E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS, 33
and to you, brethren, adds the priest, revealing
his sinfulness to the congregation, that I have
sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed,
which embrace all sins, as those of omission may be
classed under thought, for wilful omission is impos
sible without thought or determination. Next comes
the petition to the saints already mentioned, to inter
cede for the priest, Therefore, I beseech, &c. Then
follows the Miseveatuv by the server, the confession by
the server, and the absolving prayer by the priest :
May Almighty God have mercy on you,
forgive you your sins, and bring you to life ever
lasting and signing himself with the sign of the
Cross, the priest says May the Almighty and
merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and
remission of our sins.
Both prayers are by way of supplication, they are
not authoritative, they are not absolution strictly so
called as in the confessional when the priest forgives by
a judicial sentence. In the confessional the priest
forgives in the Mass he begs we may be forgiven.
Further the priest cannot forgive his own sins ; but in
the Indulgentiam he says peccatorum nostrorum (our
thus this
sins) and makes himself a part of the people ;
prayer is shown to be a simple petition.
Next, slightly bowing, the priest recites these
versicles from the 84th Psalm Thou wilt turn
again, O God, and quicken us. And Thy people
shall rejoice in Thee.
another earnest request
In the next versicle is
Show us, O Lord, Thy
mercy and grant us Thy salvation, that is, Thy
grace through Jesus Christ, by whom alone we can be
saved the words ; O Lord, hear my prayer, and let
my cry come unto Thee, express the earnestness of
D