On Ash Wednesday the minister who applied my ashes said, “Remember that you are just…(and after an awkward pause) I mean dust, and to dust you shall return.” I smiled as I walked away thinking how far from being “just” I really am. I looked it up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. As one of the four cardinal virtues it “consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor.” Throughout the Lenten season I’ve been praying prayers of repentance for the ways in which I’ve fallen short in this notion of justice, along with our church and our nation. I invite you to join me in the days leading up to Easter and beyond.

Mt. 10:33 “Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.  But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.”  Lord, we may not have denied you by what we have said, but have we denied you by our silence?  Have we hidden in the shadows, when taking a stand in the light was needed?  Have we given in to cowardiceand denied our relationship with you by what we have failed to do?  Lord, for not acknowledging you before others in our words and deeds, we repent and we pray, Lord have mercy.

1 Cor. 2: 12 “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.”    1 Cor. 3: 19.  “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”   Lord, there have been times that we have sought the approval of those who are wise in this world.  We have compromised the truth of the Gospel in our desire for acceptance.  We have been frozen by indecision, when bold action was called for.  We have kept silent about our beliefs to preserve a friendship or out of fear of appearing foolish in the eyes of the world.  Lord, for the times we have followed the spirit of the world rather than the Spirit of God, we repent and we pray, Lord have mercy.

Rom. 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds”.  Lord we have too often allowed our thinking to be conformed to the values of this world.  We have sought creature comforts and expended time and energy in pursuit of material wealth rather than seeking the treasures of the kingdom of God.  In raising our children we have placed the highest value on the best education to acquire the best job to make the most money to have the most comfortable life rather than placing the highest value on knowing, loving, and serving God.  Lord, for the ways we have conformed to worldly thinking and failed to be conformed to the mind of Christ, we repent and we pray, Lord have mercy.

For the sins of the Church

1Pet. 2:9.  “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  Lord, for our failure as a Church to be set apart for holiness and to stand as a sign of contradiction; for priests, pastors, ministers, bishops and church leaders who are guilty of participating in the sins of this age, but particularly the idolatry of sex and the harming our children; for our failure as the laity to be witnesses in the workplace, the marketplace, our neighborhoods and our families; for compartmentalizing our faith to Sunday worship; for our spiritual sloth as lay men and women,  we repent and pray, Lord have mercy.

1 Cor. 1: 10.  Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose.  Lord, we have become a church crippled by quarreling, dissension, and factions.  We declare our loyalty only to leaders who align with our narrow way of thinking and publicly criticize our bishops and pope. We argue and even separate ourselves over what we deem to be the acceptable way to celebrate the holy sacrifice of the mass.  And we criticize the beliefs and practices of other Christian denominations and assemblies rather than joining with our separated brothers and sisters to work towards unity in the Body of Christ.  Lord, for the scandal of disunity and for tolerating and even promoting a spirit of division, we repent and pray, Lord have mercy.

2 Tim. 4: 2.  “…preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.”  Lord, for failing to preach The Word of God with power and for avoiding controversial teachings for fear of alienating people; for diluting God’s Word to make it more acceptable; for being more worried about filling the pews and filling the coffers than filling our congregations with the Holy Spirit, we repent and we pray, Lord have mercy.

For the sins of the nation

Phil. 2:10-11.” …at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Lord, in our society your name is so often used in vain to curse rather than to confess your Lordship.  And our nation bends its knee to the idols of power, wealth, pleasure, and honor. Pressure groups make concerted efforts to purge you from our national consciousness, memory, and history.  We remove representations of the Ten Commandments from our public squares, and eliminate public prayer in our schools. Lord, for diminishing, ignoring, and even renouncing your Lordship over our nation, and for offenses against your holy name, we repent and we pray, Lord have mercy.

I Jn. 2: 3-4. “And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He who says ‘I know him but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”  Lord, our nation blatantly disregards your laws and commands; we depict every form of immorality in our movies, music, and social media as normal and acceptable; before they are born, we destroy babies that are flawed, unwanted, or just inconvenient; we ignore your commandment to set aside Sunday as the Lord’s Day to rest from ordinary work and consumerism to taste your goodness. Lord, for our corporate disobedience of your commandments, we repent and we pray, Lord have mercy.

Gen. 1:27.  So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  Lord, our country has rejected your design for us as being created in your image and likeness. We choose our own gender and redefine marriage and family; we parade our sexual sins publicly, scandalizing our children; we proclaim our achievements, discoveries, and inventions with pride as if we have the power to overcome the evils of this world apart from you; we worship autonomy as an idol where we decide what is right and wrong, what is true and false, what is good and what is evil.  Lord, for returning to the Original Sin of our parents by choosing to be our own god, we repent and we pray, Lord have mercy.