Diocese of Covington - Messenger at 402 E. 21st Street, Covington, KY 41015 US - Penitential Rite - Form B
| Penitential Rite - Form B |
This article is one in a weekly series offering insight to the theology of the Mass and the new translation of the Roman Missal. The articles prepare us for the use of the new Roman Missal at Mass beginning Nov. 27, 2011, the first Sunday of Advent. The articles are provided by the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy and written by Father Daniel Schomaker, assistant director. (Note: Words in bold indicate the new translation.) and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries. Priest: Have mercy on us, O Lord. People: For we have sinned against you. Priest: Show us, O Lord, your mercy. People: And grant us your salvation. Priest: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. People: Amen. Penitential Rite - Form B "Why did God make you? God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven." This familiar question and answer from the Baltimore Catechism directs us to our purpose in life, our goal, our end. We have been made for Heaven! Another way of saying this is that we have each been called to be SAINTS! This is spectacular and awesome news! We have been called to spend eternity with Love. And yet, how does one actualize sainthood? The answer is in the request of the priest at the beginning of the Penitential Rite, "Let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries." We can come no closer to Heaven, this side of death, than we do when we participate with the Church at prayer in Her liturgies. And so, we recognize that we are sinners and we seek God's great mercy. In the very act of accepting that we have sinned, we turn away from the self and fix our gaze upon another, the Other — God. It is an act of submitting our will to that of the Divine Will. It is allowing God to move in us and work in us and be witnessed to by us. While becoming a saint certainly benefits the self, it isn't about the self — it's about God. And when it's all about God, every aspect of every day, the life of a saint is actualized. Preface I of Saints in the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal expresses this well: "By their way of life you offer us an example, by communion with them you give us companionship, by their intercession, sure support, so that, encouraged by so great a cloud of witnesses, we may run as victors in the race before us and win with them the imperishable crown of glory, through Christ our Lord." Form B of the revised Roman Missal (the second of three options) again has us quoting the Sacred Scriptures. We echo the longings of the heart of God's faithful people across the ages. From the Prophet Baruch, "Have mercy on us, O Lord. For we have sinned against you." (see Bar 3:2) And then from the Psalmist, "Show us, O Lord, your mercy. And grant us your salvation." (see Ps 85:8) As we prepare to implement the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal on November 27, 2011, the First Sunday of Advent, let us acknowledge that we are sinners, seek God's infinite mercy and thereby through His many graces become saints where we will join in the praise of the whole Heavenly Host.
Priest: Brethren (brothers and sisters), let us acknowledge our sins,