Monday of the Second Week in Lent

Firemen burn grass at Mount Saint Francis
to revive the prairie.

Lectionary: 230

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....

 P  ious sinners that we are, we are continually tempted to stand with God and against our fellow men and women. We might not go as far as the Pharisee who prayed, "I thank you God that I am not like the rest of men...." But we might not say, "There is my brother. There is my sister." 

Adam tried to weasel his way out of guilt by first blaming his wife and then implying it was God's fault to start with! "The woman you gave me...!" 

Jesus took his stand not on God's side but with us, and would pray like the Prophet Daniel, "Justice, O Lord, is on your side....

As we practice the virtue of Penance, and undertake its practices, we begin not by trying to isolate ourselves from others, and our sins from theirs. Rather, we pray;

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.

We do penance together; it's not an isolated exercise. As Catholics we should pray daily, practice works of Charity, and abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, and abstain from excessive food on Wednesdays and Friday. It may not seem like much but if we're doing this together no one has to stand apart from others. If they do they're liable to that secret prayer of the Pharisee. 

Have mercy on us, O Lord.
Parce Domine. Parce Populo tuo. Ne in aeternum, irascaris nobis. 
"Spare, Lord, spare your people: Be not angry with us forever"