In this first installment of catechesis on the Traditional Latin Mass, a good way to start is at the beginning, and actually before the beginning. Labeled the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 document, Summorum Pontificum, this most ancient and most beautiful codification of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass includes specific instructions for the priest to follow to have clarity of purpose and intent as he approaches the altar.

First, the priest is to spend time in prayer, focusing his heart, mind, soul, and strength to that which he was ordained to do, offering in persona Christi the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross to God the Father in Heaven in atonement for our sins. When he enters the sacristy, the Missale Romanum (the book used by the priest to say the Mass) spells out brief prayers as he goes through the process of putting on the sacred vestments. There is a brief prayer when the priest washes his hands, and for each of the vestments: the amice (a linen covering for the collar and shoulders, tied at the waist with a long string), the alb (which is white and covers the remainder of the priest’s clothing), the cincture (rope belt), maniple (pinned to the left forearm), stole (around the neck and crossed in front), and chasuble (the large outer vestment). The last three vestments are in the assigned color for the Mass (white or gold, red, purple or rose, green, and black).

When the celebrant moves into the sanctuary, he and the people (or the altar servers representing the people) engage in the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, so that, even now fully vested and IN the sanctuary, the priest is approaching his sacred duty with humility and with awe and wonder. These prayers include a line-by-line exchange in the recitation ofPsalm 42, echoing the words of King David who asked God to prepare him to “enter into the altar of God, to God who gives joy to my youth.” Following this, the priest recites the Confiteor alone and while profoundly bowed, demonstrating his own sinfulness and the need for this re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Calvary for his own salvation in Jesus Christ. Then the people (represented by the servers) recite the Confiteor, after which the priest gives an absolution for venial sins that includes his own. Only after another short exchange with the servers in prayer to God for what we are confident He will do does the priest ascend to the altar to offer the atoning sacrifice that is so crucial to the eternal salvation of the human race.