Miserere

A traditional devotion for the Lenten season is to pray the beautiful Seven Penitential Psalms. These psalms are: 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142 in the Douay Rheims version of the Bible. By order of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), these prayers were to be prayed on the days of Lent. If they cannot be said on each day of Lent, they can be prayed on Lenten Fridays (or one could pray one prayer on each of the 7 Fridays of Lent). The Penitential Psalms are prayers of mercy and contrition, and their recitation aids us in recognizing our sins, expressing our contrition, and begging God's mercy. The traditional practice of praying these psalms is kneeling. Begin and ends with the antiphon, and recites a Gloria in between. Psalm 50, Miserere, is provided below. You can find psalm 129, De Profundis, here. 

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Antiphon.  Remember not, O Lord. our or our parents’ offences: neither take vengeance of our sins.  Miserere: Psalm 50  Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.  And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.  Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.  To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged.  For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.  For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.  Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.  To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice. Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.  Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.  Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.  I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.  Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.  O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.  For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.  A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.  Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.  Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.  (Repeat the Antiphon.)  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.		Antiphon. Ne reminscáris Dómine delícta nostra, vel paréntum nostrórum: neque vindíctam sumas de peccátis nostris.  Miserere: Psalm 50  Miserére mei Deus, secúndum magnam misericórdiam tuam.  Et secúndum multitúdinem miseratiónum tuárum, dele iniquitátem meam.  Ámplius lava me ab iniquitáte mea: et a peccáto meo munda me.  Quóniam iniquitátem meam ego cognósco: et peccátum meum contra me est semper.  Tibi soli peccávi, et malum coram te feci: ut iustificéris in sermónibus tuis, et vincas cum iudicáris. Ecce enim in iniquitátibus concéptus sum: et in peccátis concépit me mater mea.  Ecce enim veritátem dilexísti: incérta et occúlta sapiéntiæ tuæ manifestásti mihi.  Aspérges me hyssópo, et mundábor: lavábis me, et super nivem dealbábor.  Audítui meo dabis gaúdium, et lætítiam: et exsultábunt ossa humiliáta.  Avérte fáciem tuam a peccátis meis: et omnes iniquitátes meas dele.  Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spíritum rectum ínnova in viscéribus meis.  Ne proícias me a fácie tua: et Spíritum sanctum tuum ne áuferas a me.  Redde mihi lætítiam salutáris tui: et spíritu principáli confírma me.  Docébo iníquos vias tuas: et ímpii ad te converténtur.  Líbera me de sanguínibus, Deus, Deus salútis meæ: et exsultábit lingua mea iustítiam tuam.  Dómine, lábia mea apéries: et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.  Quóniam si voluísses sacrifícium, dedíssem útique: holocaústis non delectáberis.  Sacrifícium Deo spíritus contribulátus: cor contrítum et humiliátum, Deus, non despícies.  Benígne fac, Dómine, in bona voluntáte tua Sion: ut ædificéntur muri Ierúsalem.  Tunc acceptábis sacrifícium iustítiæ, oblatiónes, et holocáusta: tunc inpónent super altáre tuum vítulos. (Repeat the Antiphon.)  Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

God bless!

+JMJ+