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My sacrifice is this broken spirit, you will not scorn this crushed and broken heart (Ps 51:17).

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We have just announced with the entrance song that Christ is with us and we are ready to unite ourselves to him, who is the Good Shepherd and King of Eternal Glory. These titles make us understand: first, the spirit of confidence with which we have to approach him, and, second, that sacred respect and reverence which pervades the heavenly liturgy.

Who would not revere and praise your name, O Lord? You alone are holy, and all the pagans will come and adore you for the many acts of justice you have shown" (Rev 15:4).

We feel now more than ever the need for purification, for penance. We welcome the invitation of the priest,

And then silence....We seem to hear the words of Isaiah: "Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool" (Is 1:18).

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The penitential rite before the Eucharist is of the greatest antiquity. One of the oldest pieces of evidence about liturgical matters which we possess, the Didache (or Teaching of the Apostles), shows us that this penitential rite was already the practice among Christians at the beginning of the second century: "On the Lord's day, we meet together; break the bread and give thanks, after having first confessed our sins so that our sacrifice may be pure." These words echo what St Paul wrote one century earlier: "Let every man examine himself, before he eat of this bread."

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The penitential rite makes us aware of our unworthiness. It is not an abstract reminder of guilt, but the actual realization and admission of our sins and weaknesses. We ask pardon for our sins as we say,

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We grovel and accuse ourselves of our sins in the sight of heaven.

Now you realize how much you have made Jesus suffer, and you are filled with sorrow. How easy it is to ask his pardon and weep for your past betrayals! Such is your longing for atonement that you cannot contain it in your breast!

Fine. But don't forget that the spirit of penance consists mainly in the fulfillment of the duty of each moment, however costly it may be.[1]

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We have sinned not only before heaven, but also in the sight of the earth. Every sin you or I commit lets down the whole Christian community, doesn't it? Just as you apologize to your partner when you have made a perfectly rotten stroke at tennis, so when you have sinned you want to apologize to your fellow Christians; for you have let them all down.

There is a too common tendency to want to deny or to excuse our wrong‑doing and to put the blame for it on someone else: We accuse others in order to excuse ourselves, we reproach others for having incited us to do wrong. We resort to these wretched subterfuges, which deceive no one, merely to lead ourselves astray with them.

Let us take a good honest look at our own lives. How is it that sometimes we just can't find those few minutes it would take to finish lovingly the work we have to do, which is the very means of our sanctification? Why do we neglect our family duties? Why that tendency to rush through our prayers, or through the holy sacrifice of the Mass? How are we so lacking in calm and serenity when it comes to fulfilling the duties of our state, and yet so unhurried as we indulge in our own whims? You might say these are trifling matters. You are right, they are, but these trifles are the oil, the fuel we need to keep our flame alive and our light shining.[2]

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Now that we are before God, let us begin by being sincere,

This act of deep repentance, a mea culpa, when the hand strikes the breast, is an old biblical gesture. It brings consolation to the sinner in his racking sorrow; for is it not written that the humble man's prayer pierces the clouds and that he shall be heard before the Most High?[3]

The Church in heaven and the Church on earth are witnesses to our sin, and we beg their brotherly help in interceding for our pardon. First, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who never sinned; because "to Jesus we always go, and to him we always return, through Mary."[4] Then, we ask all the angels, who fought against the pride of the rebellious ones; all the saints, who were also sinners; all Christians on earth to pray for us so that we be truly sorry for our sins.

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The missal carries three forms of the penitential rite. At the end of each, the priest takes refuge with his brethren in the mercy of God:

The penitential rite of the Mass is not a sacramental confession; therefore, it does not bring immediate remission of mortal sins. Forgiveness of mortal sins has to be obtained in the sacrament of penance. It is also important to remember that a person who has committed a mortal sin cannot go to Communion unless he goes to confession beforehand. But the penitential rite, if it is said with true contrition, helps to obtain pardon for present venial sins, as well as to stir up new sorrow for past sins that have already been forgiven. In this way, it helps us to purify ourselves and so to take better part in the Holy Mass.[5]

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"Amen", we answer. Our soul overcomes the shame of contemplating our impurities before God's splendor.

For Sunday Masses, it is possible to have the blessing and sprinkling with holy water in place of the penitential rite. The Kyrie is also omitted. This is a visible reminder of our baptism and of the need for purification from the stains of sins we committed after baptism.

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Sorrow for our sins. The greatest saints never ceased to foster and advocate this most holy interior disposition. In their souls, it was something much greater than a series of isolated acts of passing impulses. The expressions of deep sorrow that they often uttered were nothing more than outward signs of a permanent and stable inward attitude eager to find an outlet.

Indeed, God's generosity towards these great souls makes them acknowledge all the more sorrowfully the enormity of their ingratitude toward him. In the splendor of the divine light, the slightest shadow seems monstrous darkness, the slightest fault seems an enormous crime....So, we should always live in a state of repentance, until the last moment of our life, and not let even one day pass without trying to blot out our faults with tears of sorrow. Is it not true that we forget our miseries very quickly, with a levity at times quite frightening?

I do not ask you, far from it, to think of them all the time, so that they become an obsession with you, sapping all your healthy energies. No, but lament them every day in your prayer, in a general way, without trying to remember particular instances: for this would only weaken your true repentance. Then, lift up your eyes to the Lord of mercy.

Would it not be a very good thing to ask pardon for your faults precisely during those moments when the penitential rite is being said, genuinely convinced that you too contributed to the passion of your Lord; and to humiliate yourself, like the priest and with the priest, every time he humiliates himself during the Mass?[6]

1. J. Escriva de Balaguer, The Way of the Cross (New York: Scepter, 1983), p. 81.

2. J. Escriva de Balaguer, Friends of God, no. 41.

3. Sir 35:16‑17

4. J. Escriva de Balaguer, The Way, no. 495.

5. See Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pastoral Norms concerning the Administration of the General Sacramental Absolution (July 1972), no. 1. See also C. Burke, The Mass Explained (Manila: Sinag‑Tala, 1986), p. 5.

6. Bernard Vasconcelos, Your Mass, (New York: Scepter, 1960), pp. 22‑23.

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