Lent is being shamefaced

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Second Week in Lent, 17 March 2025
Daniel 9:4-10     + + +     Luke 6:36-38

*Photo by author, Canyon Woods Resort, Laurel, Batangas, 15 March 2025.*

Lord Jesus Christ,
on this first working day of
Second Week in Lent,
give me the grace
to be
 shamefaced;
give me the sense of
embarrassment,
the sense of sinfulness,
a sense of humanity.

Yes, Lord,
we have been so
callous
and numb,
so thick-faced
as in "kapal"!

“Lord, great and awesome god, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. We have not obeyed your servants the prophets… Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day… O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers for having sinned against you” (Daniel 9:4-7, 8).

Do not let us sink deeper
into sin and misery 
like your people
in the time 
of your Prophet Daniel,
Lord, for us to be shamefaced 
in admitting our sins,
our treachery against you;
our nation is so divided these days
with no one having any sense of shame
at all with the decadence we have sank
into like excessive profanities,
rampant fake news,
overt personalisms,
too much politics
without any regard
at all with what is right
and wrong,
with what is evil
and what is good
and worst of all,
without any respect
for one another
and for life in general;
many of us have 
discarded your image and
likeness in us as we have lost
our sense of sinfulness
and shame.

Let us be shamefaced
like Daniel, Jesus;
mahiya naman kami, Lord!

Before we can be merciful with
others, let us be shamefaced
first; let us be shamefaced,
Jesus, so we can be generous
with others for without any 
shame at all like with what
is happening now 
in our country,
we are sinking deeper
into the pit of destruction.
Amen.

Shamefaced in Lent

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Lent, 26 February 2024
Daniel 9:4-10     <*((((>< + + + ><))))*>     Luke 6:36-38

Thank you, Lord,
"great and awesome God"
(Daniel 9:4) for another month
about to end as we entered 
the second week in Lent;
by this time,
let us feel more your mercy
and forgiveness,
your immense love
despite our repeated sins
that have actually
habitual to many of us.

Like Daniel your prophet,
make us "shamefaced"
before you instead of being
shameless.

Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: we, the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you. O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.
Daniel 9:7-8

Before we can be
merciful as you are 
merciful dear Father
according to Jesus Christ,
let us be shamefaced first
of all for our sinfulness;
many of us have lost that
sense of sinfulness,
becoming shameless
and so thick-faced
that saying it in Tagalog
is best, "makapal
ang mukha".

This Lent,
teach us to be
ashamed of our sins
and iniquities;
teach us to let go 
of our many excuses
and alibis that only
make our face grow
thicker like the soles
of our feet; make us
realize the more shame 
we put on our selves 
when we feel so
self-righteous
that we have no room
to be kind and understanding,
even caring and 
forgiving of others.

This Lent,
let us start
being shamefaced,
of having a healthy 
mistrust of our selves
so that we begin to trust you more,
O Lord, and become like you,
loving and merciful,
and eventually a vessel
of your blessings for others.
Amen.

Lent is being shamefaced

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Lent, 06 March 2023
Daniel 9:4-10   >< +++ >< +++ ><   Luke 6:36-38

*Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.*

O God, on this first
working day in the second week
of Lent, I imitate Daniel's prayer
and confession of sins in the first 
reading:

“We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. We have not obeyed your servants… we are shamefaced even to this day.”
Daniel 9:5-6, 7

It has been a long time,
dear Father, when I have been
bold and true enough to admit,
to confess before you that indeed,
I have SINNED, been WICKED...
I have REBELLED and DEPARTED
from your commandments...
I have NOT OBEYED...
and now SHAMEFACED.
Dear God,
for so long, I have followed
the trend of this world,
of this life,
of "diluting" my sinfulness and
culpability, of always looking for
somebody else or something to blame
for my sins and evil deed, of moving
the lines of morality so as to feel 
less guilty, less sinful, not really bad
when in fact, it is when we are most evil,
when I am so far from you
and shamefaced.

God, help me recover
this being shamefaced;
help us all for we have no more
shame at all that we cover up
our sins and evil; worst, O Lord,
our lack of shame for our sins
prevent us to a large degree
in being merciful like you
and tragically pushes us to
being so judgmental of others
sinfulness.

This Lent, O God,
let us recover our sense
of shame; let us be shamefaced
in Jesus Christ your Son.
Amen.