Everything that has been said so far, especially praying the Rosary and meditating on its mysteries, as well as praying with Mary and praying to the Holy Spirit, had only one meaning: to prepare our hearts to meet the Divine guest. Now we will continue to meditate on individual parts of the Mass and try to pray with our hearts each time. Lord, have mercy… The beginning of each Mass is marked by the confession of sins and a prayer for mercy to flow into our souls, for our sins to be forgiven, for our souls to be healed and for us to be able to participate worthily in the liturgical sacrifice. Our confession of our weaknesses is at the same time the triumph of God’s mercy.We are permitted to come and confess that we have sinned in thought, word, deed, and failure of duty, and God does not judge us, but turns all this to the glory of His mercy, forgiving and thus admitting us to the feast of His Son. Reconciliation, requests for forgiveness also aim at peace with God and peace with people. To be forgiven, we must forgive. In order to be shown mercy, we must be merciful. The Eucharist, the Holy Mass is a feast, a meal. Experience says that we cannot be at the same table with someone who has not forgiven us or whom we have not forgiven. Therefore, first we will ask: Lord, have mercy and forgive, and I forgive everyone and want to be in unity with everyone. We repent for our thoughts, because he who allows himself bad thoughts and intentions, even if he hides them in his heart, is responsible for them, since they are always the manifestation or fruit of an evil heart. We are called to resist any bad thought, desire or intention. Any wavering or flirting with evil leads deeper into evil and sin. We repent for our words, because they are a continuation of our bad thoughts and their development, and a bad word kills, injures, leads astray, brings darkness. A bad word is as dangerous as a double-edged sword.This includes not only the empty words spoken, but also the kind words that we wanted to speak, but did not find strength, courage or enough wisdom or peace: every advice, word of comfort or instruction that we did not say, we include in repentance for words. All that we have done badly, we include in this penance as a pre
paration for meeting in the Eucharist. Every heart and soul easily feels what a bad deed means, either to oneself, to others, to God, or to creation in general.  It is harder to feel the dereliction that happens to us, because it does not mean that we are doing something bad, but to feel that we could have done better. When a person begins to feel that he has failed to fulfill his duty and repents for it, then this is a real sign that he is on the true spiritual path. It would be good to include the sins of family, friends, the Church and the world in personal repentance, and to ask for God’s forgiveness and mercy for them. The rite of repentance is a deeply human and Christian act. It should be personal and conscious. Therefore, any superficiality is unworthy of a person. It should be personal and conscious, because it is always a new beginning. Therefore, it is good to remember that the great Divine sign is love, God’s forgiveness. In the Holy Mass, sufficient space should always be given to this rite, confession of sin and recognition of God’s mercy. The danger is that it can turn into an empty formality, beyond which there is no change. We should not begin Mass unless someone in the community is ready to forgive or repent. If this does not happen, then the question arises about the purpose of the entire service.Sacrifice of time and seriousness, repentance, sorrow, but at the same time openness to God’s mercy should mark the beginning of the Mass in the heart of every believer and priest.

We pray…

O God, merciful Father! Thank you for waiting for me like a good Father. I came with my sins, with my traumas and fears, with my bitterness and troubles – personal, family, and community. Embrace me, Father! Let the beginning of this liturgical sacrifice become for me a meeting with You. This world and everything that is happening is exhausting me because there is no love in it. Now I want to immerse myself in Your love and learn to glorify and praise You.