 Well, you know, I think we're really standing on holy ground and what got me thinking about that is Hearing that this is the 40th anniversary for the conferences at Franciscan universities and just thinking about just thinking about the thousands and thousands of people who have come to this city on a hill and Have met the Lord and been encouraged by the Lord and Confess their sins to the Lord and committed their lives to the Lord with the students Conference participants and so many people and just what a blessing and it got me thinking about Father Mike Scanlon How many of you Have never How many of you have Don't know who Father Mike Scanlon is. It's okay not to know just just raise your hand Okay, there's a handful get his book in the bookstore. I think it's called let the fire fall whatever it talks about how I Don't know more than 40 years ago The college of Steubenville was about to close It was known as a party school yet. It was bankrupt And they were looking for a new president and Father Mike Scanlon was presented as a candidate and he came into the interview process And they say well father work. We want to hear what your plan is for the university And father Mike said to do whatever Jesus tells me to do and they were so desperate They hired a guy like that And that's true, you know, I think the church is getting more and more desperate it's getting more and more willing to try God but I just feel a tremendous gratitude for Father Mike's sort of Focus on the Lordship of Jesus just like Father Matt was talking about he knew that Like Jesus said the flesh avails nothing only the Spirit gives life He knew it wasn't about more human plans He knew it was about receiving wisdom from the Holy Spirit guidance from God obeying him and out of has out of this Has come this amazing city on a hill that's a light to the whole church around the world and what a blessing And so let's just thank God for Father Mike. He's he's in his declining years He's in a retirement home and his spirit is alive But his body is wasting away like all of our bodies will waste away at some point Let's just thank God for him and ask him to accompany father Mike in his remaining time, but also The tradition continues doesn't it? The spirit is alive and continuing the mission of Francis King University the mission of these conferences When I heard father Nathan last night kind of that that fans that Francis can fire come out again He says it's alive It's going on it's continuing and then father Dave and all the people who have helped over the years and all The people who are still helping kind of carry on this amazing God-given mission So I just think we're standing on holy ground And I'm just really grateful to God for everything. He's done here And he really did it through the beginning through the yes of one man And that's why all our yeses are important in our own missions or our own families and our own neighborhoods Okay. Well the topic of the talk is Discerning the signs of the times. What is the spirit saying to the church? I? actually like to start by sharing with you the discernment of Cardinal what Tila Who in 1976? Said some pretty bold things about what he felt the signs of the times were telling us and what the spirit was saying Of course two years later. He was elected pope and we know him as st. John Paul the second And I had heard these words before but what really brought them home to me now Was just a couple of years ago the papal nuncio to the United States Archbishop Vigano Quoted these words to all the American bishops Now papal nuncio's really aren't supposed to do things like this there. They're supposed to be so diplomatic It's really hard to understand what they're saying Here here's what he said to the American bishops. He says at this point. I would like to call your attention To the words of the then Cardinal what Tila? Spoken at an address during the Eucharistic Congress of Philadelphia for 1976 It seems to be so profoundly Prophetic these are the words We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced I do not think that the wide circle of American society or the wider circle of the Christian community Realized this fully We are now facing the final confrontation between the church and the anti-church between the gospel and the anti-gospel between Christ and the anti-christ But this confrontation lies within the plans of divine providence It's in God's plan and yet. It's a trial which the church must take up and face courageously like father Matt was saying Jesus is Lord There's nothing that's happening right now that he's not permitting to happen for the salvation of the world for the judgment of wickedness for the vindication of the saints as Overwhelming sometimes as a conceime God is permitting this in his salvific purposes and we'll get a little deeper into that in a few minutes Now I don't know whether this is the final confrontation or not Pope John Paul the second Cardinal what Tila thought it it could be But I do know that we're in a very serious confrontation We're actually in a very brutal bloody struggle underneath the surface It's not just a political structure a struggle. It's not just an economic struggle. It's really about Wicked powers and principalities the devil himself trying to snuff out faith on the earth His purpose is so severe and so wicked That it led Jesus at one point in his ministry to say when the son of man returns will he find any faith on the earth? Well, God willing he's gonna find it amongst you Right God willing he's gonna find it amongst this city on a hill and all the people who have been encouraged and strengthened through it in so many different ways That's pretty sobering those words of Jesus When the son of man returns will he find faith on the earth? Now when John put one when Cardinal what Tila wrote this down in a book called sign of contradiction He linked it to what the scripture tells us about the final confrontation 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 So let's take a look at 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 To see what light we can get about what is going on in this final confrontation or this confrontation Maybe it's not the final one. Maybe it's a good dress rehearsal. Oh, you know and What wisdom we can get for how to conduct ourselves So we are with Jesus through it all it begins Let no one deceive you in any way And Paul was addressing confusion amongst Christians about so-called prophecies They were receiving that the Lord had already returned and Paul says the Lord will not return Until two things happen I'm gonna paraphrase here because of time The first thing that Paul identifies that needs to happen before the Lord returns is something he describes as a great apostasy Now what's an apostasy? Apostasy isn't something that pagans do It's something that Christians do It's the turning away from faith on the part of those who once had faith And I don't know whether this is the great apostasy or not But I know it's a pretty great apostasy that we're going through right now if you look at the statistics of Church attendance number of baptisms Catholic marriages Almost anything you can measure over the last 40 or 50 years. It's just like it's just going down like that in the Western Christian countries Hundreds of millions of people who've been baptized and confirmed are no longer living as disciples of Jesus Christ And have been captured by the enemy. They may not know they've been captured by the enemy But even sometimes people who still come to church are coming not with the mind of Christ But with the mind of the world with the spirit of the age They've been indoctrinated. They've been captured. They've been corrupted and they don't even know it because they still have the Christian language But the meaning of it and the power of it and the truth of it has really been neutered Paul says the day is coming when people will hold on to the form of religion But deny its power and that's why the power dimension of the Holy Spirit is so important The two arms of God are the word of God and the spirit of God And that's why Franciscan University almost has a unique mission in the Catholic Church To uphold both the power of the truth of God's word and the power of the Holy Spirit and those things need to go together And that's why the charismatic dimension of the church isn't a particular spirituality and optional extra For those who like to come to conferences like this But the whole church needs the power of Pentecost the whole church needs every single working of the Holy Spirit and Every single truth of God's word in order for us to deal with this confrontation The second thing that Paul says needs to happen before the Lord returns is that a Restrainer that's been holding back the work of evil Needs to be removed whoa The restrainer That's putting a limit on evil and lawlessness Needs to be removed When that restrainer on wickedness and lawlessness is removed we're gonna see a Manifestation of wickedness and evil like the world was never seen We're gonna see the appearance of the antichrist We're gonna see widespread deception and confusion and division and conflict But then the Lord appears and puts an end to it all Just when things are looking as bad as they cost possibly could be The Lord appears because as his purposes have been fulfilled What could his purposes possibly be in allowing evil to manifest itself? First Corinthians chapter 11 says there must be divisions among you so those who hold to the true faith can be revealed There must be divisions among you so those who are in the sound way of the Lord can stand forth It's Kind of shocking words, but that's that's really what scripture says now I don't know whether the Restrainer on evil has been removed or not But I do know that there's been an absolutely aggressive Removing restraint on evil wickedness and immorality in our culture that we thought we'd never live to see Whether it's abortion or euthanasia But right now the rebellion the most fundamental Rebellion against God's creative will and making a male and female And and the bold Declaration that we can we can be who we want to be and we don't have to accept the nature that God has given us That is a profound rebellion And it's being celebrated You know parades are parading gross immorality Mocking God mocking those who hold to the word of God We're living in a culture that's like that, but not only that but political and economic pressure is being brought to bear on those who dare to resist You it's like The modern equivalent of burning insets to the emperor It's the modern equivalent to what the book of Revelation talks about the mark of the beast in order to do business in certain states in certain ways you have to bow before the falsehood that's being presented as freedom and It's an incredible lie And we're living in and it's the gloves are off the gloves are off but Satan is like romping through The peoples of the world Harvesting as many souls as he can because many say that that he knows his time is short. Thanks be to God But it makes me think of what the Old Testament talked about when the walls were down the walls of protection on the Lord's vineyard And the wild boar was running through the vineyard ripping up the vine of the Lord. That's what's happening right now This has made me think of CS Lewis's Final volume in his space trilogy Which is called that hideous strength Just when it looked like evil had gained completely control over the world Just when it looked like There was no room for freedom left this little group of Ordinary English people You know how so put so they can be so polite and so everything eccentric You know they they have ordinary conversations they talk about how they just like weather whatever the weather is the things like that But they've kept a pure heart And they've had discernment about what's coming from evil and what's good and wholesome and They're gathered in this little place called St. Anne's Manor and it looks like it's all over evil Has completely gained control of the world when all of a sudden angels descend Mary descends And the CS Lewis does this of course in an imaginary way he says Charity descends with a capital C and there's such a purity and there's such a luminous. There's such a holiness there's such a infinite goodness about charity that they almost can't handle it and Through those that little band in St. Anne's Manor This wicked evil somehow that's gripped the whole world that has looked unbeatable Crumbles That's how it's gonna be So all of us have to gather together in our own St. Anne's Manor and Look to the hills from which our help comes our help comes from the mountains our help is in the name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth we we look to the Lord? Teresa of Avila said if you just keep your eyes on Jesus, you'll you'll reach your destination. That's all we have to do When we're when we're faced with overwhelming obstacles when we're faced with overwhelming and puzzling circumstances We just have to say Jesus. I trust in you Let's say it Jesus I trust in you Jesus I trust in you Jesus I trust in you. There's such power in faith in the Lordship of Jesus now listen to What happens to those? Who are not rooted in the Lord? During this confrontation devil is gonna come With Pretended signs and wonders and that's why authentic signs and wonders are so important authentic signs and wonders that bring people together Conversion and with every wicked deception For those who are on their way to perishing Now this is really important who's on their way to perishing who's on their way to hell that's what that means Because Isn't it funny? I couldn't say the rest of the sentence Because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved Another translation says they refuse to open their hearts to the truth in order to be saved And then it goes on to say therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion To make them believe what is false so that all may be condemned Who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in immorality Now most scripture scholars would say what's really being said here Is God is gonna permit people who harden their hearts to the truth To fall into a deeper and deeper darkness to believe more and more foolish things to become more and more separated from reality and common sense As a punishment for the rejection of mercy The illumination of the mind and heart with the truth of God is the mercy of God And what we're seeing here is those who reject the mercy of God and persist in rejecting the mercy of God are gonna fall into Falsehood are gonna fall in delusion. They're going to take pleasure in immorality. They're gonna fall into the wicked sin of unbelief now What's the Lord doing about this? He's proclaiming mercy Loud and clear all over the world in so many different ways like he did in Exodus chapter 34 The Lord passed before Moses and cried out the Lord the Lord Immersive full and gracious God slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity Continuously his kindness for a thousand generations and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin This is why we had the divine mercy devotion This is why that Polish nun in dark days in Poland Received this revelation from Jesus. This is why John Paul the second Made her a saint declared the first Sunday after Easter's Divine Mercy Sunday. This is why we have the chaplain This is why we have the image and it's having a powerful effect all over the world And this is why we have the extraordinary Jubilee year of mercy and Pope Francis emphasizing mercy so much but you know what The devil takes every good and holy thing of God and tries to twist it to deceive people You know what the black masses that Satanists do it's the mass said backwards You know what Satan's doing with the emphasis on mercy He's inserting a deception into people's minds and hearts. Have you heard people say Something like this or have you even maybe thought this yourself? God is so merciful. He'll never let anybody be lost So each drink can be married because tomorrow we're all going to heaven Have you been at funeral after funeral where people are canonized and? You're not so sure You're not so sure that we shouldn't be praying at least for purgatory There's a deception that's almost like a fog in many parts of the Catholic Church and many people's minds and hearts where Sort of an indifference to what God's word is really saying And and and a deception about the true meaning of mercy God is so merciful and he's going to such tremendous lengths to try to reach out to people with mercy like Pope Francis is doing But the devil slipping into deception which leads to presumption rather than repentance Now when Pope Benedict resigned And the conclave was meeting. I have a