From Living Faith Daily Catholic Devotions (Jan/Feb/Mar 2026)

Lenten Weekday

Daniel 9:4b-10 + Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13 + Luke 6:36-38

Resembling Our Heavenly Father

But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Daniel 9:9

Daniel prays for mercy and forgiveness. His prayer is clear. We have sinned. No excuses. We have not listened to your prophets. All of us are guilty – from our king to “the people of the land” (v. 6). No one is exempt. He ends with this great truth: “But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!” It is precisely this conviction that enables Daniel to approach God in the first place.

Jesus’ words are even more clear than Daniel’s. Be merciful as your Heavenly Father is, he says. Stop judging. Stop condemning. Give. Forgive and you will be forgiven. (See Luke 6:36.)

Lent is a time to repent. We might ask ourselves: How much do we resemble our forgiving, Heavenly Father?

Loving God, I have sinned. No excuses. Help me to stop judging others. Help me to give. To forgive. Renew my conviction that you are a God of mercy and forgiveness.

□ Sr. Melannie Svoboda, S.N.D.