Cool Opening Prayer at Mass yesterday (Sunday)

"we, who are bowed down by our conscience,
may always be lifted up by your mercy."

Above is taken from the Collect, or Opening Prayer for Sunday Mass yesterday.

How often during Mass do we go through many of the prayers and rarely pay much attention to them?  We pay attention to the readings and the Eucharistic Prayers, but are we really focused and listen to the other prayers being offered?
If we don't pay much attention to these other prayers, we are really missing out.

The part of the prayer I am pointing out is beautiful, humbling and powerful.

Guilt can at times get the best of us... not a bad thing, but if we are not open to the mercy of God, we deprive ourselves of so many graces and beauty that God desires us to enjoy.

The image of us being bowed down by our conscience is powerful.  It pictures us in a broken state that acknowledges a separation from God. That separation is never fun and can impact so many other areas of our life.  Basically, it can put us in a very sour mood and we feel unworthy of enjoying anything good and positive.

God does not desire us to live in such guilt, shame and misery. He wants us to live in joyful freedom.  So, in His mercy, He forgives us and raises us up.

That's great, now we can have the best of both worlds right? After all, we can have as much fun as we want, then ask for mercy from God, right?

Good luck with that one. God is merciful, not a doormat we can walk all over without consequences.

If we are truly sorry for having done wrong, we can seek out His mercy and do our best to live a better, holier life. We have to want to do better, knowing that as difficult it is to live a holy life, it is so worth it. A clean conscience and a life of service to God and others brings an infinite greater amount of joy and peace. The sacrifices are real, but the rewards are out of this world.

We, who are bowed down by our conscience,
may always be lifted up by Your mercy.

AMEN!

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