In doing good works, Catholics do not suffer from an irrational fear of possibly daring to earn their salvation.
They're just trying to do what Jesus said to do.
If they falter, they simply confess it and repent, and keep trying to live as Jesus taught us.
To me it's odd when I hear Protestant Christians say they love nothing more than talking with each other about the Bible.
I understand what they mean, and maybe some really love sharing their biblical studies, which is good.
Not to be nit-picky, but I'd say our focus in Christian fellowship ought to be on Jesus, on prayer, on the Church, on the sacraments, on our Christian journeys, etc.
In other words, not just a Book *about* spiritual things, but in the spiritual realities themselves.
If I'm at a restaurant, I might talk about and refer to the wonderful menu, but what I really want is to share and enjoy dinner itself.
Just trying to keep it real.
Stay humble and stack #indulgences.
It is sobering to realize there are people in hell who have committed fewer and less-grave sins than us.
#GoToConfession
If a man of God anoints someone and the person is healed, it's not the minister who healed the person; he was just God's instrument.
Every Christian understands this.
But many non-Catholics cannot comprehend the idea of receiving forgiveness of sins from a priest.
They CAN believe in restoring sight, cleansing leprosy, or raising the dead at the hands of a minister -- but NO WAY the invisible forgiveness of sin (because only God can do that!).
Yet it was the resurrected Jesus who delegated his apostles with this authority:
* * * * *
Jesus said to them again, βPeace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.β And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, βReceive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.β (John 20:21-23)
The Church celebrates feast days that highlight plainly the realities of salvation in Christ, which could only be foreshadowed by the feasts of pre-Christian Israel in hidden, shadowy figures.
Christ has come! Christ is here!
Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is the Bread from Heaven. He has begun the harvest of souls. He is the Judge. He is our High Priest and atonement. He tabernacles with us yet today.
Celebrate like a believer, not as one still waiting for the Messiah!
#COG
#Hell includes, but is not merely, the absence of perfect happiness in God.
It is a place of despair and hopelessness, reserved for those who reject God's love even in his last breath.
But some people (many?) genuinely don't want the beatific vision in the next life. They insist they'd be happy enough without it.
That's a good reason God also provides, for good measure, the fires of hell -- external flames that cause forever-pain in both soul and body.
And even then you're getting off easier than you deserve, considering you're offending your literal Creator, who is infinitely good.
While you're still drawing breath, choose wisely.
"No Kings"?
Christ is King.
All knees, whether in heaven or hell, will bend to him.
About three nights ago I received a phone call lasting 2-1/2 hours from someone with whom I grew up in the quasi-Christian, anti-Catholic Worldwide Church of God.
Of course it's going to be a long conversation when the person begins with, "I'm running out of reasons not to become Catholic."
I talked to him again last evening. He says he's starting OCIA next Wednesday.
Praise God for his mercy.
The reason Hell is bad is NOT its undesirable location π or poor climate control ππ₯.
It's bad because its inhabitants are in a fixed state of mind or soul that opposes the love of God. It is eternal hopelessness, the irreversible deprivation of all goodness by their own choice in this life.
Likewise, heaven is not a location; it's our immediate face-to-face relationship (as it were) with our Creator and Father, who fills our every hope and desire with his love β€.
Don't presume your eternal fate:
βοΈ "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12).
Because the stakes are so high, the most important hour of life is the hour of death.
Examine your conscience and pray an act of contrition every day π, because you never know when that last hour will come for you. π
