Part 1: Opening the Doors
In Part 1, I discussed how the Sign of the Cross was like our oath. But an oath to what? If it's a trial, who is the defendant? We are.
That means we've done something wrong. Unlike a human courtroom, we're not out to prove our innocence. We're going to confess and beg mercy. And that's exactly what we do.
"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."
We don't try to hide our guilt. We publicly announce that we are guilty...not only of things we've done that we shouldn't have but of things we haven't done that we should've. We don't try to justify it, but rather declare three times that it was entirely "through my fault".
Then, we do the only thing we can. We pray for forgiveness.
And you know what? God does it. Immediately after that, we go right into the Gloria, praising God for fulfilling the prayer we just asked. We know that God is a God of mercy and answers our prayers even as we ask of Him. So with loud voices we acclaim that "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will."
That's not the only place we find that phrase, though. We first hear it in Luke 2, as the angels announce the birth of Christ to the shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace for those on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14).
When we recite that Gloria, we're not just singing a song. We're proclaiming the same prayer the angels prayed on the first Christmas. We should let it well up within us and truly praise, just as it did those many years ago.
Part 3: Word
Part 3: Word
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