“A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn”

THAT’S from Psalm 51,19 which is often used as the responsorial psalm in some Lenten Masses. It describes for us what will always attract the love and mercy of God for us. Though God will always love us no matter what, there is also the fact that God gives a most special kind of love and mercy for a heart that is truly “contrite and humbled.” 

 Perhaps we can ask how we can make our heart contrite and humbled. Some ideas can be the following: 

 - We should often reflect on our actions and shortcomings, examining our motivations; 

- We should acknowledge our weaknesses and mistakes, always praying for humility; 

- We should always ask for God’s forgiveness and guidance even if he offers it to us always; - Let’s always be grateful for all the blessings we receive from God, often meditating on his love, mercy and power; etc. 

 We should never forget that we are always hounded by our weaknesses, the many temptations around, and the many sins, ours and those of others. But we need to prepare ourselves for that fact of life. We need to cultivate a healthy spirit of penance that starts when we acknowledge these conditions about ourselves. We should be humble enough to accept this reality. 

 But the virtue of penance goes farther than that. It grows when we put up the necessary defenses against these enemies of our soul and wage a lifelong ascetical struggle. Yes, our life will be and should be a life of warfare, a war of peace and love that will also give us certain consolations in spite of the tension. 

 And for this penance to be a true virtue, it has to include an indomitable hope that can survive even in the worst of scenarios. In fact, this hope gets stronger the uglier also the warfare gets. 

 It's a hope based on God's never-sparing mercy. Some relevant words of St. Paul: “I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil 1,6) It would be good if these Pauline assurance forms the deep attitude we should have toward our fragile human condition. 

 Besides, we should not forget that nothing happens in our life without at least the permission and tolerance of God. And if he allows something to happen, no matter how evil it is, it is because a greater good can be derived from it. Precious lessons can also be learned from our sinfulness. 

 With God, everything will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) There is always a reason for everything. And so, part of having a “heart contrite and humbled” is that attitude of converting our falls and mistakes as a strong reason to immediately go to God asking for his mercy. Let’s avoid overreacting to our sins by keeping ourselves unduly worried and sad. God never tires of forgiving us. 

 But let’s be truly sorry for our sins and humbled by them. In fact, the virtue of humility is better lived and developed when we are humbled by whatever negative things can happen in our lives than when we simply humble ourselves. Being humble by being humbled would strongly attract God’s love and mercy. 

 This is not to develop a life darkened by this spirit of penance, contrition and humility. On the contrary, we would be developing a happy life where we would always feel light and more focused in doing what truly matters in our life.