Today’s readings turn our attention to repentance, grief, and the danger of losing hope. Cyprian continues On the Lapsed by insisting that even those who avoided open sacrifice but secured certificates of denial still defiled the conscience, because God sees not only outward acts but the hidden places of the heart. Augustine then releases the tears he had restrained after Monica’s death, finding rest not in the judgment of men but in the nearness of God’s ears. Aquinas closes by examining despair as a sin against hope, not because a person recognizes his own weakness, but because he refuses to trust that eternal happiness remains possible through the mercy and help of God. Together, these readings remind us that repentance must be honest, grief may be poured out before God, and no wound should lead us to despair of divine mercy.

 ...