Let us make our own the prayer of the just that reaffirms his fidelity. Let us not count on our own merits, like the Pharisee. Let us rather give thanks for this new person that we have become through baptism: Christ has purified and has enriched us.
1Declare me innocent, O Lord, for I have lived with integrity; I have put my trust in the Lord, I shall never waver.
2Prove me, O Lord, put me to the test; examine my soul and my heart. ①
3For your love is ever before my eyes, and I live in truth and faithfulness.
4I do not associate with the deceitful nor do I go with hypocrites;
5I hate the party of the corrupt and avoid the company of the wicked.
6I wash my hands free of guilt and walk in procession round your altar,
7singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving and proclaiming your wondrous deeds.
8O Lord, I love the house where you dwell, the place of your Glory.
9Let me not share the fate of sinners, nor lose my life with the violent; 10their hands are guilty of crimes, their right hands are weighed down with bribes.
11But I will walk in integrity, redeem me, O God, be gracious to me.
12My foot stands firm in the straight path, I will praise you, O Lord, in your assemblies.
- I wash my hands, such was a liturgical act; it is a way of expressing the absence of faults.
