Posted on 01/17/2011 3:20:20 AM PST by markomalley
ROME, January 17, 2011 – In illustrating the life of Saint Catherine of Genoa, at the general audience last Wednesday, Benedict XVI took the thought of this saint as a point of departure to explain what purgatory is.
During the second half of the 15th century, the time of Catherine, the contemporary image of purgatory was like the one depicted above. It was the mountain of purification sung of by Dante in the "Divine Comedy."
That purgatory is a physical place is a very ancient conviction, which endured until recent times.
But not for Catherine. For her, the fire of purgatory was essentially thought of as an interior fire.
And Benedict XVI has completely agreed with her.
Some in the media have covered this catechesis of pope Joseph Ratzinger, placing it among the good news. As if the pope had decreed not so much the interiority of purgatory, but its wholesome disappearance. A disappearance, moreover, that to a large extent has already taken place in the current preaching of the Church, as of several decades ago.
But the teaching of Benedict XVI says exactly the opposite. Not the disappearance of purgatory, but its true reality.
Almost no one has recalled this. But Benedict XVI has written his most powerful pages on purgatory in the encyclical "Spe Salvi," the most personal of the three encyclicals he has published so far, the only one planned and written entirely by him alone, from the first line to the last.
Below is presented the passage of the catechesis on Saint Catherine of Genoa relating to purgatory.
And immediately afterward, the paragraphs from "Spe Salvi" also dedicated to purgatory, against the background of the judgment of God, which "is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace."
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"THIS IS PURGATORY, AN INTERIOR FIRE"
by Benedict XVI
From the general audience of January 12, 2011
[...] Catherine's thought on purgatory, for which she is particularly known, is condensed in the last two parts of the book mentioned at the beginning: "Treatise on Purgatory" and "Dialogues on the Soul and Body."
It is important to observe that, in her mystical experience, Catherine never had specific revelations on purgatory or on souls that are being purified there. However, in the writings inspired by our saint purgatory is a central element, and the way of describing it has original characteristics in relation to her era.
The first original feature refers to the "place" of the purification of souls. In her time [purgatory] was presented primarily with recourse to images connected to space: There was thought of a certain space where purgatory would be found. For Catherine, instead, purgatory is not represented as an element of the landscape of the core of the earth; it is a fire that is not exterior but interior.
This is purgatory, an interior fire. The saint speaks of the soul's journey of purification to full communion with God, based on her own experience of profound sorrow for the sins committed, in contrast to the infinite love of God. We have heard about the moment of her conversion, when Catherine suddenly felt God's goodness, the infinite distance of her life from this goodness and a burning fire within her. And this is the fire that purifies, it is the interior fire of purgatory.
Here also there is an original feature in relation to the thought of the era. She does not begin, in fact, from the beyond to narrate the torments of purgatory – as was usual at that time and perhaps also today – and then indicate the path for purification or conversion. Instead our saint begins from her own interior experience of her life on the path to eternity.
The soul, says Catherine, appears before God still bound to the desires and the sorrow that derive from sin, and this makes it impossible for it to enjoy the Beatific Vision of God. Catherine affirms that God is so pure and holy that the soul with stains of sin cannot be in the presence of the Divine Majesty. And we also realize how far we are, how full we are of so many things, so that we cannot see God. The soul is conscious of the immense love and perfect justice of God and, in consequence, suffers for not having responded correctly and perfectly to that love, and that is why the love itself of God becomes a flame. Love itself purifies it from its dross of sin.
Theological and mystical sources typical of the era can be found in Catherine's work. Particularly there is an image from Dionysius the Areopagite: that of the golden thread that unites the human heart with God himself. When God has purified man, he ties him with a very fine thread of gold, which is his love, and attracts him to himself with such strong affection that man remains as "overcome and conquered and altogether outside himself." Thus the human heart is invaded by the love of God, which becomes the only guide, the sole motor of his existence.
This situation of elevation to God and of abandonment to his will, expressed in the image of the thread, is used by Catherine to express the action of the divine light on souls in purgatory, light that purifies them and elevates them to the splendors of the shining rays of God.
Dear friends, the saints, in their experience of union with God, reach such profound "knowledge" of the divine mysteries, in which love and knowledge are fused, that they are of help to theologians themselves in their task of study, of "intelligentia fidei," of "intelligentia" of the mysteries of the faith, of real deepening in the mysteries, for example, of what purgatory is. [...]
