he Against the Grain blog recently posted a very detailed analysis of Pope Benedict XVI’s revision (or re-revision) of the Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews, which is traditionally prayed on Good Friday.

The original form was written in 1570:

Let us pray also for the faithless Jews [Latin: perfidia iudaica]: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts [2 Corinthians 3:13-16]; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and eternal God, who dost not exclude from thy mercy even Jewish faithlessness: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

In 1959, the adjective perfidia was removed by Pope John XXIII because of confusion with the term “perfidious” (or treacherous). Despite this attempt at avoiding misunderstanding, the prayer remained controversial; and in the increasingly modernistic world of political correctness, it became labeled as anti-Semitic. In 1970, Pope Paul VI reformulated the prayer:

Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant.

Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your Church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

On February 7, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI revised the prayer yet again to be more in concert with the older prayer, yet still avoid language that might be interpreted as anti-Semitic (e.g., the “veil [on] their hearts,” “faithlessness,” “darkness” and “blindness”):

Let us also pray for the Jews. May the Lord our God illuminate their hearts so that they may recognize Jesus Christ as savior of all men. Almighty and everlasting God, you who want all men to be saved and to gain knowledge of the truth, kindly allow that, as all peoples enter into your Church, all of Israel may be saved.

Importantly, while acknowledging the Jewish people’s faithfulness to God, the Pope clarifies that Jesus Christ is the path to salvation, as all Catholics believe. Therefore, unlike the version from 1970, this prayer remains a “supplication for conversion.” This revision — which applies equally to the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (i.e., the Tridentine Mass) — also illustrates that the Missal of 1962 is not written in stone, but is permitted to evolve organically over time (as opposed to being rewritten by committee, as happened with Vatican II).

The full article on the Against the Grain blog goes much further, to describe other liturgical reform that accompanied the change in the prayer for the conversion of the Jews (e.g., changes in the wording of the sacrament of Baptism), as well as how the recent revision is being received by Jews and Catholics, liberals and traditionalists, worldwide.

t is interesting to note that, while many complain that Catholics should not pray for the conversion of all Israel — and, indeed, all the peoples of the world — the Jews pray for the conversion of others three times daily: As First Things clarifies, every Jewish service ends with the recitation of “Aleinu,”

Therefore we put our hope in You, Hashem our God, that we may soon see Your mighty splendor, to remove detestable idolatry from the earth, and false gods will be utterly cut off, to perfect the universe through the Almighty’s sovereignty. Then all humanity will call upon Your Name, to turn all the earth’s wicked toward You. All the world’s inhabitants will recognize and know that to You every knee should bend, every tongue should swear. (Isaiah 45:23) Before You, Hashem, our God, they will bend every knee and cast themselves down and to the glory of Your Name they will render homage, and they will all accept upon themselves the yoke of Your kingship that You may reign over them soon and eternally. For the kingdom is Yours and You will reign for all eternity in glory as it is written in your Torah: Hashem shall reign for all eternity. (Exodus 15:18) And it is said: Hashem will be King over all the world—on that day Hashem will be One and His Name will be One. (Zechariah 14:9)

In the same way, the Good Friday prayer for conversion is right and good. Moreover, as First Things reminds us, “Jews should worry if and when Christians cease to pray for them, for that would signify that Christians had forgotten the root onto which the wild olive branches are grafted.”