A confession

In the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, the Confiteor was recited twice, first by the priest asking for prayers from the saints and the congregation --

Therefore I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and you, brethren, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

-- and then by the congregation asking for prayers from the saints and the priest:

Therefore I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and thee, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

In the Ordinary Form, the Confiteor is recited once, with everyone asking for prayers from the saints and the congregation (including, implicitly, the priest):

Therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

While the simplification in the Ordinary Form works for me in terms of both efficiency and sufficiency, I confess it took me more than forty years to figure out what we are really doing at the end of the prayer. We aren't, as I'd thought (if you'd call it "thought"), asking everyone present for prayers. The prayer isn't the Confweteor. I am asking each person present to pray for me -- and each person present is asking me to pray for him.

This is a profoundly humble act, if performed with conscious intent. I am saying to the other people at Mass -- to the Old Bore, and Mme. Screechowl, and even to the Dressliketheyrecleaningthegarage family -- that my sins are grievous enough that, not only am I willing to ask each of them for their prayers, but I believe their prayers will actually do me some good.

It's also a great responsibility, to be asked by each of them -- whom I ask to pray for me -- to pray for them to the Lord our God. What are my choices? To accept and act on that responsibility, or to shuck it. What would come of my own prayers, for myself and for those I love, if I don't accept and act?

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