You forgive my iniquities, let me love with mercy. If you are new to mental prayer, we invite you to visit our page on the ways of mental prayer, Don’t know how to Pray to God, to learn more.
We begin Day 10 of this Lenten prayer journey with this opening prayer :
Trust and Believe…
Lord,
You forgive my iniquities. Every time I have sinned and repented you love me with mercy. Please let me love with mercy too. Lord, prepare my heart as I begin these 15 minutes of mental prayer with you. Lord, let me be present to you and aware of the movements of the Holy Spirit in my heart, receiving the grace you give with humility and obedience. Lord, help me visualize you in my presence right now as I strive to complete this Lenten reflection. Let me fully contemplate the readings as I ponder how you forgive my iniquities when I repent and ask forgiveness, and how I need to love with mercy all those you have placed in my life. I want to follow you all the way to Calvary, Jesus, and I want to do it with my whole heart.
AMEN.
Monday of the Second week of Lent (Liturgical Year I)
You Forgive My Iniquities, Let Me Love With Mercy
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Let’s begin Day 10 of our Lenten journey as we continue traveling with Jesus in our hearts and minds toward Calvary by meditating on the daily Mass readings for today: the First Reading, the Psalms, and the Gospel Reading. As you make your self-reflection, feel free to journal your responses to the Lord. This meditation is suited for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, but you can also pray this meditation while looking at a Crucifix or an image of Jesus that you have.
You Forgive My Iniquities, Let Me Love With Mercy
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Start with Love…
Holy Spirit,
I believe you are truly here and present to me right now. I desire to be present to you. Guide my heart and mind and show me how I might pick up my cross and follow Jesus all the way to Calvary. Help me turn my heart more fully to God so that I might better understand God’s love for me.
Breathe on me as I spend these next 15 minutes fixated on today’s Mass readings. Holy Spirit, help me pray with humility, honesty, love and affection. I want to grow in virtue and holiness.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for every consolation, desolation, time of silence, difficult trial, and temptation of the evil one. I understand that you love me and that everything in my life happens by God’s holy will, whether it be divine providence or God’s permissive will due to my sin and negligence.
Please humble me as I walk with Jesus toward Calvary.
AMEN.
Say Nothing Just Take Him In
Spend 1-3 minutes in silence gazing at Jesus with love and gratitude, in a prayer of silent contemplation.
Make a Movie in Your Mind…
Now we will contemplate the First Reading. Slowly imagine this scene in your mind before you read. Daniel, an Old Testament prophet, has a terrifying and prophetic dream just before he makes the prayer of repentance we are about to read. At the time of this dream Daniel was in exile; the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II invaded and destroyed Jerusalem, including Solomon’s Temple, and took the Judeans into captivity. There was no longer a Temple, a sacrifice, proper worship.
Daniel knew that this exile was a punishment for his people who had wandered from God. He remained faithful and so in Chapter 8 the Lord sends the Angel Gabriel to Daniel to help him understand his dream and to comfort him [Daniel 8:15-17]. This is the scene that leads to the prayer we are about to read. To prepare for this prayer, Daniel fasts, puts on sackcloth and ashes. Envision it in your mind. Take your time as you pray this, and reread the passage a second time, this time imagine yourself physically there in the scene, with Daniel in exile – no place to worship, no altar, away from your homeland; you are both in misery. What do you hear? See? Feel? Sense?
You Forgive My Iniquities, Let Me Love With Mercy
While In Exile I Repented and You Came to Me with Mercy
Daniel 9:4-10
Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!
We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.
O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you. But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.
Reflection:
Let us take a moment to reflect on the message in the First Reading.
Did you envision yourself listening to Daniel pray this prayer in distress? Did you hear the heartbreak in his voice? Were you also in sackcloth and putting ashes on your head in this scene? What does Daniel’s voice sound like to you? What emotion does it create in your heart? Could you feel the Lord’s mercy as you re-read this passage, knowing the joy of what was to come?
Just after this prayer the angel Gabriel explains the prophecy of the “seventy weeks” [Daniel 9:24-27]. It is a promise from God, who in his mercy planned to intervene at the perfect time to save his people. This prophecy pointed to the coming of the Messiah, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the events surrounding his life, death, and resurrection, and the establishment of the New Covenant.
So Daniel and his people sinned against God and were sent into exile as a result of their iniquities, but when Daniel repented and turned to God with all his heart, the Lord, forgave his iniquities and looked on him with love and mercy, sending an angel to minister to him and prophecy about the coming Messiah.
Now let’s personalize this passage from our First Reading…
Be Completely Real…
Are you in the middle of a storm? Are you struggling to understand your current situation? Maybe you are in exile and unable to receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Talk to the Lord right now from your heart. Pray like Daniel. Then spend a minute in silence. Give the Holy Spirit time to respond with love and mercy to your prayer.
Be honest with the Lord. Ask for wisdom to know his will for you, and to give you the courage and fortitude to carry your current cross with love and mercy. While you may not understand what is going on, you instinctively know that you can trust in the Lord that he loves you and will guide you toward righteousness and holiness. Tell him, “you forgive my iniquities, let me love with mercy.”
In the next part we will read a prayer of faith from Psalms. Pray this with faith and hope, letting the Holy Spirit fill your heart with his merciful love.
Let us continue our mental prayer with today’s Responsorial Psalm:
You Forgive My Iniquities, Let Me Love With Mercy
Let Me Meditate on the Law of the Lord
Psalms 79:8-9, 11-13
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
May your compassion quickly come to us,
For we are brought very low.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.
Let the prisoners’ sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.
Visualize Christ…
Next, try to put yourself in the presence of Christ by visualizing Jesus in an intimate way. Remember, God told Daniel that a period of 70 “weeks”, or 490 years, would go by before the coming of the Messiah and rebuilding of the Temple. You already know the fulfillment of this promise, so imagine Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God who has come into the world, standing before you speaking to you.
Take a moment to close your eyes and picture him looking at you. You may want to imagine a favorite image of him coming alive and speaking to you. In this way you will be able to visualize Jesus in a personal way and this will help you understand how much he loves you and feel connected to him when you pray.
Now we are ready to take our image of Jesus and visualize today’s Gospel Reading. Put yourself in this scene much like you did in the First Reading. Read this passage twice, the second time more slowly, pausing on a word or phrase that speaks to your heart. Then prayerfully speak to Jesus about what stirred your heart. What do you want to tell him?
You Forgive My Iniquities, Let Me Love With Mercy
I will Be Merciful Because God Has Shown Me Mercy
Luke 6:36-38
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Are You Listening?
Contemplate Jesus looking at you with a deep loving gaze. He speaks to you, “Let me love with mercy through you. I am merciful, so you must also show mercy.”
Take a moment now to speak from your heart. Finally, promise to love God and the people he has given you in your life. Promise God you will try to have a merciful heart in difficult moments. Ask the Lord to help you stop judging and condemning others.
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 11 Lenten Meditation
Help Me Love Discipline and Quiet Service
“Help Me Love Discipline and Quiet Service” – Join us in our 11th Lenten reflection for Liturgical Year I