“Turn back before it is too late. Do not spurn my love, for it restrains my wrath” (Inner Word)
Even though we can recognize our Father’s mercy so deeply when we contemplate His love that we can hardly imagine how people could fail to be caught in the net of love that the Son of God has cast upon the earth, this must not lead to an unhealthy carelessness in our relationship with God.
The call to repentance resounds constantly: Whether it is a return from a sinful life to God, like the Prodigal Son, or a deeper conversion on the path to holiness. Love never fails, as the Apostle Paul so aptly reminds us, and what is the call to repentance other than turning toward the love of God, leaving the path of ruin, or abandoning lukewarmness and growing in love?
If the Church were to neglect the call to repentance, limiting herself to bearing witness to the love of Christ without drawing attention to the consequences of rejecting this love, she would be blind in one eye.
Repentance is of the utmost urgency because one day it may be too late, as the parable of the wise virgins shows us.
God’s infinite love holds back His wrath; He does not immediately make us feel the full consequences of our wrongdoing. Instead, our Father wants us to repent, accept His love, and receive His forgiveness. However, if we repeatedly spurn, despise, overlook, or take for granted His love in a false sense—without ordering our lives according to His will—then we are in danger. One day, we will see life as it truly stands before God, and we will be unprepared. Then it will be late—perhaps even too late!