I'm So Sorry God

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

By Melanie Rigney

“Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart.” (Psalms 51:17-19).

Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me. For I know my offense; my sin is always before me.

Piety

Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight That you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn.

Study

http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/022807.shtml

Psalms: An Invitation to Prayer by Kevin Perrotta (Loyola Press, 2000; $7.95)

Where in the world did David get the nerve to pray this psalm?

This beloved son had, after all, slept with Bathsheba, who just happened to be married to Uriah, one of David’s leading military officers. Then he arranged to have Uriah placed into a situation that was sure death. Months later, the prophet Nathan comes to the king with the supposed situation a rich man stealing a poor man’s lamb. When David says the rich man will be put to death, Nathan reveals his knowledge of David’s despicable actions. From that, we get Psalm 51, which Kevin Perrotta in Psalms: An Invitation to Prayer calls “the most profound confession of sin in the Bible.”

David’s honesty in this psalm is rivaled only by his confidence that he will be forgiven. Perrotta writes: Knowing his sinful condition, the psalmist realizes he needs God to act as powerfully as when God created the universe—a tall order!

But the psalmist trusts that God will do it. Confidence in God’s creative mercy carries him beyond mere relief at forgiveness; he looks forward to joy.”

Perrotta’s book is part of Loyola Press’s Six Weeks with the Bible series. Chapter 4, “Forgive Us Our Trespasses,” offers reflections, discussion questions, and instruction on Psalms 51 and 130.

Action

Is there something in your life you have feared turning over to God for forgiveness, an act so dark you doubt His grace? Resolve to take your sin to confession or the reconciliation service at your parish this Lenten season. Don’t want to talk about it with a priest you know? Check out the diocese Web site (www.arlingtondiocese.org) to find opportunities at a neighboring church. Have the confidence of David in “God’s creative mercy.”