Forgiving sins

 Jesus said:  

"Peace be with you! 

After He said this, He showed them his hands 

and side. 

The disciples were overjoyed when they saw 

the Lord. 

Again Jesus said:" 

"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, 

I am sending you."

And with that He breathed on them and said; 

"receive the Holy Spirit. 

If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven;

if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

(John 20-23)

Jesus thus instituted the Sacrament of Confession, 

the authority to forgive sins.

This authority accorded to the priests, does not

have it's source in the human person of the priest, 

who is of course himself a sinner,

it is Jesus, in the power 

of the Holy Spirit, in the priest, who forgives.

The priest can also withold absolution, if there is an 

absence of resolve to re-offend. 

We belong to God, who has authority over us.

The authority is retained in the Church He Himself 

established; The Catholic Church.

 

Protestants claim that they live by 

following the Bible.

However they say that they confess their sins 

directly to God, that they do not need to confess 

them to a priest, but this is in direct contradiction 

to the word of Jesus in the Bible, which they claim 

to adhere to.

Adam and Eve; the first humans, lived in perfect 

harmony with God, God who had created them in 

His own image, man broke this harmony 

when he wanted himself to be God, to be 

"independent". Man revolted against God.

God took on human form in Jesus Christ 2026 years

ago, and from this event, His Church was founded.

After 1500 years there was again revolt against 

God; from within the Church He had established.

 

Martin Luther broke away and made up his own

church, fashioned in his own image and according

to his own desires. Under the pretext of corruption

in the Church.

(This does not mean that there was no corruption 

in the Church! There was, and there still is.)

Henry the 8th, a great Catholic, also broke away, 

to establish a church in his own image, then

there was Calvin and others.

Each of these denominations have continued ever 

since to branch off into other new denominations, 

there are now well over 40 000 different ones, 

each one creating their own subjective version of 

"the truth",  

proof of the diabolical power of human pride and 

division. 

Pride separates us from God, and true humility 

brings us close.

Examining our conscience, seeing our errors and 

our sins, taking responsibility for them,

regretting them, and confessing them to a priest

is a humbling experience, an exercise in humility 

and truth. 

Which is a solid reason why the Sacrament 

of Confession is necessary to be a good Christian.

 

The change that happens in our souls

when the priest gives us absolution, the literal 

disappearance of our guilt, has profound healing

power. 

Regularly making use of the Sacrament of Confession 

has an enormous positive effect on mental health, as 

many mental health issues have their roots in sin.

The truth is neither relative nor subjective.

It is objective, it cannot change, nor be modified. 

It can be hard to face the truth, we have a human 

resistance to the truth, we speak often about people 

"living in denial", guarding their illusions, as if their 

life depends on it.

However the truth sets us free.

When we die to ourselves, like Jesus spoke about

in John 12:24: 

"Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel 

of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only 

a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." 

Humans are comparable to grains of wheat. 

In order to have New life, Real life, God's life,

God's power, sprout and grow within us, we need

to die to ourselves, empty ourselves of ourselves,

to make room. 

Because God does not impose Himself, 

He proposes Himself.

He needs our co-operation. 

 

Jesus Christ is the Only Son of God, meaning 

that there are no other ways to God other than 

through Him.

Jesus is the Way, The Truth and The Life.

  

 

The virtue of Justice regarding the Body

Man's body does not belong to him.

If it did, we could do whatever we 

wanted with it, like we do with our possessions.

However, it is not the case, because 

in order to have a right of ownership 

2 things are needed:

a subject who owns; the owner,

and the thing that is owned,

the 2 things must be distinct 

from each other.

Which is not the case with man.

Man is a substantiel whole, 

composed metaphysically 

of a body and a soul.

How many beings are there 

between the body and the soul?

There is only one; 

Only one substance.

The body and soul are the 

principles of the being.

Am I my body?

No.

Am I my soul?

No.

I am my body and soul, 

both of them

together, substantially united. 

Since there is only one being 

in me, there cannot be a right 

of ownership of one over the 

other.

The French philosopher Descartes 

came up with the idea that the 

soul was the master of the body. 

He compared it to the captain of a 

ship in the relation to his ship.

 

The problem with this analogy is 

that the captain can anchor his 

ship and get off, and on again, 

when he wants, 

whereas we cannot take our soul 

in and out of our bodies.

 

We are body and soul in one.

So who does our body belong to?

It belongs to God. 

God has universal ownership 

on all things,

He has ownership of us, 

He is the Creator and the Master, 

we are His things. 

We also own things, things that 

are ours.

