanitarian
ism. They conduct religious services
with rituals of their own making.
They offer a convenient morality
founded on human motives, and not
founded as it should be on the rela-
tions between man and God GU Be-
cause these societies demand of their
l. NC g I