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man must bear his own sins and answer for them himself.
That we have saints amongst our ancestors will avail
us nothing, if we ourselves are unbelieving and trans
gress the divine commandments. However (and here
we find a contrast, as it were between the Epistle and
the Gospel), the prayer of intercession is all-powerful
with God. A touching proof of this is given in the
story of the Canaanite woman, related in the Gospel for
this day. It is for all Christians a pressing exhortation
to pray, during this holy season of Lent, for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel ; it impresses on us that
we should never despair of anyone s salvation, not
even of those whom God seems to have abandoned.