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From: Daniel 9:4b-10

Daniel’s Penitential Prayer

[4b] “O Lord, the great and terrible God, who keepest covenant and steadfast
love with those who love him and keep his commandments, [5] we have sinned
and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from thy com-
mandments and ordinances; [6] we have not listened to thy servants the pro-
phets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to
all the people of the land. [7] To thee, O LORD, belongs righteousness, but to
us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those that are near and those that are far away, in
all the lands to which thou hast driven them, because of the treachery which
they have committed against thee. [8] To us, O LORD, belongs confusion of
face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers; because we have sinned
against thee. [9] To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness; because
we have rebelled against him, [10] and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD
our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the pro-
phets.”

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Commentary:

9:4-19. This is a penitential prayer in which Daniel speaks in solidarity with his
people and intercedes on their behalf. He acknowledges that God has acted
justly in punishing the people by driving them out of the chosen land (vv. 4-8),
but he reminds God that he is also forgiving and merciful (v. 9). They have been
punished in line with the Law of Moses (v. 13), but God, who delivered them from
Egypt (v. 15), will surely listen to his servants when they appeal to him, for his
mercy is great (v. 18). If he forgives them, it will redound to the honor of God’s
name (vv. 17, 19). Commenting on v. 18, St Jerome observes: “Daniel expresses
himself in human terms: when we are listened to, it seems as if God has inclined
his ear to us; when he turns to look at us, it seems as if he has opened his eyes;
and when he turns his face away, it is as if we are not worthy of being heard or to
appear in his sight” (”Commentarii in Danielem”, 9, 18). St Basil, on another point,
notes that Daniel’s fasting prepares the ground for the revelation that follows: “Da-
niel would not have seen the vision if he had not first refined his soul by fasting”
(”De Jejunio”, 1,9). For penitential prayers similar to this, see Ezra 9: 6-15; Neh
9; Ps 51; Bar 1:15-3:8. Although Daniel’s prayer is about the ordeal of exile, it is
valid at all times. The Church, too, “embracing in her bosom sinners, at same
time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of pe-
nance and renewal” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 8).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 6:36-38

Love of Enemies (Continuation)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [36] “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
[37] Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be
condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; [38] give, and it will be given to you;
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your
lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

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Commentary:

36. The model of mercy which Christ sets before us is God Himself, of whom St.
Paul says: ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions” (2 Corin-
thians 1:3-4). “The first quality of this virtue”, Fray Luis de Granada explains, “is
that it makes men like God and like the most glorious thing in Him, His mercy
(Luke 6:36). For certainly the greatest perfection a creature can have is to be like
His Creator; and the more like Him he is, the more perfect he is. Certainly one of
the things which is most appropriate to God is mercy, which is what the Church
means when it says that prayer: ‘Lord, God, to whom it is proper to be merciful
and forgiving...’. It says that this is proper to God because just as a creature, as
creature, is characteristically poor and needy (and therefore characteristically
receives and does not give), so, on the contrary, since God is infinitely rich and
powerful, to Him alone does it belong to give and not to receive, and therefore it
is appropriate for Him to be merciful and forgiving” (”Book of Prayer and Medita-
tion”, Third Part, Third Treatise).

This is the rule a Christian should apply: be compassionate towards each other
people’s afflictions as if they were one’s own, and try to remedy them. The
Church spells out this rule by giving us a series of corporal works of mercy (visi-
ting and caring for the sick, giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty...) and
spiritual works of mercy (teaching the ignorant, correcting the person who has
erred, forgiving injuries...): cf. “St. Pius X Catechism”, 944f.

We should also show understanding towards people who are in error: “Love and
courtesy of this kind should not, of course, make us indifferent to truth and good-
ness. Love, in fact, impels the followers of Christ to proclaim to all men the truth
which saves. But we must distinguish between the error (which must always be
rejected) and the person in error, who never loses his dignity as a person even
though he flounders amid false or inadequate religious ideas. God alone is the
judge and the searcher of hearts; He forbids us to pass judgment on the inner
guilt of others” (Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”, 28).

38. We read in Sacred Scripture of the generosity of the widow of Zarephath,
whom God asked to give food to Elijah the prophet even though she had very lit-
tle left; He then rewarded her generosity by constantly renewing her supply of
meal and oil (1 Kings 17:9ff). The same sort of thing happened when the boy sup-
plied the five loaves and two fish which our Lord multiplied to feed a huge crowd
of people (cf. John 6:9)—a vivid example of what God does when we give Him
whatever we have, even if it does not amount to much.

God does not let Himself be outdone in generosity: “Go, generously and like a
child ask Him: ‘What can You mean to give me when You ask me for “this”?’”
(St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 153). However much we give God in this life, He will
give us more in life eternal.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.