Penitential Rite
I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I
have sinned through my own fault in my thoughts and in my words, in what
I have done, and in what I have failed to do;
Everyone has pieces of their childhood that hold special meaning. One of mine is a section from the Penitential Rite of the Catholic mass. I just liked that the congregation was owning up to the fact that they were all imperfect, that there was no one else to blame but themselves. Me being me, it tickled my funny own that it was intoned in the usual American Catholic monotone.
Quick aside - just about every Catholic church I've gone to is peopled by the least enthusiastic congregations when it comes to participation either by spoken word or song. We once had a French transplant who came to our school and would routinely outsing the entire student body at grade school masses. It took years, but eventually she stopped singing so loudly. Go us.
My quiet moments involve revisiting and beating myself up over mistakes that I made in the distant past. Wrong words written, thoughtless thoughts thunk, dastardly deeds done, stinging statements said, optimal options omitted [yeah - don't give me too long to write something]. My thoughts, my words, what I've done, what I've failed to do. The sole plus I can find in all this is that if I ever need to complete a 12-step program, I'll have a good start on the list of people that I've hurt and/or offended.
But at what point, should I forget this stuff and leave it behind? Do my actions from when I was in fifth grade and made fun of someone that I perceived as slightly farther down the class hierarchy impact the man that I am now? I'm sorry, Kelly. Maybe they do and that is why I keep thinking about them. It's not that all of my transgressions are that far removed from the present either.
I'm imperfect. I've sinned against others. And I have no one to blame but myself.
posted by mypetrock at 10:48 PM
3 Comments:
A Catholic's Perspective:
The rite continues:
"And I ask Blessed Mary, ever virgin,
All the angles and saints,
and you, my Brothers and Sisters,
To pray for me to the Lord, our God."
The remainder of the rite answers some of the questions. Not only do we admit our failures and the impacts those actions have had on our lives and of those affected by our actions but we also ask those same people and the leaders in our faith to pray, to assist our efforts, that we can learn from and grow from those same mistakes. We ask, indirectly from the rite, for forgiveness of those transgressions and an opportunity for reconciliation.
As a human, we gain an identity by our actions -- measured by honor in some cultures, achievements by the prevalent culture in the US -- and we will always seek to balance our self-identity with the historical identity. Revisiting history is not harmful until you choose to constrain yourself to that image.
More importantly, what lesson did you learn from those actions? How did they shape you? Why might that need to be revisited at this juncture?
Whatever is initiating this period of discernment in your life, know that I am there.
And I will "pray for [you] to the Lord, our God."
All words have meaning and power; some words have more meaning and power than others. Several words that have separate meanings when they are spelled capitalized and not capitalized are the words god and the word mass
We understand the word god when it is lower cased as meaning a symbol, person, object or thing which becomes the chief love, aspiration or interest for another. Some such examples: a statue, money, interpretation of a book. Whereas the word God signifies the creator of the universe who is the ruler of all life and all that is in the universe and should be the principle focus of our love and worship.
When the word, mass, is not capitalized it has a very distinct meaning than when the word is capitalized.
With lower case letters, mass can be either a noun or an adjective, meaning a large amount, volume, great in magnitude, something with no definite shape or the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field. The word mass is further defined as the measure of how much matter an object or body contains - the total number of sub-atomic particles (electrons, protons and neutrons) that is in the object.
Whereas when the word mass is capitalized there is a whole different distinct meaning.
Mass capitalized: the Liturgy of the Eucharist especially in accordance with the traditional Latin rite.
The Mass is the celebration of the Eucharist which is the center of worshiping our God in heaven and deserves all our honor, reverence, respect and devotion.
As Catholics, we should make a point of using the proper spelling in all our correspondences and all other written forms of communication. We must give the word, Mass, its respected reverence, power and meaning for what it represents to us as followers of Christ. It is the Last Supper and Holy Sacrifice instituted by Jesus Christ for us and celebrated by us through the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
As Catholics, we must remember that the Mass is the focal point of all our celebrations. It is more than just an obligation that the Church requires us to do on the Sabbath; attendance at Mass should be an act of love. We show our love for God by all our actions when we attend the Eucharist feast which we call the Mass
How would we dress if we were to be invited to the White House, the Governor’s mansion, Buckingham Palace, or any other office or home of someone we honor or fear? Therefore when we are come to visit God who is our Creator to listen to what he has to say and dine with him we are attending the Eucharistic Feast, the Holy Mass, we must come dress in a respectful matter for this wonderful occasion. We are there not to be entertained, nor for a courtesy call on an old acquaintance from the past but to praise, honor, worship and give glory to the one who created the whole universe in which we live.
The Mass is the celebration of Jesus making His presence known to us.
All words have meaning and power; some words have more meaning and power than others. Several words that have separate meanings when they are spelled capitalized and not capitalized are the words god and the word mass
We understand the word god when it is lower cased as meaning a symbol, person, object or thing which becomes the chief love, aspiration or interest for another. Some such examples: a statue, money, interpretation of a book. Whereas the word God signifies the creator of the universe who is the ruler of all life and all that is in the universe and should be the principle focus of our love and worship.
When the word, mass, is not capitalized it has a very distinct meaning than when the word is capitalized.
With lower case letters, mass can be either a noun or an adjective, meaning a large amount, volume, great in magnitude, something with no definite shape or the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field. The word mass is further defined as the measure of how much matter an object or body contains - the total number of sub-atomic particles (electrons, protons and neutrons) that is in the object.
Whereas when the word mass is capitalized there is a whole different distinct meaning.
Mass capitalized: the Liturgy of the Eucharist especially in accordance with the traditional Latin rite.
The Mass is the celebration of the Eucharist which is the center of worshiping our God in heaven and deserves all our honor, reverence, respect and devotion.
As Catholics, we should make a point of using the proper spelling in all our correspondences and all other written forms of communication. We must give the word, Mass, its respected reverence, power and meaning for what it represents to us as followers of Christ. It is the Last Supper and Holy Sacrifice instituted by Jesus Christ for us and celebrated by us through the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
As Catholics, we must remember that the Mass is the focal point of all our celebrations. It is more than just an obligation that the Church requires us to do on the Sabbath; attendance at Mass should be an act of love. We show our love for God by all our actions when we attend the Eucharist feast which we call the Mass
How would we dress if we were to be invited to the White House, the Governor’s mansion, Buckingham Palace, or any other office or home of someone we honor or fear? Therefore when we are come to visit God who is our Creator to listen to what he has to say and dine with him we are attending the Eucharistic Feast, the Holy Mass, we must come dress in a respectful matter for this wonderful occasion. We are there not to be entertained, nor for a courtesy call on an old acquaintance from the past but to praise, honor, worship and give glory to the one who created the whole universe in which we live.
The Mass is the celebration of Jesus making His presence known to us.
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