For example you are the full owner 

of your car, and also the owner of the utilisation of your car. 

But when you rent a car then 

you are only the owner of the

right to utilise the car, you will

have to give it back.

Man has the ownership of the 

utilisation of the body; the totality 

of the being which is the body and

the soul, 

and in this sense there is a right of ownership because now there is 

2 elements present:

1. The subject who possesses; man,

2. The right to utilisation of the body.

God gave us the right to the utilisation 

of our body.

So does that mean that we can do 

whatever we like with the body?

No, because we are not the owner 

of it,

but we are meant to use it. 

That's why we have morals to guide 

our actions.

An action is deemed to be good 

when it respects and is in accordance 

with the purpose of the action.

E.g. I eat because I want to nourish 

the body, it gives me strength to do 

what I need to do, but I don't eat 

only for the pleasure of eating.

Thus the purpose of the action is 

respected.

Short resumé of Catholic teaching concerning the body:

1. Man is not the proprietor of his body

2. Man has the right of usage of his body.

Man should use the body in accordance 

with the purpose of his actions.

This is the basis for the entire Catholic 

morality: to respect the purpose of our

actions. 

So God has ownership of us, but He 

gives to man's spirit the governance

of his own actions.

Ecclesiasticus ( Sirach) 15:14:

" It was He who created humankind

in the beginning, and He left them

in the power of their own free choice".

To this end He equipped us with 

intelligence.

5th commandment:

Thou shall not kill.

Suicide:

When a person takes away his

life by his own authority he 

destroys something that belongs

to someone else.

God created us, our existence,

and He remains our Master and 

Lord.

Suicide is a sin against God, against 

oneself and against society.

The person takes the place of God

in his decision.

There is also what is called indirect 

suicide, when the person knows 

that his action is likely to kill him,

however it is not the purpose or

intention of his actions. E.g: the 

doctor or priest who enters a 

leprosy colony to help know that 

they are likely to catch it themselves,

the priest who goes into a battlefield 

to give the Sacraments to injured or 

dying soldiers, does so knowing that

he is putting his own life on the line.

These cases are not regarded in the  

same way as direct suicide, even 

though the person knows that his 

own life might be taken as a result 

of his actions, because it lacks 

the expressed intent.

Suicide is a grave sin, but let it

be clear that in stating this, there

is no judgement or condamnation,

because only God can judge, and we

know that the suffering endured can

sometimes be so intense, that it can

be a case of reduced responsibility.

Objectively suicide is a grave offence

towards God.

Also; any bodily mutilation is a sin.

With the obvious exceptions of 

removing sick body parts in order to 

preserve life, in cases of cancer or

gangrene for example, what we see

today in the big business of surgically 

removing healthy breasts and healthy 

sexual organs of vulnerable and 

confused young people, is a grave sin,

against God and against oneself.

In regard to our body, we have an 

obligation to take care of it, in a 

normal way; in order to preserve 

life. 

Homicide: to cause the death of 

another person by one's own 

authority. 

Whether the person being killed is

guilty of something or not, is not 

the issue, the issue is that it is 

forbidden, we do not have, as 

individuals,  the authority to 

take anyone's life, only God has

that authority.

However the society do have the 

right, the government can decide to 

eliminate a member, in the interest 

of the good of society as a whole,

similarly to cutting off a sick part

of the body in order to preserve it's

life. 

The taking of life, killing, is the 

greatest injustice in the natural 

order, between human beings, 

it does not apply to animals or 

plants or other things.

However killing in self defence 

is allowed, when there are no 

other possible way to prevent 

an aggressor who attacks us; who

tries to maim, rape or kill us.

If he can be neutralized in some

other way we are obliged to do

that instead, the taking of life is

always the last resort, when there

are no other options to stop 

the person. 

It has to be in the actual situations 

as they are taking place, it does

not apply to revenge killings for 

past events, no matter how justified 

we feel we are.

And it applies to situations where

we are unjustly attacked, not for

example if we have provoked a 

situation ourselves.

 

The virtue of Justice

 

The basic principle of Justice is to give to each 

person what is owed to them.

Justice is the big chunk of Catholic morality.

Morality : Justice.

The virtue of Prudence helps to find the 

middle ground in adjusting our actions, 

the virtues of temperance and fortitude 

helps to control our passions, 

and the supernatural virtue of Justice can 

be summed up by saying that it 

is about giving each person what is due 

to them. 

The virtue of justice comes from our willpower, 

we are just because we want to be.

And if we really give to each person what we owe 

them; we are definitely heading in the right direction.

What we owe to God, our parents, our teachers, our 

children, our boss, our sisters and brothers, friends, 

etc.

