Hope And Forgiveness

Promittitur diluvium numquam ejusmodi futurum esse, ut terram omnem corrumpat;   Sensus autem hoc altior habet, quod jam providentia futura sit Domini, ne tantum sit diluvium corporalium passionum, ut anima omnis intereat. Et quidem non audeo dicere quia videtur Dominus statuere, quod nullius anima possit penitus interire. Quid enim de parricida dicimus? Quid etiam de homicida? Quid de adultero? Quid de praevaricatore? Quas ei partes animae ad veniam reservamus? Unde magis illud arbitror quod provocet Dominus Deus, ut etiam si quis leviores alias habeat passiones, non penitus divinam desperet gratiam, nec omnimodis victurum se esse diffidat. Sed etiam si est luxuriosus, nec potest studium vitare luxuriae, ab adulterio tamen studeat temperare; sit epulandi delectatio, non stuprandi sit. Etiam si nescio quis avarus qui aliena diripuit, ejecit pupillos, eliminavit viduas, vel postea tamen in poenitentiam regressus restituat quod abstulit. Denique Zachaeus ideo veniam meruit, quia non solum restituturum se, sed quadruplum promisit quibus aliqua sustulisset, pauperibus quoque medietatem sui patrimonii donaturum. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Noe Et Arca, Caput XXVII Source: Migne PL 14 407

And He promised they would never be a flood in the future that would destroy the earth... 1 This has a higher meaning, concerning the providence of the Lord in the future, that there would not be such a deluge of corporeal passions that the whole soul would perish. And certainly I do not dare to say that it appears that the Lord has determined that no soul shall be able to be utterly destroyed. For what shall we say about the parricide? The murderer? The adulterer? What of the inveterate sinner? What part of his soul shall we reserve for forgiveness? Whence better I judge it that the Lord said that even if someone have the lighter passions then he should not utterly despair of Divine grace, not being utterly hopeless as if he has been utterly conquered. But even if he is a man of luxury, and cannot avoid the passion for luxury, from adultery however let him desire to exercise restraint, that there may be delight in feasts but not lasciviousness. Even if I do not know how the avaricious man who seizes the goods of others, casts out orphans, ruins widows, and yet later coming to penance restores what he has taken, yet so it was that Zacchaeus eventually merited forgiveness, because not only was he to make restoration, but he promised that he give to to those from whom he had taken fourfold return, and that he would give to the poor from his own patrimony. 2 Saint Ambrose, from Noah And The Ark, Chap 27 1 Gen 9.11 2. Lk 19.1-10