Is there anything Christ will not forgive? No. His mercy is infinite. Infinite, but not automatic. It is freely given, but it must be accepted. We must ask for forgiveness, we must be genuinely sorry, we must be determined to avoid future sin. The person who truly desires forgiveness forgives others. The person who has accepted forgiveness forgives others. The person who is grateful to God and determined to avoid sin, forgives others. Indeed, forgiveness is a gift and a choice.

The Eucharist is God’s kiss. Like a kiss, it needs no explanation and has no explanation. Skin needs to be touched. This is what happens in the Eucharist and that is why the Eucharist, and every other Christian sacrament, always has some very tangible physical element to it—a laying on of hands, a consuming of bread and wine, an immersion into water, an anointing with oil. An embrace needs to be physical, not only something imagined. God knows that. It’s why Jesus gave us the Eucharist.