Why do Catholics say certain phrases three times during Mass?

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Lima Newsroom, Aug 26, 2024 / 16:20 pm (CNA).

Why do Catholics say certain phrases three times during Mass? These phrases are repeated at every Eucharist with expressions such as “through my fault,” “Lamb of God,” or “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The following explanation aims to help you better understand and appreciate these aspects of the holy Eucharist. 

Biblical foundation

Friar Nelson Medina, a Dominican priest who holds a doctorate in fundamental theology and is known for his vast apostolate on social media, explained to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that “the number 3 appears several times in the Bible and is associated with a process that is complete. That’s why it makes a lot of sense that, also in the liturgy, some actions are done three times.”

“It’s like a way of saying a complete, perfect action. It’s the general meaning of the number 3, which is so characteristic of the Bible and definitely of the liturgy,” he explained.

As an example, Medina cited Deuteronomy 16:16, where “it states that three times a year all the men of Israel had to appear before the Lord as a way of renewing the covenant” or “1 Samuel 20:41, where we find David saying farewell to his friend Jonathan, who was the son of King Saul. And when David has to take leave of his friend, he prostrates himself three times as if praying, as if asking the Lord for the strength he needs.”

“In 1 Kings 17:21, the prophet Elijah performs a miracle, which is the resurrection of a boy who had died. What Elijah does is cover the boy’s body with his own body and he does this action three times,” Medina continued.

“In 1 Chronicles 12:18 we find that, when the people’s covenant with David is ratified, the people exclaim three times: ‘Peace, peace to you and peace to the one who helps you!’” and in “Daniel 6:10 we find that Daniel had the habit of praying three times a day.”

Referencing an example from the Gospels, Medina pointed out that “Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him three times” (Matthew 26:34 and Mark 14:30). Later, “when Peter confirms his love and adherence to Christ in John 21, he also says to Jesus three times: ‘You know that I love you.’”

On the website of the National Eucharistic Revival, Father Luke Spannagel also explains why Catholics say “through my fault” three times in the prayer known as the “Confiteor.”

“Throughout the Bible, striking one’s breast is a gesture of humility and sorrow for sins. Why three times? As Edward Sri points out, the threefold repetition of guilt ‘expresses more fully the sorrow for our sins.’ This line of the liturgy helps us to recognize that sinning against God is no light matter,” the priest emphasized.

In his book “The Reason for All the Ceremonies of the Church and Its Mysteries,” Spanish priest Antonio Lorera y Abio notes that in the Mass the “Lamb of God” or “Agnus Dei” is said three times so that God would free us “from present, past, and future evils and forgive us the sins committed by thought, word, and deed.”

At the end of July 2022, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, in a brief explanation on X on the importance of the number 3, further emphasized that Catholics say several phrases three times in the Mass to remember the Holy Trinity, the One and Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA