The Joy Of Being Forgiven

"Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away.

Blessed are those in whom YAHWEH sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

When I kept my sin in secret,

my body wasted away;

I was moaning all day long.

YOUR hand, day and night, lay heavy upon me;

draining my strength, parching my heart,

as in the heat of a summer drought.

Then I made known to YOU my sin

and uncovered before YOU my fault,

saying to myself,

'To YAHWEH I will now confess my wrong.'

And YOU, YOU forgave my sin;

YOU removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray

to YOU in time of distress;

the overflowing waters will not reach them.

YOU are my refuge;

YOU protect me from distress

and surround me with songs of deliverance."

- Psalm 32:1-7

(Perhaps it is unfair to call this a "penitential psalm" as the mood is more of joy than penance.  There may be a lesson here that the virtuous life is not a gloomy one.  Suppression and self-deception, as the psalm admits, never made for happiness.  Free acknowledgment of GOD and of ourselves is a duty, but it is also a health medicine.  This conclusion drawn by the psalmist, is followed by the voice of GOD confirming it.  GOD is anxious to lead us along this way.  We have only to be docile; HE will do the rest.

In Christian language, sin signifies that we committed a wrong, not necessarily with a law, but toward someone we love.  Our well being, in the truest meaning of the word, depends on the quality of our relationship with GOD.  What sin has destroyed will only be restored by trust in GOD, who pardons the humble and the repentant.

The psalmist reminds us of the power of confession.  it converts a guilty sinner into a pure and wholesome child of GOD.  JESUS died for the forgiveness of our sins and by HIS blood we are saved.  At the Eucharist, we acknowledge and confess our sins and in the sacrament, we confess individually and privately to convert ourselves into better human beings, to enable us to enter GOD's kingdom.

This psalm is for those who can say truly: "I confess to GOD...")

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