Two years ago, after celebrating the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, my family went to the vigil Mass at our parish, which uses hymnals from Oregon Catholic Press. Evidently, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" was sung that evening, giving rise to this rant: 1/
"The OCP rewrite of “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” is odious. Charles Wesley had a great lyric gift and knew exactly what he was about when he chose his words; removing thee/thy/thou/art changes the whole soundscape of the text." 2/
" 'Enter ev’ry trembling heart' perfectly expresses the divine condescension in four words; 'Let your love in us endure' is bland and bureaucratic." 3/
"And don’t get me started on leaving out a stanza on the transformative action of the Holy Ghost." 4/
Beyond the lyric infelicities of OCP's version, there is the pervasive mania for fidgeting with texts they share with pretty much the whole Latin Church. Everything must be tweaked and updated to accommodate the latest fashion or ideology. 5/
Undoubtedly part of that is copyright/licensing/revenue; money talks loudly. But the need to tweak and fidget is an inescapable part of the Year Zero mentality; perpetual revolution keeps the revolutionaries in power and thwarts attempts to oust them. 6/
At least, it keeps the revolutionaries in power until the revolution eats its own. 7/7
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