Counting Our Losses

As we begin the season of Shrovetide, our annual preparation for Lent, we are invited to reflect on the inner workings of our soul and make sure they’re up to speed.  We search within, contemplating what we find, and holding up our deepest thoughts, dreams and fears to the light of day, asking ourselves what is their worth in the sight of God.

If we could put a value on our souls, what would it be?  Surely, our examination of the results of our life thus far are hardly worthy of praise.  Surely, we are filled more with shame for our failings than satisfaction over our few small achievements.  For every temptation vanquished, how many more are there to which we yielded, losing our very souls in a moment of greed, of passion, or of anger.  And yet we do not lose hope.  We do not despair.

Nor should we.  We would be adding to our failings the loss of the cardinal virtue of hope.  We would be admitting to the world our lack of faith in God and his mercy and throwing ourselves into the deepest pit of dread, abandoning the Sacred Heart of Jesus and choosing instead the blackness of infernal and eternal suffering.  We would be rejecting the promise of our blessed Lord when he spoke on the cross to the good thief in spite of his life of crime, “This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”  After which he died.  He died for the good thief, he died for the Apostles, for the Prophets and Patriarchs, for Adam and Eve, for you and me.  That’s how much the Son of God values each and every one of us.

So let’s not ignore his promise of eternal life, let’s not wallow in the despair of mortal sin.  When we fall, let’s get back on our feet, not wasting time rolling around in the mud of iniquity.  Life is short, we don’t even know how much time we have left.  What we do know is that if we’re ready to die, it doesn’t really matter when it happens.

If anyone should have despaired, would it not have been our first parents Adam and Eve?  They were given everything that God could bestow, they were free from all suffering and even from death itself.  There was just one test of their loyalty they needed to pass—one law they couldn’t break.  We all know how that ended up, and we can only imagine how they felt knowing that not only they, but all their millions of descendants throughout the coming centuries would be unable to enjoy the everlasting happiness of heaven because of what they had done.  To prevent them from despairing, God himself gave the promise of a Saviour who would open the gates of heaven.  We live in the light of this promise fulfilled and we have no reason to lose hope in that Saviour who died for us on the cross.  So in our moment of reflection today, let’s never for a moment lose sight of that merciful Passion and Death that saved us all from Satan’s power.