MEDITATION XXX.
ON THE EXCELLENCES OT THE HOLT SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION; ON THE
VIRTUES EXERCISED IN IT; AND ON THE GRACES THAT ARE RECEIVED.
POINT I.
First, I must consider the great favour that Almighty God has done to His Church, and to me as a member of it, in having instituted the holy sacrament of Penance, [1] pondering some things that discover the greatness of this benefit, and animate me to the use of it
1. It being proper to God alone to pardon sins, according to that of Isaiah, " I am, I am He that blot out thy iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins," [2] He would put this power in the hands of priests, assuring us that He would approve in heaven the sentence that they should give upon earth. [3] And He ordained that these priests should be men subject likewise to sin, and in need of the self-same remedy, that they might be „the more compassionate of sinners. And the power that He gave them was so ample that He reserved to Himself alone no sin, how great soever, nor limited to them the number of sins, nor how often they were to pardon them; for He said to St. Peter that pardon should be given not only " seven times, but seventy times seven times [4] that is, without number or limitation. In all which is apparent the goodness of this great and sovereign God, and the desire that He has to pardon us.
Colloquy. — O merciful Father, " seventy and seven times," and thousands of times more, may the angels of heaven praise Thee for the favour Thou doest to
