The penitential psalms are so called because these are expressive of sorrow for sin. These are psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, 142.

in these seven psalms moral or covenantal failure is at the heart of the lament. The prayer is specifically for forgiveness for that failure, even when the immediate problem is some other crisis. While there may be petition for deliverance from those other problems, the forgiveness of sin is at the heart of the prayer. More...

In Mark 2:18-20 we find Jesus explaining to interlocutors why his disciples do not fast. He says:

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast on that day.

Jesus refers to himself as a bridegroom and his disciples the guests of a wedding feast. Behind this use of a wedding metaphor is the conviction that the situation of the disciples with Jesus is that of Israel's eschatological wedding with Yahweh (cf. Hosea 2:16ff). The in-breaking of the joys of the end-times has occured in Jesus with his disciples.

Non-catholics fault members of the Catholic Church because of this latter's adherence to "Tradition." Citing passages from the Gospels -- especially from Mark 7 and parallels -- these bible-touters accuse Catholics of the crime of the Pharisees who follow human teachings instead of the Lord's. They miss the point however when they claim that "tradition" is incompatible with teachings found in the gospels since the gospels themselves are products of tradition. The Lord condemns human teaching -- and all human teaching for that matter -- when these are used to invalidate the commands of God (cf. Mark 7). Besides, there is the Tradition of the apostles which continues to hand on the Word of God until the present. To better understand the following article, read this article on the meaning of "Word of God" first. Below is a brief essay on the word "paradosis" ("Tradition") as it is used in the Pauline epistles.

The verb that our modern translations render as "to pity", "to be moved by compassion" is splanchnizesthai, a Greek word formed from the noun splanchna, "the viscera" (cf. Acts 1:18). The verb then connotes an emotion accompanied by a strong visceral movement.

The word that we often translate as "devotion" "piety" "religion (as virtue)" actually means something more. It designates a lifestyle that is grounded in the ways of the Lord and is expressed in loyalty, kindness, generosity and righteousness.

'Textual critics" are biblical scholars whose main concentration is on ascertaining which manuscript tradition contains the original words of the sacred writer. The discipline they employ is called "textual criticism" one of the methods used in a historico-critical approach to the Scriptures.

The Gospel of Mark is the earliest of the Gospels. By conservative estimates, it was already published by the year 70 AD. It is the most rudimentary among the Gospels retaining an outline that is simple and straightforward. It begins its narrative with the mission of John the Baptist and goes on with the ministry of Jesus in Galilee. After this, the evangelist narrates the ministry of Jesus in Jerusalem, his subsequent arrest, passion, death and ends with frightened and confused women at the empty tomb of Resurrection Sunday.