The Ghost in the Machine

Lucan Newsletter Editorial by Fr Peter O'Reilly

People have reacted in different ways to the changes introduced in the Mass recently, one thing for certain is that they are far more than minor updates and it will take people quite a while to get used to them.

One change which comes up numerous times in the Litrugy is the response to the prayer "the Lord be with you" which now adds to the response "and also with you" the words "and with your spirit". The change brings the English translation into line with that in all other languages and with the original Latin. However, the change goes deeper than this and reminds us that we are much more than material beings and hidden inside is a whole world of the spiritual.  All this runs counter to a strong current in our world which denise the spiritual.

The 20th century British Philosppher Gilbert Ryle sums up this materialist view of the world when he refers to those who look for the spirit within as seeking after the ghost in the machine, a viewpoint whose greatest exponent  in recent times has been the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. Yet try as the materialists might people's intuitive sense of the spiritual, of the ghost in the machine remains.

Everytime we encounter the mystery of love, glimpses of it shine out from the depths of our humanity.  So when we answer "and with your spirit" at Mass we are saying a lot more than meets the eye.