Like the good thief who hung condemned next to the sinless Christ on a cross, anyone who confesses at the end of life may experience the same eternal reward as those who have lived a lifetime of piety and penitence for their sins. Their lives, St. Bernard of Clairvaux says, can be like “a short bridge from the religion of death unto the land of the living.”
– from: The Saint vs. The Scholar: The Fight Between Faith and Reason
