Explanation
“The priest going from the sacristy to the altar, and retiring to the foot of it, in order to recite the 42nd psalm, Judica me Deus , &c. represents Jesus Christ retiring from his last supper, and praying to his heavenly Father in the garden of Gethsemani, situate at the foot of Mount Olivet. The beginning of the Mass, with the sign of the cross, and the invocation of the three persons of the most Holy Trinity, signifies that it is in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that the faithful assembled, in order to celebrate the memory of Christ’s passion and death. The psalm which is then repeated, expresses the deep concern of a soul kept at a distance from the temple of God, like David when he was persecuted by Saul, and the ardent desires with which we are to approach the altar, and partake of the divine mysteries. The Introit , or entrance of the Mass, and the Confiteor , or general confession made to the whole court of heaven, represent the fall of Adam, which was the source of all our miseries, and remind us that we ought to dispose ourselves for this great sacrifice by a sincere repentance for our sins.”