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Fr Sean again.
Who Will Be Saved from Hell?
The four most important events in our life are conception, birth, Baptism, and death. Life begins at conception, becomes public at birth, is cleansed from sin in Baptism and is eternalized in death. While we often reflect on our birth and Baptism we don’t put much time reflecting on our conception or on our death. We tend to live as if death were not a reality and actually a daily possibility for each of us. As Jesus reminded us, “You know not the day nor the hour” (Mt 24:36). Ironically, reflecting on our death is important because the more we reflect on our death the more we’ll recognize the importance of our life, how we’re living, and where we’re headed. Death is the final act of our life that began in our mother’s womb. It’s the final “Goodbye” to the world we know and the first experience of the world we don’t know but must now inhabit. It makes sense, then, to ask ourselves: Will the world toward which I am heading bring me eternal happiness or eternal misery? If I want eternal happiness How can I prepare myself to attain it and who do I need to help me attain it? There are only two options after death, namely Heaven or hell, salvation or damnation.
Only One Saviour
Jesus was asked, “Lord, are there few in number who are to be saved?” (Lk 13:23). To be “saved” means to be freed from sin in order to enter Heaven. Jesus didn’t give numbers but He urged His questioner to, “Try to come in through the narrow door. Many, I tell you, will try to enter and be unable” (Lk 13:24). Why would people be unable to enter Heaven? By ignoring or rejecting Jesus who is the only “door” to Heaven. He stated clearly: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me” (Jn 14:6). Jesus is the only way to Heaven; He is the only Truth- Speaker concerning how to enter Heaven, and the only Life-Giver that brings us eternal joy. Neither Mohammad, nor Buddha, nor Confucius, nor Hinduism, nor any other individual or religion can save us from sin and enable us to enter Heaven. Jesus is our only hope for a happy life after death. Reason, then, would clearly motivate us to put time and effort into knowing Jesus and investing our life in His Church where He promised to be always present (Mt 28:20). By not doing so, we doom ourselves to eternal deprivation of eternal life in the warmth of God’s love, which is damnation. “Eternal life is this: To know You (have an intimate relationship with God), the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ” (Jn 17:3).
To Know Is to Have a Personal Relationship
What does it mean to “know” Jesus? To know God means having an intimate relationship with Him. To know God personally Jesus founded His Church on Peter precisely to be the instrument through which He’d make Himself known “to all nations” so that every human being could personally embrace Him as their Saviour by following His way, living His truth, and receiving Him as the Bread of Life. Knowing Jesus isn’t simply being acquainted with Him intellectually or being a fan. It is about a relationship that requires love and companionship, a mutual participation in one another’s life. Jesus revealed that He shares Himself with those who take the time and put in the effort to know Him personally. Being saved is not the result of a relationship with Jesus that’s just casual or based on convenience or need. He warns us that, “When once the master of the house has risen to lock the door and you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Sir, open for us.’ he will say in reply, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your company. You taught in our streets.’ But he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Away from me, you evildoers” (Lk 13:25-27). Knowing Jesus superficially isn’t enough to make Him our Saviour. Many people know about Jesus intellectually, even people who call themselves Christian, identifying themselves as Catholic but don’t know Him personally and so continue their sinful ways. Sadly many Catholics are ashamed to give witness to the Faith in which they were Baptized. Even some clergy are ashamed or are afraid to wear their Roman collar in public. Such people are actually refusing to give witness to Jesus before others and He will refuse to recommend them to His Heavenly Father.
Love What God Loves and Hate What He Hates
To be saved we must love Jesus for His sake, not for what He can give us or what we can get from Him. Jesus warns us: “None of those who cry our ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of God but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven” (Mt 7:21). Too many run around claiming to have received powers from the Holy Spirit when in fact all they’re doing is drawing attention to themselves in acts of self-glorification. They are acting in accord with their will, not in accord with God’s will. What’s God’s will? It is to freely and lovingly obey His Commandments, live His Beatitudes, obey His Church’s laws, and carry out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It is God’s will to freely and lovingly do what God loves and reject what God hates. What does God hate? He tells us in Proverbs 6:16-19: “Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood (abortion and murder), a heart that plots wicked schemes (deceit in all its forms), feet that run swiftly to evil (gossip, backbiting, character assassination), the false witness who utters lies (perjury), and he who sows discord among brothers and sisters (troublemaking).” Knowing Jesus through meeting Him personally and communally in His Church’s Sacraments enables us to resist these things because doing them prepares us for hell.
The Just Will Be Saved
Who’ll be saved? Those who heartily receive Jesus and make Him the centre of their life through and letting Him take us to His Father who bestows the Holy Spirit upon us filling our mind, heart, and soul with His love. This is what the Catholic Church is all about – calling and enabling people in Jesus’ Name to have an intimate relationship with Jesus and His Father united in the Holy Spirit of love and truth. Catholics are Jesus’ disciples who discipline themselves to act in accord with His teaching. This is the only path to salvation. We can then say with certainty that, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God. No torment shall touch them…They are in peace” (Wis 3:1, 3). Therefore we must never “disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by Him; for whom the Lord loves He disciplines … all discipline seems a cause for grief and not for joy, but later it brings forth the fruit of peace and justice to those who are trained in its schools” (Heb 12:5, 11). Living the Christian life is hard but the benefits are out of this world. Those on the path to salvation “… live as children of light (enlightened by Jesus) … Be correct in your judgment of what pleases the Lord. Take no part in vain deeds done in darkness; rather condemn them” (Eph 5:8-11). If you take the time and put in the effort to know Jesus personally and live as a faithful member of His Church you can look forward to a happy death. If you don’t, the future doesn’t bode well for you. As possessors of free will we decide our own destiny. The key question for each of us is: “What do I need to do to be saved and what do I need to do to help others to be saved?” It is only in loving others that I know I love myself, and it is in loving myself that I know I’m accepting God’s love for me. God’s love of me became visible the day I was baptized when He adopted me as His gifted child. He continues to show His love for me when I meet Jesus in the Sacraments of His Church. (fr sean)
What Is Faith?
Faith is the eye that sees God, no matter how dark the day.
Faith is the hand that holds Him on the steep and rugged way.
Faith is the heart rejoicing … accepting God’s promise true.
Faith is the ear that listens, to the voice that speaks to you.
Faith refuses to doubt Him, though others are filled with fear.
Faith is believing God’s Word, and knowing that He is here.
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