◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 51:1-10 (Have mercy upon me O God); Genesis 6:1-6 (Sinful humanity forgets God); 1 Timothy 1:1-11 (About false teachers) (New Catholic Bible)

Prev Day

September 12, 1968

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

September 1968
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Return to today's reading

Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 51:1-10

Psalm 51^[a]

The “Miserere”: Repentance for Sin

¹For the director.^[b] A psalm of David. ²When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.

³Have mercy on me, O God,
    in accord with your kindness;^[c]
in your abundant compassion
    wipe away my offenses.
⁴Wash me completely from my guilt,
    and cleanse me from my sin.
⁵For I am fully aware of my offense,
    and my sin is ever before me.
⁶Against you, you alone,^[d] have I sinned;
    I have done what is evil in your sight.
Therefore, you are right in accusing me
    and just in passing judgment.
⁷Indeed, I was born in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.^[e]
⁸But you desire sincerity of heart;^[f]
    and you endow my innermost being with wisdom.
⁹Sprinkle me with hyssop^[g] so that I may be cleansed;
    wash me until I am whiter than snow.
¹⁰Let me experience joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed exult.

Footnotes

Psalm 51:1 This psalm, the “Miserere,” the best known of the seven Penitential Psalms (Pss 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143), is still the most authentic expression of our prayer as human beings. The kind of sincerity in the confession of sinfulness that it expresses requires a limitless trust in the mercy of God. Whether it voices the repentance of King David after his adultery (see 2 Sam 12:13) or that of the Jewish people after their return from the Exile during which they had become aware of their infidelity, the entreaty shows authentic repentance.
Men and women become conscious of the sin that alienates them from God (see Ezek 2:3; 16:43); evil plunges its roots deep within their being (see Jer 5:23; 7:24; 17:9; Ezek 36:26). A hasty forgiveness, an external purification, is not enough; it is the heart that must be transformed. God alone can effect this new creation and infuse a new Spirit (see Ezek 36:26). He allows sinners to come to their senses and humbly commit themselves to him again. He alone can answer the desire for complete renewal that is inscribed in a true request for forgiveness. Our thoughts turn immediately to Paul who movingly describes the dramatic situation of sinners (Rom 7:14ff) and then contrasts it with the exalted life of Christians who let themselves be led by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8).
Especially striking in this regard is verse 7 of this psalm: the individual—or the people—has been conceived in sin, begotten in guilt. The psalmist is surely not thinking of a sin of the mother that might infect the child, nor does the Old Testament consider the conjugal union to be sinful; by this exceptionally violent image the psalmist intends rather to convey the idea that the human being is born as a prisoner of a sinful environment.
All Christians—whether under the shock of some personal failing, under the, at times, searing impression of a life of mediocrity and nullity in God’s eyes, or in union with the entire Church imploring the mercy of the Crucified upon the sinful world—have recited this psalm with its bubbling lyricism to express contrition and distress of soul, and to ask the Savior’s mercy and their own inner renewal.
Psalm 51:1 For the director: these words are thought to be a musical or liturgical notation. For the event referred to, see 2 Sam 11:1—12:25.
Psalm 51:3 Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5. Wipe away: the psalmist pictures God keeping a record of a person’s deeds on a scroll as earthly kings were wont to do (see Pss 56:9; 87:6; 130:3; 139:16; Ex 32:32f; Neh 13:14; Dan 7:10), and then wiping away the evil deeds when forgiveness is given.
Psalm 51:6 Against you, you alone: the very essence of sin is that it constitutes an offense against God, even though it may also entail an offense against human beings. Just in passing judgment: permitted by God, sin calls for the intervention of his judgment (see Rom 3:4).
Psalm 51:7 All human beings have a congenital inclination toward evil (see Gen 8:21; 1 Ki 8:46; Job 4:17; 14:4; 15:14; 25:4; Prov 20:9). God must take account of this situation, which is a mitigating circumstance, and show mercy. Later, the doctrine of original sin will be made explicit (see Rom 5:12f; Eph 2:3).
Psalm 51:8 Despite his sins against God’s teaching, the psalmist craves that teaching with his whole being; he wants to be among the wise who follow God’s law, not the fools who reject it (see Ps 37:30f). Heart: see note on Ps 4:8.
Psalm 51:9 Hyssop: a plant with many branchlets that is a convenient sprinkler, prescribed for sprinkling sacrificial blood or water for cleansing (see Ex 12:22; Lev 14:4; Num 19:18). Whiter than snow: purity beyond compare (see Isa 1:18; Dan 7:9; Rev 7:14; 19:14).

