Our plight would therefore indeed be desperate could we not turn in penitence and faith to his sinless and crucified Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope and our only hope, because in his infinite love and compassion he willingly came down from Heaven and gave his life upon the Cross so that he might save you and me and in his own Person bring us to his Father.

Unfit as we are to appear before God in our own right, all we can do is to appeal to the Crucified, invoking on our own behalf all Our Lord has done and suffered for us; and claiming a place within the shelter of his outstretched arms. So he alone is our justification for approaching our holy and eternal Maker. The very prayers we say are not offered in our own right but reach God’s throne “through Jesus Christ Our Lord”.