Bulletins

February 10, 2013

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As familiar as many of us are with the Traditional Form of Holy Mass, Pope Benedict XVI on 7 July 2007 also provided for wider availability of all the sacraments according to their earlier usage. Even if one might not avail himself of them, they are instructive and inspiring. In this form of the Sacrament of Penance, when we begin our confession by saying “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned”, the confessor responds by saying “The Lord be in your heart and on your lips, that you may rightly confession your sins. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” After confessing our sins we may receive some advice before the priest tells us our penance and then gives us absolution in a Latin formula that in English says:

May almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and lead you to everlasting life. Amen.

May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon, absolution, + and remission of your sins. Amen.

May our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you. And I by His authority release you from every bond of excommunication and interdict, in so far as I am empowered and you have need. And now I absolve you from your sins; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

If we had not said our Confiteor or our Act of Contrition before going into the confessional, it would be prayed while the priest says the words of absolution.

Immediately following is a “Prayer of Indulgence” which some of us have heard with increasing regularity in our ordinary confessions. It offers beautiful insight into the dispositions of soul which we must maintain if the sacramental grace we have received is to continue to bring forth its fruit within us:

May the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, and all the good you do and the suffering you endure, gain for you the remission of your sins, increase of grace, and the reward of everlasting life. Amen.

An old manual says of this last invocation “This prayer of the Church’s minster in the liturgical action of the sacrament is very effective for the remission of those temporal punishments which we still have to undergo after our sins have been forgiven,” a helpful reminder before we begin our observance of Lent.

God bless you.

Fr. Christopher J. Pollard