Today's responsorial psalm is one of the seven Penitential Psalms (6, 32. 38. 51, 102, 130, 143). Many psalms appeal to God for help, but these seven psalms in a special way appeal to God for mercy, forgiveness and salvation. Encouraged by the doctrine of Ezekiel and other prophets on the need for repentance and its very possibility, the Psalmist expresses in psalm 6 his personal response to God. When we sin, God does not take our sin as a final statement of our relation with him or an eternal and irrevocable choice. The whole Bible affirms that repentance is possible.

Jesus promised us that only one sin is unforgivable, the sin against the Holy Spirit. While Jesus does not clarify what that sin is, we must presume that in some manner it includes a refusal to acknowledge one's sins and to repent. If God calls us to repentance, that call includes the grace we need. In order to repent, we need wisdom, humility and sincerity, so that God may rejoice when we turn from our evil ways and live. Lent is a time when the Church in a special way fosters in our hearts the desire for this necessary grace.