Turn Zealously to Repentance

By: St. John of Kronstadt

You, sinner, who have fallen into the depths of evil, when you represent to yourself the multitude of your sins and fall into despair and hardness of heart, remember that the heavenly Father sent His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world for your salvation from sins and from eternal condemnation for them. Turn then with faith to this Mediator before God for men, imploring Him from the depths of your soul to wash away by His all-cleansing Blood, shed for us on the cross, your iniquities too; turn zealously to repentance, confessing your sins before His priest as before Himself, that you may be justified, after which, if the minister of the sacrament of penitence finds you prepared and fit, draw near to the holy cup and you shall be cleansed of your sins: peace shall flow into your soul like a river and you shall be the son of the heavenly Father, ‘who was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found’ (Lk. 15:32).

St. John of Kronstadt (My Life in Christ; Holy Trinity Monastery pg. 539).