Isaias 57:18

Wouldest thou know how good our Master is? The Publican went up full of ten thousand wickednesses, and saying only, “Be merciful unto me,” went down justified. (St. Luke xviii. 13, 14 .) Yea, God saith by the prophet, “Because of sin for some little season I grieved him, ( Is. lvii. 17, 18 . Sept.) and I saw that ( εἶδον δτι not in Sept.) he was grieved and went sorrowful, and I healed his ways” ( ἰασάμην αὐτὸν , Sept.) What is there equal to this loving-kindness? On condition ( ἳνα στυγνάση . See St. John viii. 56 . ἳνα ἴδη τὴν ἡμέραν ) of his “being but sorrowful,” so he speaks, “I forgave him his sins.” But we do not even this: wherefore we especially provoke God to wrath. …

[7.] Humble then thine heart, thou too, that thou mayest draw God unto thee. “For the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart.” ( Ps. xxxiii. 19 .) Seest thou not in the gorgeous houses those who are in disgrace; how they answer not again when even the lower servants insult them, but put up with it because of the disgrace with which their fault hath surrounded them? So do thou too: and if any one revile thee, wax not fierce, but groan, not for the insult, but for that sin which cast thee into disgrace. Groan when thou hast sinned, not because thou art to be punished, (for this is nothing,) but because thou hast offended thy Master, one so gentle, one so kind, one that so loveth thee and longeth for thy salvation as to have given even His Son for thee. For this groan, and do this continually: for this is confession. …

Let us begin therefore, I entreat you, one with making his prayers intense: another with continual weeping: another with downcast countenance. For not even is this, which is so small, unprofitable: for “I saw” (it is said) “that he was grieved and went downcast, and I healed his ways.” ( Isa. lvii. 17, 18 .)