"Thy Damnation Comes From Thee"

"[St. Vincent Ferrer] relates that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him, "Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell" 

(from the sermon "The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved" by St. Leonard of Port Maurice)

A few years ago I saw a neat couple videos to give some perspective on our place in the universe and our time on earth in relation to eternity. Sometimes these visuals can help drive home how insignificant our lives are in the grand scheme of things. And yet, despite the relatively small role we play here on earth, our choices carry with them consequences of immeasurable effect. They mean the difference between an eternity of loving peace or tormented suffering and unending regret.

I know some people of sensitive composition get shook up by the reality of the fewness of the saved in both Scripture and Catholic doctrine. But it is something we have to face as a reality, not because of the holy fear and trembling it should rightfully inspire, but because God gives us no shortage of opportunities to repent (and grace, for those who ask) and be saved because He wants us to be saved. 

I don't really think about it until we venture out in a crowd among the general public, but we truly are in a little Catholic bubble here (I'm referring to our family, and families like ours). Consider these rough statistics:

• In a crowd of 1,000 people here in America, 210 of those people would self-identify as Catholic (Pew).
• Of those 210 Catholics,  43 attend Mass weekly (CARA).
• Of those 43, 4 believe the use of contraception is wrong (versus 39 who use and/or approve of it) (LiturgyGuy/Pew) 

I could keep drilling down, but you soon run into percentages of a person. The point, however, stands--if you had to put down a wager,  it should be a given that more souls are lost than are saved. Scripture supports the view; St. Peter for one: "And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Pt 4:18). 

"What do you think?," asks St. John Chrysostom, "How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!" 

St. Jerome is even less optimistic: “Out of one hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved.” 

There is no shortage of quotes by the saints affirming the same (my friend A.G., here, for one).

But what is St. Leonard the great preacher trying to instill in us--defeat and despair at our sinfulness, and a loss of hope that salvation is even possible, no less probable? No! The words of our Lord:

"Those interior inspirations, that clear knowledge, that constant remorse of conscience, would you dare to deny them? All of these were so many aids of My grace, because I wanted to save you. I refused to give them to many others, and I gave them to you because I loved you tenderly. My son, My son, if I spoke to them as tenderly as I am speaking to you today, how many others souls return to the right path! And you... you turn your back on Me. Listen to what I am going to tell you, for these are My last words: You have cost Me My blood; if you want to be damned in spite of the blood I shed for you, do not blame Me, you have only yourself to accuse; and throughout all eternity, do not forget that if you are damned in spite of Me, you are damned because you want to be damned: 'Thy damnation comes from thee.' "

To think of souls "falling into hell like snowflakes," to use the words of Our Lady and St. Teresa of Avila, should fill us with horror and sadness at those lost, but we should also not be scandalized, for God is a just judge. "Will He be angry every day?" (Ps 7:11). "As a father has mercy on sons, the Lord has mercy on those who fear Him." (Ps 103:13). "The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy" (Ps 33:18). "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him: and in them that hope in his mercy" (Ps 147:11). See a theme here?

Fr. Ripperger recently said in an interview that there were only two times he was scared as an exorcist: the first time he performed one, and during one exorcism in which he asked God to punish a particular demon "in a way he had never been punished before" and God manifested the power of his justice. "The fear wasn't in relation to the demons, since they are on a short leash. What I was looking at was the severity of God's punishment for those who don't obey him and reject him." 

"And if that doesn't strike the fear of God in you...nothing will."

Does this mean our chances of being saved are in the ballpark of becoming a pro-athlete, maybe .0001%? Becoming a professional athlete depends on a lot of things: natural ability, skill, hard work, training, ability to suffer, and luck, to name a few. 

But our ability to become a saint depends on one thing one thing only: our love of God and neighbor, and our trust in Him. It doesn't take skill, it doesn't mean having a reserved spot on the A-list. It is within the natural realm of all the baptized! God does not make himself out to be a hoity Manhatten director or judge on America's Got Talent trying to weed out the losers as fast as possible. He is trying to bring in as many people under His roof as possible--but nobody is listening! They are all just going their own way, choosing to drown rather than grab the hand of grace which is being extended to them. Is that God's fault, or ours?

To quote someone somewhere, "if we do not become a saint, it is because we did not want to become one." It's true, saying Yes to God in order to achieve that salvific vision necessitates saying "no" to other things--like the world, the flesh, and the devil and all his empty promises. And yes, you must be part of God's family (ie, baptized) to enter into that conduit channel of grace that makes salvation possible. 

But aside from that, YOU CAN BE SAVED, and our good and merciful God ACTUALLY DESIRES IT. He MAKES IT POSSIBLE in the bloodbath His Son cleanses us by. When you know love, you will know the fear of God. And when you fear God, you will rightly love Him. And when you love Him, you will never want to be apart from him as a slave to sin. For "if the Son sets you free,

you will be free indeed" (Jn 8:36)