I Regret my Sins that Hurt the whole Community
Almost every religion knows the rites of purification and forgiveness preceding the entrance to the temple. In the Old Testament we often read that a man in encounter with God painfully experiences his sinfulness.
After all, Jesus' message is one call to repentance and conversion (cf. Mt 3, 2). Before His Majesty, Peter falls to his knees to confess his sin: “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me,
Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (cf. Lk 5: 8). Whoever participates in the Holy Mass identifies with Peter and the publican from the Gospel, who in the temple before God humbly and regretfully beats his chest and asks Him for forgiveness: “The tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed,
O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” (cf. Lk 18: 10-14).
If we were to look for the historical roots of this penitential act, we must refer to the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 11, where St. Paul warns the Corinthians against unworthy approach to the Eucharist. "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord." (cf. 1 Cor. 11: 27), that is, he is exposed to judgment and condemnation.
In the Didache: “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” from the end of the first century, the author calls Christians who gather for the common Eucharist to confess their sins at the beginning - especially sins against mutual love, so that their sacrifice is pure. The Second Vatican Council teaches that the Church is holy – through the holiness of Christ and the holiness of the Holy Spirit who animates her. But that at the same time, it is a church of sinners - a church that needs purification and which constantly undertakes penance and converts.
Holy Mass is the most sacred reality for a believer. However, we, the participants of this liturgy, are burdened with everything that is weak, sinful, imperfect, human. Therefore, in order to properly participate in the Eucharistic celebration, each of us must first recognize our imperfection and sinfulness, as well as the need for forgiveness and mercy that only God can give. This is a time to think about our life - a time to recognize ourselves as sinners, to realize that we face God who is holy, that we want to convert, that we can count on God's mercy, which will prepare us to listen to the Word with dignity and to prepare ourselves to participate in Holy sacrifice.
A proper penitential act prepares us for a proper and dignified participation in the Eucharistic liturgy. It may, by choice of celebrant, take four forms.
For this reason, at the beginning of Mass. the priest who presides over the congregation calls the faithful: " Brothers and Sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries..." And after calling with these or similar words there is a moment of silence, of thoughtfulness.
The first most common used is the penitential act, often called "general confession" because it begins with the words: "I confess to Almighty God ...". Here we humbly confess to God and to the Church the truth about ourselves, and about the need for "outside help" - because I can’t save myself, because I rely on God's gift of grace and the gift of Christ's Redemption. This public confession of guilt also suggests that every sin is not only my private matter, but weakens us all, the whole community of believers - that is, with me, with my goodness, the whole Church can be better, and vice versa: my sin weakens and hurts the whole earthly Church.
The “Confiteor” text gives us valuable remarks about the nature of guilt. It first touches our relationship with God, as well as to brothers and sisters in the Church and to the saints in heaven: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”(James 5:16). Guilt is not only doing wrong, but also neglecting good. Man can bring guilt through various life manifestations: " thoughts, words, deed."
In the final part of the Confiteor, we ask for the intercession of the Mother of God, Saints and brothers and sisters, that they may pray for us and that we can obtain God's forgiveness. This confession indicates the deep truth about the Church as a community in which we, pilgrims on earth, count on the help of those who are in the heavenly home - we count on the help of the Mother of God, Angels and Saints. They pray that we will live our lives worthily, that God would show us mercy and forgive us.
The second penitential act is the litany formula consisting of two parts.
This act takes the form of a dialogue, a form of invocation in which we turn to Christ - we remember the events of his life in which he shows his love for people, we ask that he will mediate for us with God to have mercy on us. In the first part (Lord, have mercy), the celebrant can use the suggestions given in the Roman Missal or refer to the events of a given liturgical period. He can also make appropriate invocations at Holy Masses combined with other sacraments or other celebrations (e.g., funeral liturgy). We always end the second part of this penitential litany formula with the acclamation: "have mercy on us." For example:
- You were sent to heal the contrite of heart: Lord, have mercy.
- You came to call sinners: Christ, have mercy.
- You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us: Lord, have mercy”. With similar words the "good" thief begged for mercy on the cross, on the Hill of the Skull. The evangelical blind man Bartimaeus exclaimed: "Jesus, have mercy on me."
The third form of the Penitential Act are calls to Christ the Lord, containing the words of Kyrie eleison, enriched with additional sentences and predicates (tropes). They are also called a litany because they resemble the appropriate fragment of known litanies.
In this way, the medieval liturgical custom was returned to some parts of the Holy Mass. The Roman Missal proposes 11 versions of this form to choose from. For example, I quote one of them:
Celebrant: Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, who knows your sheep, have mercy on us. Congregation: Have mercy on us.
Celebrant: Christ, who gave your life for your sheep, have mercy on us.
Congregation: Have mercy on us.
Celebrant: Lord, who are looking for lost sheep, have mercy on us.
Congregation: Have mercy on us.
This form, as was already the case with the first and second, is also opened by the priest's encouragement and the request for forgiveness of sins.
The fourth and last form is the blessing of water and sprinkling it on the faithful in remembrance of the baptism. The General Introduction to the Roman Missal recommends them "on the Lord's day, especially during Easter" (G.I.R.M. 51). In the pre-Vatican II liturgy it was known as Asperges (from the sung antiphon, Asperges me ...) and used only on High Mass (central Mass on Sunday). Currently there are no such restrictions and rightly so because the point is to remind the faithful of baptism more often.
When we recite a penitential act, that does not contain the dialogical format, we sing Kyrie eleison, or Lord, have mercy on us. This is the shortest confession of our faith to a merciful and forgiving God. The Church introduced "Kyrie, eleison” into her liturgy in the sense in which it was used by Saint Paul the Apostle in his Letters, addressing them to Christ as Lord and God. Singing or reciting this invocation, we ask God to have mercy on us and show us His mercy. Only when we receive God's forgiveness, we are ready to experience the Holy Mass fruitfully.
Each of the above formulas of the penitential act are always preceded by the celebrant's encouragement to recognize before God (in silence, in self-reflection) that we are sinners. The penitential act cannot remain at the level of a ritual rite, but it is a sign of our need to understand the virtue of penance as a Christian lifestyle. At the end of Penitential Act, the absolution by the Priest follows: “May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. The congregation answers: Amen.
The act of penance has this inner power to unite us with God, to obtain purification of our heart. But we must remember that if we are aware of committing a serious sin, the act of penance is not enough, but we must confess this sin in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. The Act of Penance in the Mass does not have the effectiveness of the priest’s absolution in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation
Until Tomorrow
fr. george