The man at the eleventh hour: “The last shall be first”
What did that criminal do that he received a share in the paradise following the cross?... While Peter denied Christ, this criminal, high on the cross, bore witness to him. I'm not saying this to denigrate Peter but to draw attention to the criminal's greatness of soul... While a whole rabble were standing around him, murmuring, yelling and heaping oaths and abuse on them both, this criminal paid no attention. He didn't even consider the wretched condition of the crucifixion right before his eyes. All this he passed over with a glance full of faith... He turned towards our heavenly Lord and entrusted himself to him and said: “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23,42). Let us not casually avoid this criminal's example or be ashamed of taking as teacher the man whom our Lord was not ashamed to lead first into paradise...
He didn't say to him, as he said to Peter: “Come after me, and I will make you a fisher of men” (Mt 4,19). Nor did he say to him as to the Twelve: “You will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mt 19,28). He favored him with no title, showed him no miracle. This criminal did not see him raise a dead man nor cast out demons; he did not see the sea obeying him. Christ said nothing to him about the Kingdom nor yet about hell. And yet he bore witness to him before all and inherited the Kingdom.