A Contrite and Humbled Heart

March 9th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus’ parable about two people who prayed in the temple. One was a Pharisee who loudly proclaimed his self-righteousness. The other was a tax collector who “beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’” Jesus said that God heard the tax collector’s humble prayer and forgave his sins. The Pharisee, on the other hand, did not receive forgiveness for his sins, since he was not the slightest bit contrite.

Today’s Psalm was written by King David after he repented of committing adultery with Bathsheba. The Psalm is a beautiful prayer of repentance not unlike the prayer of the tax collector in today’s Gospel. In the Psalm, David began by imploring God’s “great” and “tender mercies” (Ps 50 (51):3 DRB). David acknowledged his sin and its spiritual effects: “For I know my iniquity…To [T]hee only have I sinned, and have done evil before [T]hee” (Ps 50:6). Prompted by his contrition and repentance, David implored God’s mercy, praying that He would “[r]estore unto [David] the joy of [eternal] salvation” (Ps 50:14).

The tax collector in today’s Gospel and King David in today’s Psalm both give us examples of how we should approach God’s mercy as sinful human beings. In the words of King David, “[A] contrite and humbled heart, O God, [T]hou will not despise” (Ps 50:19). When we approach God in the Sacrament of Penance with true humility of heart, He will not despise us but instead will lovingly extend His infinite mercy to us.

As Bl. Julian of Norwich wrote, “It is most impossible that we should beseech mercy and grace, and not have it.” We must truly beseech God’s mercy and grace by making use of the Sacrament of Penance, which Our Lord Himself established in His Catholic Church to remit sins committed after Baptism. If we possess a contrite and humbled heart, our merciful God will not fail to extend His mercy and “[c]reate a clean heart in [us]” (Ps 50:12) through the Sacrament of Penance.

However, we must never lose sight of the infinite gift that God’s mercy is. We do not deserve His mercy, but He extends it to us out of His infinite love for us. Thus, we should not cease to give thanks to God for the mercy that He has bestowed on us. In today’s Psalm, King David repeatedly referred to praising and extolling God for His mercy, and the Psalm ends joyfully. At the end of Mass, we say “Deo gratias,” “Thanks be to God.” So too should our prayer be after receiving the Sacrament of Penance, as we give thanks to God for His infinite love and mercy, by which we are once again made heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“Give praise to the Lord, for [H]e is good: for [H]is mercy endureth for ever” (Ps 117:1).

The Pharisee and the tax collector in the temple. Public domain