I remember vividly Bp Trautman (Erie, PA) complaining about this: “How will John and Mary Catholic relate to the new words of the Creed: ‘consubstantial to the Father’ and ‘incarnate of the Virgin Mary’? Will they understand these words from the various new Collects: ‘sullied,’ ‘unfeigned,’ ‘ineffable,’ ‘gibbet,’ ‘wrought,’ ‘thwart’?”
Why, yes! Yes, they would, with some assistance from the pulpit/bulletin/diocesan newspaper/etc.
This might not be a problem were it not for the fact that the very notion, embodied in Sacrosanctum Concilium ¶36, that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved,” is conveniently ignored by the likes of Bp Trautman and those who persist in entertaining the Episcopal service. Words have meaning—in dead languages. In today’s languages, words change in meaning: “gay” and “queer,” for instance, hardly have the same meaning today as they did a mere 50 years ago.
When applied to prayer, it is that much more important to be precise. And this is to say nothing of the fact that prayer, ipso facto, is meant to elevate our minds and hearts to Almighty God. To speak, therefore, in modern vernacular, may indeed be pious, but it hardly causes one’s heart to “soar up to God.”