UBI CARITAS

July 11, 2022

Good afternoon,

” Ubi caritas et amor,   
   Ubi caritas deus ibi est . ”  Song from Taize ( VT 773 )

I appreciate many of the songs from Taize, but I think this is the one I sing the most. It is in Latin. I took four years of Latin in high school, and some of it has stayed with me. It means, ‘ where charity and love are found, God is there.’ .

I think when we learn something important in another language it stays in our brain. Each language has a different worldview, so I think translations are always less than perfect. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek.  Jesus spoke Hebrew and Aramaic ( like the difference between German and Pennsylvania Dutch ), and also Greek. So, my New International Version has gone through quite a few translations before it got to me in the early 1970’s. So, the Bible was written with a Western worldview. What does it have to say to Asia, Africa or Latin America ? What needed to be translated for the Gospel to be relevant in these other areas ?

What is God’s Word, if I do not know the original languages ? I guess I need to depend on the scholars and the present community of Jesus Christ. But, I will never get it quite right. We need each other, to be faithful.

Prayer 
 Jubilate Deo ( sing joyfully to God ) 
     Omnis terra ( to the God of the earth )       
  Servite, domino, ( Serve the Lord )     
      In laetitae ( in joy )         
    In laetitae   ( in joy )AMEN 

Fred

Chaos in the winds
Scattering my troubled thoughts
to land on soft clouds            Monica Pieper Landoni 2022