It is a joy to set down here the comforting truth that the practice of Our Lord is in perfect harmony with His theory. The fact is that He never rejected a truly repentant sinner, and that His Sacred Heart was saddened exceedingly when sinners remained obdurate in spite of all His efforts to win them.
In my prayer today, He would have me pass in review a procession of souls, some repentant, some obstinate in sin, and draw the sweet conclusion for myself. It does not matter what the sin is - injustice, perjury, impurity, murder, treachery.
Quite irrespective of the heinousness of the crime, ignoring the number of times it has been committed, brushing aside the broken promises, Jesus concentrates on only one truth: "This, My son, was dead and is come to life again; was lost and is found."
At the head of the procession walks Judas Iscariot. In the whole story of the relations between Jesus and Judas, there is plain to be seen the ceaseless efforts on the part of the Master to awaken the dormant conscience of the traitor. Even at the eleventh hour, when Judas is actually going through with his crime, he would still have been forgiven if only he had repented.
Following close behind Judas you find the Pharisees and scribes. With unwearying patience He gives them of His time, allows them to bring forward their questions and arguments, states His claims for them and proves them by unanswerable miracles. But, in spite of all, the admission is forced from Him at the end that they persist in their sins. "I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. You will not come to Me that you may have life."
Given that He seeks those who are hardened in sin, and seeks them with such perseverance, it is not surprising to find an overflowing joy in His heart when of their own accord they come to Him and beg for mercy. Instances multiply; invariably He tells the sinner all is well and "now go and sin no more." There is the woman dragged in before Him and accused of adultery. The woman who lived at Magdala down by the sea, out of whom He cast seven devils - Mary Magdalene repented and Mary Magdalene finds her place in the procession of penitents. So does Peter, who denied Him three times. So does the thief dying by His side on the Cross. "Amen, I say to thee," He assures him, "this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." The only saint canonized before his death was a repentant sinner.
There is no sin God is not ready to forgive, provided there is sincere sorrow. And yet, even as Our Lord gives me this deeply comforting assurance in my prayer, I am reminded that there is, nonetheless, one single exception. There is one sin which He cannot forgive, the sin of the person who persists in distrusting this infinite mercy. "My sin," cried Judas, "is greater than that I should hope for pardon." It was a lie, and the fatal mistake Judas made was not the resolve to betray, nor even the kiss he gave. The one irremediable mistake was that Judas believed that lie, committed despair, and hung from a branch of a tree, a suicide, while the Friend of sinners was hanging from the Cross, atoning for sin and imploring the sinner to repent.
Let me join that procession, Lord. I shall feel at home in the company of those who are invited to the intimacy of Your friendship because, though they have greatly sinned against You, they have heard Your wonderful promise of pardon. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.