Tuesday of third week in Lent, March 13,2007

Scripture: Daniel 3:25.34-43. Psalm 25:4-9. Matthew 18:21-35

You probably will make an act of contrition this Lent either in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation or on your own time in prayer. I have made
several and this morning the Scriptures from Daniel give us an act of
contrition--biblical style. It is based on the covenant God has made with
his People and on the Exodus experience which parallels our Resurrction
Event on Easter Sunday. I found Daniel resonating with the greatest of the
Penitential Psalms (Psalm 51, the Miserere). The central message is a
prayer directed to God:"Let us be received with a bruised heart and a
humble spirit." We can do this in a community of faith or in a Church or
just in the privacy of our homes. We acknowledge before God and one
another our sinfulness. This is a humbling experience both in Confession
as well as in a Public Reconciliation service. Realizing that only God can
heal a bruised heart wounded by sin, we do so with one another and this is
just another act of humility leading to true contrition of the heart. In
the Psalm for today we pray,"Remember your mercies, O Lord. Remember that
your compassion is from old. In your kindness, remember me." Jesus is
showing us that God is always ready to forgive us. God is the perpetual
Forgiver. And we learn that forgiveness is to be granted to one another up
to seventy times seventy each day. God, of course, is the one who does
this, but Jesus is prodding us on to take up such an mindset when it comes
to forgiveness. Our parable illustrates that God is the Master Forgiver
and that we should learn to be as open in our forgiveness to those who have
offended us and trust they will do the same for us. "Lord, today I want to
remember the Scriptures which remind me of the necessity of contrition,
forgiveness and humility in my life. Help me to be healed of my broken and
bruised heart by trusting in your love, your kindness, and your mercy.
Help me always to forgive others as you have always forgiven me. My Lord
Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner. Amen.