July 2002 VOICE OF SHALOM

REFLECTING ON PSALM 50[51] In Psalm 50[51] the personal conscience of the sinner comes into play, clearly perceiving his evil. It is an experience that implies freedom and responsibility, and leads to admitting to having broken a bond in order to make an alternate choice in life with respect to the divine Word. It involves a radical decision of change. All this is implied in "acknowledging." In Hebrew, the verb "acknowledging" does not only include an intellectual adherence but a vital choice. It is unfortunate that many do not "acknowledge" their failings as Origen warns: "There are some who after having sinned are absolutely at peace and do not think of their sin, nor are they consumed by the awareness of the evil committed, but live as if it were nothing. These, of course, cannot say: 'My sin is always before me'. When, instead, after sinning, one is consumed and afflicted by one's sin, and is tormented by remorse, he is ceaselessly lacerated and endures assaults in his inner being that overwhelms him, such a one has good reason to exclaim: There is no peace for my bones given the nature of my sins. Therefore, when we put before the eyes of our heart the sins we have committed, we look at them one by one, we acknowledge them, are ashamed and are repentant of all that we have done then, justly overwhelmed and terrified, we say that there is no peace in our bones given the nature of our sins" (Homilies on the Psalms, Florence, 1991, pp. 277-279). Pope John Paul II

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