Nothing elegant about this rustic patchwork quilt, strips sewn together. I remembered thinking, if it ripped in transit, no one would know that it had been repaired. The patch job would appear to be part of the original stitching. Whatever else the true significance may be of skin and sacrifice, however deeper, more profound the real explanations may be, I think I needed most of all to hear that there are some things God left to us. A search for penance takes us inside ourselves, looking for a sacrifice, believing we've somehow got to beat ourselves up, or the person who offended us, or both, when all that is required is reaching outward.
Penance is of little use till what is lost is found.
And if our tent should start to fall apart, and rip or tear, we fix it, plain and simple. It does not have to be beautiful, only functional. The things of value are stored inside, the things that make us holy. We need only take care that the stitches hold.