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"HE HIMSELF WILL BE SAVED, BUT ONLY AS THROUGH FIRE..."
by Benedict XVI
From the encyclical "Spe Salvi" of November 30, 2007
[...] I am convinced that the question of justice constitutes the essential argument, or in any case the strongest argument, in favour of faith in eternal life. The purely individual need for a fulfilment that is denied to us in this life, for an everlasting love that we await, is certainly an important motive for believing that man was made for eternity; but only in connection with the impossibility that the injustice of history should be the final word does the necessity for Christ's return and for new life become fully convincing.
44. To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so. The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope. Is it not also a frightening image? I would say: it is an image that evokes responsibility, an image, therefore, of that fear of which Saint Hilary spoke when he said that all our fear has its place in love.
God is justice and creates justice. This is our consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace. This we know by turning our gaze to the crucified and risen Christ. Both these things – justice and grace – must be seen in their correct inner relationship. Grace does not cancel out justice. It does not make wrong into right. It is not a sponge which wipes everything away, so that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being of equal value. Dostoevsky, for example, was right to protest against this kind of Heaven and this kind of grace in his novel "The Brothers Karamazov."
Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at table at the eternal banquet beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had happened. [...] In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures; the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst. We must note that in this parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be pronounced.
45. This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God.
The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory. We do not need to examine here the complex historical paths of this development; it is enough to ask what it actually means.
With death, our life-choice becomes definitive?our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell. On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure, completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours?people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfilment what they already are.
46. Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life. For the great majority of people – we may suppose – there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil?much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul.
What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur? Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God's judgement according to each person's particular circumstances. He does this using images which in some way try to express the invisible, without it being possible for us to conceptualize these images?simply because we can neither see into the world beyond death nor do we have any experience of it.
Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15).
In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast.
47. Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God.
In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy.
It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning?it is the heart's time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ.
The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice – the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all.
The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together – judgement and grace – that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).
48. A further point must be mentioned here, because it is important for the practice of Christian hope. Early Jewish thought includes the idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state through prayer (see for example 2 Macc 12:38-45; first century BC). The equivalent practice was readily adopted by Christians and is common to the Eastern and Western Church.
The East does not recognize the purifying and expiatory suffering of souls in the afterlife, but it does acknowledge various levels of beatitude and of suffering in the intermediate state. The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death?this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon?
Now a further question arises: if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other – my prayer for him – can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain.
In this way we further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me too. As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well. [...]
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The complete text of the encyclical:
> "Spe Salvi"
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The complete text of Benedict XVI's catechesis on Saint Catherine of Genoa:
> General audience of January 12, 2011
Yes of course..and I agree...but you see their faith IS in the church fathers and those traditions, as well the VAtican which crowd out completely the freedom they could otherwise know.
The question is..would their faith be strong enough in Christ Himself, for those who are saved, when the Catholic Church and Vatican move even further toward the Universal One World church?
Will they be able to leave then? I do wonder......and what would it take to convince them? Perhaps that question might be one only each individual could answer....and one they need to prepare to answer.
The RC church claims that “the Church” is necessary to correctly interpret Scripture, but *the Church* is not an entity in and of itself. It is an organization composed of men and women, human, fallible ones at that.
So, somehow, this collection of men is supposed to somehow have some special ability to interpret Scripture that the rest of us don’t have? What makes them so special?
All believers have the Holy Spirit in them as individuals to guide them.
I see this mindset in the medical community s well. You aren’t supposed to question them. They’re the special educated class who knows more about medicine than you do, ignoring the fact that any one of their patients is likely just as capable of going to medical school and getting a degree in it just as they did, but chose not to.
Just because I don’t have degree in medicine does not mean I cannot understand it.
Likewise, just because I’m not some seminary educated theologian, does not mean that I cannot understand spiritual matters as I have the same Holy Spirit in me that they claim.
The Bible is not as complicated and hard to understand as the Catholic church leads its adherents to believe. By spreading that fallacy, that it’s too hard for the average lay person to understand and that they need someone to interpret it for them, it guarantees them a reason for being. It justifies their continued existence as they created the need and then offered themselves as the solution to fill it.
In I Corinthians 3 it is the believer’s works, not the believer himself, that will be tested by fire.
Paul is not speaking of literal fire any more than he is of literal wood and gold. He is speaking metaphorically, calling some works wood, hay, stubble....which fire burns combustible.... and others gold, silver and precious stones... which fire purifies.
Whatever is not built on the true foundation will be burnt. It says nothing of punishments but of the quality of ones works related to their rewards. There is nothing here or anywhere else in Scripture to support Catholicism’s view that flames in a spiritual zone purge the individual of the sins that were not cleansed while they were alive taking the sacraments...Eucharist...which by believing in pugatory cleansing then that null and voids the sacrement rite they attest to which makes them pure.
BTW..am so glad your posting..enjoying your reads.
It's interesting that Jesus NEVER referred to purgatory.
