Have you heard the phrase mea culpa? Someone makes a mistake and says, “Mea Culpa.” They are two Latin words which mean “My fault.” And if you really want to show deep sorrow for a mistake, someone might say, “Mea maxima culpa,” meaning “My most grievous fault.”
Do you know where that phrase comes from? It is from the Latin mass, specifically from the preparatory rite, called the Confiteor, at the beginning of the mass. The prayer is a prayer of confession and was written in the 8th century. So if you make a mistake and own up to it by saying, “Mea Culpa,” you’re using a phrase borrowed from your own religious tradition, and that phrase is some 1400 years old!
It comes to mind today for me because we use the prayer from which that phrase comes before many of our masses. While you folks are sitting out here in the nave before mass saying your prayers, those of us who will be exercising leadership in the liturgy or administering communion are saying prayers in the sacristy. Those prayers consist of saying psalms 42 and 43, plus a Gloria Patri, a confession, and a few versicles and responses. It’s all in English, of course, but my favorite prayer is the one that has the phrase “My fault” in it, which originally, as I said, was mea culpa.
Let me recite that prayer for you: “I confess to God Almighty, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned exceedingly by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault. Wherefore I beg blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the
Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.”
I love that prayer, because it says so much in just a couple of sentences. It is a strong affirmation of the resurrection, for the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and Peter and Paul would not be people we would ask to pray for us if they weren’t alive. It is an affirmation of our belief in angels, for it includes Michael the Archangel. It speaks of the reality of the Church extending beyond this life and going all the way back to the time when Jesus walked the earth. It gives the Virgin Mary a place of prominence among the saints, for she is mentioned first, before John the Baptist, before even the Archangel.
All of that is proclaimed in that prayer, aside from the point of the prayer, and that is that I have sinned by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault. That confession is not just to Almighty God, but to all the saints who have gone before as well as to the church here on earth.
We tend to think of sin as a private affair. In fact, we don’t want anyone to know our sin. Sin is a dish served best in the dark. And yet, sin is never a private matter. It always is not only against God, but also against anyone who might be hurt by it. If I go to a department store and lift a piece of candy from a shelf, stick it in my pocket, and walk out the door without paying for it, I am sinning not only against the owner of that store, but also against anyone who ever buys anything from that store, because everyone who patronizes it pays a higher price for everything in it in order to cover the losses incurred by people who shoplift. So I may have stolen the candy with nobody seeing me except God, but my theft was anything but a private matter. It affected countless people.
And what do I confess in that prayer? That I have sinned by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault. If ever a prayer was more needed in our 21st century, it is this one, written 1400 years ago. We don’t believe in sin any more as a society, and if we do acknowledge it, it’s got to be someone else’s fault. I stole that candy because I was deprived as a child; I’m addicted to stealing, I couldn’t help myself; the owner of the store treated me badly, I was just getting even; whatever the
reason, it’s not my fault, my own fault, my own most grievous fault. And yet, whatever the reason, when we sin we have chosen to do so. The responsibility is ours, and ours alone. That prayer makes that truth abundantly clear. I have sinned by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault.
It is appropriate that we begin Lent with a service of confession. After all, the reason for the Incarnation was human sin. God sent his only begotten Son into the world “to the end that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Why would we perish? Because of our sin. As we prepare in Lent to celebrate the Paschal Mystery, we start by recalling those sins for which our Lord died on the cross.
Sin is anything but a private matter. When we sin by our own fault, we sin against God, against Blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed the Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and every member of the Church. That’s what we are acknowledging today, not to wallow in our sin, but to put it behind us, that God may forgive us, and we may start afresh in learning what it means to be the holy people of God.