“True contrition is a second innocence” (John Tauler).
We can understand this well if we think, for example, of the repentance of Peter, who wept bitterly when he realised that he had denied the Lord for whom he had declared that he was ready to give his life (Lk 22:55-62). What Jesus had foretold must have burned in his heart, and when he became aware of his denial, this memory and this pain must have led him to a profound conversion, because he loved the Lord.
When they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, “Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry.
