I was considering<\/strong> doing a series of posts on the various \u201ccommunal\u201d prayers which are said at Mass.<\/p>\n It\u2019s struck me for a while, now, that we Catholics, who begin each Mass with a Penitential Rite meant to free us from the lesser \u2013 not grievous or mortal \u2013 sins, have been short-changing ourselves by our choice in how we do it.<\/p>\n In most parishes today, the Penitential Rite will be a series of affirmations tied in to the Kyrie<\/em>, so you might hear something like this:<\/p>\n \u201cLord Jesus, You are the Light of the World and our Salvation, Lord Have Mercy\u201d (to which the congregation replies, \u201cLord Have Mercy\u201d)<\/p>\n There follows two more affirmations coupled with the rest of the Kyrie:<\/em> Christ have mercy; Lord have mercy. Then the priest says, \u201cMay Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life.\u201d<\/p>\n And the congregation says: \u201cAmen.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with that,<\/strong> of course. It\u2019s not bad<\/em>. But it is part and parcel of the whole, \u201cnever let us think ill of ourselves\u201d mentality<\/a> that has so distorted our concept of sin and its reality in our lives. While admitting to nothing, we tell the Lord that we know He\u2019s great and merciful, and ask His forgiveness. Seems just a little too tidy, doesn\u2019t it? A little too passive and bland? And a little too sterile?<\/p>\n Before this Rite selection became the standard, we had a different one \u2013 a prayer that demanded just a little bit more of ourselves, as we would recite together:<\/p>\n I confess to almighty God, The Rite itself<\/strong> used to be referred to as the Confiteor<\/em> and pre-Vatican II it was also a munch longer \u2013 though not necessarily better \u2013 prayer. But compared to the newer, less self-accusing Rite that is so prevalent today, when you said this prayer, you were saying something about yourself that was utterly true. You were standing amidst the rest of your fellows and saying, \u201cI blew it. I am all that is human and fallible, and I failed you, I failed myself, I failed God. Please pray for me.\u201d<\/p>\n The prayer is a confession, but it\u2019s also a great leveler. There may be an 80-year old in the pew before you, and an 8-year old behind you, but you\u2019re standing in solidarity, recognizing that we\u2019re all in the same boat, that we\u2019ve all \u2013 sometime in the past week \u2013 done what humans do: we\u2019ve screwed up. We see, too, that our actions do not happen in a vacuum, that when we screw up out of selfishness, or self-interestedness, or whatever, we affect the larger society in ways small and large. We realize that it\u2019s beyond stupid to sit in judgment of one\u2019s neighbor\u2019s splinters when one is walking around like a right porcupine, oneself.<\/p>\n And we make ourselves just a little bit vulnerable, and vulnerability is often the crack by which grace can enter in.<\/p>\n I have sinned through my own fault, Who can\u2019t identify with that? Who can\u2019t look back on a week and not shake their heads in self-disappointment at at least some<\/em> of what one has done? And yet we come to Mass, to the Word, to prayer, to Communion, and we stand together\u2026and we confess our commonality. We are more alike than we sometimes want to admit. And yes, we do things that create distance between each other, between ourselves and who and what we love. We create distance between ourselves and God. We sin<\/a>.<\/p>\n At some point in every life, the ugly and dark stuff intrudes. Seems to me the best and healthiest way to deal with it, when it comes, is to have more than a passing acquaintance with it \u2013 if you\u2019re acknowledging on a daily (or weekly) basis that what is lesser \u2013 and baser \u2013 exists and resides within our own hearts right next to all of our highest and purest ideals, you\u2019re much less likely to be shocked or overwhelmed when you encounter the dark, either within yourself or within others. Or even within your town or your church or your government.<\/p>\n This is why the Catholic church urges daily (or at least weekly) examinations of conscience. It\u2019s fallen out of practice, of course, like confession (which is the natural response to an Examination of Conscience). These days society and Dr. Phil tell us we are not to \u201cdwell\u201d on what we do wrong (\u201dyou just made a mistake\u2026\u201d) but to examine one\u2019s conscience is not to \u201cdwell;\u201d it is not \u201cwallowing in Catholic guilt,\u201d as some would say. Rather, we examine the conscience in order to be in touch with that baser nature that exists within us \u2013 for to ignore it is to allow it to run amok at one\u2019s own peril. Like a child whose parents won\u2019t discipline him because it might make him feel bad, our unattended to conscience can do a lot of rationalized and relativistic damage to our souls and hence to our lives and the lives of those around us. If you\u2019re attending to it \u2013 if you\u2019re actually looking at what you\u2019re doing \u2013 clearly and honestly \u2013 the self-awareness is helpful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The thing is\u2026it\u2019s helpful, the examination of conscience; it\u2019s a gift. But like many gifts, it\u2019s a real pain in the ass, too. If you\u2019re being honest with yourself, it\u2019s a stinging anti-septic.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019re not\u2026well\u2026then you can poison yourself.<\/p>\n The Confiteor<\/em> is a useful prayer, a means by which one may start to do more than passively lay about, snug-in-grace, and start to actively, consciously<\/em> work at doing better.<\/p>\n I need to do better. Just as soon as I\u2019m done coughing up this gunk, I\u2019ll talk about that.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> I was considering doing a series of posts on the various \u201ccommunal\u201d prayers which are said at Mass. It\u2019s struck me for a while, now, that we Catholics, who begin each Mass with a Penitential Rite meant to free us from the lesser \u2013 not grievous or mortal \u2013 sins, have been short-changing ourselves by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,96,209,225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-faith","category-prayer","category-saints"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nand to you,
\nmy brothers and sisters,
\nthat I have sinned through my own fault,
\nin my thoughts and in my words,
\nin what I have done,
\nand in what I have failed to do;
\nand I ask blessed Mary,
\never virgin,
\nall the angels and saints,
\nand you,
\nmy brothers and sisters,
\nto pray for me to the Lord our God.<\/em> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nin my thoughts and in my words,
\nin what I have done,
\nand in what I have failed to do;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nOn Confession<\/a>.
\nOn Confession, Part II<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"