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Meditation Thirty-three, Third Week of October 2003 I Believe in Life Everlasting (3) Hell or the Eternal Loss of God Begin with prayer to the Holy Spirit Readings: Matt 25: 41-46; Luke 16: 19-31; Mark 9: 42-50; Revelation 21: 5-8 All of the mysteries of God are mysteries of light, but two of the mysteries of Faith are mysteries of darkness, impenetrable darkness: sin and eternal punishment. Our concept of God, derived from Scripture and even from reason, seems to tell us that the God of goodness and love could not send a human soul forever into a dark pit of terrible punishment and complete frustration of all desire, literally a black hole. Scripture, on the other hand, makes it very clear that there is eternal punishment, what Our Lord refers to as the "everlasting flames prepared for the devil and his angels." Many of the parables of Christ refer to everlasting punishment, as do a number of New Testament writers and, in very dramatic terms, the author of the Book of Revelation. Perhaps when we think of the atrocities of the twentieth century - - Auschwitz, - the Gulag in Russia, and the diabolical activities of some human beings - - it is easier to cope with the idea of eternal punishment. Some ages have thought it was common for people to be lost forever, and others like our own have tended to treat eternal punishment like a remote possibility, if possible at all. But Christ's warnings in the Gospel remain, and they always must be taken seriously because as the Church teaches about the Scriptures, these words are given by God to lead us on our journey to eternal life. Saint Faustina, the mystic nun of Divine Mercy, wrote that Our Savior revealed to her that He calls to every soul at the moment of death. This is a pure unmerited grace. According to St. Faustina, the soul is still capable of turning to God's call or rejecting it and perishing in Hell; but this is a last and real call of grace. A number of theologians have also raised this possibility and have used the example of the Good Thief. Whatever is the reality, we need to take Our Lord's warnings about Hell very seriously. Quotation for Meditation [The Lord] ascended into heaven, whence He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, each receiving according to his own merits. Those who have responded to the Love and Mercy of God will go to eternal life; those who have rejected that Love and Mercy to the end will go to the fire that will have no end. The Creed of Pope Paul VI Indeed since we know neither the day nor the hour it is necessary to keep vigil constantly, as the Lord warned us, so that having completed the one course of our earthly life, we may merit to enter the marriage banquet with Him and be numbered among the blessed (cf. Mt. 25:31-46) and so that we may not be commanded, like evil and lazy servants, to descend to eternal fire (cf. Mt 25:41) in the exterior darkness where there will be "weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Mt 22:13 and 25:30). For, before we reign gloriously with Christ, all of us will stand before the "tribunal of Christ, so that each may give an account of what he has done in the body, whether good or bad" (2 Cor 5:10) and at the end of the world "those who have done good will go to the resurrection of life, those indeed who have done evil will go to the resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:20; cf. Mt 25:46)
Refer to the Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church 1033 - 1037. Quiet Time and Then Discussion Questions for Meditation 1. Do I think often enough of Our Lord's warning about eternal punishment? 2. Do I warn, at least as best I can, those who have put His warnings aside? 3. Do I pray for the salvation of those who are apparently far away from God and salvation? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, Our Savior, you died to save us from eternal ruin. You taught us the way to eternal life and preached this way in Your Gospel. Send Your Holy Spirit with His divine power, especially to those who have lost their way. Deliver us from eternal death by Your grace and call to all those who are in terrible danger. Amen. |