The Penitential Psalms are so called because they express sorrow for sin and a desire for pardon, traditionally there are 7 penitential psalms, although many of the other psalms of the Psalter could actually be used for this purpose. They are psalms 7, 32,38, 51,102,130,143, or 6, 31, 37,50,101,129,142 in the Vulgate numeration.

It was a long held and practiced Christian tradition to recite the so called penitential psalms, especially during the season of Lent, and at other specific times, i.e. pilgrimages, vigils in preparation for the Sacrament of Penance, and sometimes for purely devotional reasons, to express the sorrow of the human heart for its sins. They are prayed, recited not only for the sins and failures that we have committed, but also for the whole of mankind. We all share a common sin, a common failure, we have all at sometime or another chosen to worship idols instead of the living God, we have not responded to grace, in short we have sinned.

The Holy Psalter expresses all the emotions, struggles, suffering , weakness and sin of the human person. We can all identify with the cries, laments and joy of the psalmist, because they are the fruit of the human condition, poetry from the heart of man.

The penitential psalms express what we ourselves are sometimes unable to adequately verbalize concerning our sinfulness and failure, our sorrow and repentance, and in this sense these psalms are our voice, the voice of the very Church.

Christ Himself prayed them, He was sinless, spotless, but He prayed these psalms before the face of His Father for those who were incapable of verbalizing their sorrow and pain. We too, we can pray these psalms within our own fallen human condition ... for our own sins, but we can also pray them for others, they are prayers of reparation,  prayers of atonement, repentance.

Praying these Psalms brings us into solidarity with Christ Himself, and many of the great Saints of the Church who prayed them for the whole of humanity's fallen state.

St. Augustine, when dying, had the Psalms fixed upon the wall opposite his bed ... he knew how much he needed the mercy and indulgence of God.

Our Holy Mother St. Colette was very devoted to praying the Penitential Psalms, and had her daughters do likewise; it was the very spirit of penance that she restored to the observance of the Poor Clare rule, for she knew what graces it brought down upon the world.

Pray these psalms, or part of them, or even a few lines, having first asked the Holy Spirit to touch your heart and life through them. God's word can transform you.

And always remember, "a contrite heart, He will never spurn"; no one who sincerely turns to Christ will ever be turned away, for greater even than our sin is His love, his faithfulness and his mercy, and how your God will rejoice to see the sorrow in your heart.

 He will receive your sacrifice and give you joy in return.

A Poor Clare Colettine Nun

 

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.
O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.

Psalm 7

O LORD my God, in thee do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me, lest like a lion they rend me, dragging me away, with none to rescue.
O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have requited my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue me and overtake me, and let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust.
Arise, O LORD, in thy anger, lift thyself up against the fury of my enemies; awake, O my God; thou hast appointed a judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about thee; and over it take thy seat on high.
The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the righteous, thou who triest the minds and hearts, thou righteous God.
My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and strung his bow; he has prepared his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.
Behold, the wicked man conceives evil, and is pregnant with mischief, and brings forth lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole which he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own pate his violence descends.
I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Psalm 32

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. [Selah] Therefore let every one who is godly offer prayer to thee; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
Thou art a hiding place for me, thou preservest me from trouble; thou dost encompass me with deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you.
Many are the pangs of the wicked; but steadfast love surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 38

O LORD, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy wrath!
For thy arrows have sunk into me, and thy hand has come down on me.
There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.
For my iniquities have gone over my head; they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.
My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning.
For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.
I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
Lord, all my longing is known to thee, my sighing is not hidden from thee.
My heart throbs, my strength fails me; and the light of my eyes -- it also has gone from me.
My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my kinsmen stand afar off.
Those who seek my life lay their snares, those who seek my hurt speak of ruin, and meditate treachery all the day long.
But I am like a deaf man, I do not hear, like a dumb man who does not open his mouth.
Yea, I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes.
But for thee, O LORD, do I wait; it is thou, O LORD my God, who wilt answer.
For I pray, "Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!"
For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
I confess my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin.
Those who are my foes without cause are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
Those who render me evil for good are my adversaries because I follow after good.
Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!

Psalm 102
 

Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to thee!
Do not hide thy face from me in the day of my distress! Incline thy ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!
For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; I forget to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning my bones cleave to my flesh.
I am like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
All the day my enemies taunt me, those who deride me use my name for a curse.
For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink, because of thy indignation and anger; for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away.
My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
But thou, O LORD, art enthroned for ever; thy name endures to all generations.
Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come.
For thy servants hold her stones dear, and have pity on her dust.
The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
For the LORD will build up Zion, he will appear in his glory; he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication.
Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD:
that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die; that men may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
He has broken my strength in mid-course; he has shortened my days.
"O my God," I say, "take me not hence in the midst of my days, thou whose years endure throughout all generations!"
Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
They will perish, but thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away; but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.
The children of thy servants shall dwell secure; their posterity shall be established before thee.

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to thee, O LORD!
Lord, hear my voice! Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
If thou, O LORD, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Psalm 143

Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my supplications! In thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness!
Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for no man living is righteous before thee.
For the enemy has pursued me; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that thou hast done; I muse on what thy hands have wrought.
I stretch out my hands to thee; my soul thirsts for thee like a parched land. [Selah] Make haste to answer me, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the Pit.
Let me hear in the morning of thy steadfast love, for in thee I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to thee I lift up my soul.
Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies! I have fled to thee for refuge!
Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God! Let thy good spirit lead me on a level path!
For thy name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am thy servant.