Hell
Are they few in number who will be saved?
This subject seems to be on the mind of several bloggers these days. This surprised me since I have been thinking a lot about it myself. Most recently, considering the moral discussions which have taken place on this blog, I wondered if perhaps St. John of the Cross was correct when he told someone he believed most people go to hell. Of course, no one knows how many people go to hell, in fact, when asked, Jesus simply replied, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate…” You know the rest.
Most of us think we know who will go to hell if they do not repent of obvious sin; murderers, child molesters, terrorists, politicians, and so on, although we cannot know this for certain. God’s mercy is inscrutable.
I’m okay - you’re okay?
As Catholics, hopefully we all strive to live our faith in obedience to the commandments and the teachings of the Church. We pray, frequent the sacraments, and try to live moral lives, therefore, we hope we will be saved. Nevertheless, we dare not become complacent or presumptuous as regards our salvation, as Fr. Kimel reminds us in his post, Counting the Saved.
For the rest of us, it is all too easy to confuse moral decency and goodness, or at least absence of grievous sin, with spiritual life. Christians presume a state of grace for those involved in the sacramental life of the Church, yet the Church has always warned her members of the mortality of sin and the need for continual conversion to Christ. We may not presume that others are saved or in the process of being saved because they are decent or at least not truly wicked people. We may not presume that we are saved or in the process of being saved because we are decent or at least not truly wicked people. There is no substitute for gospel, repentance, and prayer. We must cast ourselves upon the mercy of Christ and pray for the anointing of the Spirit. We must seek to be found in Christ, for he alone is the assurance that we are on the right path. - Pontifications
These thoughts must necessarily give one pause to stop and examine our own spiritual life. Although, in charity, I also cannot help but think of others and feel concern for their salvation, especially dissident Catholics who reject various teachings of the Church, or those who have fallen away and simply do not believe any longer. In the end, will Our Lord say to them, “Ah, my son, I know you could not accept the teaching of the Magisterium and taught others to reject it as well. I know you were sincere and loving, filled with compassion for those who rejected my teaching, therefore, because you were so sincere and loved peace, enter into the kingdom of my Father.”
The chances of the Lord saying that are pretty slim, especially when scripture tells us, “Even the just man is saved with difficulty.” - 1 Peter 4:18
Erring Catholics.
Shelray, a contributor to Cosmos, Liturgy, and Sex, posted a piece on this subject - actually, her article led me to read Fr. Kimel’s piece. Within her post are excerpts from a pamphlet entitled, “Cry of A Lost Soul” - a narrative of a soul who had been damned and appears to her friend. Who knows if it is authentic, the lesson rings true nonetheless:
“Deep down I was rebelling against God. You did not understand it; you thought me still a Catholic. I wanted, in fact, to be called one; The lost Catholics suffer more than those of other religions, because they, mostly, received and despised more graces and more light. He who knew more suffers more cruelly than he who knew less. He who sinned out of malice suffers more keenly than he who sinned out of weakness. But nobody suffers more than he deserves.” - You fool - this very night…
“O my Jesus! Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, help those most in need of thy mercy!” - Fatima prayer.
Links:
Even Fr. Longenecker is writing about it - Go to Hell - his review of Thigpen’s book, My Visit to Hell, a sort of contemporary Dante’s Inferno. I’m ordering it.
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 am
I don’t think about it much, I guess. We know one thing: there is an ocean of mercy.
We don’t know what happens on our deathbeds, how judgment works, or the answers to those sorts of things.
(Not even the Pope knows that. People who write on it - and there have been some fine writings - are just speculating.)
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:48 am
Having just survived a trip to the cardiac unit, seeing sick people on oxygen, screaming out incoherently, moaning—it was as if an evil, mocking hand had written on the hospital walls “you are all dust”—-but we matter to God and He sent His son, through Holy Mary, to give us life. The gate is narrow, hidden, and to enter one as to be little. It’s worth the effort to find, never give up seeking, never lose hope. God is Love.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Thanks Susan and Ma - very wise counsel.
I’m counting on Divine Mercy….
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 am
“‘We may not presume that others are saved or in the process of being saved because they are decent or at least not truly wicked people. We may not presume that we are saved or in the process of being saved because we are decent or at least not truly wicked people.’” We may not presume that others (and ourselves) will not be saved, either. Christ died to save us, and in fact wants our salvation more than we ourselves want it. I believe it was part of the Calvinist heresy that God has only saved a certain few, and the rest are lost. Of course we can reject salvation, we have free will. However, God desires “that all should be saved.”
I like Ma Beck’s comment, “We don’t know what happens on our deathbeds, how judgment works, or the answers to those sorts of things.”
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Ma Beck
“Not even the Pope knows that.”
I think the Pope just described what it’s like to die in Spe Salvi. He also talked about those going to hell. The Pope (whoever sits in the Chair) Knows.
There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell[37].
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/d ocuments/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Hrmmmm, perhaps my point was missed through my comments, which are often unclear and jumbled.
The Pope describes the method of judgment of God?
The Pope states how God pronounces sentence?
The Pope makes a list of those who will be saved and those who will not be?
Speaking on “going down to Hell” and definitively stating who is saved and why are two different things.
Otherwise, the Pope could say: “Hitler - damned. Mary Smith - in Purgatory for 8,000,000 years. John Jones - straight to heaven.”
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I think Salvation is a mystery. Whatever God is, Salvation is an inextricable and intimate part of who and what He is. Since NOBODY knows the fullness of God, NOBODY knows the “judgement process” - not even the Pope - after death.
We declare saints in heaven after God has made them saints. We have never - not once - in the history of the Catholic Church, declared anyone officially in hell.
Nobody knows. If you do, your dead and already “living” out your judgement.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
My priest told me the way to stay out of Hell is to stay in a state of Grace. If you die in a state of Grace you will go to Heaven–you may have to stop over in Purgatory for a few million years, but you will end up in Heaven–so that’s my goal in life–to continually stay in that state of Grace. That means Confession often and daily Mass to give me Grace for my journey.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Thank you Terry, I will also order that book.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Tom
Outside the bible, we cannot say anyone is in hell but Trent said we could know by revelation which the Bible is and I don’t think we have to declare Judas in hell because I think the Bible clearly did so even if the most recent popes seemed to not be able to face that. Christ made it a point to speak ominously about him about several times… “but woe unto him through whom the son of man is betrayed since it were better for that man had he not been born”….”those whom thou gavest me I guarded and not one of them perished but the son of perdition that the scriptures might be fulfilled”…
But on the bright side, the saints who seemed pessimistic on the numbers did not seem to be aware of:
Rev 7:9
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands…”