Genesis 6:1-6

Death and Resurrection of God’s Work^[a]

Chapter 6

Widespread Perversion.^[b]¹When men began to multiply upon the earth, and they began to have daughters, ²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married as many of them as they wanted. ³The Lord therefore said, “My spirit will not remain in them forever, for they are flesh and the length of their lives will be one hundred and twenty years.”

⁴There were giants upon the earth at this time, as well as afterward. They were the children of the sons of God who married the daughters of men. These were the heroes of times past, men of renown.

⁵The Lord saw that the wickedness of men upon the earth was great, and that every plan that their hearts conceived was nothing but evil. ⁶The Lord regretted that he had made man upon the earth and his heart was grieved.

1 Timothy 1:1-11

Chapter 1

Salutation^[a]

Address. ¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior^[b] and Christ Jesus our hope, ²to Timothy, my loyal child in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Timothy, Champion of the Truth^[c]

On Holding Fast to Sound Doctrine. When I was setting out for Macedonia,^[d] I urged you to stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people that they are not to teach erroneous doctrines ⁴and not to concern themselves with myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies and do not produce godly edification in faith.

⁵The aim of this instruction is love that derives from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. ⁶Some people have departed from these and turned to empty speculation, ⁷desiring to be teachers of the Law; but they understand neither the words they are using nor the matters about which they make such confident assertions.

Purpose of the Law. ⁸We are well aware that the Law is good, provided that one uses it properly, ⁹recognizing that laws are not designed for the upright. They are for the lawless and insubordinate, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and irreligious; they are for those who slay their fathers and mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰for those who are fornicators, sodomites,^[e] slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching ¹¹that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which has been entrusted to me.

Footnotes

1 Timothy 1:1 The majority of Paul’s Letters were sent to Churches, but four were addressed to individuals: Timothy (two Letters), Titus, and Philemon. Titus and Timothy were not apostles but evangelists (see 2 Tim 4:5). Timothy (whose father was Greek and his mother a Jewish Christian) had been converted by Paul’s preaching (see Acts 16:1-3) and so was Paul’s “loyal child in the faith.”
1 Timothy 1:1 Savior: this title, given to both the Father and Jesus, is characteristic of the later Letters of Paul, perhaps in reaction to the pagan environment in which the gods were “saviors” and the emperor was worshiped as a god. Jesus our hope is one of Paul’s finest descriptions.
1 Timothy 1:3 In writing to the Colossians, Paul had already denounced the infatuation with hazardous theories that characterized some Christians of Jewish origins in the region of Ephesus. Once again, fanciful theologies, hollow ideas, and obscure mythologies are being given free rein in Ephesus. Some converts from Judaism—who are familiar with the new Greek mythological currents as well as the play of Biblical genealogies—give themselves up to speculations without end or purpose, and they abandon the essence of faith and love.
³
They claim to be teachers of the Law, but they preach nonsense. Hence, they must be reminded that the Law is primarily a discipline of life rather than an object of speculation (see Rom 7:12-16; Gal 3:19); above all, the importance of a sane doctrine that fixes one’s thoughts and guides one’s life must be inculcated in them. In the midst of an anarchic agitation, Christians must always come back to the profound meaning of the Gospel, exemplified by Paul’s life and vocation.
1 Timothy 1:3 When I was setting out for Macedonia: an event not mentioned in Acts; hence, it probably occurred after Acts 28 between Paul’s first and second Roman imprisonment. He had founded the Church at Ephesus on the Third Missionary Journey some eight years earlier (see Acts 19:1—20:1).
1 Timothy 1:10 Sodomites: adult males who have relations with boy prostitutes. The latter are also known as catamites after the Latin name (Catamitus) of Ganymede, the cupbearer of the gods in Greek mythology. See also Rom 1:26f and 1 Cor 6:9. Slave traders: literally, “dealers in men,” who included slaves but also men destined to be thrown into the arena or to serve unmentionable vices.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

Prev Day

Top

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

Log in to read this devotional and:

Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 51[a]

The “Miserere”: Repentance for Sin

Footnotes

Death and Resurrection of God’s Work[a]

Chapter 6

Footnotes

Chapter 1

Salutation[a]

Timothy, Champion of the Truth[c]

Footnotes

Psalm 51^[a]

Death and Resurrection of God’s Work^[a]

Salutation^[a]

Timothy, Champion of the Truth^[c]