St. Francis de Sales was hearing confessions in his church at Annecy.
Among other penitents who went to him was a woman who had led a very bad life, but who, touched by God's grace, made a good and sincere confession of all the evil she had done. St. Francis blessed God for her conversion and felt his soul full of happiness in giving her absolution.
When she received it she said to him: "My father, what do
you think of me now since you have heard of all the crimes I have been guilty of?" "My child," he answered, "I now look upon you as a saint; let people say and think what they like, they may judge you as the Pharisee judged Mary Magdalen after her conversion, but you know what Jesus Christ thought of her and how he judged her. Your past life now
has no longer any existence. I weep tears of joy because of your resurrection from the grave of sin to a life of grace.
The penitent was not only consoled by these words of St. Francis, but when the devil came to try to make her fall into despair by thinking of her past iniquities, they enabled her to drive the temptation away.
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