The Introductory Rites, So Far

Past weeks have covered the opportunity for a few moments of silent prayer and reflection after entering the church, the use of incense, the priest kissing the altar, the Sign of the Cross, the invitation to call to mind our sins, the Penitential Act, and the “Gloria” in which we join the hymn of the angelic hosts and bless, praise, adore and glorify the Triune God.
 
In these first few minutes of the Mass, the Introductory Rites, we come into relationship with God by marking ourselves with the Sign of the Cross. These first words of the Mass, spoken together by priest and people, remind us that we were all immersed “in the name” of the Triune God at our baptism and we now entrust this Mass to that same name. We then come into relationship with the priest who in the Apostolic greeting extends grace and peace from God to the people. We come into an intimate and caring relationship with each other present at the Mass, especially through the “Confiteor” of the Penitential Act in which we confess our sins not only to God but to each other, “to you, my brothers and sisters,” and we also pray for each other: “I ask … you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.” In the “Confiteor,” we also enter into relationship with the saints and angels as we ask “Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints” to pray for us, before we join in the angelic song of the “Gloria” which begins with a refrain from our Lord’s incarnation. At this point it is clear that the people gathered together, the priest, and the entire Church beyond limits of time and space, including the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, and even the angels, are all ready to enter into the great mystery of the encounter with God in the Mass.
 
After all of this preparation, standing humbly in the presence of God, for the first time in the Mass the priest invites us all to pray together, first in silence and then with the Opening Prayer or Collect: “Let us pray.”