Saturday, February 20, 2021
Prayer of Penitence – In the Desert
In today’s Noontime we ponder Daniels’s famous penitential prayer on behalf of the community. On the Eve of the first Sunday in Lent, we might reflect on three passages that complement today’s from Daniel. Ezra 9:6-15 and Nehemiah 1:5-11 and 9:6-37. In this story, both priest and administrator rebuild the Jerusalem temple after Cyrus allows the Jewish people to return from exile. They have been told that their exile will last not 70 weeks or 70 years as was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah. No, they receive word that their captivity will end in seven times seventy or in 490 years. This is gloomy news until we begin to understand that this is precisely the amount of time until the arrival of Jesus.
The HARPER COLLINS COMMENTARY tells us that this prayer we read today is not seen so much as a petition from the people which God obeys but rather as an appropriate act of piety from a people who have erred and disobeyed. It is for this reason that it is best to find others who will pray this together with us as an admission of our collective willfulness, waywardness and disobedience. (Mays 631)
And let us pray Daniel’s prayer much as the Jewish community prayed with Ezra and Nehemiah when they returned to their ruined city.
![woman-kneeling[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/woman-kneeling1.jpg)
God of Heaven, God of Earth, Spirit Dwelling Among Us,
Guide us . . . and grant us the faith to follow,
Be glad in us . . . and grant us the hope to rejoice in you,
Love us . . . and grant us the grace to grow in you.
We wish to turn . . . we wish to return to you.
For you are the beginning, the end, the all.
We are your servants.
May we serve you well.
Amen.
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 631. Print.
Images from: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/tent-in-the-desert-the-prayer-detail-eugene-alexis-girardet.html and http://annebender.blogspot.com/2013/07/three-things-i-love-about-catholicism.html
Adapted from a reflection written on February 17, 2008.
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