After a miraculous haul of fish, the man who would become St. Peter looked at The Lord Jesus, and then at himself, and said: "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner." The humble recognition of himself as a sinner came at the beginning of his life with The Lord, and, indeed was a necessary condition for this life. The Benedictine monk Rabanus Maurus speaks of this in one of his homilies:
"Dearly beloved brothers, it is necessary for us to consider what the Holy Scriptures tells us to do so that we may avoid the torment of Gehenna and attain heavenly joy, and how we can recover by repentance the good we have lost through sin. This we can do only through salutary compunction and true confession. Compunction of heart arises from the virtue of humility; the confession of sins from compunction; and the forgiveness of sins from true repentance. Compunction of the heart is humility of the mind with tears, the remembrance of sins, and the fear of judgment. Tears flow from a double fountain of compunction. That is, when the conscience very thoroughly considers its works, or when it sighs with desire for eternal life. Thus the Prophet says: 'My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of God? My tears shall be my bread day and night' (Psalm 41, 3-4). 'My soul longs and faints for the courts of The Lord. My heart and my flesh shall exult in the living God' (Psalm 83, 3). Now, there are four goads that prick the conscience: the memory of past deeds, the memory of future punishments, the consideration of the misery of this life of pilgrimage, and the desire for a heavenly homeland."
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