1 Samuel 15:25

27. Correctable sins are indeed borne, because after they depart from the will of the one who committed them, they can be wholesomely purged through satisfaction. But the sins of those in whose minds they have become ingrained through impenitence are not borne. Whence John also says: "There is a sin unto death; I do not say that one should pray for that" (1 John 5:16). A sin unto death is that which is committed by one who can never come to his senses. This sin is assuredly not borne by superiors, because it is not wiped away by the prayers or offerings of priests. But Saul, representing in all things the proud and obstinate, does not cease to swell with pride, and yet begs that his sin be borne; he heaps up an unbearable burden, and asks that it be carried as though it were light. This indeed happens as often in the Church as those who willingly commit great crimes fail to consider their magnitude. They gather up unbearable things, and reckon them to be trivial and of no weight. They hide their sins from their superiors, and so that they can scarcely be discovered and rebuked, they minimize those same sins as much as they can, lest those who preside over them recognize their enormity. They are also strong for sinning, but weak for weeping over their sins; they want to be dissolved in the pleasures of sin, but they refuse to be purged by the bitterness of penance. What then does it mean when he says, "Bear my sin," except that they receive the sweetness of sins in themselves, but want to burden their prelates with the weight of those same sins? Some even come voluntarily to confess, but they themselves do not mourn for the things of which they accuse themselves; instead they beg others to do penance, they think they are saved by faith alone, and they do not care to return through penance once they have been cast down. Whence Saul also adds, saying: "And return with me, that I may worship the Lord." For the preacher is, as it were, departing when he rejects the shameless; therefore he says: "Return with me, that I may worship the Lord." He thinks that he is not divided from the communion of the elect solely because he preserves the common faith; or certainly, to worship the Lord is to submit oneself to the discipline of faith and the keeping of good works. But because Saul represents feigning hypocrites...