Arulvakku

26.02.2024 — Prayer of Mercy and Compassion

2nd week in Lent, Monday – 26th February 2024 – Daniel 9,4-10; Lk 6,36-38

Prayer of Mercy and Compassion

The first reading from the book of Daniel is a heartfelt prayer on behalf of the exiles in Babylon. It’s a public confession of sin and an acknowledgement that the people have rebelled against God. Daniel first acknowledges God’s faithful and merciful love. He knows that, despite Israel’s constant unfaithfulness, God has been and will be ever faithful to the past covenants he made with Abraham, Moses and David. Daniel recognizes in his prayer that God is righteous and just and gives to each person their due. He asserts that the Lord God is also compassionate toward those who suffer and forgives those who turn to him with a sincere heart. Indeed, Danie’s prayer is an excellent penance prayer – a national act of contrition describing God’s perfection and man’s imperfection. It is a prayer of sorrow and repentance for the many ways in which we have failed to listen to God and his messengers. It is a prayer which contains humility, worship, confession and petition. We find in this prayer that God is generous and called us to share in his divine life. God is merciful and purifies us when we repent from sin and restores us to divine sonship and life.