Beginning With Thanks

When we gather for Mass, we gather to give God thanks and praise.  At the beginning of Mass we begin with two elements that reflect thanks and praise; they are the Penitential Rite and the Glory to God.

It can be easy to misunderstand the purpose of the Penitential Rite at Mass.  The Penitential Rite is neither a replacement for the Sacrament of Reconciliation (which is why we don’t make the sign-of-the-cross at the end of it), nor is it about making us feel terrible about our sinfulness.  That would not help us to enter into a spirit of celebration as we begin the Mass.

While we do acknowledge our sinfulness, we do so in light of the wonder of God’s forgiveness.  The emphasis is less on our sins than it is on God’s merciful love.  We are here because God has forgiven our sins.  We are here because of God’s grace poured out in our lives.  We don’t deserve this gift, but we rejoice in God’s goodness and love.

Because of this, the Penitential Rite serves to remind us of a basic reason we have to give thanks to God.  The emphasis is on the reconciliation Christ has won for us rather than on our sins.  Listen, for example, to the language used for the third form of the Penitential Rite:

You were sent to heal the contrite;
you came to call sinners;
you plead for us at the Father’s right hand;

The Penitential Rite always focuses on God’s forgiveness.  This gives us good reason to give God thanks.

Sometimes, like during the Easter Season, we replace the Penitential Rite with the Sprinkling Rite.  This ritual action reminds us of our baptism, which freed us from the power of sin and made us God’s adopted children.  This rite, too, leads us to express our gratitude to God for forgiveness and for new life.

Most Sundays after the Penitential or Sprinkling Rite we take time to praise God with the ancient hymn known as the Gloria.  This is a song of almost pure praise to God, with only two general requests for God to have mercy on us and to hear our prayer.  It reminds us of the wonder of God and the privilege it is for us to come into God’s presence.  Like the Penitential Rite, the Gloria leads us to give God Thanks and Praise.