Mar 1: With a Contrite Heart and a Humble Spirit

Gianlorenzo Bernini: Daniel
Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, 1650

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

Reading I: NAB, Dn 3:25, 34-43b

“Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,
as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls,
or with tens of thousands of fat lambs;
such may our sacrifice be in your sight today,
and may we unreservedly follow you,
for no shame will come to those who trust in you (NRSV, vv. 16-17 following Dn 3:24) .”

Father, Bernini’s statue of Daniel in Santa Maria del Popolo might just as well be a representation of Azariah as he prayed to you in the fiery furnace: “Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted, as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls.”

How strange it is, Lord, that in the most difficult situations, when all seems on the verge of being lost, that suddenly we see so much more clearly and that actually things are better than we ever could have thought. It was during the captivity in Babylon, when there was no longer temple or priesthood and so animal sacrifice and the offering of incense and first fruits were no longer possible, that it became obvious that the true offering to you, Lord, is a contrite heart and a humble spirit.

Today, in the risen Jesus, we recognize that a contrite heart and humble spirit are really the acceptance of your life, Father, into our own and of our being caught up in your inner life of giving, receiving and sharing in love that is true sacrifice. This true sacrifice, the archetype of all others, is offered to you, Father, in the Holy Spirit through your Word who became one of us and died with and for us. It is the sacrifice made present for us visibly in the Eucharist.

Help us, Father, to realize that there is nothing that we can give you on our own. All we can do is accept with gratitude the life that you share with us. But, once having received life from you through the Word, we are empowered to share that very life with you in the love of the Holy Spirit.

Father, as you heard the prayer of Daniel, and of Azariah in the fiery furnace, hear also our prayer that we too may offer back to you, in sacrifice, through your Word, the gift you give to us: a contrite heart and a humble spirit.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.