Mass Monday: Confiteor

Welcome to Mass Monday: a chance to examine the Mass as the central act of Catholic worship.
After the Mass begins, practically the first thing we do is confess our sinfulness to God, and ask for His help to participate in the Mass worthily. This is not the same kind of confession as in the Sacrament of Confession, but instead an expression of sorrow for all our sins, all the time. We know that we are humans and constantly disappointing God, so we take a moment at the beginning of Mass to admit our faults and ask for help.
The prayer for this confession is called the “Confiteor", which comes from the first word of the prayer in Latin:

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, et vobis fratres, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo opere et omissione: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, omnes angelos et Sanctos, et vobis fratres, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum. Amen.

It means “I confess.” This prayer is an act of contrition. When we say it with perfect contrition, the venial sins which we have committed are forgiven. This is a very special grace God gives, in order to help us be as pure as possible before receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.
The Confiteor is very interesting for American Catholics this year, since it is one of the very few congregational prayers that has been re-translated. Starting in Advent, we will use a wording that’s a little different than what we’re used to:

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters,
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,
through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore 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.

Did you notice the sections in bold? Those are the ""changed” parts. When you go to Mass next weekend, keep an ear open for the Confiteor and notice the difference between our words now and the ones printed above.
Etra credit: Find someone who can read Latin, and ask them to literally translate the Latin prayer at the top of this post. Does it sound familiar?