Mar
18
2019
By Anonymous (not verified)
The Marian Fathers present this Lenten devotional series to help you prepare to receive graces on Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday.
Readings: Dan 9:4B-10; Ps 79:8, 9, 11, and 13; Lk 6:36-38
Diary: 1146, 1541
But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! - Dan 9:9
Books on the psychology of persuasion weren't handy in the time of Daniel. In begging mercy for his people, Daniel would have to find his own way to the "yes" from God.
After formally addressing the Lord, Daniel confesses the many sins of his people. They were wicked. They rebelled. They ignored the prophets. They disregarded the Lord's commands. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All true. But, before the last of all these admissions of guilt, Daniel adds: "But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!" (Dan 9:9). Is he trying to trick God to get to another yes?
Daniel knew that confessions of guilt go hand-in-hand with expressions of trust. Consider the last words of St. Thérèse of Lisieux:
Readings: Dan 9:4B-10; Ps 79:8, 9, 11, and 13; Lk 6:36-38
Diary: 1146, 1541
But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! - Dan 9:9
Books on the psychology of persuasion weren't handy in the time of Daniel. In begging mercy for his people, Daniel would have to find his own way to the "yes" from God.
After formally addressing the Lord, Daniel confesses the many sins of his people. They were wicked. They rebelled. They ignored the prophets. They disregarded the Lord's commands. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All true. But, before the last of all these admissions of guilt, Daniel adds: "But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!" (Dan 9:9). Is he trying to trick God to get to another yes?
Daniel knew that confessions of guilt go hand-in-hand with expressions of trust. Consider the last words of St. Thérèse of Lisieux:
Even if I had on my conscience all the crimes that one could commit, I am sure I would lose nothing of my confidence; I would throw myself, my heart broken with sorrow, into the arms of my Savior. ... I have heard His words to Mary Magdalene, to the woman taken in adultery ... I know that in the twinkling of an eye, all those thousands of sins would be consumed as a drop of water cast into a blazing fire (Last pages of manuscript C).
Prayer: My Lord, I am weak and I am a sinner. I trust in Your mercifulness to make me whole.
Missed a day? See previous "From Ashes to Mercy" daily meditations.
ddburg
