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Many of us have confessed our sins these days. Many are worthy to receive Holy Communion. Do you know how much this means! Do you know how you should rejoice, how you should thank the goodness of God! Have we only seen what happened in heaven? ABOUT! what a wondrous, what a majestic mystery - the reconciliation of a sinner with heaven! Only the Son of God who descended from heaven could speak about what is happening in heaven during the reconciliation of a sinner with heaven. Let us listen to how the Savior describes the acceptance of a returning sinner by the Heavenly Father. “While he was still far away, his father saw him and was kind to him” (Luke 15:20). When the prodigal son was still far away, his father saw him and took pity on him; the guilty son has not yet appeared to his father, has not yet asked for forgiveness, but the father has already seen him with the gaze of love and took pity on him. This is how the Heavenly Father accepts a repentant sinner. Omniscience sees Him and His love pities Him even before the sinner comes to Him. The watchful eye of His love sees the sinner even in his distress, even at his first awareness of his misfortune, even at his first thought about returning from the miserable path of sin. His omniscient love, even before a sinner calls on Him for help, already rushes to the sinner with help. Almost always, only needs, only disasters force a sinner to remember the Heavenly Father, and not the love that he should have for Him: but heavenly love does not thereby withhold its mercy towards the sinner. “He is quite punished, he punished himself,” she says and feels sorry for the unfortunate sinner. “And he fell on his neck and forehead” (Luke 15:20). Alarmed by shame and fear, the guilty son timidly walked to his father. The gentle father ran to him, threw himself on his neck and kissed him. ABOUT! heavenly love, incomprehensible love! Not only is not a single reproach heard against her ungrateful sinner. What a welcome she gives to a sinner! She hugs him. The vile clothes of a sinner do not repulse her from the sinner. The smell of bestial food, which permeated the sinner who ate it, does not deter it. In front of a host of pure spirits, she kisses the stinking sinner. ABOUT! sinner! and can you still remember anything other than heavenly love? And can you still value anything other than heavenly love? “The son said to him: Father, I have been warmed up into heaven and before you, and your son is no longer worthy to be called” (Luke 15:21). There are also children who, like their father, despite all their guilt, accepts them with all love, saying to themselves: “things are going as well as possible - what to think about? Let’s live as we lived before.” May God grant every parent to have such children. Sinner, merciful of the Heavenly Father! No matter how great the love of the Heavenly Father is in you: do not forget that you are a sinner. Don’t forget to cry out to Him: “Father! those who have sinned in heaven and before You, I am not worthy to be called Your son.” Think about it: given your unworthiness, the more love shown to you by the Heavenly Father, isn’t it clearer, isn’t your unworthiness becoming more severe? That is why they tell us to rejoice only with fear and trembling. Otherwise, forgetting about sins is already a sin in itself, and it entails new sins, and thereby blocks the access of grace to us. In exactly the same way, remembrance of sins, humbling and softening our heart, opens the entrance to new and greater gifts of heavenly love. “The father said to the servant: wear out the first garment, and clothe him, and put a ring on his hand and boots on his nose” (Luke 15:22). At the first meeting with his son, the father did not say a word to his son, but by the very reception he told him too much. Now he not only blesses him, but showers him with gifts. The three gifts that the Father honors the repentant son, according to the general and therefore fair explanation, mean a complete response to the repentant sinner, that response that the Heavenly Father accepts him as a dear son, with the generous love of a tender father. What does clothing mean to a half-naked poor man? The fact that his shame is covered, his nakedness is not visible, he is no longer ashamed of people. A half-naked, poor sinner, but a repentant sinner, receives clothing in the same way, that is, justification; the shame of his sins is covered by the mercy of God (Psalm 84:3), the wickedness of his heart is consigned to oblivion (Psalm 31:5), and he can appear without shame in the host of angels. To the self-admiring angel of the Laodicean church, the Lord says in revelation: “I advise you to buy from Me... a white robe, so that you may be clothed, and let the shame of your nakedness not appear” (Apoc. 3:18). This is the explanation for the inhuman clothing that a repentant sinner receives! The repentant son is given a “ring on his hand.” The ring of the ancients was worn only by nobles and slaves did not dare to wear it (James 2:2). So Joseph received a ring from Pharaoh as the highest distinction (Gen. 41, 42). So, if a repentant sinner is given a ring as a reward for repentance: this means that he receives freedom, the spirit of sonship, that he is no longer a slave of sin, not a son of a sinful earth, but a son of heaven, a son of the kingdom of heaven, that he is