And for Catholics who claim to put the words of Jesus first, over and above the words of Paul, they sure are quick to appeal to Paul when they need to.
He's he hero when he's not the goat.
IN BRUSH WITH DEATH, PRIEST SHOWN HELL, PURGATORY, DEGREES OF SUFFERING
Praying for the Dead [All Souls Day] (Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)
Purgatory: Service Shop for Heaven [Ecumernical]
Beginning Catholic: Catholic Purgatory: What Does It Mean? [Ecumenical]
OF GUARDIAN ANGELS AND THE ROLE THEY PLAY NOT JUST ON EARTH BUT IN PURGATORY [Catholic Caucus]
IN ANNALS OF SAINTS IS CONVERT'S STRIKING DEDICATION TO THOSE SOULS IN PURGATORY [Catholic Caucus]
Explaining Purgatory from a New Testament Perspective [Ecumenical]
PURIFYING THE SOUL ON EARTH IS WORTH 100X WHAT IT TAKES AFTER [Catholic Caucus] What Happens After Death?
Purgatory
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 12: Purgatory
The Doctrine of Purgatory
The Early Church Fathers on Purgatory - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
Required for entrance to Purgatory? Personal question for Cathloic Freepers.
(Protestant) Minister Who Had Near-Death Episode Believes In Purgatory
Straight Answers: What Is Purgatory Like?
Do Catholics Believe in Purgatory?
Purgatory, Indulgences, and the Work of Jesus Christ (Discussion)
Prayer to Release the Souls of Purgatory
The Forgotten Souls in Purgatory
Praying for the dead [Purgatory]
I have my doubts. When I see the blind loyalty of Catholics to that church to the point of excusing away the pedophile priests and even accusing the victims of trying to make money off them, I just don't see it happening.
Any Catholic who can dismiss the Inquisition and the corruption and immorality of the papacy as just the kind of boys will be boys thing, and the homosexual, child molesting clergy, is too far gone.
Sin and evil within the clergy and church is not excusable. Even if they don't eliminate it completely, they need to at least be trying and that isn't happening.
I suppose that there's no real harm in someone thinking that they're in purgatory when they they die. Anyone in hell would want to cling to any hope that some day it will be over and there'll be an end to it.
Oh I absolutely believe this...the same with Mormons as it's the same pecking order and each level gets their share or reward...so it's intentional that they complicate what otherwise Jesus made clear and which the overall scriptures say.
You are so right about the medical community. I was looking at my chart while hospitalized...the Head nurse came up and said "Nosey aren't you?" "No", I responded, "I'm an active participant in my healthcare treatment". Course she had nothing to say. Later a nurse "team" was trying to get me to take some medicine I was not aware was needed. I refused and the presure was on to take it. Finally they got the Doctor....who to my great delight made the point of instructing them that I was well informed of my treatment and they were to explain what they were doing, purpose and such. They just didn't want to bother. And BTW...many times thru that ordeal I had to correct wrong information transcribed into my chart.
So this just proves your point in the matters of faith and the scriptures. We should always test what Pastors and teachers say...especially when it doesn't jive with the truth we know. But too many people in the Catholic faith simply accept everything that they are told to accept...and that's because their faith and trust is misplaced.
NOW YOU KNOW WHY LUTHER took out certain Catholic Books of the Bible:
But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain. They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden. Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. 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 fallen 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. [2MACC 12:40-46] [Note: Since those in hell can't be helped by prayers and those in heaven don't need them, such souls must be in Purgatory.]
Remove the dross from silver, and it comes forth perfectly purified; Remove the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne is made firm through righteousness. [PROV 25:4] [Note: This passage indicates the necessity of being pure before the Lord. Those who depart earth impurely are in need of purification in order to remain in the presence of the Lord.]
Depart, depart, come forth from there, touch nothing unclean! Out from there! Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD. [ISA 52:11] [Note: This passage indicates the necessity of being pure before the Lord. Those who depart earth impurely are in need of purification in order to remain in the presence of the Lord.]
Are you not from eternity, O LORD, my holy God, immortal?... Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil, and the sight of misery you cannot endure. [Taken from HAB 1:12-13] [Note: This passage indicates the necessity of being pure before the Lord. Those who depart earth impurely are in need of purification in order to remain in the presence of the Lord.]
"And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." [MT 12:32] [Note: This passage implies that some sins may be forgiven in the age to come.]
"If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny." [LK 12:58-59] [Note: Justice demands recompense.]
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." [LK 23:39-43] [Note: Jesus, of course, would not enter into the purification of Purgatory since He lived sinlessly, however, this passage indicates an additional place for souls after death since Jesus would not rise until Easter morning and would not ascend to Heaven for several more weeks.]
