The Great FEAST Of Prophet Daniel And his MIGHTY Prayer

Saint Daniel the Prophet is celebrated on July 21st in Roman Catholic Church, December 17th in the Greek Orthodox Church, and on Tuesday after the fourth Sunday of Pentecost in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The name Daniel mean “God is my Judge”. The canon of Catholic scripture contains the Book of Daniel as part of the Old Testament. In it we hear the tale of Daniel and his three companions carried off to Babylon following the capture of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. They were to be trained in the court and are given new names. In observance of Jewish dietary law, they refuse the food and wine provided by the king.

Daniel and his friends gain a reputation for great wisdom. In a number of instances Daniel is the only one who can interpret the dreams of the king, including a dream which foretells the fall of the king’s rule to the rule of the Medes and Persians. Under the new rule, Daniel is appointer to a high position. jealous rivals seek to destroy him by accusing him of worshiping God instead of the king. He is thrown into a den of lions where they assume he will be torn to pieces, but he is rescued from the lions den through his trust in the Lord.

​Daniel prayer for the people (Dan 9: 4-19)

⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. ⁶ Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. ⁷ O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

⁸ “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. ¹² And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

¹³ “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. ¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

¹⁶ “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷ Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake <sup class="footnote" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;" data-fn="#fen-NKJV-22006a" data-link="[a]”>[a]cause Your face to shine on <sup class="footnote" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;" data-fn="#fen-NKJV-22006b" data-link="[b]”>[b]Your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” 

AMEN

Daniel had a number of visions and in the New testament in Matthew 24:15 Jesus recognizes Daniel as a prophet of God.