Heart

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supergirl7

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During mass I see people sometimes touching their heart durig a certain prayer. I am not sure what prayer or what part of that prayer? Does anyone know and why do some do this? My dad thinks it is from when we use to use Latin masses. Any ideas?
 
There are a few times during the liturgy where you strike your breast.
At the Confiteor - Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa (strike breast three times)
At the Agnus Dei - 3 times
At the Domine Non Sum Dignus - 3 times
 
That is kind of confusing being a Roman Catholic. What part of the mass is that? Sorry :o
I was thinking for some reason I seen it during the Nicene’s Creed?
 
supergirl7 said:
That is kind of confusing being a Roman Catholic. What part of the mass is that? Sorry :o
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In the Ordinary Form the parts referred to are:
  • At the Confiteor - Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa (strike breast three times)
This is where we say, “I confess to Almighty God …”
At the line, ********************that I have sinned through my own fault,
********************You will sometimes see people strike their breasts.
  • At the Agnus Dei - 3 times
The Agnus Dei is the part that goes “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world …”

I’ve never seen anyone at an Ordinary Form mass strike their breast at this point but I’m sure someone somewhere does.
  • At the Domine Non Sum Dignus - 3 times
The Domine Non Sum Dignus is where we say “Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” Again I have never seen anyone in the Ordinary Form strike their breasts at this point.
I was thinking for some reason I seen it during the Nicene’s Creed?
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I’ve seen no breast-striking during the Nicene Creed in the Ordinary Form. We bow our heads at the line, “by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary , and became man.”
 
I agree with IBKC’s description of when we strike our breasts during Mass.

One should note that we are indicating our fault and asking for God’s forgiveness and mercy at these times when we symbolically strike our breast.

Bowing our head in the Nicene Creed is a mark of deep respect for God becoming man like us which was necessary to teach and save us from our sins. But there is no statement of our fault here, so we do not strike our breast in the Nicene Creed.
 
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