In Holy Scripture the word Just is practically 

synonymous with Holy.

The object of Justice is the right.

A worker who has carried out work for someone, 

has the right to be paid. He is owed it.

Justice is an expression of order, a just order.

In a functioning society there is order;

employees are subordinate to the boss, a child is 

subordinate to his parents/guardiens, etc.

Each one has belongings that belongs to him

personally. This order is objective, whether it 

is being respected or not.

Human rights are true rights, but they are in relation 

to other humans, in the order of things.

A father has the right to be respected by his child, 

for example, because it falls within the natural order

of the relationship father/son.

 

But we know that rights that we had, can be lost.

A person who has tortured or murdered someone 

for example, looses his rights, including maybe 

his right to live.

So we see that a man's rights are not something 

that exists by itself from the mere fact that he is a 

human, it is related to the other members of society.

So in giving to each one what we owe them, we 

practice justice.

However, the one who does it, but against his

will, e.g. because he has no other choice, is still not

a just man, because he does not want to do it, it 

doesn't stem from his willpower.

Likewise a man who wants to give to each one what 

is due to them, but is physically prevented from 

doing so, remains a just man.

Justice means that there is equality between what is 

due and what is rendered.

 We owe a person 100 euros, we give him back the 100 euros.

So it is obvious that the justice we owe God, who has 

given us everything, 

poses a problem, because we realise straight away that 

we are totally unable to pay this debt.

That is why we do not use the term justice when we

talk about God, even if it is a sort of justice, but we 

prefer to use use the term religion. 

The word religion comes from the French relier, 

d'être relié à Dieu  means being connected to God.

That is all we can do in relation to God, we can never 

pay back what we owe Him.

Not only did He give us life, and everything we have 

in the natural order of things, He gave us His Son, 

He gave us His Church, He gave us the Sacraments for 

our sanctification, He has given us supernatural eternal Life. 

We can never pay this back.

Neither can we pay back our biological parents, who

gave us life, cared for our every need, fed us, clothed us,

educated us, kept us safe. 

So we practise religion.

In so doing we offer to God the worship that is due 

to Him. We honour Him.

We must make the distinction between the Theological virtues of 

Faith, Hope and Charity which has God as the immediate object.

But the direct object of practising religion is not God, it is about 

justice towards God, we owe Him. 

We carry out our obligations towards God, Sunday Mass and all other 

days of obligations, The Sacrament of Confession, doing good works, 

even though we know that we will never be able to pay back what 

we owe Him, in the way we give back what we owe to people.

It will always be an uneven relationship, we will always be indebted 

to God, unable to pay Him His dues, it is a way of being as least  

unjust as possible towards God.

Acknowledging Him; recognising that God is God.

Adoring Him, recognising His Infinite Power, that 

He is the Creator and Master of everything and everybody.

Giving thanks, the sheer gratitude that raise up from our heart 

when we realise how He has always provided for us, given us 

everything we ever needed, down to the most minute details.

 

Supplication; I am a beggar, I ask God to help me with the things 

that I am incapable to do.

Asking forgiveness for my sins.

The practise of religion is for God, and for God only.

That is why it is totally irrelevant whether I "enjoy" it

or not, or as some say; "whether I feel that I get something out of it".

It is not about me, it is about God.

We honour Our Lady, we honour the Saints, we honour everything

that is consecrated to God. We honour priests and bishops for the 

same reason; because they are consecrated to God.

So what are the practices contrary to religion?

They are divided into 4 main groups.

 

Idolatry: 

Ignorante paganism: adoring something other than God, planets, etc

Formal idolatry; judaisme, the golden calf, consciously turning one's 

back to God. 

Simulated idolatry; pretending to believe in idols as a way of self 

perserverance.

Superstition:

Believing that some evil will befall one if walking under ladders, 

Friday the 13th, being 13 persons at table, black cats across the street, 

knocking over the salt shaker, amulettes, rabbit's foot, etc 

By believing in the power of these things, we do not honour God as 

master of all things, they are deviations. 

Making money from peoples gullibility and naivety makes things

worse. 

Divination:

To discover things that are secret, hidden things.

Or the future.

At the very least it is a matter of wasting time and 

a deviation from God, but if it happens that somethin 

is discovered this way, then it could be extremely dangerous; 

it could be a contact with demonic forces. 

And they do not just let you go afterwards. 

The devil is real.

In the "lucky" cases it is straight forward charlatans who blatantly 

use psychology and who can spot an easily manipulated person

from a distance; the methods are varied:

palm reading, summoning the dead, tarot cards, ouija boards, 

but this is not something that we play with, it is too risky.

