Celebrating the Mass Lesson- Penitential Rite

(This lesson is in accordance with the new Roman Missal that is to be implemented on November 27, 2011.)

*Be sure to adjust this lesson to fit the needs of your students.


(Please take in consideration that I am just a Mom and I'm providing these lessons and activities to the best of my abilities. I will try to make them as accurate as possible, but I know I will make a few mistakes and it was not intentional.)



The Mass continues with the Penitential Rite. The Penitential Rite is a time of reflection on one’s sins and a prayer for God’s mercy. It focuses on our sinfulness and helps us to confess our sorry for any wrongdoing, knowing that God is always there for us, ready to forgive.

The priest has other options in celebrating the Penitential Rite. He can use other shorter options but the purpose is the same: to declare our sinfulness before God and each other and to implore the Lord for His forgiveness and mercy.

The fourth option for the Penitential Rite is the Rite of Blessing & Sprinkling of Holy Water. This is most commonly used during the Easter season. On Sundays, especially in the Season of Easter, in place of the customary Act of Penitence, the blessing and sprinkling of water may be done as a reminder of Baptism.



*Review with your students what you do at your church.


Everyone continues to stand and the priest invites the faithful, saying: Brethren (brothers and sisters), let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

A brief pause for silence follows. We are given time to think and reflect.

Confiteor is a Latin word that means “I confess,” are the first words of the prayer that we all recite together:

Form A

I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,

(And, striking our breast with our fist softly, we say:) through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;

Then we continue:

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.


Form B

Priest: Have mercy on us, O Lord.
People: For we have sinned against you.

Priest: Show us, O Lord, your mercy.
People: And grant us your salvation.


Form C

Priest: You were sent to heal the contrite of heart.
People: Lord, have mercy.

Priest: You came to call sinners.
People: Christ, have mercy.

Priest: You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us.
People: Lord, have mercy.




The absolution of the Priest follows:

Priest: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

People: Amen



Questions:

Why do we do the Penitential Rite during Mass? (The Penitential Rite is a time of reflection on one’s sins and a prayer for God’s mercy. It focuses on our sinfulness and helps us to confess our sorry for any wrongdoing, knowing that God is always there for us, ready to forgive.)

Do we stand or sit during the Penitential Rite? (Stand)

On Sundays, especially in the Season of Easter, in place of the customary Act of Penitence, the blessing and sprinkling of water may be done. Why? (As a reminder of Baptism.)

What does Confiteor mean? (It is a Latin word that means “I confess”.)

How many forms are there of the Penitential Rite and what are they? (There are 4 different forms. Form A, B, C, and The Rite of Blessing & Sprinkling of Holy Water.)

What do we say after the priest gives us absolution?

Priest: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

(People: Amen)



Activities:

Cakewalk- Use paper plates for this activity. Write a line of the Penitential Act on each paper plate. Arrange the plates in a circle- like a cakewalk- with the words in order. While music plays, the children walk around the circle of plates. When the music stops, the person standing on the plate with first line of the Penitential Act starts. Each child reads the words he/she is standing on until together they have said the Penitential Act. Continue playing several times.

Correct Me If I'm Wrong- Divide the class into two teams. Each team sits in a circle around a bell. The teacher says the Penitential Act and the kids wait for her to purposely make a mistake. When they think they've heard a mistake, they try to be the first one to ring their team's bell. They must then say the Penitential Act and point out the teacher's mistake. Award points for most corrections, if you like.

Ice, Ice, Baby- Have children form a line. Hand the first child a square piece of ice. The child must hold the ice in his hand until he says the Penitential Act (you can have this written on the board to make this easier). He then passes the ice to the next child who must say the Penitential Act while holding the ice, etc. (As the students get better with saying the Penitential Act, erase some of what you wrote on the board and see how well they do.)

ministry-to-children.com- Post-it Cover Up
For this activity write the Penitential Act on the front board of the classroom. Practice reading it once together and then use post-it notes to cover up one of the words. Then, practice reading it again followed by covering up a second word with post-it notes. Continue this pattern until the entire Penitential Act is covered and the children are saying it from memory. You could also reverse the game beginning with some words covered and have children guess the missing words.

ministry-to-children.com- Erase the Verse
Write the Penitential Act on a dry erase board. Have the children read the Penitential Act together. Then ask for a volunteer to read it aloud. This child is then allowed to erase one word from the Penitential Act. Call on another child to read the Penitential Act as it was originally written. Then allow them to erase a word. Repeat this process as the children remove more and more of the Penitential Act. After they gain confidence, you can speed things up by allowing them to erase two words after each time they recite the Penitential Act.



The activities below are free, however they can only to be used for classroom and personal use. They may not be published on any websites or other electronic media, or distributed in newsletters, bulletins, or any other form or sold for profit. Reproduction or retransmission of any materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, is not permitted.

Penitential Act Puzzle- Print puzzle on card stock and have the students cut on the lines to make a puzzle. Have the students put the puzzle together to practice the Penitential Act. Put puzzle pieces in an envelope or Ziploc bag.

Penitential Act- Cut out strips and glue strips of the Penitential Act in the proper order on a piece of construction paper. (For younger students you can do this together as a group activity.) You can play this as a game by dividing the class into teams and give each team the strips of the Penitential Act. See which team can put it in the proper order the fastest.

Penitential Act (fill in the blanks)- Fill in the blanks with the words from below. (For younger students you can do this together on the board.)

Penitential Act Tetris Puzzle- A fun way to learn Penitential Act

Penitential Rite (file folder game) is based on Alquerque which originated in the Middle East as the game Quirkat. Alquerque boards are carved into the stone slabs which form the roof of the great temple at Kurna, Egypt. The Arabic author Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani mentioned Quirkat in his 24 volume work Kitab al-Aghani ("Book of Songs") c. 950 AD. Alquergue migrated to Europe when the Moors invaded Spain. It was named Alquerque (the Spanish form of El-Quirkat) in the Alfonso X Manuscript which was written between 1251 - 1282 at the command of Alfonso X, King of Leon and Castile. This game is the ancestor of modern day checkers (Draughts in the UK) when it evolved to being played on a chess board instead of the standard Alqerque board. The Madagascan game Fanorama may have evolved from Quirkat.

Penitential Rite (file folder game)- For 2 Players or 2 Teams. The idea is to answer questions about the Penitential Rite so you can remove one or more of your opponent’s pieces. The goal of the game is to remove all the opponent’s pieces.