Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, 2017

we'll go ahead name of the Father Son the Holy Spirit amen let's pray the Holy Spirit prayer in Echo format a Holy Spirit soul with my soul I worship in a Doria and lightning guide strengthen and console me tell me what I must do and command me to do it I promise to be submissive to all they permit to happen to me only let me know your will amen name of the Father Son the Holy Spirit amen okay so we're gonna look at the church's liturgy for funerals to get an idea about our approach to death as well as the Catechism and some of the teaching of st. John Paul the second okay so we're looking at these four things they're really five things death we call them the four last things death judgment heaven and hell because purgatory is like the beginning of heaven in a sense even though there's suffering and separation and purification we're not perfect if you're in purgatory you're it's like a subset of heaven if you were because you'd go into heaven so but we'll look at it as a distinct area just to study and also these are states they're not necessarily places like there was an astronaut a Russian atheistic astronaut and they went above the sky where an outer space said we're up here and there's no God up here see there's no heaven it's like well that's because you have the wrong idea about that so anyway so let's begin by looking at the church's liturgy about death and what we believe there's a principle called lexer on deluxe creed ND or Ronde or ons to pray so that means the law of praying is the law of believing so if you want to know what Catholics believe look at how they worship right that will tell you a lot we genuflect in front of the Eucharist what does that tell you about our belief in the Eucharist right not a symbol we wouldn't genuflect in front of a symbol right so okay so what do we believe about death well we don't believe death is the big check out or you stop existing when you die so death is a pathway to eternal life and so in a way we could call death our friend we should look forward to going to be with God in the way that the unborn child should look forward to being born if they could reflect on that they probably prefer just to stay in the womb it's comfortable it's what they know they've got all the things they need but little did they know what's out there right so same for us we're happy here we don't want to go through the birth pangs of death but yet that is really our destiny and that's where we're going to spend eternity our life on earth look at your whole life is once you're created you're gonna live forever even people who kill themself don't stop existing okay just hope you wake up in the right place right so much better to not do that because it's a sin because you don't your life does not belong to you it belongs to God you were purchased at a great price so you're not allowed to do that so we give ourself to God during our life and we die as we have lived right so if we should have nothing to fear you know we say we love Jesus but then we're afraid to go see him but deal the only way you're going to get to heaven is by passing through death so he's passing over the waters of death now we give great concern for the body because we love through the body even though a death is the separation of the body from the soul right swooner how could Christ who is God died you ever think about that he's true God and true man but he truly died on the cross so what happened is his body and soul and his humanity separated but his divinity stayed with both so if he hadn't resurrected I mean his body would have never corrupted because his divinity would have stayed with his body as well as well as with his soul but then what happened his we have the soul in the body coming together and we have the resurrection of Christ and that's the basis for our belief in the resurrection but we honor the body so that's why we have a funeral Mass with the body without body's just a memorial Mass but with the body do that and then even though cremation is permitted today it's not preferred right so it is permitted it used to not be permitted until the 90s that's a long time because they felt people were denying the resurrection of the body that we believe in heaven you won't just have a soul you also have be reunited with your body that'll be a glorified body and the way we come to that conclusion as we look at Christ what happened after he rose his body had a body didn't he remember he ate that fish so people know he's not a ghost but he also walked through walls right he could appear and disappear he also had his wounds still but they weren't bleeding right so it tells us something about our own resurrected body that we will have an eternity certain properties that we could talk about but even the cremains if they if someone's cremated they have to be interred in a place out of respect you could not sprinkle the ashes over the ocean or as this one lady did she had him in a locket you know because these people would do anything now for money so I mean these they market all these products and this lady came in in her husband two years of marriage but I said well how are you doing other Earl's guy said well he's still always with me and I thought she meant you know spiritually but she pulled out her keychain and it had like some of his ashes under plastic I so don't do that you cannot do that so and I did have also one funeral where they had never buried the cousin's ashes so now the other cousin died and they realized they're supposed to bury the ash so so I so we're on the way up the aisle for the finishes by the way Jimmy's brother or Jimmy's cousin Johnny we put him in the coffin too so if you could say a few words about him like what you're not allowed to do that I've got two bodies in a coffin and you know remains and then the body so just I just tell you this because I don't want any graduates of our class to make these horrible mistakes right so take care of the body yes yes yes that's permissible that's fine that's all fine yeah you can just put people don't even have to have a coffin you could just put them