Posted on 08/26/2006 4:47:43 PM PDT by COBOL2Java
ATLANTA (CNS) -- When he ministered to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Divine Word Father Charles Smith found that his faith, instilled in him by loving parents despite the childhood pain of discrimination, enabled him to be Christ's representative even as the inmate verbally assaulted him.
"When I first came in (to see him) I thought 'God is the owner of my life,' and I went to him and he threw his feces on me and called me all types of names and said, 'You can't be a priest because I've never seen a you-know-what as a priest,'" Father Smith said Aug. 5. "The devil was messin' with me."
He made the comments in a workshop he led during the 2006 Interregional African-American Catholic Evangelization Conference, which was held Aug. 4-6 in Atlanta.
Other priests and Southern Baptist ministers had previously worked -- unsuccessfully -- with the man found guilty of bombing the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 and murdering the 168 people who died from the blast.
But Father Smith persevered in his ministry to McVeigh and the convicted murderer, who was a baptized Catholic, began to repent. "He did a lot of things, but in the end we had confession, reconciliation. In the end he asked me a question a lot of people ask me. He asked, 'Father Charles, can I still get to heaven?'"
The priest said he responded, "I am not your judge," but reminded McVeigh that he had told him, "You must submit your will and ask God for true forgiveness. ... You knew there were a lot of innocent people and children in that building."
McVeigh asked Father Smith to walk with him to his June 11, 2001, execution. "And the tears came running down. He was crying, I was crying because he did something that changed my life, too.
"As a man it's hard to ask but for him to ask for God's love and God's grace, that did something to me," he recalled, reflecting on how God's grace can transform even the worst evil.
As he walked with McVeigh, Father Smith remembered how, when he was a child, a porter in an Illinois train told his light-skinned parents that he couldn't serve their "wicked children," who had darker skin, and how Mississippi restaurants refused to serve them.
"I remember my mom and dad say, 'Just be patient. God is going to make a way. God is going to change you. God is going to rise, and you're going to be raised up. Your life will be redeemed and your people (will be).' ... I remembered all of that, being with Timothy McVeigh."
Father Smith and his brother, Divine Word Father Chester Smith, were the first black Catholic twins to be ordained priests. Both priests are in residence at St. Rita's Parish in Indianapolis.
In his workshop presentation, Father Charles Smith encouraged people to speak the truth in love and humility, never pressuring anyone to join the church and avoiding a superior attitude to anyone.
"I know if God can call two little black boys from the South Side of Chicago to live 16-17 years in an international religious order, to go around the world and to come back home to be with his people to teach and to preach and be free in the Spirit, I have nothing to fear," he said. "I'm not worried about what any man says. And my eyes are on the sparrow. God is with me, and I know God is with you and we shall be free forevermore."
He encouraged his audience to be bold but gentle as they speak up for what they believe is right, even if it's controversial. But "don't be afraid to use prophetic dialogue ... in teaching us how to live, ... in ministry, catechism, Bible study. Use what is there to speak the truth."
He prescribed for them "old-school spirituality" of morning, noon and evening private prayer, recalling how, when he was told as a youth that he couldn't learn and shouldn't go to college, his grandmother would say, "Child, you just pray and God will make a way." He went on to graduate from college as valedictorian.
"You are a child of God. If you give your all to God he'll give his all to you so we've got to be people of prayer," he said. "Pray for God's perfect timing in your life. He's going to give you the revelation that you need."
Not claiming to know everything but does it have to do with repentence?
Revelation 21:27 tells us that "nothing unclean shall enter" into Heaven. So there must be a point at which sins and impurities -- even the little silly ones like fussing at your kids or gossiping at work -- are cleansed so that we are fit to stand before God. For some, it's probably the work of a moment. For others, it will take more time.
And of course there's also 2nd Maccabees 12:43-45: "In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the dead to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin." (This clear reference to Purgatory was removed from the Bible by the Protestant Reformation, even though it was in the Scriptures used by Christ himself, the Septuagint.)
Paul wasn't talking about anything unclean going into Heaven.
and "2nd Maccabees" is pre Christ
Not to hijack the thread, but can you give us chapter and verse for 'sola scriptura'?
-A8
Why not? He says that every man's works will be made manifest at "the day" - i.e. the Judgment. A man's works may be destroyed, but the man himself saved, "yet as by fire." That's pretty plain speaking.
And its plain speaking, and guess what? They're still saved.
If you're in Purgatory, you're headed to Heaven, even if you have to suffer a period of purification. So the souls in Purgatory look forward with joyful hope.
The best explanation I've heard is by Scott Hahn, who used to be a Presbyterian. You've been invited to a wonderful party, you've accepted . . . but you've been cleaning the yard or the septic tank and you're a mess! Your host kindly gives you a place to bathe and shave and put on your wedding garments before you come to the party.
Or, as C.S. Lewis said:
I believe in purgatory.... Our souls demand purgatory, don't they? Would it not beak the heart if God said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'? Should we not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleansed first.' 'It may hurt, you know.' 'Even so, sir.'
That's not what I get out of the passage at all. If you're saved, you're in heaven period.
Well, that's your personal interpretation. I prefer the more traditional interpretation, myself, backed by a couple of thousand years of teaching. There wasn't any substantial disagreement about the doctrine of Purgatory until after the Reformation.
Either you're saved or you aren't.
"I prefer the more traditional interpretation, myself, backed by a couple of thousand years of teaching."
I prefer reading the Word of God and listening to Holy Spirit myself.
You know, the leaders of the Episcopal Church are currently insisting that THEY are listening to the Holy Spirit and reading the Word of God correctly . . . and if personal interpretation is the benchmark, who is to say them nay?
2 Peter 1:20
BTW, I'm not the only one in the thread that believes what I've posted.
"You know, the leaders of the Episcopal Church are currently insisting that THEY are listening to the Holy Spirit and reading the Word of God correctly ..."
And that makes them different from any other organized religion how?
But, after all, it's "their personal interpretation of Scripture" . . . and without the guidelines established by 2,000 years of church teaching and tradition (including that period when the Bible was not yet compiled -- and St. Paul mentions word of mouth teaching as well as his epistles), how can one gainsay their interpretation?
But we are also warned that false prophets will arise. How O how to tell the difference?
I always get sobered up when Mt 18 comes up as the Gospel reading:
32 His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
33 Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?'
34 Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.
35 24 So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."
And there's also the king's banquet where he ends up sending out his servants to bring in anyone off the streets because the invited guests declined. And one guy walks in not dressed appropriately and gets the boot.
If the wedding banquet is an image of heaven, maybe purgatory is like the dressing room where you get spruced up before meeting everyone.
I guess you can believe that I'm a false prophet.
BTW, the article says nothing about purgatory.
" ... and without the guidelines established by 2,000 years of church teaching and tradition ..."
Man, man, man. Where is God?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.