In what we call Magic, we need to differentiate between 

white magic and black magic; pulling birds out of a hat is not 

harmful, while black magic is very dangerous.

The devil is real and he is known to grant perverted prayers. 

 

The lack of respect for God manifested by not practising religion 

extends into a lack of respect for man. 

Godlessness is resorting to the devil. 

 

The Virtue of Fortitude

 

Fortitude is necessary when being confronted 

with the Passions of the Irascible:

hope, despair, courage, fear, anger.

 

Passions are the human reactions, emotions and 

mental states that we all have in common.

Out of the 4 above mentioned, fear is the one 

that stands out the most. 

Because instead of being moved and motivated 

by love in this life, we often act out 

of fear;

we flee something or other because of fear, 

we practise avoidance faced with difficulties,

fear of not having enough money, fear of not 

being liked, fear of making fools of ourselves, 

fear of not succeeding, fear of not being loved, 

fear of what people think about us, fear of being 

slandered, etc. 

Some people live in a permanent state of fear

and anxiety. 

As for anger, it is very often a cover for fear, 

motivated by fear.

So what is fortitude?

It is doing the opposite of fleeing or avoiding; it is 

the power to decide to not flee, to not give in to fear. 

To stay with it.

 

The strength we are talking about is the strength to 

overcome oneself, and not the "traditional" idea of 

"strength" meaning to defeat others, to be victorious

over others.

But what if the situation, feeling or difficulty 

might last for an unknown period of time, what then?

The same; we are asked to stay present with it, even 

though we do not know the duration nor the outcome.

Ok, if we can do something to resolve the difficulty,

we will do that, but in any case, we practice resisting

the tendency to flee or avoid when we feel fear 

by staying present.

The Catholic Faith implies giving everything,

all our willpower, our life and our death.

There is nothing more radical that our faith.

In regard to fear; in human terms what is the ultimate

fearful thing to us? It is death. 

Yet the history of the Catholic Church is full of martyrs 

for the faith, they preferred death rather than renouncing 

the truth.

We are asked to do the same; to go all the way,

to be martyrs if need be.

Our faith is not one of comfort!!

There is also a great deal of fear in despair, we have to 

combat it no matter what.

 

The goal of the Catholic Faith is to be holy; 

to overcome our human weaknesses. To be strong

and steadfast.

We can never be strong as long as we are afraid.

Fear is the fuel of the devil, in order to make us weak. 

  

The virtue of Temperance

 

Temperance, or voluntary self restraint, is a 

spirituel disposition, it concerns control of 

our passions; reactions, feelings, desires, 

and the subject lies in our willpower.

Temperance is linked to Justice; to 

be right with God and with each other, 

we must be just, we must be prudent, 

we must reflect before speaking,

we must especially guard our tongue in 

controlling our passions, because it is 

by our words that we create most damage 

to others.

The passions are divided into 2 main groups:

The Concupiscible: 

Joy, Sadness, Desire, Love, Hatred, Disgust

The Irascible;

Hope, Despair, Courage, Fear, Anger

The fact that we need to practise self-restraint 

vis-a-vis the passions, does not mean that the 

passions are bad, on the contrary; they are good, 

they are made by God, it is rather a matter of 

keeping oneself on the straight line, where we 

are in control.

Reactions and feelings are normal, they show 

that we are healthy human beings.

Temperance is rather a matter of not being carried 

away by our feelings and reactions, 

which is a tendency and weakness we humans have. 

Modesty and shyness however, should not be confused 

with the virtue of temperance, because they are in reality 

natural bulwarks that God puts in place in a child, to act 

as protection, while temperance is being developed and 

the child is being educated and formed, so as a mature 

person the shyness would have been replaced by 

temperance.

 

Temperance is the regulation of pleasure.

Pleasure in itself is morally neutral, but we

say it is "good" when it pursues a good end,

and it is "bad" when it pursues a bad end.

The pleasure concerned does not have a 

moral status in itself, it is a means to an end. 

We take pleasure in eating, and it is a good thing

to have nice things to eat, but the objective of

putting food into our bodies is to nourish ourselves,

because if we do not eat, we die. 

So God, who has made everything perfectly, gave

us pleasure a the motivator to eat.

Imagine if eating was equivalent to hard labour, 

something heavy and unpleasant, I'd imagine the

human race would have died out long ago.

And equally, if there was no physical attraction 

between a man and a woman, and no pleasure to 

be had, there would be no babies born, we would die

out as a species. 

Pleasure is means to an end, and to act out the 

pleasure without the objective as the end, is a 

sin; a disorder, a deviation.

Eating solely for the pleasure of it, or to continue

eating long after one is full, has the consequences 

of dulling the mind. 

It is a diversion of the end; a separation of the act 

of eating from it's end; to nourish the body.

Overeating also has concrete and visible results;

overweight and obesity, which is unhealthy also for

the body.

Gluttony is an abuse of something that is allowed: 

food. 

There is an imbalance created, it affects the mind,

it makes people stupid and nonsensical. 

As for abusing alcohol to the point of being drunk;

the sin does not consist in being drunk; 

the sin is the decision one takes in drinking so much

that one knows that one is going to get drunk, and 

risk doing stupid things that one would not normally

do. 

The subject lies in our willpower.

With the willpower it is we who decide. 

Sexual relations, which is the most supreme 

gift that God has created, has as it's inherent goal 

of creating new life. 

Again, if there was no pleasure attached, people

just wouldn't find the motivation.

And also again; to separate the act from the 

potential end result is against natural law, and 

against God's law. 

Thus the use of contraceptives is sinful, as it 

does not respect or accept the potential 

outcome of the act which is 

conception of life.

Therefore also it is confined to a legal marriage. 

 

God made us to be one with Him, to live 

with Him, through Him and in Him.

If we go against the design of our own natural

bodies, which are made to reproduce, we go

against ourselves, there are consequences. 

No, it is not necessary to have 25 children, 

a woman is only fertile a few days in a monthly 

cycle, and today she can easily monitor that.

By the way, the word chastity which in French is

chasteté, comes from the verb châtier, which means

to punish, (with the aim of refinement).

There is logic and coherence in the virtue of 

temperance which is basic dogma of the 

Church. There are reasons why it is like this. 

 

Why do we say that money is evil

 

Money in itself is not evil, it is a necessity.

It is what it does to a man's heart, to a person 

who is not aware of it's inherent danger.

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go 

through the eye of a needle than for someone 

who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God"

Matthew 19:24 

Here it must be said straight away that it is not 

always the actual wealth of the person per say 

that is the obstacle, because a relatively poor 

person can also be motivated by money, have 

money as "a treasure in his heart", and it is an 

equally big spiritual obstacle for that person. 

Having said that, there is a good chance that a 

person who has spent his life and time by amassing 

great wealth, is very much 

plugged in to money.

 

Awareness is key; 

"Keep your heart with all vigilance,for from it flow 

the springs of life." 

Proverbs 4: 23 

"For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil 

thoughts come - sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 

greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, 

blasphemy, pride and folly. 

All these evils come from inside and defile a person."

Mark 7:21-23 

   

Our heart; our centre; our soul; our spirit, is what 

animates our body, decides our actions.

If this place is first and foremost preoccupied with money,

greed, selfishness, secrecy and lies easily comes with it, 

and it can soon become a cause of division and betrayal. 

Judas Iscariot, who we all know as one of Jesus's chosen 

apostles, fell into this trap. He was the accountant in charge 

of the money, and when he realised what he had done to Jesus

he went away and hung himself.

Even though Jesus Himself knew beforehand what Judas was

going to do, He announced it during the Last Supper, He

would have instantly forgiven Judas for his betrayal, but

the problem was that Judas did not forgive himself, and he

did not think that forgiveness was possible. 

We talk a lot about mental health today, and we believe that 

we are better equipped to maintain it in a good state by 

constantly talking about our feelings.

But what about our conscience? Our conscience is where 

God resides, it is where He talks to us, gives us feedback. 

We hear His voice. 

God is light, and this light illuminates our conscience, 

if we are still in good mentally and psychologically health.

A guilty conscience is painful, we are heavy,

we are not happy. We might try to chase it away, but that

does not work.

It is a bit like the nerves in our bodies that signals to our brain

when we have pain somewhere, we feel the pain and we take

action to deal with it, we go to the doctor.

But many people do nothing about their guilty conscience.

And here is why we as Catholics know without any shadow 

of a doubt that we have the fullness of Faith, because we have

a Sacrament that forgives our sins, the Sacrament of 

Reconciliation, The Sacrament of Confession, where we are 

forgiven, our sin is wiped away, forgotten, we are reconciled to God. 

It is so incredibly beautiful, because it is true. 

But now, imagine what a wrongdoing, or even an imagined 

wrongdoing, will do to our mental health if we keep it to ourself,

because we dare not even give voice to it, we are horrified and

ashamed, we shut it down.

