"With words of truth let me be fed"

A very late traditio, but an extremely beautiful and much needed one. The Crossing singing "For Help and Protection."

What does the Church teach about hell?

There still remains much talk in support of what is called universalism. Like all such concepts universalism comes in many variations. The basic concept universalism seeks to instill is that in the end everyone goes to heaven, even if only eventually. So-called Christian universalism holds that all go to heaven because of Christ's sacrifice. It usually hearkens back to the writings of Origen. The variety of Christian universalism that seems to be gaining traction today does not dismiss hell altogether but seems to conflate it with purgatory.

It is never enjoyable to talk about hell. It is certainly quite out of vogue in our current situation as we see the evisceration of Christianity by secular states, which might yet prove to be a great gift. It is also true that more and more people have only a vague and passing familiarity with Christianity, often possessing only a grotesque caricature of what Christians believe. I will be the first to acknowledge that a message of fear is probably not the most effective method of evangelization (see "Evangelization means to 'Open the doors to Christ'"), but the stakes are high and will remain so until Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. After all, eternal life is not the life begins after mortal death. Eternal life begins at Baptism, through the waters of which we die, are buried, and rise with Christ. Living sub specie aeternitatis ("under the aspect of eternty") is a very different way of living than quasi Deus non daretur (as if if there is no God). As human beings lovingly made in the image of God we have an end for which we are made and for which we are redeemed, that is, a destiny.

As I did last time I posted on universalism (see "Seeking clarity about heaven and hell") there are some necessary caveats that I need to state up-front. First and foremost, I personally desire the damnation of nobody and try to evangelize in the different milieux in which I find myself. I am content to let God be God, even as we know from Scripture that there are damnable activities (1 Cor 6:9-10 and Gal 5:19-21- I encourage you to read these in context to see this is no exercise in proof-texting). Second, while there are situations in which explicit faith in Christ Jesus is not possible and so does not preclude the possibility of salvation, I believe wholeheartedly that following Christ as a member of His Body, the Church, is the surest means of salvation. One of the surest signs of Christian discipleship is evangelizing others. In his Letter to the Romans, St Paul wrote about the law written on our hearts:

For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus (Rom 2:12-16)

Third, anyone who is saved is saved by Jesus Christ, without whom there is no salvation for anyone (Acts 4:12). A person who has never heard the Gospel is neither automatically saved nor automatically damned. If people who had never heard the Gospel never became accountable to God then we would actually do people a disservice by sharing the Gospel with them. After all, why risk automatic salvation for something that is not a sure thing?

Given all of the above, it is important to know what the clear teaching of the Church is when it comes to hell. We are blessed to have a sure guide - the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism allows us to determine in clear, precise language the Church's teaching on this very solemn matter. For those familiar with the structure of the Catechism one can read about hell in Part One, Section Two, Chapter III, Article 12. IV, which consists of paragraphs 1033-1037:

The Last Judgement, by Rogier van der Weyden, 1445-50

1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." [1 John 3:14-15] Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. [Matt 25:31-46] To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."

1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. [Matt 5:22] Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire," [Matt 13:41-42] and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire! and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!" [Matt 25:41]

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire." [there are a number of references in this footnote, not least of which is from Bl Pope Paul VI's Credo of the People of God- #12 "He will come again, this time in glory, to judge the living and the dead: each according to his merits-those who have responded to the love and piety of God going to eternal life, those who have refused them to the end going to the fire that is not extinguished"] The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." [Matt 7:13-14]

       Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord        and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed,        we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the ,        blessed and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the        eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."       [Lumen Gentium par 48 and scriptural references]

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell; [Citations of canons from the Councils of Orange and Trent] for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance":[2 Peter 3:9]

Father, accept this offering from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen.[Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 88]

You must know your faith in order to live it fully.

"Free to be what He made me to be"

For the first time in a long time I did not post a Friday traditio yesterday. Why? Well, I was having a really difficult time figuring out what to post, which is never a good thing because it means I neglected listening to music this past week.