According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire (itself) will test the quality of each one's work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire. [1COR 3:10-15]
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil. [2COR 5:10] [Note: Departed souls not deserving of hell, and also not yet worthy of heaven, would clearly require interim destination.]
Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. [HEB 12:14] [Note: Those who depart earth in a state of sin are in need of purification in order to remain in the presence of the Lord.]
For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. [1PT 3:18-20] [Note: The sinless Jesus, of course, would not have entered into the purification of Purgatory, however "spirits in prison" indicates an additional place for souls after death.]
If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly. [1JN 5:16-17] [Note: Clearly, sin requires atonement. Saving atonement would not occur in heaven, and could not occur in hell, therefore those who depart the earth guilty of non-deadly sin require another place for atonement prior to entering heaven.]
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and to it the kings of the earth will bring their treasure. During the day its gates will never be shut, and there will be no night there. The treasure and wealth of the nations will be brought there, but nothing unclean will enter it, nor any (one) who does abominable things or tells lies. Only those will enter whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. [RV 21:22-27] [Note: Since nothing unclean can enter, it is necessary that those who die in a state of impurity (e.g. non deadly sin) be purified before entrance.]
I’m not saying at all that punctuation, etc., stands in the way of Christ. I’m saying that it sounds as if you have decided that it is important.
It’s not - For God so loved the world He sent a book.
John 3:16-21
16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
18
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
19
And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.
20
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.
21
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
Oh wait, there’s that darn works thing again. John 3:21
Hello Salvation....so what do you think of purgatory? Do you think you have to have another cleansing after you die before you can be with Christ?
I believe Jesus’ work was sufficient for everything and when we pass on we are immediately with Him.
“John 3:16
16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
Wait just a second here. I missed this.
. . . might not perish but might have eternal life.
You mean we might have eternal life? Where’s the guarantee?
Sometimes on earth we don’t say “I’m sorry,” when we offend someone. Even though I might confess that I hurt someone, It’s the “I’m sorry.” part that Purgatory is about.
Well, He did send His word to us...I don't think your intention is to say that He didn't since you just used many verses from that "book" in your post to me..and thank you. But the scriptures aren't just a book as you've indicated.
From the beginning to the end this "book" tells us that Jesus is coming....then it records that He did come...and it continues to the end telling us He will come again. It is all about Him.
So in reading and study of His "Holy Word", as many Popes have referenced,....we not only learn about Him but He impresses on our hearts and minds what He wants us to know as we grow in our knowledge of Him.
He moves us, as much if not more than He did those who wrote it, inwardly. We do not go thru the scriptures as much as they go thru us......"Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee"...... And His Spirit uses scripture at many pivotal points in our life....Jesus said..." He (his Spirit) will bring to your remembrance that which I have spoken unto you".
So no, it is not just a "book" as you stated. It is His love letter to each of us...and a compass along our walk here until we are home safely with Him.
It's because they've been conditioned to since birth.
A Catholic NEVER, EVER questions a priest.
That's why I admire the great courage of the people who were molested by these wolves in sheep's clothing to speak up and speak out about it.
No small deed, that.
Oh, too funny. ;-D
You can’t be serious, are you? Really?
Get an accurate translation or go to the Greek.
It says, *would not perish, but would have eternal life*.
http://biblos.com/john/3-16.htm
But then if that’s true than the sacrements which you believe suppose to cleanse you, aren’t sufficient...nor is the blood He shed.
You see He said...”it’s finished”....His last words as He hung there. I believe He paid it all....and “therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus”. Just as the scriptures say.
Not saying your sorry would be covered under the sins of ommission....He covered those as well...here and now...not for later. Remember ,as our High Priest He sat down at the right hand of the Father after He arose. Priests never sit down until the task.... is finished.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation will take give me absolution through God for hurting the other person.
But like I said, the “I’m sorrys” are my responsibility, not God’s.
So are you a Catholic who is afraid to question your priest?
‘cause I am a Catholic and I will question my priest anytime.
And let’s go ahead and bring up the scandal yet again. Even though it has nothing whatsoever to do do with this thread which if I recall correctly has to do with Purgatory.
Was it terrible? You betcha. Are those priests going to answer for it? Yeah. There is probably no sin the rest of us can commit (other than blaspheming the Holy Spirit) that will garner the punishment that those unholy, unrighteous, criminal priests committed.
I personally hope they rot in Hell.
It is written: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.”
I came into the Church in 2008 but I remember watching the news when the whole scandal broke. I saw the pain in the faces of those Catholic parishioners. Such a sad time.
I became Catholic not because of the scandal but in spite of the scandal.
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