Turn to Me, says the Lord of Hosts and I Will turn to You

Turn to Me, says the Lord of Hosts and I Will turn to You

Why do you wish to perish? (mark how tenderly the Lord speaks.) And why will you die, O house of Israel? Why will you fling yourselves into that burning furnace? Return and live. Return to me, I await you with open arms, ready to receive and pardon you. Doubt not of this, O sinner, continues the Lord. Learn to do well. . . And then come and accuse Me, says the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow. 

Take courage, says the Lord, change your life, come to me, and if I do not pardon you, accuse me. As if he were to say, Accuse me of lying and bad faith; but, no, I shall not be unfaithful: your conscience now so black, shall by my grace become as white as snow.

No; I will not chastise you if you reform, says the Lord, because I am God, not man. I will not execute the fierceness of My wrath, . . . because I am God, and not man. He says besides, that men never forget an injury, but that when he sees a sinner repentant he forgets all his offences. I will not remember all his iniquities that he has done. 

Let us then at once return to God, but let it be at once. We have offended him enough already, let us not tempt his anger any further. Behold him, he calls us, and is ready to pardon us if we repent of our evil deeds, and promise him to change our lives.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons