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Every year as we gather for Mass on Ash Wednesday, we hear the prophet Joel calling us to “rend our hearts.” Then we pray Psalm 51. Five times we repeat the response: ”Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned” as we utter this prayer of repentance—a prayer that the church urges us to carry in our “rent” hearts right up to Good Friday.
As its opening indicates, Jewish tradition ascribes Psalm 51 to King David, seeing it as his prayer of deep repentance for two sins that could have been ripped from today’s headlines. Our meditation on his words spurs us to confess our own sins, to rend our own hearts, and then to seek and celebrate God’s mercy and pardon.
A Faithful Servant Falls. What had David done that he felt moved to ask forgiveness in such a heartfelt way? After all, he was God’s own choice to sit on the throne of Israel. When the prophet Samuel sought a successor to King Saul, God sent him to the sons of Jesse. “Are these all the sons you have?” Samuel asked after meeting seven of the young men. “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep,” Jesse answered. That son—David—was…
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