O Lord, in the multitude of thy mercies I will enter thy house, and adore thee in thy holy temple and confess to thy name. Though my sins are without number, I have still thy goodness to appeal to, I have still a confidence in the sufferings of my Redeemer, and hope, through his infinite merits, to find mercy, grace, and salvation. Thou, O dear Jesus, hast washed me once in baptism; wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins. Sprinkle me with the hyssop of thy blood, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
Explanation.
"The priest bowing down before the altar, and saying the Confiteor, represents our Saviour loaded with the sins of mankind, prostrate at his prayers in the garden, and falling into a bloody sweat and most painful agony. The priest going up to the altar and kissing it, represents our Saviour going to meet his enemies, and receiving the treacherous kiss from Judas. When he goes to the book at the corner of the Epistle, forms the sign of the cross, and reads the Introit, he represents our Saviour seized, bound, and led captive to the courts of Annas and Caiphas, where he was struck across the face, blindfolded, buffeted, spit upon, and treated with the greatest indignity, by the servants of the high priest, as if he were a mock prophet."
Prayer At The Introit And Kyrie.
Blessed be thou, O Jesus, for all thou hast suffered for our redemption. It is but just that my sins should draw tears from my eyes, since they have drawn streams of blood from thy veins. I desire to join the most humble contrition of my soul with thy agony in the garden, and resolve to be sorry for my sins, even unto the hour of my death. My heart is pierced with grief to think that I have repaid thy goodness with such ingratitude; but until I cease to live, I will never cease to cry, with the humble publican: O God be propitious to me a sinner. May those bonds that tied thy innocent hands, loosen the chains of my sins, break the fetters of my iniquities, deliver me from the captivity of Satan, and restore me to the sweet liberty of thy children, that I may be enabled to cry out with thy prophet: Thou hast broken my chains: I will sacrifice to thee an host of praise. I cast myself at thy feet, and beseech thee by thy infinite charity, to strengthen me with thy all-powerful grace under all trials and afflictions. Never suffer me to betray thy sacred truths, or to take part with the world against thee. Grant that when any tribulation or anguish shall assault me, I may receive it with humility like unto thine, and with a true submission and resignation to thy heavenly Father's will. Grant that under the severest scourges I may call upon thee as a father, confide in thee as a father, and seek no comfort out of thee. Remember me at my last hour, when the terrors of death shall begin to seize me; then let thy angels comfort me; then let the memory of thy sufferings support me against all apprehensions, that no fear of death or judgment may ever lessen the hope I ought to repose in thee.
Explanation.
"The repetition of the Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, &c. (that is, Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us,) three times, in honour of each of the three Divine Persons, reminds us that Christ was denied three times by St. Peter. The Dominus vobiscum, or, Our Lord be with you, which is the usual salutation in the scriptures, and which the priest says after the Gloria in Excelsis, it being the greatest of all blessings for the Lord to be with us, and we with him, reminds us how Peter was touched with repentance, when Christ cast a glance of his merciful eyes upon him. The aforesaid hymn, which a choir of angels sung in the air at our Saviour's birth, denotes the joy that is in heaven among the angels upon the conversion of a sinner, The Kyries also remind us of the longing desires of the holy fathers for the coming of the Messiah. The Gloria represents Christ's nativity. The Collects, Epistle, and Gospel, his prayers, miracles, and preaching.—The priest returning to the epistle side of the altar, and reading the Collects and the Lesson, represents Christ sent by Caiphas to Pilate, after being falsely accused and unjustly condemned by the Sanhedrin of the Jews. Then the priest goes to the middle of the altar, and humbly bowing himself down, prays in silence. This represents Christ conducted to Herod, and interrogated and scoffed at by him, without returning the least answer, or saying a word to justify himself. The priest going to the gospel side of the altar, and returning to the middle to make a profession of faith, by repeating the Nicene Creed, represents Christ sent back to Pilate in a fool's dress, and professing that he came to bear witness to the truth, and that his kingdom is not of this world. The removal of the Mass-book from the right to the left side of the altar, signifies that the new law of the gospel being rejected by the Jews, who were the first called, was preached to the Gentiles, who embraced it with joy, and were converted to the Christian religion in great multitudes. The lighted candles are emblems of their spiritual joy and of God's glory, and denote the light of faith which Christ brought to the world by his gospel.—At the beginning of the gospel, the priest and the people make the sign of the cross, first upon their foreheads, to signify that they are not ashamed of the cross of Christ, nor of his doctrine; secondly, upon their mouths, to denote that they are ready to profess it openly by word of mouth; and thirdly, upon their breasts, to signify that they will always preserve it carefully in their hearts. The people rise up and stand during the gospel, to show by this posture their readiness to go and practise whatever they shall be commanded by the word of God."