This carved relief of a remorseful King David is inspired by Psalm 51 at its theme of heartfelt contrition.
Image courtesy of Wiki Commons. abundant mercy( rahamim), asking that his sin be blotted out, washed, and cleansed( Ps 51:1-2). The psalm employs three different words for sin to cover every kind and degree of wrongdoing— a fact that helps everyone apply this psalm to his or her own life. The word translated as“ iniquity” is a broad term that refers to any kind of evil act.“ Transgression,” which means to cross the line, refers to acts that are contrary to any of God’ s commandments and is the most serious kind of sin.
Interestingly, the words translated“ sin” from both Hebrew( hata’ t) and Greek( hamartia) are drawn from the vocabulary of archery, where they mean to“ miss the target.” Now that is a broad term!
How many ways we miss the mark, in our speech, in our thoughts, in our use of time and money, in our treatment of others, in our prayer! Learning that sin means missing the target helps us prepare to receive mercy in confession. We begin by considering any commandments we may have broken, but then we go on to ask in what ways we have missed the mark, the bullseye, that the Lord intends us to hit, for instance, in loving our neighbor as ourselves.
I discovered I had a lot more to confess! passion and death.... Knowing that Jesus himself prayed this psalm makes it even more important for us as Christians, challenging us to take up the refrain in our daily lives by praying these words of praise:‘ for his mercy endures forever.’”
The Holy Father then goes on to discuss mercy in the life of Christ, the parables, and the teaching of the prophets.
Many other psalms focus on God’ s mercy besides those mentioned by Pope Francis. The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization has published a little book, The Psalms of Mercy( Our Sunday Visitor, 2015), that offers helpful commentary on ten“ psalms of mercy”( 25, 41, 42-
43, 51, 57, 92, 103, 119:81-88, 136).
I will conclude this article with comments on the most famous of those, Psalm 51, whose Latin title is“ Miserere”—“ Have mercy!” It is a psalm of repentance that is prayed in the Liturgy of the Hours every Friday morning. According to the ancient title at the beginning, this is the psalm David prayed after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan about his adultery with Bathsheba( 2 Sam 11-12).
Sin = Missing the Mark
Despite the gravity of his wrongdoing, in Psalm 51 David appeals in confident hope to God’ s merciful love( hesed) and to his
Becoming a Missionary of Mercy In the rest of Psalm 51, David acknowledges his sinful condition and his absolute dependence on God to teach wisdom to his inner self or“ secret heart,” to cleanse him, even to create a new heart in him, and to restore his joy. He prays that God will not cast him off or take away his Holy Spirit( Ps 51:6-12).
David promises to teach transgressors God’ s ways once he, himself, is restored. He asks for mercy so that he can become a messenger of mercy. He is confident he will praise and worship God again, since he knows that“ the sacrifice acceptable to God is... a broken and contrite heart”( Ps 51:17).
What was true for David is true for us. We need God’ s mercy to cleanse, heal, and restore us. Only if we receive mercy, only if we experience it, can we become missionaries of mercy.
Dr. Peter Williamson holds the Adam Cardinal Maida Chair of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart.
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