Like the First Dewfall on the First Grass

I know, I know, it's been a month since my last post.

Some excellent (and time-consuming) things going on. Including my current pet project: a Youth Classical Schola.

But enough about me, let's talk turkey about the new translation of the Ordinary. It's not in use yet, but can be studied here (pdf).

One amusing argument arose over the use of the word "dew" in Eucharistic Prayer III. Some bishops complained that "dew" is a funny word in American English--but then the British bishop who heads the commission said that he just saw a sign on a billboard for Mountain Dew, so it seems familiar enough.

They apparently compromised on "dewfall": Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray,
by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall

The scriptural reference for the image is Isaiah 45:8: Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this. Ordinarily this passage is used liturgically of the Son, rather than of the Spirit, but in this case (as in the Incarnation) there is perhaps a permissible conflation due to the agency of the Spirit Who brings the Son into the world.

There is an ancient Advent hymn that takes its refrain from this passage:

Rorate coeli desuper

et nubes pluant justum.

Ne irascaris, Domine!

Ne ultra memineris iniquitatem.

Ecce civitas sancta facta est deserta:

Sion deserta facta est.

Jerusalem desolata facta est.

Domus sanctificationis tua et gloria tua,

et ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.

Vide, Domine, afflictionem populi tui.

et mitte quem missurus es:

emitte Agnum, dominatorem terra,

de petra deserti ad montem filia Sion:

ut auferat ipse jugum captivitatis nostra.

Consolamini, popule meus:

cito veniet salus tua.

Quare mirore? Innovat te dolor?

Salvabo te: noli timere.

Ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus:

Sanctus Israel, Redemptor tuus.