Lord, now I understand everything! Save me, save me, at any cost...! If at such a moment of self-awareness the Savior suddenly appeared before us or if He sent one of His angels or any of His saints to admonish us with a stern voice and demanded that we genuinely repent by changing our lives, we would likely accept it.

But what if, instead of an angel or a saint, or His own presence, Christ sent our neighbor (especially the one we do not love and would torment us) and posed the vital question "Have you repented in words or in action?".

Then we would forget our words, suppress our feelings, renounce our repentance and exclaim: "Get away from here! I will not be punished by God because of you, you will not teach me a lesson nor will you lead me to a new life."

We would allow the opportunity and the person sent by the Lord to become the consequence of our sins to slip away, the burden we would carry with patience; the person sent to heal us and guide us with humility to the Kingdom of God would be lost, the person who would help us accept everything readily from the hands of God.