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 gone in  this  world  or  the  next  for  the  satisfaction  of God's  offended  justice. That the  damage  done  our neighbor by  our  trespasses  must  be  made  good  is clear  enough;  but  we  often  fail  to  realize  that  God's claims,  too,  must  be  satisfied,  and  we  neglect  to  discharge by  trivial  penances  here  debts  which  we  will be able  to  cancel  hereafter  only  by  the  protracted pains of  purgatory. " They  who  fear  the  frost,"  says the Scripture,  "  shall  be  overtaken  by  the  blizzard."

Brethren, I  would  that  all  sinners  would  read  often and carefully  the  sixth  Penitential  Psalm,  the  "De Profundis,"  and  see  and  hear  there  the  awakening  of conscience,  the  realization  of  sin  and  its  consequences, the  voice  of  hope,  and  the  possibility  of  forgiveness and  of  ultimate  salvation  for  all. "If Thou, O  Lord,  wilt  mark  iniquities,"  says  the  Psalmist, " Lord,  who  shall  stand?  "  There  are  times  when  we feel  with  Cain  that  our  iniquities  are  greater  than that we  may  deserve  pardon,  and  were  it  not  for  such examples of  God's  mercy  as  David,  Manasses,  Mary Magdalen, Simon  Peter,  the  thief  on  the  cross,  and Saul of  Tarsus,  we  should  succumb  to  a  Judas-like despair. From their  histories  we  learn  that  with  God there is  merciful  forgiveness  even  for  the  worst  of sinners. "I wish  not  the  death  of  the  sinner,"  He says,  "but  rather  that  he  be  converted  and  live." John the  Baptist  pointed  to  Jesus  as  "  the  Lamb  of God  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world." His blood, the  blood  of  the  New  Testament,  infinitely meritorious, was  poured  out  for  us  unto  the  remission of  our  sins,  and  were  our  sins  as  scarlet  the