Jul 10 Thu
Why do we have a penitential rite in the Mass?
After the initial greeting, in solemn Masses, incense is offered to God, and then the Penitential Rite follows.
We have just announced with the entrance song that Christ is with us and we are ready to unite ourselves to him, who is the Good Shepherd and King of Eternal Glory. These titles make us understand: first, the spirit of confidence with which we have to approach him, and, second, that sacred respect and reverence which pervades the heavenly liturgy.
We feel now more than ever the need for purification, for penance. We welcome the invitation of the priest,
To prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries,
let us call to mind our sins.
And then silence... We seem to hear the words of Isaiah: “Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool” (Is 1:18).
The penitential rite before the Eucharist is of the greatest antiquity. One of the oldest pieces of evidence about liturgical matters we possess, the Didaché (or Teaching of the Apostles), shows us that this penitential rite was already the practice among Christians at the beginning of the second century: “On the Lord’s Day, we meet together; break the bread and give thanks, after having first confessed our sins so that our sacrifice may be pure.” These words echo what St Paul wrote one century earlier: “Let every man examine himself before he eats of this bread.”
The penitential rite makes us aware of our unworthiness. It is not an abstract reminder of guilt, but the actual realization and admission of our sins and weaknesses. We ask pardon for our sins as we say,
I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters...
We grovel and accuse ourselves of our sins in the sight of heaven.
Now you realize how much you have made Jesus suffer, and you are filled with sorrow. How easy it is to ask his pardon and weep for your past betrayals! Such is your longing for atonement that you cannot contain it in your breast!
Fine. But don’t forget that the spirit of penance consists mainly in the fulfillment of the duty of each moment, however costly it may be.
We have sinned not only before heaven but also in the sight of the earth. Every sin you or I commit lets down the whole Christian community, doesn’t it? Just as you apologize to your partner when you have made a perfectly rotten stroke at tennis, so when you have sinned, you want to apologize to your fellow Christians, for you have let them all down.
There is a too common tendency to want to deny or to excuse our wrongdoing and to put the blame for it on someone else: We accuse others to excuse ourselves, and we reproach others for having incited us to do wrong. We resort to these wretched subterfuges, which deceive no one, merely to lead ourselves astray with them.