For Catholics is it ever too late? Often we have people die on us or situations which deteriorate beyond our reach. Time is like a river and flows on. Nevertheless, I can be left with the heartache for what could have been. Thanks to the Mass we know that it is never "too late." Offered both for the living and the dead the sacrifice of the Mass is there for all including those who have gone on ahead of us. The Gospel today tells us that God does not give up on us and likewise we should not give up on him. What it takes is for us to respond in faith and accept the offer of his grace. St Paul tells us: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regards others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others." (Phil 2: 4-5) It is pride which gets in the road of genuine conversion even when I think that somehow my sins are so heinous that they cannot be forgiven! We need to trust that for God, to whom everyone is alive, it is never too late for healing and salvation as we await the Final Judgment. Let us not succumb to the temptation to give up. Rather let us always turn to God and acknowledge his mercy and love for the marvel it really is: "Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die." (Ezek 18: 28)
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