At least in these United States we fervently seek freedom. After all, liberty is the founding principle of our nation, not "blood and soil." Too often we conceive of freedom as freedom from instead of freedom for. I don't mind witnessing that only in Jesus do we find freedom, a liberty that just can't be found in any other way, or by any other means. But as Social Distortion sang in "Ball Chain," wherever you are you are sure to find yourself there, "you can run all your life but not go anywhere."

Jesus is our freedom because He is the Truth (John 14:6). We are freed by truth. At least for me the most freeing truth is realizing the truth about myself. Since my last birthday, my 49th, by the grace of God, I have been confronting myself and so it's been a tough year so far. I don't mind saying it;s been uneven and at times rough, like sliding naked down a rough piece of wood, but oh so worth it. A relevant passage here for anyone who cares to follow up is John 8:31-36. In verse 34 Jesus says, "Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin."

Our traditio this week is Aracely Bock performing a song off her Purple Flowers EP, "Free." She made "Purple Flowers" while she was being treated for thyroid cancer. The 5 songs that comprise "Purple Flowers" are amazing. I draw a lot of strength and resiliency from listening to her. It has become one of my "go to" sets when I am feeling down because it's sympathetic without throwing a pity party. Best of all, it disposes me to pray.

Grab that old yellow number
Let's begin again

Year B Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Jer 23:1-6; Ps 23:1-6; Eph 2:13-18; Mark 6:34-30

In our first reading the prophet Jeremiah not only reprimands the religious leaders of ancient Israel, but foretells, even if obliquely, of the coming of Christ. Christ Jesus is the “righteous shoot” whose name is the “The LORD our justice” (Jer 23:5-6).

Our responsorial psalm is one of the most beautiful and well-known of the one hundred-fifty psalms. Psalm 23 gives us very beautiful imagery of what the Lord, who is the Good Shepherd, has in store for us. Without a doubt the most beloved verse of Psalm 23 is verse four: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.” Of course, mortal life is “the valley of the shadow of death.”

Let’s look at the last phrase of verse four for a minute – “your rod and your staff comfort me.” A shepherd uses his rod and staff to keep the sheep within the fold. As most of us probably know, what we, as Catholics, call the bishop’s crozier is a shepherd’s staff. It has a hook on the end of it, a shepherd uses his staff to hook and pull back a one of the flock who is going astray. By contrast, the shepherd’s staff can be used as a rod. A rod is used to strike, usually not in a hard, vicious manner, but in a corrective way, a way analogous to how you might gently tap the bottom of a toddler who just did something dangerous and needs to know that it is dangerous so he doesn’t do it again. A shepherd who did neither of these things would be a bad shepherd.

Citing Proverbs (3:11-12), the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote: “You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons: ‘My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges’” (Heb 12:5-6). Getting back to Psalm 23, the Lord does this in order to lead us to our true home, the house of the Father where He spreads a feast before us, anoints us with perfumed oil, and fills our cups to overflowing (Ps 23:5).

Let’s face it, we’re sinful and fallen, but the good news is we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and are now being sanctified. In order to be sanctified, made holy, made more like Christ, we must freely cooperate with what God is doing in and through our lives each and every day. We have to understand that part of the process of sanctification is being corrected and disciplined when we go astray or to keep us from wandering off. This is why we need the grace we receive in and through the sacraments. In addition to participating in the Eucharist, going to confession with some regularity is vitally important to our spiritual health and well-being. It is also the way we experience the Lord’s kindness and mercy. Confession is the sacrament of mercy.

Being Catholic is not an accessory to a full life, one more thing we do to be considered “good” and “respectable” people. No! Putting our faith into practice daily, even if imperfectly, is what we do out of gratitude and love for what the Father has done for us in Christ. It is how we keep the Lord Jesus at the center of our lives, where He belongs. Too often we have the tendency to push Him to the periphery in attempt to keep Him at a safe distance. In other words, it is one thing (and an important one at that) to acknowledge Jesus as Savior, but we must also acknowledge Him as Lord. Like the twelve in today’s Gospel we need to spend dedicated time with the Lord in prayer.

