The timing of the Gloria during the Catholic Mass is important. It comes immediately after the Penitential Rite for a reason.
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We sing our praises to God after we’ve opened ourselves to the healing of our souls. Having received forgiveness, we want to sing praises to God and give him our gratefulness. We are grateful that Jesus died on the cross for us to take away the sins that we thought about during the Penitential Rite. We sing “Glory!” because we are excited that we have been set free from the enslavement of sins. In a spirit of thanksgiving, we sing or pray the Gloria together – the priest and laity together as one body. This is when we begin to really enter into celebrating the glory of God. The Gloria is meant to inspire awe.
In a spirit of thanksgiving, we sing or pray the Gloria together: the priest and the laity together as one body. This is when we begin to really enter into celebrating the glory of God. All of Mass is a celebration. We call it a celebration for a reason. It is meant to be a party: the coming together of the body of Christ, the coming together of the people of God, people who share the same faith, the same beliefs that we do; like-minded people.
Yes, we have our differences – and some are more deeply into the faith than others – but we share Christ together. We share belief in Christ together. This is cause for celebration. But, when we came into Mass, we entered as people who still had sins enslaving us – sins that have been a detriment to our souls since they have hurt others. We have been set free from that now. Because of the Penitential Rite (that was covered in the last episode), we have been set free from all that divides us from each other and all that divides us from God. Therefore, we celebrate! And the Gloria is when we really begin to enter into that spirit of celebration. The Gloria is meant to inspire thanksgiving, awe, appreciation, wonder, and everything that gives us joy in our relationship with God.
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