But this does not go away, it does not disappear, it is felt by the

person but after some time it is often outside of the person's 

awareness; but the mind feels it, the body feels it too. 

There are consequences, because it is being left untreated. 

The longer it festers, the graver the consequences.

Herein many mental health problems and psychiatric illnesses 

have their origins and roots.

Due to the mind's astounding capacity for twisting and rewriting 

events, to justify itself, it can be covered up, 

but the light of the conscience never lies. 

 A person can appear to be "functioning" in society, and at the 

same time be spiritually insane, in which case he is no longer 

" a rational, embodied soul - a "subsistent" union of a body and 

soul" (Thomas Aquinas definition)

He can appear more or less "normal", and even nice, and at

the same time be filled by hatred, desire for revenge, or a guilty 

conscience in constant fight mode to suppress, which 

outwardly can manifest itself in aggressive behaviour against 

the victim, or perceived victim. 

He will not hesitate to use whatever he has at hand, he 

might use even his own children. 

The union of body and soul is broken, even the 

physical bodily pain alert signals to 

sickness, is not received or reacted on. 

 

 

 

God came to US

 

Relativism and the false idea that all religions are 

equal, came out of a misunderstanding of the concepts

of  respect and tolerance. 

Respect for other religions that are not the true religion: 

the Catholic religion, 

is a given, because other religions are commendable and 

noble attempts to reach God, but to make the leap from 

there to thinking that there are several different ways to 

attain God, is wrong.

Catholicism is not about trying to attain God.

God already came to us,

we are in the after-event, God has already reached 

down to us, 2026 years ago,  

He revealed Himself to us. 

He lowered Himself to join humanity; in order to 

raise us up.

God became Man so that Man might become God, 

to restore us to the original way He made us in the 

beginning: like Him, in His own image.

It is up to man if he wants to respond to God or not.

Being Catholic is proclaiming and living the historical 

fact that God came down to raise us up to life in Him.

But for man to become God, isn't that precisly the original 

sin of pride that made man fall from grace and loose his 

status with God?

 

No, it is exactly the opposite, because it is not we who are 

making ourselves into God, rather, we let ourselves be 

transformed by God, He is doing the transformation, 

we humble ourselves and let Him do the work in us. 

Jesus Christ was True God and True Man, He came so that 

Man does not remain only in his humanity, but also come 

into a new higher Life, Divine Life, life with God. 

This new life starts here on earth.

Every time we Catholics receive Holy Communion, 

God literally joins with us physically, in order to make 

us like Him.  

End of life and Final judgement

                                                 The fate of the soul

Death is a metaphysical reality; 

"meta" means "what goes beyond the physical"

in greek. 

Man consists of a body and a soul, a substantial union to form 

one being, one substance, who exists by one existence.

Death breaks this substantial essential union, the existential 

union between the two is broken, the body and the soul separates.

Death is a surprising event, it shocks us and we have often 

difficulties in coming to terms with it. 

 

The separation can be compared with the chemical

separation between two atoms: hydrogen and oxygen, 

which combined together makes water;  

an everyday product which everybody knows, and this most 

common product can also be separated and divided in two. 

The soul of man is made to be in a physical body, to exercise

with and in the physical body and the physical world, to achieve 

spiritual quality and refinement, but the soul itself is 

immortal, spiritual, eternal, indestructible.

According to our Christian faith, God did not want for 

man to die, it was the fall of man; the sin of Man,

which created death. 

We should always live in readiness to die. 

Because; 

"Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner 

of the house will come back- whether in the evening or at midnight, 

or when the rooster crows, or at dawn; If he come suddenly, do not 

let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 

"Watch"

Mark 13:35

We do not belong to ourselves, we belong to God, who made us 

in His own image, He is the owner of the house.

Jesus spoke a lot about death, He knew very well that we are all going 

to die, and be confronted with Him; He who is the judge of the living 

and the dead. 

Death it is mentioned throughout the Bible, and a man who never thinks 

about his death is a man without intelligence. 

Nevertheless we are indeed created to live; both here and eternally, 

but the moment of our death is the big appointment with God and our 

eternal fate that we must not miss, we must be ready.

But humans do not want to think about it, they want to forget it,

so they distract themselves with other things that  helps them 

forget. 

Immediately after the separation of the soul from the body 

follows the particular judgement.  

We are judged individually, according to our 

personal merits and personal sins.

Immediately after death there is an illumination of conscience;

we are confronted with the truth, the holiness of God, the light of God.

Those who love God will be attracted to the Light, they will go

towards the Light, and those who do not love God, will not be able to 

tolerate the Light, and it is them themselves who flee from God.

