Vatican City, Jan 3, 2018 / 03:03 am
On Wednesday, Pope Francis emphasized how sin breaks our relationship with God and with our community, which is why at the beginning of every Mass we pause to recognize our sinfulness and ask for forgiveness.
"Sin severs: Severs the relationship with God and severs the relationship with our brothers, the relationship with family, with society, with the community: Sin always severs, separates, divides," the Pope said Jan. 3, at his first general audience of the year.
The Penitential Rite, at the beginning of Mass, "favors the attitude with which to dispose oneself to worthily celebrate the holy mysteries, that is, recognizing our sins before God and our brothers, recognizing that we are sinners."
Pope Francis continued his weekly audience catechesis on the topic of the Mass, focusing on the part where we make a general confession, professing to God and brothers 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."