Looking back at my faith journey, something I regret was my lack of conscious awareness and lack of activie participation when attending Mass. I went every Sunday, brainlessly attending, not doing much but daydreaming. It was (to me), show up, mindlessly spew out the responses, do those Catholic exercises (you know...sit, stand, kneel, stand, kneel...), check-in, check-out, done. I'm a good Catholic, I went to Mass on Sunday...
Looking back, I can see that I could not have been any more wrong.
After my conversion, I began to seek and discover the richness and beauty of my Catholic faith. It was a complete and utter shock for me when I came to discover what the Catholic Mass, in its essence, really is: The sacrifice of Calvary re-presented upon our altars. I wrote a past blog about it if you'd like more of an explanation. I also had included a couple great links for further understanding. But I won't get into that explanation here.
If we want to "get more out of the Mass" it helps to understand what exactly is going on. What I'd like to do is take you through the parts of the Mass and explain what exactly we as Catholics are doing and how you can better take part in the Mass by uniting yourself to Christ.
I will be quoting from a little brown booklet called the "Roman Catholic Sunday Missal Booklet" published by Angelus Press. Many of the other books about the parts of the Mass that I've read don't go as richly or beautifully into the detail and imagery as this little book does, so I thought I'd share to help us as Catholics more deeply appreciate the Mass. If you want a copy, let me know. They are only $5 and I can pick one up for you.
Today, I will only explain up to the beginning part of the Mass - the Confiteor.
PURPOSE OF THE MASS:
Assisting at Holy Mass you should have the fourfold intention of Adoration, by which we acknowledge our dependence on God as Ruler over life and death; of Thanksgiving for the benefits and graces conferred on us; of Reparation for our sins and negligences; of Petition to implore Him of the graces necessary for our salvation. If you desire to implore other benefits from God through the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that's beautiful. But do not forget the main intention. You can offer Mass to obtain the grace of a particular virtue, overcome a special temptation, or obtain any other grace or favor for yourself or someone else you'd like to pray for.
"Truly attending Mass means actively seeking to identify ourselves with Christ in the Sacred Host, paying attention to the words of the liturgical texts (which, I might add, are imbued with Sacred Scripture!), which are a mirror of the soul of our Lord, as He offers the sacrifice to His Father. It means adopting His state of mind as far as we are able, in order to leave Mass with a will that is more apt to imitate Christ in reality."
THE BEGINNING OF THE MASS:
SIGN OF THE CROSS
What We are Doing:
The Mass begins with the sign of the cross, the sign of our Redemption. It is also an outward gesture which symbolized that which we profess belief in: The One Triune God, the Blessed Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is a beautiful act of faith; we should stop and realize what we are doing, rather than take it for granted.
"At Mass, we in the company of our Lord, with Whom we associate ourselves in order to live like Him by living of Him, in order to die as He died and rise again with Him."
THE CONFITEOR ("I Confess...")
Here is the prayer:
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault,
through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
Here is also another version of the confiteor, used in the Latin Mass today (which in my opinion contains richer language!):
I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael, the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly, in thought, word and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Micahel the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and you, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me.
What we are doing:
The Confiteor creates an interior silence from the beginning of the Mass, as priest and faithful turn away from their temporal concerns to face the reality of Calvary, for which their sins are responsible. It is the first expression of that humility which will accompany us throughout the Sacrifice of the Mass.
Our sins offend God alone, and our personal responsiblity is before Him alone. By invoking all the saints - and one another - beginning with the blessed Virgin Mary, gaurantees the value of our humilitation before God, calling to witness all of the sanctified that we are guilty and responsible before God. (Remember, at the final judgement, we will appear to be judged not only before and by Christ but before all the heavenly angels and saints, a heavenly tribunal).
Our bowing down to confess is the first act of true courage of every man who recognizes his sins. By refusing to sin, he declares his dignity as a creature able to recognize spiritual beauty and embrace God.
At the part where we say, "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault..." we are supposed to strike our breast three times. (Think of how in the Scriptures, repentance was signified by the striking of the breast, putting on slack cloth and ashes...)
"The striking of the breast means that the heart concealed within is the cause of sin and deserving, therefore, to be punished...
(Think of the words of our Lord in Luke 6:45 where He says, "A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks." Our Lord also reminds us that our acts of evil comes from within us: "But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts..." in Mark 7:20-21).
...and humbled; the insolent pride of the sinful heart is to be broken and destroyed, in order that God may create a new, clean heart within us."
The Confiteor is not meant to paralyze us with sadness or even shame; we do not confess our sins to remain guilty. It is a plea for reconciliation and forgiveness; it is as a child full of repentance who goes to embrace his Father. "I confess to God, for Whom I was made, and to Whom I desire to return." We don't walk around sad and gloomy, we are confident in God's mercy.
The Mass does not divide sins into categories: We ask God to take away all our sins and imperfections beacuse they are an obstacle to love of Him.
I hope this helped you understand a little bit more about what exactly we are doing and our interior disposition at these times in the Mass. This is only the beginning of the richness and beauty of the Mass you are about to learn and I will try to expand upon this by proceeding through further explanations of the subsequent Mass parts. God bless!