After reading Psalm 51 today, which regards the time when the prophet Nathan came to David after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, I read a prayer. Both the Psalm and the prayer spoke to me and I share them with you.
Psalm 51:1-3 (New Living Translation) "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night."
"I confess, Lord, with thanksgiving, that you have made me in your image so that I can remember you, think of you, and love you. But that image is so worn and blotted out by faults, and darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do that for which it was made unless you renew and refashion it. Lord, I am not trying to make my way to your height, for my understanding is in no way equal to that, but I do desire to understand a little of your truth, which my heart already believes and loves. Amen." Saint Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033-1109)
Psalm 51:1-3 (New Living Translation) "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night."
"I confess, Lord, with thanksgiving, that you have made me in your image so that I can remember you, think of you, and love you. But that image is so worn and blotted out by faults, and darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do that for which it was made unless you renew and refashion it. Lord, I am not trying to make my way to your height, for my understanding is in no way equal to that, but I do desire to understand a little of your truth, which my heart already believes and loves. Amen." Saint Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033-1109)
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