forgiveness to the max

There is an old legend about Judas that Madeleine L'Engle tells. The legend is that after his death Judas found himself at the bottom of a deep and slimy pit. For thousands of years he wept his repentance, and when the tears were finally spent, he looked up and saw way, way up a tiny glimmer of light. After he had contemplated it for another thousand years or so, he began to try to climb up towards the light. The walls of the pit were dark and slimy, and he kept slipping back down. Finally, after great effort, he neared the top and then he slipped and fell all the way back down to the bottom. It took him many years to recover, all the time weeping bitter tears of grief and repentance, and then he started to climb up again. After many more falls and efforts and failures, he reached the top and dragged himself into an upper room with twelve people seated around the table. "We've been waiting for you, Judas," Jesus said. "We couldn't begin till you came." 
https://www.stphilipscathedral.org/sermons/newsView.asp?NewsId=40968880&CategoryID=3

An old legend

There is an old legend,
most likely made up and not true,
(historically, anyway)
that near the end of his life
Saint John the evangelist
preached only one homily over and over:
"Children, love one another." (cf. I John 3: 18)
When his hearers began to tire of this repetitive, albeit short, homily,
one of the members of his community
asked him why he preached only this homily.
Saint John responded,
"Well, it doesn't appear to that anyone has mastered the message yet."