Today’s Gospel reading follows closely on the heels of last week’s, when Jesus sent the twelve out with only the clothes on their backs and the sandals on their feet. According to St Mark, it seems their mission met with so much success that people kept coming to them, making it impossible for them to even eat (Mark 6:31 ). Jesus invited them to “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). But many people followed them and even arrived at their destination before they did awaiting their arrival.

As the people gathered, Jesus “was moved with pity for them” because “they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). Recognizing this, the Lord “began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34). What exactly did Jesus teach them that day? St Mark’s Gospel does not tell us exactly what He taught, but we have many examples of Jesus’ teaching and so we can probably ascertain that He preached the coming of the kingdom, their need for repentance, and invited them to follow Him, and then explained what following Him meant. The next event in Mark’s account, as we will see next week, is Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000, but in the lectionary next Sunday we will use St John’s account of this instead of St Mark’s.

One way of looking at our readings this week and seeing how the message differs from last week is to sense the shift between being sent to preach the Gospel and the content of the Gospel message. In a nutshell, the message of the Gospel is Jesus is Lord. When the Lord Himself, in the very first chapter of St Mark, begins His proclamation by saying, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15), He announced He was Lord. Jesus is the kingdom in person. His Incarnation marked the time of fulfillment. You might ask, “The fulfilment of what?” His Incarnation was the fulfilment of all the prophecies, like one from Jeremiah in our first reading. It marked the culmination of God’s plan of salvation and the ushering in of the new and everlasting covenant.

The Gospel is attractive because it corresponds to reality, to the reality of our individual lives and our life together. Only Christ feeds the hunger every human being experiences, our hunger for love, our hunger meaning, our hunger for belonging. The belonging part is important because, as we see in our reading from Ephesians, the Father not only seeks to unite us to Himself through Christ by the power of the Spirit, but to unite us to each other. We participate fully in the unity when we come to Mass.

Note that in our reading from Ephesians, it does not say that Jesus Christ brings us peace, but that “he is our peace” (Eph 2:14). Christ is our peace with God and our peace with one another. He “broke down the dividing wall of enmity” between us and God and between you and me. The word “enmity” means being actively opposed and/or hostile to someone. Of course, God is never opposed or hostile towards us, but we can certainly be opposed and hostile to God. We call our opposition to and hostility towards God sin. God permits this now, but will not permit it forever, which is why contrition and repentance are so very necessary for everyone, making our proclamation of Jesus’ lordship always urgent.

Christ established peace by establishing His Church, which is what it means when we read that He created “in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace” (Eph 2:15). The Church is Christ’s Body, His bride. We see these two metaphysical realities come together a few chapters later in Ephesians concerning marriage: “So husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body” (Eph 5:29-30).

My dear friends Jesus is the one foretold by the prophets. He is the Good Shepherd who leads us through “the shadow of the valley of death” to life everlasting if we choose to follow Him. By His passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending the Spirit, He is our peace with God and with one another. In short, Jesus is Lord. At end of this Mass you will be sent forth in peace to glorify the Lord by your life. I urge you to heed His call and submit to His Lordship.

The reality of the Church in the Western milieu

While it has dampened considerably there is still talk of the so-called "Francis effect." The "Francis effect" refers to the hypothesis that given the dynamism of our current Holy Father's pontificate that people are flocking back to the Church in great numbers. Apart from anecdotal stories (i.e., "It's because of Pope Francis that I went to confession and started going to Mass again), there is really no discernible trend we can call the Francis effect, let alone tens or hundreds of thousands flocking back to Church. This is difficult for many people who want reality to be other than it is. Like them, I would love nothing more than for people to return to the practice of the faith and to become Catholic. But the fact is that the truth of the faith is increasingly in direct confrontation with Western "values," such as they are. The Sexual Revolution has been so successful that marriage and issues concerning sexuality as well as sexual morality remain the large elephant in the room. Let's face it, for many the world is more attractive than the faith of the Church, the latter of which many don't know at a deep enough level to really understand it. It's true that this lack of understanding is primarily due to Church teaching not being communicated clearly or consistently.

The hope of those championing, or positing, the Francis effect was that Francis was going to go the worldly route and actually change what really cannot be changed. For a man who makes no secret of, among other things, his admiration for Robert Hugh Benson's Lord of the World, that was never going to happen. The enthusiastic reception of many of Pope Francis' early provocative statements (I am thinking of things like when he said even atheists are redeemed, which is true- that does not mean "saved," all are redeemed and his "Who am I to judge"- which was uttered in a clarifying context) was based on a poor understanding of what he was saying that seems rooted in poor catechesis and a superficial understanding of doctrine

The most evangelical pope of the modern era, perhaps in the history of the Church, remains Pope St John Paul II. This is in no way a criticism of Pope Francis. I love him greatly and appreciate the manner in which he exercises both the Petrine and Pauline dimensions of the papacy. As Sandro Magister and others have noted, the Franciscan pontificate has become more focused and sober since last year's Extraordinary Synod (see "The Closed Door of Pope Francis").

All of this was prompted by a blog post I spotted this morning while scrolling through my G+ feed: "A Smaller Church," by Fr John Hollowell. It is from his post that I obtained the graph I used above. Fr Hollowell's post also features a still very relevant quote from then-Cardinal Ratzinger about the Catholic Church in the West. The Church in the global South, particularly in Africa, is a powerhouse of dynamism. Let's not forget, it has been the African bishops, along with the Polish bishops, who have spoken out strongly against the innovators at the Synod, which consisted primarily of German bishops who preside over a Church that lost another 200,000 of their faithful just last year (see "Mass exodus continues from German Catholic Church").

While the Church should never be first and foremost about money, it is important to note that most people who give generously and steadily are older people who understand that they need to support their parish and diocese in order for there to be a parish and a diocese. Having a resident priest is already becoming a luxury in many places. While presently this is primarily due to not having as many vocations as we need, it will become more difficult as there are fewer people contributing. Like many priests of the various Eastern Catholic Churches in this country, it may become more common for Roman Catholic priests to work jobs in addition to being a priest. It is already common for a single priest to be the pastor of more than one parish.

My experience, not being raised Catholic, is that most Catholics my age and younger (I will 50 later this year) do not make a correlation between what their diocese and parish are able to do and what they contribute, not just in terms of money, but also time and talent. There is an erroneous view that the Church is loaded, but most people, certainly in my diocese, would surprised on how much of a shoestring many dioceses and parishes run. This affects the quality of everything from liturgy to catechesis to evangelization to social outreach to marriage preparation to family ministry, etc.

By no means is it all doom and gloom. Far from it! But it is only by facing reality squarely that we can fully engage according to all the factors that constitute reality.

"Still I'm waiting for the morning"

Our Friday traditio for this week is quiet and straightforward.

Billy Joel singing "Tomorrow Is Today" off his Cold Spring Harbor album is our traditio this week. Cold Spring Harbor was Joel's first solo album and was released all the way back in 1971.

Still I'm waiting for the morning
But it feels so far away
And you don't need the love I'm giving
So tomorrow is today

There is a lot I could write about this song and so I will limit myself to just one thing: I can't live just for the moment because time slips away as you can see by watching sands pour from the top to the bottom of an hour glass. I don't know about you, but I have to live for what lasts, which helps me make the most of today, even while realizing there will a tomorrow.

