Cardinal Ratzinger has recently said that the altar turned towards the people and not turned to the East, (the position traditionally recognizing the rising and coming again of Christ), was a mistake introduced after Vatican II. I heartily agree with him. The Mass is principally the sacrifice of Calvary renewed. That awareness has been pushed to the background with the altar towards the people and the priest facing them.

The altar as the place of sacrifice should be centrally located in the Sanctuary. The Tabernacle with the Living Presence of His suffering and death should be placed near the altar. The people of God and the priest come to the altar to offer Christ our sacrifice. We recognize His presence in the Tabernacle by genuflecting. The priest also recognizes the place of His sacrifice by kissing the altar. We begin everything in the name of the Triune God and then the priest invites the people to consider the particular celebration and to prepare themselves by confessing their sins. There should then be a pause long enough for us to reflect on our needs for forgiveness. In my estimation the first form of confession is the most suitable. At least it asks for forgiveness. I fear the other forms do not adequately convey repentance. The first form reads in part: "I confess to Almighty God, to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinned through my own fault (they strike their breast) in my and 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."

This Confession is not a translation of the original but at least there is continuity with the past. We confess our sins, (which is not intended to replace the Sacrament of Penance), because we need to be purified of our sins before we come into the presence of God. We also acknowledge that when we are in His presence we are in the presence of His Saints and Angels, preeminently the Mother of God whom we believe to be always a virgin. And finally we realize the "communion of saints" by asking for the prayers the Church Triumphant (in heaven) and the Church militant (our brothers and sisters here on earth with us).

Before we proceed we grovel a little more by asking for our Lord's mercy. We repeat after the priest: "Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy" to remind ourselves that everything depends on His mercy upon us. To quote Msgr. Ronald Knox in his mass in slow motion: "It's not so much that we ought to feel beastly because we are sinners, as that we ought to feel (like) worms because we are creatures however holy and pious we were, we should still want to start by telling Almighty God that He is Almighty God and we are a set of perfectly ridiculous creatures when we have got that into our heads we have begun to get the situation clear."