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First period of prayer

The Presence of God

As I begin to pray, for a minute or two I remember that God is looking at me and listening to me and loving me.  I then pray, ‘O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise’.

Petition

I may ask for a special grace from God this Lent, as I strive to ‘turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel’, I can take a minute now to ask God for this gift. 



Picture

I could choose to focus on an image or sacred object that helps me to pray.

First period of prayer

I could read the psalm slowly all through, pausing after each few lines. Some people are helped by reading Psalms aloud when this is possible. I might then reread it, pausing the second time at phrases that touch me, repeating them again and again, allowing them to sink into my heart, to refresh me, and to enjoy the words and images. Then I can move on till I find another phrase that I wish to stay with. When I am finished I could return and repeat this method of praying the psalm again as often as I find helpful. Or I could picture somebody I care about, or somebody who cannot pray themselves because they are ill or troubled, and I could pray the psalm again for them. I might also like to move on to the Backdrop and Reflections sections on this site, and see if these help me to pray.

Psalm 51:1-12

Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgement.

Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

Psalm 51:1-12

You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Backdrop

This psalm is believed to have been written by King David after he had sinned against his friend by engineering his death, and also sinning against his friend’s wife. It is one of the seven Penitential Psalms, and in it David confesses his sin and prays for forgiveness. It can help us to understand our own sins and how to appreciate God’s steadfast unfailing love.

In Hebrew, the original language of this prayer, one word used for sin suggest that sin is like being twisted and misshapen like a stunted tree, that does not grow tall and straight as it should. Another Hebrew word for sin suggests that it is like missing the target, like a traveler who is lost and keeps wandering without finding their destination

Reflection
  • How can I pray the words ‘against you, you alone, have I sinned’? Are other people hurt by my sins? Can God be an onlooker or is God involved when I mistreat others? Have my sins and failures offended other people? Have they offended God?
  • Is there anything that is weighing me down and oppressing me and turning me into what I do not want to be? The psalm speaks of Joy. Can there be joy in knowing my weakness and at the same time knowing who God wants me to be?
  • The psalm asks God to ‘create in me a clean heart’. Do I fear that change is impossible, and that I am ruled by upbringing and old habits, and that this is just how I am? Or do I believe that God can ‘create in me a clean heart’?

Reflection
  • A philosopher said ‘Be compassionate, because everyone you meet is fighting a great battle’. Could you pray from this psalm to have a compassionate heart, and for the gift of being forgiving, and not judging people harshly?
  • Do I believe that God may create a new heart for those people whom I find hopeless? Can I pray for ‘the joy of salvation’ for myself and for these other difficult people?
  • In January 2010 Pope Benedict spoke and prayed in a Jewish synagogue about the holocaust (Shoah). As I pray this Jewish prayer, could I use this psalm to ask God’s pardon for the sins of racism and racial hatred?

Review of the time of prayer
  • How did the prayer go?
  • What touched my heart? What attracted me? What did I find difficult?
  • Was there something I would like to return to?
  • Was there a phrase of verse that I would like to remember?
  • What notes to myself do I want to make, to be reviewed at the end of the retreat?
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