Lord, take away my heart of stone, a heart so bitter and uncircumcised, and give me a new heart, a heart of flesh, a pure heart. 

You cleanse the heart and love the clean heart. 

Take possession of my heart and dwell in it, contain it and fill it, you who are higher than the heights of my spirit and closer to me than my innermost self! 

You are the pattern of all beauty and the seal of all holiness. 

Set the seal of your likeness upon my heart! In your mercy set your seal upon my heart, 

God of my heart and the God who is my portion for ever! Amen.

-From a treatise by Baldwin, bishop of Canterbury

Lord, take away my heart of stone, a heart so bitter and uncircumcised, and give me a new heart, a heart of flesh, a pure heart. 

You cleanse the heart and love the clean heart. 

Take possession of my heart and dwell in it, contain it and fill it, you who are higher than the heights of my spirit and closer to me than my innermost self! 

You are the pattern of all beauty and the seal of all holiness. 

Set the seal of your likeness upon my heart! In your mercy set your seal upon my heart, 

God of my heart and the God who is my portion for ever! Amen.

-From a treatise by Baldwin, bishop of Canterbury

In the spiritual life, I can promise myself nothing without the special help of God . . . From one moment to another, I may fall into mortal sin: consequently, even though I may have labored many years in acquiring virtues, I may in one instant lose all the good I have done, lose all my merit for eternity, and lose even that blessed eternity itself.

Man, endowed with innocence, was not safe in his earthly paradise. What safety, therefore, can there be for us with our corrupt nature, amid so many perils and so many enemies who within and without are ever seeking insidiously to undermine our own eternal salvation? 

In order to be eternally damned, it is enough that I should follow the dictates of nature; but to be saved, it is necessary that divine grace should prevent (go before) and accompany me, should follow and help me, watch over me and never abandon me. 

Oh, how right therefore was St. Paul in exhorting us to 'work out our salvation'—which is for all eternity—'with fear and trembling' (Phil. 2:12).

— Fr. Cajetan da Bergamo

In the spiritual life, I can promise myself nothing without the special help of God . . . From one moment to another, I may fall into mortal sin: consequently, even though I may have labored many years in acquiring virtues, I may in one instant lose all the good I have done, lose all my merit for eternity, and lose even that blessed eternity itself.

Man, endowed with innocence, was not safe in his earthly paradise. What safety, therefore, can there be for us with our corrupt nature, amid so many perils and so many enemies who within and without are ever seeking insidiously to undermine our own eternal salvation? 

In order to be eternally damned, it is enough that I should follow the dictates of nature; but to be saved, it is necessary that divine grace should prevent (go before) and accompany me, should follow and help me, watch over me and never abandon me. 

Oh, how right therefore was St. Paul in exhorting us to 'work out our salvation'—which is for all eternity—'with fear and trembling' (Phil. 2:12).

— Fr. Cajetan da Bergamo

Judas, Peter, The Prodigal, and Zacchaeus

All 4 sinned

All 4 regretted

All 4 repented

3 kept going to Jesus for Grace

2 paid back -penance

1 would not go to Jesus for Grace 

Don’t be afraid to go to Jesus with your sin. 

He is the only way to Grace, forgiveness, and life. 

Hebrews 12:15

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. 

Judas, Peter, The Prodigal, and Zacchaeus

All 4 sinned

All 4 regretted

All 4 repented

3 kept going to Jesus for Grace

2 paid back -penance

1 would not go to Jesus for Grace 

Don’t be afraid to go to Jesus with your sin. 

He is the only way to Grace, forgiveness, and life. 

Hebrews 12:15

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. 

O Lord, you give me 

once and for all a short commandment: 

Love and do what you will. 

If you are silent, be silent through love; 

if you speak, speak through love; 

if you correct, correct through love; 

if you forgive, forgive through love. 

O Lord, let the root of love be in me. 

St. Augustine