Joel 2:12-13
Chapter 2
12
Penance and Supplication
The Lord says: “Yet even now, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.13
Rend your heart, not your garment. Return to the Lord, your God, gracious and compassionate.” The Lord is patient, full of kindness, and quick to show mercy.
Commentaries
Penance and Supplication.
The Lord himself makes a heartfelt call for his people to undergo sincere and profound conversion. They need to rediscover their identity rooted in their covenant with the Lord. God shows his mercy (13) and refines his people through hardship so they can repent and gain life (14; cf. Ezk 33:11).