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"Remember, O Man, that dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return."
"Misere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam Tuam."
Today is the First Day of Quadragesima (the Forty Days, called "Lent" in
English, "Fastenzeit" in German, and "Car�me" in French).
"Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness."
Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made,
and dost forgive the sins of those who are penitent: create and make
within us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our
sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may obtain of thee, the God
of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness. Amen.
"Asperges me, Domine hysopo, et mundabor. Lavabis me, et
super nivem dealbabor."
"Bless the Lord who forgiveth all our sins." So begins the Mass in Episcopal
Churches during Lent. Sin and penitence are the focus of this season of Lent,
but it is hard to imagine a concept more out of touch with our times. The
countless ways we have found in the last thirty or forty years to understand
human behaviour have led us to countless ways of excusing human behaviour.
The word "sin" is a translation of the Greek word "hamartia" which derives
from the image of an arrow missing its mark. To sin is to miss the mark of
who we are made to be. It is to be less than our true selves, to be
diminished, to refuse to grow. Too many of us have carried away from our
childhood a misunderstanding of sin as a technical foul called by an angry
and unfair referee, when in fact it is a degenerative disease that a loving
and merciful God wishes to cure.
To face sin and confess it is the beginning of the cure. Like any other cure,
it takes time -- our whole lives. We find that we are facing and confessing
the same sins week after week. But then the cure begins to work. We become
sinners; we open our eyes to the glory of God and to the wholeness for which
we were made. We refuse to be blind, and we seek to grow. The cure is there,
at the foot of the Cross. Welcome to the company of sinners.
--Based in part on an article in "The Anglican Digest"
by The Rev'd Samuel T. Lloyd, III, Rector
Trinity Church, Boston.
"Thou shalt purge me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be
clean. Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
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