Every Friday Psalm 51 is the Church’s morning prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. “Have mercy on me, O God, in your kindness. In your compassion wipe out my offense.” It’s one of the most important prayers we say.  It’s an appeal to God for mercy, that we might know our sinfulness and that God heal us.

Unfortunately, we become blind to our own sins and see the faults of others rather than our own, St. Augustine says in his commentary on this psalm. There’s evil in life, so if it’s not in us it must be out there in others. 

King David, who is closely associated with this psalm, was quick to see the man the Prophet Nathan described to him as worthy of death. He didn’t see he was the guilty one.

Psalm 51 reminds us we’re sinners and we should know our sins and not forget them. “My offenses truly I know them, and my sin is always before me.” 

Only God can bring us knowledge of our sins, our psalm says. We can’t know ourselves and our sins completely on our own, however honest and thorough we may try to be. Only God brings us knowledge of ourselves. 

Notice there is no list of sins for us to check out in this psalm.  Rather than listing sins, the psalm praises God for a love that restores us to his friendship. “You love truth in the heart, then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.”

We ask God to create a pure heart and a steadfast spirit in us, to wash us and sprinkle us with hyssop that we may be clean. St. Augustine says that hyssop is a plant that clings to rocks; it knows hard places, like the human heart. 

We ask for a ‘spirit of joy”, a “spirit of fervor” that God renews us, and a resolve to do what we’re called to do in this life. Like the Prodigal Son this psalm ends in a feast of joy.

Furthermore, our plea for God’s mercy is not just for ourselves . The walls of Jerusalem, the world around us, are waiting to be rebuilt and we’re asking God to rebuild them. Our own conversion contributes to the conversion of our world.

Take a look at the church’s morning and evening prayers here