26th Sunday of the Year – 25th Sept 2011
TRUE GREATNESS
Last week in this newsletter we considered the sign of the cross, and our baptismal promises. This week we shall consider the Confiteor.
Before the Penitential Rite we should consider the place of God in our lives in the previous week and that first call to love Him in those Baptismal promises.
The new translation of the Confiteor (“I confess…”) says that “I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words,” rather than, “I have sinned through my own fault.” Moreover it also says, “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault”. Does this mean we are a lot more sinful now than we used to be? No, because the guiding principle of the translation is a closer adherence to the words in Latin which has been maintained in most other languages.
The new translation allows us to express more grandly the seriousness of our sin and the sincerity of our contrition. It offers us a humbler way to recollect ourselves before moving any further into prayer and ultimately presenting ourselves for Holy Communion. After all, which is more grievous – having had a minor spat with a neighbour or the fact that we have denied God and His Sabbath, and/or His teaching in other ways? The latter, surely. Yet the former is easier to confess. Better to ask pardon of the “great” sins too.
Someone recently observed that so many people come to Holy Communion here that I must hear a lot of confessions. Well, there aren’t that many penitents. Let each of us consider our grievous faults in the face of this extraordinary gift that is given us – the sacrifice of God for man – and embrace that it is my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault that, “I am not worthy that You [the Lamb of God] should enter under my roof.” And yet be convinced of the mercy and glory of God (as I was told in Confession on Thursday), that if He [the Lamb of God], “only say the word…my soul shall be healed.” Having recollected ourselves, and made a good confession at the earliest convenience, may each of us enter the celebration of Mass in a spirit of true thanksgiving. Now that would be a sign of our true greatness in this world, acknowledging that the Eucharist – that greatest of Mysteries – is a privilege we enjoy, not a right we deserve. Fr Kevin
Last week in this newsletter we considered the sign of the cross, and our baptismal promises. This week we shall consider the Confiteor.
Before the Penitential Rite we should consider the place of God in our lives in the previous week and that first call to love Him in those Baptismal promises.
The new translation of the Confiteor (“I confess…”) says that “I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words,” rather than, “I have sinned through my own fault.” Moreover it also says, “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault”. Does this mean we are a lot more sinful now than we used to be? No, because the guiding principle of the translation is a closer adherence to the words in Latin which has been maintained in most other languages.
The new translation allows us to express more grandly the seriousness of our sin and the sincerity of our contrition. It offers us a humbler way to recollect ourselves before moving any further into prayer and ultimately presenting ourselves for Holy Communion. After all, which is more grievous – having had a minor spat with a neighbour or the fact that we have denied God and His Sabbath, and/or His teaching in other ways? The latter, surely. Yet the former is easier to confess. Better to ask pardon of the “great” sins too.
Someone recently observed that so many people come to Holy Communion here that I must hear a lot of confessions. Well, there aren’t that many penitents. Let each of us consider our grievous faults in the face of this extraordinary gift that is given us – the sacrifice of God for man – and embrace that it is my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault that, “I am not worthy that You [the Lamb of God] should enter under my roof.” And yet be convinced of the mercy and glory of God (as I was told in Confession on Thursday), that if He [the Lamb of God], “only say the word…my soul shall be healed.” Having recollected ourselves, and made a good confession at the earliest convenience, may each of us enter the celebration of Mass in a spirit of true thanksgiving. Now that would be a sign of our true greatness in this world, acknowledging that the Eucharist – that greatest of Mysteries – is a privilege we enjoy, not a right we deserve. Fr Kevin
posted by Sinead Reekie at 9:47 am