Ave Maria Meditations
Lord, here is a soul who is in the world to benefit from Your admirable mercy, and to make it shine before heaven and earth. How gentle and generous You are towards those who are faithful to You!
Mercy is above all malice. Nothing can exhaust it. No mistake, no matter how shameful or criminal it be, even if repeated again and again, should make a sinner despair of pardon. I have offended you gravely, O my lovable Redeemer! But it would be worse if I committed the horrible outrage of thinking that You are not good enough to pardon me.
It is in vain that Your enemy and mine sets new traps for me all the time. He can make me lose everything except my hope in Your mercy. Had I fallen a hundred times, and my crimes were one hundred times more horrible than they are, I would still hope in You.
St. Francis de Sales
