Homily for Wednesday of the 1st Week of Lent

Our Psalm response today — A heart contrite and humble, O God, you will not spurn. — comes from one of my favorite Psalms: Psalm 51. Sometimes, I actually give it out to people as a penance during the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

While it touches heavily upon the sinful nature of the human person, it is a Psalm of incredible hope; hope that a truly repentant heart cannot be ignored by God. It is filled with hope that the human person can be cleansed of sin and created anew in the deepest recesses of the soul. It speaks, too, about the fact that nothing will earn God’s forgiveness more than a truly contrite and humble spirit; no offering, no action, no matter how great, earns the merciful attention of God than a sincere word and spirit of being sorry for our sins.

Throughout this season of Lent, may we ask God for the grace to remove from our lives, our minds, and our hearts those things that keep us from being truly repentant for our failings, and may we use the grace God gives us to do so.+