The first step for the wretched person extricating himself from the depths of vice is the mercy which makes him merciful to the son of his mother, to be merciful to his soul, and thereby pleasing to God. In this way he emulates the great work of divine pity, being moved to tears with him who was pierced for him, somehow dying for his own salvation, and sparing himself no longer. The first act of pity sustains the person returning to his heart, and enables him to enter the secret places of his being. It now remains for him to link up with the royal road and go forward to truth, and join confession of the lips to contrition of heart, as I have so often urged you to do. For one believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. Mimed back to his heart, he must become little in his own eyes, as Truth himself has said, ‘Unless you turn back and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. May he not choose to hide what he knows only too well, that he is reduced to nothing. May he not be ashamed to bring into the light of truth what he cannot see in secret without being moved to pity. In this way one enters the ways of mercy and truth, the ways of the Lord, the ways of life.
Bernard of Clairvaux
