Hell - The Fiery Forever Furnace

Among the many problems within our Church today is the fact that far too many Catholics do
not know or live their faith. This is in large measure due to poor catechesis and the reluctance of some priests to teach the full and undiluted Truths of our Faith. Too many are content to tickle our ears and not seek to save our souls.

I believe, as did St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P., that we cannot be timid when addressing problems in
our Church and the lukewarm manner in which many of us live out our faith. St. Vincent, like the noted Italian Franciscan preacher, St. Leonard of Port Maurice referenced below, was direct and confronted people with the Truth since it is only the Truth that will set hearts and souls free.

There is a fear that the average Catholic in the pew can not "handle" the Truth, will not accept the Church's teachings and will take a hike when they are forced to listen to and live them. 
Better, many argue, that we skip over the "hard points" of what we must believe, so that we don't lose any more parishioners. For those of this theological bent, zeal for the salvation of souls is an archaic and unnecessary concept.

During this Holy Week, we Catholics should have some solid instruction on sin and the eternal
consequences given the price our Loving Lord Jesus paid for our transgressions. The realities of sin and Jesus' suffering and death are front and center this week in our liturgy, Scripture and meditations. Yes, Virginia. Hell is real - real hot. It's a fiery forever furnace of torment for souls who did not believe it existed and who failed to avoid it by seeking God's forgiveness and mercy. Not a few of these sorry souls eagerly acquiesced to the false teachers among them who told them not to worry about hell. God, they proclaimed,  is merciful and would never condemn any one to hell. Therefore, we can have a reasonable hope that all men are saved. Hell, these pundits suggest, is vacant (if it even exists at all).

Though preachers who say these things are dead wrong, once they and their followers arrive in hell, no one will have any recourse against them for their untruthful and heretical teachings.
They and their followers will suffer eternal separation from the God who always wanted them to be with Him eternally and who provided them with all the graces they needed to achieve His goal. They can't blame Him if they end up in hell. It was their choice not to believe God..

So in order to avoid such an unnecessary and eternal fate, let's act as adults this week. Take the time to read, absorb, ponder, understand and accept the Church's full teaching on hell.

Read this homily preached by St Leonard of Port Maurice.

His sermon, The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved,  will make you think. It will cause you
to become uncomfortable and even squirm. But you can give yourself no greater gift this Lent
than to listen to the Truth penned by the hand of a man emboldened by the Holy Spirit, who
though deceased now for more than 268 years, is still being used by God to save souls. Thank
God we can still read his sermon today. St. Leonard's words were true then; they are true now.

They have always been and will forever be true.

Choose eternal life!
Lord, Jesus Christ, be merciful to all of us sinners!

​I am blessed to be a Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed on this blog are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole. I am neither responsible for, nor endorse content (e.g. banner ads, pop-up ads, etc.) that may be linked to this blog.

Scurry to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament!

Bet you have had a similar experience. You are reading a passage from Scripture –
one that you have read many times in the past. Suddenly from the page leaps an
insight that had heretofore escaped your grasp.

I had just such an experience early one Monday morning when I filled in for an
Adorer who was stranded some distance from our Chapel due to a significant snow
storm.

Let me set forth the familiar words of Mark’s Gospel (Mk 6:53-56) that prompts this
post and reflection:

“After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.”
(From the Revised Standard Version, emphasis added)

The great tragedy of our times is the fact that so few Catholics believe that Jesus is
really, truly and substantially present here with us in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – the same Jesus the people in Mark’s Gospel
immediately recognized and approached with expectant faith.
Why don’t we recognize Him here in our midst? Why don’t we scurry around our
communities and gather the sick and present them to Him? Why do we lack the
expectant faith of those depicted in Mark’s Gospel?

No doubt there are multiple explanations that could be offered in response to these
questions. But the fundamental answer is that we are too proud!

We have made things unnecessarily complicated. We have added expectations and
hoops to jump through that our loving Lord never intended when He decided to
remain among us until the end of time.

Like Naaman, the Syrian army commander and leper who initially out of pride
thwarted God’s desire to heal him of his leprosy by refusing to wash in the Jordan
seven times as the prophet Elisha’s messenger had directed him to do (see 2 Kings
5:1-19), we refuse to recognize that the same Jesus described in Mark’s Gospel
remains physically here with us in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

He waits there for our visit and our adoration.  That’s all.  In exchange for that act of
love, gratitude and faith, He will heal us, the ones we love and those for whom we
intercede, maybe not in the exact manner which we request, but in the most perfect
way - the way that will assure eternal life for us and those for whom we pray.
Don’t be like Naaman and refuse to take a dip in the Jordan. It really is simple. Scurry
to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament where He awaits you with loving and healing
arms. Go there expecting to be healed.

And please do not forget to bring those others also in need of His healing touch with
you, if not physically than in your heart.

​I am blessed to be a Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed on this blog are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole. I am neither responsible for, nor endorse content (e.g. banner ads, pop-up ads, etc.) that may be linked to this blog.