December 29

Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. 2 Corinthians 7:10.

"GODLY sorrow," i.e. the sorrow according to God, the Divine sorrow, "worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of," i.e. continues to work as an ever-present impulse, a perpetual, active agent within the inner depths of the soul, continually advancing the penitence which is perfected only when salvation, which knows no place for repentance, is secured. There are changes in the character of the sorrow, marking the progressive working of the Spirit, of Whose presence it is the blessed fruit. At first impetuous, impatient as to too easy forgiveness, eager for mortification and self-revenge, incapable of rest, excitable, absorbed, at times gloomy, fearful, with dark, troubled visions and exaggerated, austere judgments, such is the conscience-stricken sinner's earlier sorrow. This, however, is but transient. It subsides into a calmer state: it becomes humble, accompanied with solemn and reverential, not uneasy, fears of God's inscrutable judgments, tender, sober, quiet, dealing gently, not indulgently, with self; not as before, gushing into tears, yet with tears never far off; quickly melting into prayer, with self-reproaches rising often to the surface, but soon sinking down into hidden depths; never demonstrative, yet always thoughtful; never downcast at falls, but tending ever to greater watchfulness, nor seeking consolation, because possessing its own hidden manna, which it would not barter away for any joy; trembling even at the joy of God, lest it lose its own sweet sadness, treasured as the very safeguard of its life. Penitential sorrow is like the torrent from the mountain, at first rushing down its steep bed among the rocks, afterwards more quietly stealing and winding amidst the still pastures.