King Josiah led his people in a magnificent building campaign to beautify their temple. But it all came to a screeching halt when the Book of the Law, neglected for generations by the Kings of Israel, was discovered and its words read aloud. King Josiah realized the Lord's judgment was at hand, and so he led his people in repentance. "There was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might." Still, the Lord declares to remove Judah and Israel from His sight, and casts off His chosen city. 

Fr. Timothy Lowe, in reflecting on the "despair of the Lord," the very meaning of Josiah's name, reminds us there may be a time when repentance is no longer an option.