We now enter into
the penitential rites of the Mass.
Scriptures for
meditation: Exodus 19: 90-11
The
Lord also said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and
tomorrow, and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day, for
on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai
in the sight of all the people.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us: 1431:
Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a
return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away
from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the
same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope
in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is
accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi
cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance
of heart).
Fr. Robert Barron
explains: Immediately after the greeting the priest invites everyone in
attendance to call to mind his or her sins. This simple routine is of extraordinary
importance. G.K. Chesterton once remarked, “There are saints in my religion,
but that just means men who know they are sinners.” For the great English
apologist, the relevant distinction is not between sinners and non-sinners, but
between those who know their sin and those who, for whatever reason, don’t. The
heroes of the faith – the saints – are precisely those who are ordered toward
God and who therefore have a keener appreciation of how far they fall short of
the ideal. Saint John of the Cross compared the soul to a pane of glass. When
it is facing away from the light, its smudges and imperfections are barely
noticeable, but when it is directed at the light, every mark, even the
smallest, becomes visible…. Therefore as the Liturgy commences and we stand
within the embrace of the Trinitarian love, we mimic the saints and become,
perforce, not less but more aware of our sins. In doing so, we offer a
corrective to the pervasive cultural tendency toward exculpation. “I’m okay and
you’re okay,” we tell ourselves. But to subscribe to such a… sentiment is, ipso
facto, to prove that one is not facing into the clarifying light of God. (Catholicism, Image Books, 2011)
My thoughts: When the priest asks us to call to mind our
sins, he is asking us to perform a task which goes back to the Old Testament.
Before the Word of God could be heard by the people, God instructed Moses to
have them cleanse themselves. Before we can even think of coming into contact
with God in this holiest of mysteries, we must acknowledge our sins to
ourselves before we can ask God to forgive them. Have you ever been with
someone who had offended you, yet acted like nothing happened, and just
expected you to go on in the relationship ignoring the hurt and offense that
stood between you? It is the same thing with us and God. We know we have hurt
Him, He knows we have hurt Him, and now we have the opportunity to force our
prideful selves to look closely and admit the sin. It is a wonderfully freeing
act to get the sin on the table so it can be forgiven. Only then can we come
into the full glory of the Mass.
Prayer to examine
one’s conscience:
Dear God, please help me to know my sins, and to see
where I may have offended you in my thoughts, words, deeds and acts of
omission. Holy Spirit, fill me with humility so that I can be honest with
myself to see the wrongs I have committed, and to be willing to hand them over
to God for forgiveness. Help me to wash clean the garment of my soul. Amen (Sandy
Bertini)
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