Sunday, November 18, 2007

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Fathers wax eloquent on the end times in this Catena for today's Gospel.

Once again I've had to make several important corrections in the Newman-team translation. For example, denuntiat gets translated as "denounces", when the clear (and ordinary) translation is "announces". Perhaps a 19th century denunciation was less derogatory than today's, but be that as it may, we have certainly lost the sense of the original when the translation reads:

"God denounces the woes that shall forerun the destruction of the world...."
Here is the original:
Perituri mundi praecurrentia mala denuntiat Dominus....
Here is my translation:
"The Lord makes known the evils that will come before the end of the world...."
This is just one of many corrections I've had to make in today's selection.

The Catena Aurea is a work of incredible genius that can be of invaluable help in reconnecting us orphans with our Fathers in faith--if they're allowed to speak to us in our language.

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