no longer tormented by the fears of executions, like a slave and a criminal slave. "And boots" on his feet. To be shod with boots means in the language of scripture to have the readiness and strength to serve the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15). The sinner himself is weak, upset by sin, he does not know how to walk freely along the paths of the commandments. The repentant sinner is given strength to walk according to the commandments of God. The Heavenly Father tells him: “I am also concerned that you should not walk in your parental home like slaves, without boots, but be at peace, everything is ready for you, you will walk like a son of heaven, with firm, free feet.” “And when you have brought the fat calf, you kill it and rejoice, for this my son was dead and is alive again, and was found again, and began to rejoice” (Luke 15:23). The son came to his father hungry. The father not only hurried to satisfy his hunger but also organized a magnificent celebration. To whom is the Heavenly Father addressing, calling to share His joy over the repentant sinner? Revelation tells us that “there is joy in heaven, in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7). The same, without a doubt, should be understood about the saints of God who moved from earth to heaven. And so you see what a triumph for the repentant sinner! The sinner rejoices, the angels and saints rejoice, God rejoices. Angels and saints rejoice. For they see the incomprehensible goodness of God, they see that their brother, who stood on the brink of destruction, has been shown mercy and will glorify the Lord with them. God rejoices, for He does not want the sinner to die, and now the sinner is saved. Our hearts are easily pleased when we manage to do a good deed for others, help the poor, save the perishing. But what does our goodwill towards others mean in comparison with the love of the Heavenly Father? If the saints and angels rejoice, God rejoices over the repentant sinner: how can the sinner himself not rejoice? He is happy. Because it was accepted in a way that could not have been expected. The shame is removed, freedom is given, strength is strengthened. Moreover, the sky is in triumph about him. How great is the joy for the repentant sinner! It is so big that it cannot be described. This is a joy that can only be spoken of comparatively, guessed approximately, but which cannot be depicted, since there are no words for heavenly things in the earthly language. The Savior Himself explains the triumph of heaven over the repentant sinner only by comparisons. Just as he who has a hundred sheep, He says, and has lost one of them, leaves the ninety-nine and goes to look for the lost one, and having found it, takes it on his shoulders and calls his friends and neighbors, rejoice, he says, with me, I have found the lost sheep: so in heaven they rejoice over a repentant sinner (Luke 15:4-7). Like a poor woman who had ten drachmas and lost one, lights a candle, sweeps the rooms and carefully looks for the lost drachma, and when she finds it, calls her friends and neighbors, come, she says, have fun with me friends, I have found my lost drachma: this is how the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:8-10). From the parable of the son who died and was found, we see that the father calls his whole house to rejoice: “Let us rejoice,” he says. And then it was said: “And begin to rejoice” (Luke 15:23–24), they began to sing and rejoice. The sky resounded with songs of joy, praise, and gratitude for the repentant sinner. Wonderful celebration! Wonderful joy! The repentant soul, clothed with flesh, can partly feel this joy, since its object is itself: but only heaven knows it. Ap. John in his revelation saw the triumph of the marriage of the Lamb with the Church. The celebration began, as he shows, with a voice coming from the throne: “Sing to our God, all your servants and those who fear Him, both small and great” (Rev. 19:5). Then the voice of many people was heard, “like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunderstorms, saying: Hallelujah, for the Lord God Almighty reigns. We rejoice and are glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared food for herself” (Apoc. 19:5-7). Such is the triumph of the Lamb’s marriage with the Church! A similar celebration occurs about the union of a sinner with God! For the goodness of God is such that the mercies poured out on the whole Church are repeated for every soul that turns to God. ABOUT! How can one not exclaim with the seer of God: “Blessed are those whose iniquities have been abandoned, and whose sins have been covered up.” Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord will not impute sin... let us confess my iniquity to the Lord, and You have forsaken the wickedness of my heart. For this reason every saint will pray to You” (Psalm 31:1–6). If one of the repentant sinners says: I repented, but did not feel such joy: one should say to such a person: you yourself are to blame, my friend! Your confession lacked many things, which is why you had no joy. Listen to what the unfaithful word of God tells us. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you... Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:8, 10). They rejoice in heaven as they repent on earth. Glory and thanksgiving to Thy immeasurable love, our heavenly Father! Amen. You might be interested in: