Sorrow For Sins

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The more a soul has sorrow for its sins, the more it has peace, because confidence increases when repentance deepens.  The more pain he feels for having displeased God, the more the soul will hope that God will grant mercy and therein rests its joy.  The reason the number of saints is so small in the world today is that there are very few persons who have the courage to face up to their transgressions of God's law or are sufficiently confident to continue it long enough for it to prove effective.  The foundation of Christian perfection is humility, and humility can be acquired only by a deep knowledge of one's miseries, that is to say, of one's sins at their roots.

Father Charles Hugo Doyle