confession to make I Was praying that the next Pope would be able to speak without notes and that he'd preach it more than just reading an academic text and We got that didn't we? But what we find out is that sometimes there's a point to academic text and that Pope Francis sometimes so emphasizes a certain aspect of things that the necessary Balancing aspect isn't said at the same time But if you look at his writings, it's there clearly and repeatedly I don't have time to do this much But the very first paragraph of his apostolic Excerptation Evangelii Gaudium Listen to this He says the joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin sorrow Interemptiness and loneliness. I Invite all Christians everywhere at this very moment To a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ Now is the time to say to Jesus sounds like Father Dave from last night doesn't it Lord? I have let myself be deceived in a thousand ways I have shunned your love yet here. I am once more to renew my covenant with you. I Need you save me once again Lord take me once more until you're redeeming embrace How good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost? Let me say this once more says Pope Francis. God never tires of forgiving us We are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy Dozens of quotes where he talks about the importance of conversion and repentance the importance of that as a response to mercy now When we really want to understand what mercy is we need to go to the scriptures Jesus is the mercy of God incarnate I'm gonna just briefly share with you Maybe the free most significant expressions of Jesus showing mercy to people that are quoted endlessly Everybody knows these stories the parable of the prodigal son or sometimes called the parable of the compassionate father You know the story you probably tune out every time it comes up because you know it so well the younger son Takes his inheritance and goes off and squanders it on lost loose living with prostitutes Things get really bad for him the illusion of sin bringing happiness was punctured He came to his senses and this is what he said I Will rise and go to my father. I will say to him Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and he arose and returned to his father The father's mercy was always ready to welcome back the son But until the son came to his senses and repented from his sin and Acknowledged his sin before God and his father the mercy of the father couldn't flow into his soul The mercy was always there, but there had to be repentance There had to be an acknowledgement of the need for forgiveness the need for mercy You know these days sometimes people say you tell people God loves them or God's mercy. Oh, yeah, I know God loves me I know God's merciful, you know They presume on God's mercy and they don't understand the price that's been paid for mercy to be extended to them Like St. Catherine of Siena said the cross of Christ isn't a joke If sin was no big deal Why did Jesus go through what he went through so sins can be forgiven if sin was no big deal Why was Jesus crucified so that we can be forgiven? Why did Jesus take upon himself the punishment of sin? second parable the woman quite an adultery John chapter 8 prodigal son Luke 15 Remember the woman quite an adultery people wanted to stoner Jesus disperses the crowd in a mysterious way and he says woman. Is there anybody here left to condemn you? And she says no one Lord and this is what Jesus says Neither do I condemn you But go and do not sin again the response that Jesus expects of his offer of mercy and compassionate forgiveness is repentance Because the mercy of God Is the love of God is the holiness of God is the purity of God is the truth of God and When you say yes to mercy you have to become merciful It's just the nature of God When the Lord says be holy for I'm holy he's saying To be united to me you have to become like me and that's totally impossible by human effort It's totally out of the range of what's available to us as human beings except from accepting a process of transformation in order to see God We have to be transformed The only way we can enter heaven is to be totally be transformed Is to be made one with mercy to be made one with truth to be made one with purity to be made one with love And that's a lifelong process. That's what the spiritual journey is all about That's what I'll be talking about in my workshop this afternoon. It's essential We can't say I've received mercy and gone with our life as it usually has been We're turning our back on mercy if that's what we're doing Third story. This isn't a parable. This is an action of Jesus John chapter 5 the poor guy for 38 years Never could make it into the pool when the angel was stirring the water in order to get healed How frustrating is that? How frustrating is that? Jesus saw him and knew his story and Healed him the guy was really happy and went off but Jesus made a point of tracking him down. What did he say to him? Look, you're well Sin no more That nothing worse before you mercy is given generously without limit But if mercy is continually rejected our minds and hearts become darker and darker and As it says in Romans chapter 1 we we exchange the truth of God for a lie We end up worshiping the creature rather than the Creator and All kinds of disorder and confusion and pain suffering comes into our life The wages of sin is death that really really is Jesus really is the way to human happiness. Jesus really is the truth Everything else is a lie and illusion Jesus really really is the life remember those Spanish and Portuguese explorers sailing all around the world looking for the fountain of youth They were particularly focusing on Florida, you know And and and People still go to Florida, you know looking for the fountain of youth, you know But but you know they all come back in coffins. They do. Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. It's true Yes, yes, they go to Florida, but they come back in Florida coffins. Yes. Yes, it's true the fountain of youth only exists in The heart of Jesus Christ That's why I see the rays coming for the divine mercy It's the blood of Jesus and the water of baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit That puts in us a seed that will defeat death If we nurture it and are faithful to it and die in friendship with Jesus What price would a person give? For eternal life There isn't a price that could ever obtain that The psalm says what what ransom can a man give for his own soul? You can't there's nothing Nobody can buy it If you paid billions and billions of dollars all you can do right now is get your head cut off and frozen and hope that someday science may Unfreeze you and it works again That's all you can do But Jesus says come to me all you who are thirsty and drink. It's free. It's free. It's free But it's been one at an incredible cost And if you really take the living waters into your soul You have to become a source of living water yourself So what kind of response do we make to this confrontation that we're in? First of all, we need to look to our own relationship with the Lord. We really do we really need to Examine how we approach holy scripture Do you know what Vatican II says about how Catholics should approach sacred scripture? Constitution on the sacred revelation number 11. It says everything asserted by the sacred authors Should be considered to be asserted by the Holy Spirit and to teach faithfully Without error Those truths which God consigned to the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation There aren't like compassionate sayings of Jesus and mean sayings of Jesus There aren't Everything Jesus tells us even the challenging things even the shocking things are Set out of love for us and the the insight that's revealed in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 about the final confrontation the danger of deception the reality of the evil one the raging ferocious nature of the spiritual war that we're in right now is There for our salvation. So we're not be deceived So the first thing we need to do is look to our own relationship with the Lord And if we've given any openings to the evil one one of these Jesus said is that Satan doesn't have a hold on me One of the things that we'll discover as we continue the spiritual journey is we'll discover little chinks in our armor and The Lord mercifully reveals to us think chinks in our arbor so we can strengthen them with the help of the Lord He'll mercifully show us little dark areas in our life because he loves us and wants to heal those areas and fill them with light and All of this is to equip us to stand and not be deceived and not be discouraged and not be Overcome by the onslaught that's going on right now The second response we need to make is intercession for the salvation of souls and evangelization We have to be willing to take the risk of speaking the truth in love Even when it may be rejected We have to be willing to fast and pray. I want to underline what father Matt said about fasting. I For a long time didn't like fasting I Still have a love-hate relationship with it, but Couple years ago. I read this little booklet that sister Emanuel from Medjugorje wrote about fasting And then she said That what Mary was saying was that she needs our help She needs our help to say the rosary. She needs our help with fasting Right after I met the Lord when I was a senior at Notre Dame I started fasting for all my family members. I had four sisters and None of them at that time were following the Lord I would just do a simple fast one day a week and within a year They all were with the Lord and they still are and it's just it's just amazing but then I kind of drifted away from it and you know, I You know used various excuses and after reading sister Emanuel's little booklet on fasting I I felt like I should go back to it and I can really tell you I I serious I seriously look forward to fast days now. Yes, I know it sounds crazy. It sounds hard to believe but yes, I really do because It intensifies my crying out to God for the salvation of souls. It kind of adds adds a little kind of punch to my Intercession and my prayer and I I do it for particular people and I I really would recommend that just I think it's amazing Father Matt talked about that because I think that there's a real spiritual war going on right now It's really fiercer than ever and and we really need to Some some demons aren't cast out except by prayer and fasting and if we want to have people set free We need to be willing to pay a price and and fasting is a small way of paying a price and we can different ways We can do fasting Okay, now I'd like to take the next seven minutes and 52 seconds No, I appreciate I appreciate Preaches who can land the sermon? You know, yeah, you know, they kind of keep circling around, you know, they they repeated it for the second time They repeat it for the third time and then they land it. So I'm gonna try to land this on time, but What Jesus told Saint Faustina about his mercy oftentimes isn't fully really communicated for example in section 1396 of her diary Jesus tells Saint Faustina Sinners only knew of my mercy. They would