Fr. Altman: Jesus only saves repentant sinners

"Dear family, as Lent reminds us, we are sinners. Sinners, dear family, and Jesus came to save, but he only will save repentant sinners," said Altman.

Fr. James Altman reflected on Jesus’ exhortation to “repent and believe in the Gospel” in a recent homily.

“We just cannot delete about half the Gospel when Jesus talks about sin and repentance. We must repent and both you and I, as I said, have plenty of room to do that,” said Altman, pastor of St. James the Less in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

“Repentance was necessary from the very beginning. Though our Father made covenants of love with us throughout salvation history, from the beginning we have broken them. We have not loved him back. That’s going to be the ultimate question God asks us when we stand before him: did you love me? Do you love me?” he continued.

Altman summed up his message this way: “Dear family, this is so simple. Simple like two plus two equals four simple. No sin, no need for a savior. So why in the world did Jesus have to come down, have to go through all he did if everyone just gets to go to heaven anyway?”

“Dear family, as Lent reminds us, we are sinners. Sinners, dear family, and Jesus came to save, but he only will save repentant sinners,” he concluded.

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Alpha News Staff