If you were like Mary Magdalen and fell from grace, perhaps through weakness of temperament, poor upbringing, or any other excuse, there was no going back. You were not welcomed among religious people ever again. They more or less pushed you along the road to Hell because you were shunned and banned. But then St. John the Baptist came and preached repentance and penance. Tell God you're sorry, and do penance for your sins. What a novel idea! We haven't heard that since - oh, well, I don't know, perhaps Ninive! the people thought.
But then Our Lord came, of whom the Baptist was the precursor, and He said to those who truly repented and came to Him for help, "Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee." What?! Forgiveness of sin??!! This was unheard of among the Pharisees. How could anyone forgive SIN?
Ah, but only God can forgive sin. And Jesus is God. How thankful we should be that He came and brought us this wonderful message...imagine what the world would have been like without it.
"'Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen; the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, to the poor the Gospel is preached.' Above all His miracles and cures, the Christ considers as His greatest achievement the preaching of the Glad Tidings to the poor. And indeed this does surpass His benefits to mankind as the sun eclipses all the planets in brilliancy. What would this world be without the gentle, refining influence of Christianity? It is impossible to overestimate the benefits of the preaching of Jesus Christ...By it He changed, as it were, overnight, a drab, hopeless world, filled with gloom and despair, to a bright, cheerful, lovable abode."
~ Fr. David P. McAstocker, SJ, "A Friend of Mine," imprimatur 1930.
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