Come Back to God — It Is Never Too Late

Not all but many congregations are dwindling exponentially from within. There are folks who were active in their faith but for some reason stopped coming to church.  Can we come back to God?

One such prodigal shared thoughts with me like: Does God want me back? I was a believer but fell away.  I was angry at God, deliberately sinning for years.  I don’t have faith anymore.  Like, something prevents me from believing.  I feel reprobate like Esau.  I want to come back to God but feel like I have blown it and that He rejects me.  I feel I’ve committed the unpardonable sin.   I no longer feel His presence and I am dead spiritually.  I don’t know if I can regain salvation and I don’t think I can be forgiven.

So often people are afraid to come back to church or to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for they feel that, since they have been gone for so long, there is no way back.  Does God even want me back?  How can I tell?  Well, when we have sinned and walked away from God, whether for a day or for years, coming back seems difficult.  The warmth and intimacy of our faith that we experienced when we first came to Christ seems not to be there.  The prophets relentlessly called on Israel to return to God, even though they had turned away for a long time. Jesus told of a man having 100 sheep and one was lost that then is found and that there is more rejoicing in heaven over the one than over the 99 whom never wandered. We are His sheep. If one of us wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, that person saves a soul from death and covers a multitude of sins.

–  Fr Pothin