and love Him for it. And know further, that shouldst thou love Him, thy past sins will not stand in the way of thy receiving from God those specially great and choice graces which He is wont to bestow on His most beloved souls: All things work together unto good. [Rom. 8:28] "Even sins," subjoins the gloss. Yes, even the remembrance of the sins we have committed contributes to the advantage of the sinner who bewails and detests them, because this very thing will conquer to make him more humble and more pleasing to God, when he sees how God has welcomed him into the arms of His loving mercies: There shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just. [Luke 15:7]
But of what sinner it is to be understood that he gives more joy to Heaven than a whole multitude of just ones? It is to be understood of that sinner who, out of gratitude to the Divine goodness, devotes himself wholly and fervently to the love of God, after the example of a St. Paul, a St. Mary Magdalene, a St. Mary of Egypt, a St. Augustine, and a St. Margaret of Cortona. To this last Saint in particular, who had formerly spent several years in sin, God revealed the place prepared for her in Heaven, amongst the Seraphim; and even during her life he showed her many signal favors, insomuch that, beholding herself so favored, she one day said to God, "O Lord, how is it that Thou lavishest so many graces on me? Hast Thou, then, forgotten the sins I have committed against Thee?' And God thus answered her: "And do you not know what I have before told you, that when a soul repents of its faults I no longer remember all the outrages it has been guilty of towards Me?" This same thing He had long ago announced by his Prophet Ezechiel:
