psalm 32: double joy - friday 5th week

This is one psalm which begins with so many blessed - Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Blessed is he whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes not guilt.  In Hebrew the word Blessed is in plural form, which we cannot translate of course to English  unless we say blessednesses.  So the blessedness here is not just single but a double joy, a bundle of happiness, a very happy condition.  Why, because the Lord forgives.

How does one attain this very happy condition?  Only one thing but stated both in the negative and positive.  First it would be such a happy condition when you do not conceal or hide your sins from God.  Second, stated positively, one can experience double joy when we acknowledge our sins and confess these to God.  So how does one attain happiness says the psalm – when we do not hide our sins and when we confess and acknowledge these before God.  This is the joy of confession, the joy of the sacrament of reconciliation.

This afternoon I gathered all the laundry which the high school in their comfort rooms and gathering them in the dorm I asked them to get the underwear and shirts and shorts from the pile.  But nobody seemed to want to admit the he owns them, and we have to pick these up one by one and go to the tedious process of examining each item kon may ngalan ukon wala.  Ari o imo ni.  Indi na ya akon.  Imo ni.  Indi na ya akon.  Imo ni gani.  Daw may amo ko sina pero indi na akon.  Imo ni gani kay may ngalan mo.  A akon na.

Nahuya sila magkuha kag mag-ako nga iya.

Becoming responsible means becoming accountable for my actions and that includes the openness to the possibility that I may be wrong, that I may have forgotten, that I may have committed a mistake, that I may have made a bad judgment.  Doing so makes one open to the possibility of becoming truthful to our human condition and human limitations, and therefore to the forgiveness of God.   Psalm 32 tells us that joy, double joy, the bundle of happiness comes not from getting the perfect score but from being forgiven and experiencing forgiveness.