II.
Say to the faint-hearted, Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense; God Himself will come and will save you. [Isaiah 35:4] Fear not, then; says the prophet; be no more in despair, O poor sinners! What fear can you have not to be pardoned, when the Son of God comes down from Heaven to save you? Has not He Himself made compensation to God by the sacrifice of His life for that just vengeance which our sins demanded? If you cannot by your own works appease an offended God, behold one that can appease Him; this very Infant which you now see reposing on straw, trembling with cold, and weeping, He, with His tears, propitiates Him.
You have no grounds for being any more sad, says St. Leo, on account of the sentence of death fulminated against you, now that life itself is born for you; "nor is there any lawful room for sadness, when it is the birthday of life." And St. Augustine: "O sweet day for penitents, today sin is taken away, and shall the sinner despair?" If you are unable to render due satisfaction to the Divine justice, look on Jesus Who does penance for you; already does He commence to do it in this little cave; He will persevere in doing penance all His life, and finally bring it to it conclusion on the Cross, to which (according to the saying of St. Paul) He will affix the decree of your condemnation, cancelling it with His Own Blood: Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was
