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Mea culpa
By Jean S. Charles
“And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat… The cherubim shall spread out their wings out above...[Their] faces [shall be turned] one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Ex 25:18-20)
" Let us proclaim the Mystery of faith:" All of us pew-faithful are familiar with this saying that is followed by the strumming guitar riff.
Response:" When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory.
One day singing, I hadn’t closed my lips yet, I felt a sudden discomfort as if some one punched me in the solar plexus. And a surge of indignation filled my entire being. After the service, suspicious we were being fed stones, I went to explain to close friends with whom I can confide. They made up answers. I let it slide. This revelation came back to hunt me after much study of the Vatican II phenomenon. In fact the above response is in error – it’s blasphemous. Compared to the words of Consecration, the response proclaimed by the people – their acknowledgement of the “mystery of faith” -- is distorted.
At this point, the church turns around, asking us mortals to innocently proclaim a heresy, as if we know better than Jesus himself what has taken place at the Consecration. Who is cunning who, here? Who is abusing whom, this time? This is in fact paving our way to perdition and hell. There are no cherubim here. The statement as translated, if not properly understood, denies the Real Presence.
The “mystery of faith,” however, has been defined magisterially by Paul VI himself, the architect of Vatican II, in his encyclical “Mysterium fidei.” Here is the true meaning of mystery of faith found in the consecration words of the Catholic Church for close to two thousand years past.
For this is the chalice of my blood, of the new and eternal testament: the mystery of faith: which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins.
I confess to Almighty God, to Blessed Virgin Mary, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, that I have sinned exceedingly in though, word and deed: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Pray for me, to the Lord our God.