Shrove Tuesday

A Heart Ready for Mercy

“Return to me with your whole heart.” — Joel 2:12

On the eve of Lent, the Church invites us to look honestly at our lives and to seek the grace of conversion. Blessed Karl approached the sacrament of confession frequently, not because he doubted God’s love, but because he trusted in it completely. As a ruler, a husband, and a father, he knew that he needed mercy in order to lead with mercy. He examined his conscience seriously and returned again and again to the Lord with humility.

Shrove Tuesday is not only a day of preparation; it is a day of hope. Karl teaches us that holiness does not belong to the sinless but to the repentant. His greatness was not that he never struggled, but that he continually placed his life under the light of Christ. Before he tried to change the world around him, he allowed God to change his own heart.

Today we stand at the threshold of Lent. We bring with us our failures, our fatigue, and our desire to begin again. Like Karl, we entrust everything to the mercy of God, confident that grace is stronger than our weakness and that conversion is always possible.

Blessed Karl, obtain for us the grace of a sincere confession and a fruitful Lent. Amen.