“A Broken and a Contrite Heart”
Psalm 51:17
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote:
“. . . [W]e are all prodigals! We, too, must come to ourselves, having determined ‘I will arise and go to my father’ (Luke 15:18). This reunion and reconciliation is actually possible. Because of the Atonement, we are not irrevocably cut off.
“The ‘children of Christ,’ the ‘children of light,’ in any dispensation willingly make the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see 3 Nephi 9:20; D&C 59:8; Psalm 51:17; Ephesians 5:8). The children of Christ are meek and malleable—their hearts can be broken, changed, or made anew. The child of Christ can eventually mature spiritually to become the ‘new’ man or woman, the man or woman of Christ.”
(Men and Women of Christ [1991], 44–45.)