Seeking clarity about heaven and hell

At least in the on-line circles I frequent, there has been a lot of discussion lately about universalism. Universalism is the belief that somehow, some way, in the end, God will save everyone no matter what. Reading these exchanges has caused me to reflect on what I believe. It is these thoughts that prompt this post. I will tell you up-front, I am not looking to make a theological contribution to the exchange, but simply to clarify things for myself and perhaps a few others. As a result, apart from a few scriptural references, which I don't think amount to proof texting, I am just going to give a top-level overview of my understanding of this matter in prose and in as straightforward a manner as I am capable of providing.

In this piece I use the terms "salvation," "saved," "being saved," etc. in a reductive sense, only referring to ultimately enjoying the beatific vision of God and participating fully in the wedding feast of the Lamb.

To state my position clearly, I am a Roman Catholic who believes what the Church teaches. I believe that Jesus Christ is "the way and the truth and the life" and that nobody goes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). I also believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ and "There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12). I further believe that God "wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4). While I could cite more scriptural evidence, I think these passages show enough to grasp what we might call the dialectical tension at the heart of salvation.

This tension at the heart of what God has revealed about salvation in and through Christ is important because it is what allows us to consider salvation in light of the complexities of human life. Orthodoxy, it seems to me, usually requires Christians to hold two or more seemingly disparate ideas/concepts/notions in tension. So, when it comes to salvation, as with so many articles of Christian faith, the truth lies in media res (i.e., "in the middle of things").

The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things, attributed to Hieronymus Bosch, ca 1500

Two things are axiomatic to any Catholic consideration of who will be saved unto life eternal. First, universalism has been condemned by the Catholic Church as a heresy. Second, without Christ and His Church nobody at all would be saved. To keep this simple and in scope, I take the doctrinal formulation extra Ecclesiam nulla salus ("outside the Church there is no salvation") as simply pointing us to the necessity of the Church for salvation. The Church, even for those saved seemingly apart from her, plays a necessary role in the salvation of any and all who are saved. When we consider that the Church is not limited to those alive on earth at any given time but that it also consists of the souls in purgatory and, more relevant to this matter, the saints in heaven who constantly intercede for us, this makes great sense.

I believe people can be saved in an extraordinary manner, that is, without having explicit faith in Jesus Christ or receiving the sacraments. It's important to note that extraordinary means outside the norm. So this belief should not result in being presumptive about knowing who God will save in this way, lest we become damnably lax. The normative way to salvation is by coming to explicit faith in Christ and receiving the sacraments, particularly Baptism. I do not believe for one moment that people who do not have faith in Christ and who do not belong to the Church, even those who have never had the Gospel preached to them in a compelling manner, are automatically saved. To my mind, this is the main reason why the Church, by her very nature, is missionary, tasked by the Lord Himself to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that" Jesus has commanded us (Matt 28:19-20). This is part of what we mean when we confess the Church to be "apostolic."

As a faithful Roman Catholic I believe in heaven, purgatory, and hell. Based on my grasp of the Church's teaching and the testimony of the saints, I don't believe hell is empty. Neither do I presume to know who is in hell or who will be in hell. I believe damnation is eternal and unending. I am content to let God, who alone knows all and who alone is both perfect justice and perfect mercy, judge each person. I think perfect justice and perfect mercy, while distinguishable, are bound so tightly together that you can't have one without the other.

When it comes to what happens to anyone after death I make no presumptions either way. I simply commend the dead to God. The only exception to this rule is those who the Church recognizes as venerable, blessed, or as saints. I have known people about whom I could say, "If s/he isn't in heaven there is much hope for the rest of us" and those who I pray God has mercy on their souls. While I hope I am many years from passing from this life into eternity and that by God's grace I will be saved, I am quite certain I fall into the latter category. Hence, I hope that after my passing there are people who implore God on my behalf.

I also believe purgatory to be populated and so I believe in praying for those in purgatory and seeking indulgences on their behalf to help them on their way.

Among Christians I don't think anyone who has reached the age of reason, especially those who have lived into adulthood, can presume that his/her salvation is guaranteed. I certainly do not believe mine is.