It is Jesus Christ Himself who communicates this Light, He is 

the judge of the living and the dead.

 

A person who lives in mortal sin; who has refused God in 

his life, who has mocked God, 

who has neglected God, who has offended God, and never 

asked pardon from God, goes down to Hell.

 

Jesus spoke about the existence of Hell 45 times in the Gospels.

Very few people wants to talk about Hell today, and many "Catholics"

say that they do not "believe" in it, and that simply means that they 

are not Catholics, if they contradict the word of Jesus.

In the Scriptures it is written that in Hell there is an eternal fire.

Humans understand the pain of fire. 

 

We can think of the two criminals who was crucified on each 

side of Jesus. 

One asked Jesus forgiveness for his sins, he was forgiven, 

and Jesus took him with Him. The other was lost to Hell.

If we die in a state of grace, we either go to Heaven or to 

Purgatory. 

We might live and be in a state of grace, but as long as we have

committed venial sins, we need to purge the penalties, pay our debt; 

we need to suffer the consequences of our sins, to become pure for Heaven.

Purgatory is where the righteous will go to be purified.

Purgatory implies suffering, but not torment. 

We need to distinguish between the two.

In suffering there is a usefulness, we could say "a profit", there

is a redeeming quality in suffering, suffering is something that 

for a christian can be, and ought to be, seized and used, for the 

Glory of God, during his earthly life as well.

The suffering in Purgatory is charged with Hope, it is salutary.

Those who think that there is no Hell and not even Purgatory, and 

who seems to think that everybody is at the level of holiness to go

directly to Heaven, express a ridiculous level of presumptuousness.

 

It is heretical to deny the existence of Purgatory and of Hell.

The souls in Purgatory constitutes the Suffering Church.

Those who has turned away from God, who has declined walking

God's path, has turned away from Him, has replaced Him 

with idolatry of one sort or another. They have invested themselves 

in human beings, they have put their trust in humans, and they worship 

the works of human's hands instead.

However in Hell, as opposed to Purgatory, there is no hope,

there is torments; no usefulness in suffering. It is vindictive. 

The souls are damned, for-ever separated from God, tormented 

by the fire of Hell.

It is curious too, that in all the pagan civilisations and old mythologies,

they all believed in the existence of hell, a place for the souls without 

hope, likewise described by fire. Very interesting. 

They too understood that a man cannot escape the consequences of his 

actions and the refusal of truth; and for us the inescapable truth of 

Galatians 6:7-8:

" Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, 

that shall he also reap.

For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he 

that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

Eternal suffering  ;  "eternity" means "outside time".

We live in time now, but afterwards with God, there is no time. 

Heaven is difficult to define,  eternal happiness to be able to see 

God, to live in His presence. 

Heaven ; where God wants us to come. 

The search for God is engraved in our heart, it is the great thirst 

and the great hunger that motivates the human intelligence to 

be able to see God. 

We continue seeking until we find, because nothing else,

not even all the good and legitimate things of this world, can satisfy.

To seek Him, letting go of all concepts and intellectual representations,

to be in the special disposition to find Him, to live in His presence, 

here on earth, and afterwards, when we pass over, for eternity. 

Heaven is the direct vision of God's essence. 

When we die, we are no longer in time.

 

In regard to the end of the world itself, as long as the world has not 

finished, time continues, so there is a chronology.

The end of the world:

1. The Parousia; Jesus comes back.

Jesus came into the world 2026 years ago to save humanity, 

the second time, He comes to judge.

 

2. The resurrection of all bodies from their graves, they will all 

hear the voice of the Son of God, and they will come out from 

their graves, to resurrection to life those who have done good, 

and to resurrection to death those who have done bad. 

 

3. The general judgement. It is Our Saviour Jesus Christ who 

is Judge, He is judging as Man. 

He will put the sheep to the right, and the goat to the left; 

the good will be separated from the bad. 

Those who are good will go to eternal life, those who are bad will go 

to eternal fire. 

4. A new heaven and a new world

 

5. A public hearing to punish offenders and recompense the victims of 

their sins.

 

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

"I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. 

However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

(Luke 18:8)

Many people, including many Catholics, think that the Christian

faith is summed up in charitable work and a general kindness.

And it is true that all the spiritual gifts and practises within

our faith are worthless without love;

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,

 

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift

 

of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if

 

I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am

 

nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body

 

to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." 

( 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3)

Love has only goodness itself at heart.

                                   But what about faith?

The reality is that due to the ceasing of transmission of the 

authentic and integral doctrine of the Catholic Church; 

the Deposit of Faith,

the understanding of the faith is heavily diminished and sometimes

reduced to the practice of charitable work.

