Suffering With Joy

Christ and the Rich Meaning of “Amen”

September 1, 2010

As I promised in a previous post, Advancing the Reign of Christ Here and Now, I am today explaining the meaning of “Amen” and why I placed it at the end of the aspiration, “Praised be Jesus Christ.  Now and forever.  Amen.”

Church-going people are used to speaking the word “Amen” at various points in the sacred liturgy and at the end of most all prayers and invocations.  It’s easy for this practice to become rote and the meaning to slip from conscious awareness as our minds wander from our conversation with God.  Who, after all, is capable of perfect attention during prayer and worship? Certainly not I.  At some level, though, we are aware that when we say “Amen” we are affirming something.  Just what, who, and how big is that “something”? When I studied the history and meaning of the word, my eyes were opened to a deeper and more profound participation in the sacred liturgy. My bible reading and personal prayer has been enriched. Perhaps yours will be, too.

We find “Amen” in the Bible for the first time in Num. 5: 12-31 in a very solemn situation conducted in the presence of the Lord, the priest, and a woman and her husband. She who is suspected of adultery by her husband submits to a ceremony in which she drinks water containing dust the priest gathers from the floor of the tabernacle.  The prescribed oath of imprecation is:

…”may the Lord make you an example of malediction and imprecation among your people by causing your thighs to waste away and your belly to swell!  May this water, then, that brings a curse, enter your body to make your belly swell and your thighs waste away!” And the woman shall say, Amen, amen!

“Amen” has become a universal word, imported into numerous languages.  The Hebrew root, aman, means to be morally true or certain, steadfast, permanent, sure, faithful.  It is used interchangeably with ‘aman, which means “to go to the right hand” (Is. 30:21).  And Who is the right hand of God the Father almighty (Ps. 48: 10)?

Whenever we see the word “Amen” in sacred scripture it is used in the sense of affirming truth or absolute certainty as in Is. 65: 16:

…he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth ( Amen).

God alone is the “Amen” as in Rev. 3: 14:

And to the angel of the church at Laodicea write: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God:

Christ, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the revelation of the Father, one with the Father, the Amen, and Truth itself by His own words. He tells us plainly in John 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  He also told us indirectly when He used the Hebrew “Amen” before telling us truths in the Gospel.

One instance of that which stands out in my mind is in John 8.  Jesus was teaching in the temple and had just told the Jews in frustration (vs. 25-27),

They therefore said to Him, “Who art thou?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all!  I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you; but He Who sent Me is true (Amen), and the things that I heard from Him, these I speak in the world.” And they did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.

In verses 28-30 we learn that many among the group believed in Him after continuing to listen to Him. However some officials listening did not (probably Scribes and Pharisees) and they began to argue with Him.  The culmination of the confrontation came in verse 58 when Jesus declared,

Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM,

at which point the furious leaders took up stones to kill Him and He hid Himself from them and escaped because His time had not yet come.  The “I AM” is a direct reference to Ex. 3: 14 where God told Moses “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent you.” It infuriated the officials because they did not believe in Him, nor did they want to. He had declared Himself one with the Father even plainer than in verses 28-30.

Jesus’s use of “Amen, amen I say to you…” marked a striking departure from the usual use of “Amen” in the bible. He must have really caught the attention of His listeners when He said it because most of them knew sacred scripture very well, as boys started in temple classes at age 6.  No one but God would have the right to speak in his own name.  No one but God could preface his statements with “Truth, Truth” which is Himself.

I remember as a child hearing the Gospel read from the pulpit at Mass.  The words “Amen, amen I say to you…” impressed me deeply and to this day I can quote many of the passages I heard.  Instead of leaving the Hebrew as it was, English speaking people attending Mass in English hear ICEL’s very lame, “I solemnly assure you…” translation which not only is goofy and laughable, but does not pass on the meaning of the word and is just one example of many post-Vatican II ways the Faith has been watered down. Now why did I write that? Because today’s children who hear this bad translation are removed yet another step from who Christ is. I hope the “Amens” will be restored in the new translations so they will hear Christ as Person and Truth and listen closer to Him without being distracted by foolishness.  I want for them treasure I was raised with. But I digress…

Praying Hands, c. 1508, Albrecht Dürer (b. 1471, Nürnberg, d. 1528, Nürnberg), Brush drawing on blue primed paper, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

By saying “Amen” at the end of prayers, invocations, aspirations, and the many prayers during Holy Mass, we are acknowledging the truth, affirming it, and connecting ourselves to Christ and the will of the Father Who can desire no evil for us but only good.  We are declaring the truth of what we believe before God Himself and in His presence, since God is everywhere.

The aspiration “Praised be Jesus Christ.  Now and forever,” didn’t have an “Amen” attached in the past.  We need that “Amen” today because of the faithless world we live in.  It is a small thing to say but a great strengthener of our faith when we do it thoughtfully. The same is true when we say “Amen” thoughtfully all the other times we pray, formally or informally, at the sacred liturgy or in private.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

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Tags: Christ

1 Comment to Christ and the Rich Meaning of “Amen”

1. 

   This was an excellent post, Barb. Both the sign of the cross and the amen can be done haphazardly at times. I once read a book that was only on the sign of the cross. These small things that Catholics do often have great meaning. Thanks for sharing your research.
Mary Nicewarner on September 5th, 2010