"I Confress"

At the beginning of the Mass, after the Greeting, we have the Penitential Rite, which gives us time for reflection. As we gather for worship, we think about our sin, and use this opportunity to set aside anything in our lives that would separate us from God. The Penitential Rite is not a replacement for sacramental Confession; rather, it is a way we prepare for the Sacrifice of the Mass more completely.

With the New Roman Missal, the rite will sound a little different. While the part where we say “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy” – the Kyrie – is not changing, the Confiteor is. The Confiteor is the prayer that begins, “I confess.” The biggest change in the Confiteor occurs in the middle of the prayer, where we will now say, “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.” This translation of the Latin text preserves the original poetic repetition. We see this literary tool in other texts of the Mass: for example, the repetition of “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world” before Communion.

When we say the Confiteor together as a community, there is a gesture which accompanies this prayer: the striking of the breast. This is not a new gesture; it has long been a rubric in the English translation of the Roman Missal, and if you look at the prayer in the missal, you will see the instruction. When saying “through my fault,” a person strikes the breast once. This is an ancient gesture expressing sorrow and is a sign of contrition. In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, for example, Ephraim pleads to the Lord, saying, “I turn in repentance; I have come to myself, I strike my breast.”

After the Confiteor, the priest says a prayer that begins “May almighty God have mercy on us…”, at which point many people make the Sign of the Cross, which is what we do in the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation after being absolved of our sins. Is it appropriate to do this? The short answer is no. In the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation, we make the Sign of the Cross as the priest speaks the words of absolution. The words of absolution are not spoken in the Penitential Rite and the intention is not the same as that found in the Sacrament. Because blessing ourselves after reciting the Confiteor sends a mixed message, we should not be making the Sign of the Cross at that point.

As we prepare for our Eucharistic celebration, we understand that the Penitential Act is a communal recognition of our sinfulness and an act of praise for God’s mercy and forgiveness.