After two years as a novice Luther was finally ready to be ordained as a priest. During his first year or so at the monastery Luther found a measure of peace in the monotonous round of duties he was required to perform on a daily basis. Reflecting on it later he commented that during the first years at the monastery the devil is very quiet. Taking this comment at face value it's safe to assume that Luther didn't struggle under the kind of depressive spiritual cloud that he laboured under later.

As part of his induction as a priest into the order he was required to celebrate his first mass. It was a fairly auspicious occasion, attended by all his superiors and peers at the monastery as well as a few selects guests. Luther seized upon this occasion to mend the breach between himself and his father. He invited the elder Luther to attend this special ceremony and even went so far as to adjust the date to suit his father's wishes.

On the day of the ceremony, Luther, dressed in his vestments approached the altar and began the mass. When he had worked through the introductory prayers and began to read the words "we offer unto thee, the living, the true, the eternal God..." he began to feel almost paralysed with fear.

Speaking it about it later he commented that he was "utterly stupefied and terror stricken...I thought to myself with what tongue shallI address such a majesty...for I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking to the living, eternal and the true God"

Luther was struck with such a sense of anxiety and terror that his hands began to tremble as lifted the cup before the crucifix. In fact they shook so hard that some of the wine spilled out of the cup and fell onto the altar. Luther was appalled. Believing as he did, at that time in his life, that the wine was transformed into the very blood of Christ, he felt as though he was guilty of spilling the very blood of Christ. What was worse he had done it at his very first mass, in front of an audience which included his irate and skeptical father. To say that his first mass was a debacle, in his mind, is a gross understatement.

Luther managed to bungle his way through the rest of the mass without further incident. When he had finished he attended a small soiree at the monastery held in his honour. He barely had enough time to gathered his scattered wits about him before he had to face his father. To Luther, his father's presence at his first mass was a sign that there was hope for reconciliation. But the meeting didn't go according to plan.

Incensed that his son had not only been foolish enough to pledge himself to a monastery but also that he couldn't even do the job correctly, Hand Luther lashed out at him in public. He accused him of negligence, stating that the only reason Luther had joined the monastery in the first place was to shirk his duties towards his parents. "You have left me and your dear mother to look after ourselves in our old age"

Distressed Luther feebly defended himself, remonstrating that as a monk his prayers on behalf of his parents would be twice as effects which meant that he was of more use to them than he had been before because he could have a significant impact on their eternal well being as opposed to simply their temporal well fare. But his father wasn't buying it. Accusing him of potentially being deluded by the devil, Hans Luther stalked out of the monastery leaving a distressed Luther behind.

The entire episode served to trigger the feelings of spiritual inadequacy and guilt that Luther had grappled with for so long. He once more felt condemned by God, uncertain of his own salvation and at a loss to figure out how he could avert one and secure the other.