WHAT WE PRAY SHAPES WHAT WE BELIEVE

At World Youth Day last month, Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, gave us a new “doctor” of the Church — St. John of Avila, a 16th-century priest and spiritual writer.

St. John used to say that the Mass contains the whole history of salvation. In the Mass, he once wrote: “You will see a semblance of the love shown in our Lord’s incarnation, nativity, life and death … These mysteries are renewed in the Holy Sacrifice of the altar.”

The new translation of the Mass that we will begin using this Advent helps us to better express and experience this beautiful truth.

In the Mass, each one of us receives the gift of communion with God in the Body and Blood of his Son. That was the purpose of God’s loving plan for history. That is why he sent his only begotten Son into the world.

So when we go to Mass we should be filled with joy. We are drawing near to God — and he is drawing near to us! This should make us happy. But also humble and contrite, because we realize that we are not yet the holy people God wants us to be.

That is why we confess our sins and ask our Father’s mercy at the start of every Mass.

In our new translation we return to the ancient way of praying for God’s pardon and strength.

We will now pray: “I have greatly sinned … through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.”

As we pray these words, we will strike our breasts lightly over our hearts with our right fist. This is a beautiful gesture found in the Bible that symbolizes how sorry we are for our sins.

Older Catholics will remember that this is the way they used to pray the Latin “Confiteor” (“I confess”).

And I believe that if we pray this prayer sincerely, it can help us grow in our spiritual lives. It will give us greater humility. It will remind us that we always need God’s help and that we always need to respond to the graces he gives us.

Praying these words will also help us to grow in confidence that God is always with us. It will help us to trust that ...