not perish in such great numbers Section 1160 of her diary. I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of sinners But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of my visitation and then Mary speaking to Saint Faustina section 635 Her diary and this is particularly challenging and relevant for us You have to speak to the world about his great mercy and prepare the world for the second coming of him who will come Not as a merciful savior, but as a just judge How awesome is that day already determined already said is the day of justice the day of divine wrath The angels tremble before it speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy What when's the time for granting mercy? It's between the first and second coming of Jesus That's it that's the time when God's mercy is proclaimed to the whole world And the whole world is invited to to turn to Jesus Christ and have their sins forgiven and receive eternal life That's the time between the first and second coming of Jesus And then Mary says if you keep silent now, you will be answerable for a great number of souls on that terrible day This isn't a call to anxiety This is not a call to anxiety This is a call to peaceful and deliberate decisions To focus our life around Jesus and to join him in his love for the Father To join him in him seeking and saving those who are lost and to join him in his Intercession for the salvation of souls what Jesus doing right now. He's getting our heavenly mansions ready and he's interceding for us we need to This isn't about our emotional experience This isn't about getting overwhelmed with emotion to do this. This is certainly not a call to anxiety It's a call to peaceful hearing the word of God peacefully discerning the signs of the times peacefully understanding what the Spirit is saying to the church and making quiet deliberate modest humble decisions To love to pray To pray for opportunities to speak God's word in love To intercede to fast there really is a heaven. There really is a hell and it really matters What we believe and how we live and it really matters how every other person believes and lives We can't judge the state of a person's soul. Who am I to judge? But we're sure clear clearly called to judge between truth and falsehood between righteousness and unrighteousness We're truly called to the judge and discern based on the word of God and the teaching of the church and We're sure called to faithfully present the truth in love Whether it's convenient or inconvenient St. Paul and Barnabas continue to pray for us. I don't have time for this But if you go to section 741 of her diary she describes how Jesus took her on a tour of hell So that nobody would ever be able to say that it doesn't exist and there's no one there Jesus wanted to plant a big block To presuming on his mercy right in the heart of his revelation to the st. Faustina and we need to know about that Listen to scripture Romans chapter 2 verses 4 to 8 Do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you know not know that God's kindness and mercy is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourselves on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed What's the stuff about God's wrath? It's in God's word. So it's absolutely true We just need to understand it what Francis Martin says who is taught here for many years in the conferences a famous scripture scholar God's wrath is the experience of his love and holiness on the part of those who have hardened their heart to it St. Catherine sienna says depending on the condition of our heart the face of Jesus appears different For those who have a heart of love and friendship and faith in him The face of Jesus is kind but for those who have hardened their hearts against Jesus they see his justice his holiness and they Experienced his wrath back to Romans chapter 2 You're storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed For he will render to every man according to his works To those who by patience and doing well seek for glory and honor and immortality. He'll give eternal life But for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness. They'll be wrath and fury Finally Philippians chapter 3 verses 18 and 19. This isn't about being holier than now This is about what Debbie said last night one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread We've been forgiven We've been shown mercy We've been delivered from deception and falsehood We've been set free from sin and there's more sin that the Lord wants to set us free from Philippians chapter 3 verses 18 and 19 for many as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears Conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ their end is destruction their God is their stomach Their glory is in their shame their minds are occupied with earthly things It's with tears and weeping and fasting and intercession That we work and pray and speak for the salvation of souls Now believe it or not Everything I've talked about today is in the catacombs of the Catholic Church. Would you believe that? It doesn't leap off the page. That's why they need people like us to get it to leap off the page Section finally section 1840 64 of the catechism There are no limits to the mercy of God But anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting Rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. I'll repeat that section 1864 the catechism There are no limits To the mercy of God But anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting Rejects the forgiveness of his sins and a salvation offered by the Holy Spirit Lord we thank you