Psalms for Ash Wednesday, for fasting and prayer, for repentance and for taking stock, with the Sunday psalms of Lent.
The psalms have no word for Lent, but they cover what it involves. Three psalms mention fasting, and none of them treats it as a way to earn anything. Many more confess sin plainly and ask for mercy, and some look hard at how short a life is. In the Catholic Lectionary, Psalm 51 is set for Ash Wednesday, and in Year A Psalm 130 comes on the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
The picks are grouped for Ash Wednesday, for fasting and prayer, for repentance, and for examining your own life. A short section below lists the Year A Sunday psalms of Lent. Tick the verses you want and print them as one sheet.
The Lectionary for Mass sets Psalm 51 for Ash Wednesday, according to the Catholic Lectionary Website. The other verses here speak of dust, ashes and numbered days.
For I know my transgressions.My sin is constantly before me.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
From the Ash Wednesday psalm. The writer does not argue or explain: I know my transgressions, and my sin is always in front of me. The heading places it after Nathan confronted David.
For he knows how we are made.He remembers that we are dust.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
God remembers that we are dust. It is said as comfort, because it gives the reason for the compassion of a father in the verse before.
So teach us to count our days,that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
A prayer to count the days, so as to gain a heart of wisdom. The heading attributes Psalm 90 to Moses.
For I have eaten ashes like bread,and mixed my drink with tears,
For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
Ashes eaten like bread and drink mixed with tears. The heading calls it the prayer of someone afflicted and overwhelmed.
Fasting is named in three psalms. Each time it goes with grief, humility or distress, not with a reward. A fourth psalm turns hunger and thirst toward God.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.I afflicted my soul with fasting.My prayer returned into my own bosom.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
When others were sick, the writer wore sackcloth, fasted and prayed. The KJV says he humbled his soul with fasting.
When I wept and I fasted,that was to my reproach.
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
Weeping and fasting brought the writer mockery, not respect. The psalm admits that fasting can be misread by others.
My knees are weak through fasting.My body is thin and lacks fat.
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
The cost of fasting told plainly: weak knees and a thin body. It comes inside a long prayer for help against accusers.
God, you are my God.I will earnestly seek you.My soul thirsts for you.My flesh longs for you,in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
My soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land. The heading places David in the desert of Judah.
Prayers that admit wrongdoing and ask for mercy. Psalm 130 is the psalm for the Fifth Sunday of Lent in Year A of the Lectionary.
I acknowledged my sin to you.I didn’t hide my iniquity.I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Confession and forgiveness in a single verse: I did not hide my iniquity, and you forgave. The two verses before describe what keeping silent did to the writer's body.
For I will declare my iniquity.I will be sorry for my sin.
For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
A short, plain confession with no excuses: I will declare my iniquity, I will be sorry for my sin.
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,Lord, who could stand?
If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
If God kept a record of sins, no one could stand. Verse 4 answers at once: there is forgiveness with you.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
What God wants is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. The verse before says he takes no pleasure in burnt offering.
Verses that ask God to search the writer. They suit anyone using Lent to take stock.
LORD, you have searched me,and you know me.
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Searched and known. The psalm starts from what God already knows, and comes back to it at the end as a request: search me.
Who can discern his errors?Forgive me from hidden errors.
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Some faults are hidden even from the person who has them. The prayer asks forgiveness for those too.
Examine me, LORD, and prove me.Try my heart and my mind.
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
An open invitation to be tested: examine me, prove me, try my heart and my mind.
In Year A of the Lectionary for Mass, the Sunday responsorial psalms of Lent are Psalm 51 on the First Sunday, Psalm 33 on the Second, Psalm 95 on the Third, Psalm 23 on the Fourth and Psalm 130 on the Fifth. Palm Sunday uses Psalm 22 in all three years. Ash Wednesday also uses Psalm 51. Years B and C use other psalms on most Sundays, so check which year of the cycle you need.
Psalm 51, in the Lectionary for Mass. It is a whole psalm of confession that opens have mercy on me, God.
Psalm 35:13, Psalm 69:10 and Psalm 109:24. Each links fasting with grief or distress rather than with a reward.
Psalm 35:13 puts the two side by side: the writer fasted in sackcloth while others were sick, and prayed. Psalm 63:1 describes longing for God in a dry land with no water.
Psalm 51 is a whole psalm of confession and is the one set for Ash Wednesday. Psalm 130 is shorter and moves from the depths to hope.
Psalm 103:14 says God remembers that we are dust, and Psalm 102:9 speaks of eating ashes like bread.
Psalms for Forgiveness and RepentancePsalms about Mercy and GracePsalms for Easter and Holy WeekPsalms of LamentPsalms about PrayerPsalms for Baptism