For all of this, I am bound to give God thanks without ceasing. So often he has overlooked my stupidity, my carelessness, not just once, nor in only one situation; time after time, he has held back his full fury from me, who had been made his chosen helper.
I was unwilling to agree readily with what was being shown me, nor did I behave as “the spirit prompted.” Yet in spite of this, the Lord “took pity on me” a “thousand times,” because he saw within my soul that I was ready.
-The Confession of St. Patrick, translated by John Skinner