While charitable work is good in itself, and God knows that there 

are no other worldly organisation that comes close to the Catholic 

Church when it comes to charitable work, but this charity grew out 

from; was founded on, personal knowledge of God, who is love.

There are many kind atheists in the world too, who also perform

acts of charity. It might be because it makes them feel good; 

they get something out of it for themselves. 

Are we just like atheists?

The Catholic Faith is codified, in order for it to

 

even enter our understanding it has to be delivered pedagogically 

correctly, and in the right order, to shine light on the subtle nuances,

because it is precise.

We are called to evangelise others, it is inherent in our Faith.

But that is complicated for those who do not know

the faith well, as they do not have the confidence necessary

to evangelise others, because they know in their heart that they do 

not really know it themselves.

A way out for them is to be "good" all the time.

But true love tells the truth:

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth."

(1 Corinthians 13; 6 )

In spite of the clarity of the New Testament regarding the truth:

"Jesus said to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me." 

(John 14:6)

we have unfortunately Catholics today who can not distinguish

between the "god" of islam ( the devil) and our God; 

they say ; "sure anyway there is only one god" and they leave it 

at that, not reflecting any deeper, revealing that they do not have 

a grasp of the catholic faith. Which is not their fault! 

Nobody taught them, but nevertheless not good, as sometimes they 

have prominent roles in the Church.

Because how do we know anything, about any subject at all, 

if nobody tells us, shows us, explains things to us, educate us?

And how can they do that, when they haven't themselves been

taught, when they do not know themselves?

The Christian message becomes vague and blurred, and soft to 

the point of melting and disappearing in a fuzzy haze.

(sure there's only one God....)

The truth of our faith often comes in revelations; a personal

experience where God reveals Himself, but it must not stop there,

because whether we have been properly catechised (not many have),

or whether God's Power has been revealed to us personally, we are 

obliged, as baptised Catholics, to continue to grow in faith, to 

learn more, to understand more. 

Living Faith does this naturally, it is in accordance with it's nature.

I have strong faith, but I am not impressed when 

other Catholics seems to be in admiration of my faith, as if they

are trying to flatter me. Sometimes I hear: " Oh your faith is so strong,

I wish mine were as strong as yours." or "Oh you are so great, so 

courageous", etc etc. 

It is a way of taking away responsibility from

themselves, take themselves off the hook.

My faith is strong because I continue to deepen it, to know more,

to learn more, to understand more, to love more. 

To put the faith into practise, to actually forgive those who hurt 

me, to keep trusting in God, no matter what.

You have to wonder when frequent Mass goers, maybe even 

daily Mass goers, are not sufficiently spiritually nourished 

and enlightened by it to direct them in regard to their lives as 

citizens, because what is the point then?

When you have catholics who vote for abortion and same sex

 

"marriage", or who vote for government representants who are

 

for those things? Or those who did not even question it when 

the exprimental covid "vaccine" made from stem-cells 

of aborted babies, even alive babies, were pressured on them.

What is the point of Christianity and what is the point of the 

message of  Jesus Christ; True God and True Man?

It is to sanctify us, but He needs our cooperation.

 

For example, what is the point, in an apostolate of the Church, 

of having a handbook that has to be strictly followed and adhered to, 

when it is read from every week, and not being followed? 

When it explains in detail why it is important to be on time for

the meetings, and without fail there are always those who are late,

and on top of that, when they arrive they disturb the prayers that has 

commenced, by chatting!! even when it is the priest who is praying,

and then they are told that "it doesn't matter", and they are 

instead thanked for turning up at all??

It is what we do in small things that matter. 

Like respecting time schedules, it is easily within human 

capacities.

If we can not manage to do small things well, we will not 

be able to do great things.

Saint Therese emphasised this by saying that we must do small

things with great love, it elevates.

In opposition to regularly arriving late for Mass; what 

does that say about our heart? 

That we actually think that it is not that important, we

elevate ourselves, making ourselves more important than the 

presence of God. It is pride. 

Because we are always on time for what we really personally 

deem important.

God wants to give us Eternal Life, to share in His Glory.

We can not be like everybody else, we can not blend in with the 

world, we are a people set apart; we are the Children Of God. 

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal 

of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, 

what is good and acceptable and perfect."

(Romans 12:2)

The Catholic Church is not a social club, it is not a place to go

 

to make friends, to gossip and do some charitable work to pass 

the time;

The Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ founded

when He said to Peter; 

"And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock 

I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail 

against it" 

(Matthew 16:18)