Imagine standing up in front of the whole church to make your confession! Although we don’t confess publicly now, we do acknowledge that we are confessing not only to God but to our brothers and sisters. Finally, notice that we confess to our “brothers and sisters.” In the early Church, confession was public. Notice that we confess not only what we’ve done, but what we’ve left undone. Notice that we confess not only our dark deeds, but our thoughts and words. It is important therefore to realize how expansive this offering of our sins really is. We should also open up the hidden places of our heart and let go of the poison. But in the Penitential Act we can bring to God much more than that. Too often we think of the Penitential Act simply as a recollection of the bad things we have done.
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault therefore I ask Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. There we join together and say the Confiteor: The first offering we make is in the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass.
#Ilift church how to#
The phrase is, “Let go and let God.” We need to learn how to offer up our guilt, our grudges, our fear, and our anxiety, and the structure of the Mass helps us to do so. There is a little phrase we’ve all heard time and again, and the reason we’ve heard it so often is because we need to hear it often. In fact, the whole point of Mass from beginning to end is to focus on the offering that is being made, and the way to see this is to consider four offerings that take place within the Mass.
#Ilift church free#
The beauty of God’s plan is that in the ordinary practice of our Catholic faith, we have been given all the tools to be free of the worries, grudges, and fears that weigh us down. The good news is that there is a simple and effective way to get rid of it. We don’t need this poison, and God doesn’t want us to be burdened with it. The truth is, worries, bitterness, and fear are like a dark poison in our lives.
#Ilift church full#
Not only do people carry grudges in their hearts, but they carry hearts full of worries, fears, and anxieties. One of the most common stumbling blocks I encounter in Catholics’ ability to live their faith to the fullest is the inability to forgive. Part one is “The Mass: Praising & Processing.” Part two is “ The Mass: The Living Word.” Part three is “The Mass: Psalms & Hymns & Spiritual Songs.”
#Ilift church series#
Longenecker’s series in which he explains the deeper significance of the elements of the Catholic Mass. Give full voice to the praise and joy that you feel in your heart.EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth part of Fr.
It feels the way God intended it to feel. When I gather in worship with God’s people, there are times when I feel so deeply that I must lift my hands to God, just as I lift my voice to God. Of course not! We want to give expression to our hearts. Your team scores! They win! The whole place erupts. Hands and arms fly up! People shout and holler, clap and roar! Your team throws a desperation pass to the end zone. You want to express with all you are – heart, voice and body – what you feel inside, the depths of your praise and joy. Or you want to clap or stand or kneel or dance. You want to give expression with your voice and with your hands. You feel something inside and you want to give expression to these feelings of joy and praise. You feel something, something deep in your heart. There are times when you want to raise your hands to God above because this is the natural expression of joy and worship in your heart. Down deep, there are times when you want to lift your hands to God. It’s not you!Īll of that is understandable, but there is more to be said. You don’t want to feel pressured to raise your hands. Perhaps this idea of raising your hands in worship is foreign to you.
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