What use is there in penance for wrongs done? They cannot be put right by castigation and self denial. They have happened and the best that can now be done is that they are not piled upon but recognised for the harmfulness and damage they have caused. With that realisation should come an emergence of strength, but it cannot alter that which has gone beforehand and which has passed into record. It is good that one can say “I shall give thanks that I am no longer as I was, for the lesson has been taken.” But do not ask forgiveness, for who is there to forgive but yourself? You were responsible for carrying yourself at fault and by realising that, you carry the seeds of your own redemption.
No one beyond can say that the slate has been cleaned, for that would be as though he who was wronged were to be told that the mischief did not occur. This principle is quite simple and clear, but its interpretation has been dulled by the passing of ages and the substitution of doctrine for reality
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