A priest visited an elderly woman who was dying at home. She was sure that God no longer loved her because of the sins she had committed in her life; things that she thought were too terrible for even God to forgive. The priest told her about God’s grace and mercy, and Christ’s atonement for our sins, but the woman was still not convinced.
He happened to glance across the room and noticed a picture on her bureau of a young woman. The priest asked who the person in the picture was, and the woman said it was her daughter.
The priest asked if she loved her daughter, and the woman replied, “Yes, I love her more than anything.”
The priest then asked, “Suppose your daughter did something really, really bad. Would you stop loving her because of it?”
“Of course not,” the woman replied. “No matter what she might have done, I would always love her! Nothing could ever change that.”
“Well,” the priest said, “God has a picture of you on his bureau.”