Q: A priest friend of mine recently asked me if I had heard anything about the bishops wanting to change ( changing) the “Blessed are you, Lord God of all Creation…” prayers to either omit them or always have them inaudible. This would be due to it’s similarity to the Shema and the possibility that it might be offensive to our Jewish brothers and sisters to insert that holy prayer into the Catholic mass.
Have you heard of this?
Thank you for your response.
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A: I’ve heard no discussion about that. I can’t speak for how our Jewish brothers and sisters respond to those prayer at the Mass, but the formula gives honor to a common heritage of praying. As I point out in my book At the Supper of the Lamb, the study group revising the Order of Mass found a similar formula in the early-2nd century Didache, an order of Christian service. They adopted it as one of the last decisions in the revised Order of Mass after the Second Vatican Council.