in the ground you know people used to do that or it doesn't have to be stainless steel I mean you have to be careful people sometimes prey on people in their grief because you love your parents and nothing would be too nice for them but you don't need to spend a fortune I mean they're not going to enjoy it and it's gonna be buried so I don't care if it's baby blue or I don't know if they don't care I mean they're with God no and people say well father I should sprinkle - because those were their wishes well you know what now they're with God their wishes are what the Catholic Church's wishes are right they don't want that now now they realize that was an erroneous thing you know what I mean see you don't have to feel bound by things like that anyway okay but you follow your conscience on that like but you wouldn't you want to do what's correct right so okay so we greet the body at the funeral mass we also sprinkle the body with holy water and this is very important because we're remembering why we have hope the time of death we believe that when you're baptized that you have clothed yourself in Christ and you've already died too simply hoping in this world you're now your view is for eternity and you are inserted into the body picture a human body okay Christ is the head of the by the whole body is the head and members right the arms and the legs and the torso so Christ is the head of the body when you're baptized you're like a cell in that body and because when you're baptized you're inserted into the body of Christ because the head of the body rows and you cling to that body which is the church the body of Christ then you also claim a share in that resurrection so we believe so we put we have the Easter candle which we receive every Easter as a sign of Jesus rose from the dead and conquered the darkness of death by his light tell Kendall we lighted at every baptism and every funeral we pushed your coffin right up to it so I can remember oh yeah we have hope because they were baptized into the body of Christ and they were faithful to that body of Christ they stayed a member of that body of Christ so now our great hope is for them that they're with the Lord you know so we so we sprinkle the body we also cover it with a white cloth it has to always be white can have a pattern down the middle sometimes black or purple the the vestments can be one of three colors which again teaches something about what we believe the priest can wear black which kind of shocks people I know some people like father I want you wear black so that people don't think I'm in heaven and so that they'll pray for me because you don't want people to know he didn't he was so good he didn't you're like no I was horrible and I really need people to pray for me so the black kind of does that we usually can wear that on All Souls Day but sometimes people you know depending on how broken up they are people you know so you're always gonna be grieving because you miss people unless you didn't love them you love them but you can also not weep like pagans who think this is that the end right you're gonna see them again if only they would be able to see my wedded they didn't see me graduate from my MBA preceded this will have a better seat in the house right so we believe all the ties that bind us don't unravel at death it's can there's a continuity between life here and life in eternity alright that's why we pray for the dead which is another topic so that the again the vestments black white just sign of our hope in the resurrection and the purity and also purple which I kind of like because it's you know I know this one priest you said once everyone in the congregation is wearing white then all wear white alright because you want this also we're not just rejoicing we're also kind of sad we lost mom right so there's the purple is kind of both it's like acknowledging the human loss and then also the joy of eternity the hope it's hopeful right but if people are really broken down maybe they see the white right or you know it's a young child too tight so we know there's no out there of course there in heaven all right they couldn't commit any big sins right at eight years old you know and then or you know a very pious older woman I might be really tempted to wear the white but I'd like to wear the purple because it's like okay there's still a sadness of being parted from them let's acknowledge that and the colors kind of help us to pray so so let's say okay so purgatory we pray for the dead the fact that we pray for the dead means that we believe we can help them if they're in heaven we will pray for them they're in heaven we ask them to pray for us and if they're in Hell all the prayers in the world are not going to do anything for them it's eternal State all right so just the fact that we have prayers for the dead means that we believe we can help them right and we find scriptural foundations for this we leave only the perfect to go right to heaven right so we never should assume our loved ones are in heaven already we don't do them a favor by neglecting to pray and sacrifice for them Purgatory's for those who have died yet not entered the glory of God's presence because of some unrepented sin but not mortal sin right or effects of sin still remaining at the time of their death in Revelation chapter 21 verse 27 nothing unclean shall enter right heaven the final act of God who in his mercy purifies and purges freeing people from any remaining bondage to sin painful as when God breaks us from patterns of sin in this life the alcoholic trying to or the drug addict trying to go away from that so that's the the suffering of purgatory also now seeing what they lost by their attachment to their sins right maybe to their vanity their pride but not they're not mortal sins that would put you in hell they are just you're not as lack of perfection so that can get purified in this world when you have suffering and you offer it to God I offer this for my sins or second car driver and let me offer it up you'll hear people say offered up hates broccoli or these Brussels sprouts are so mushy oh well just offer it up eat them anyway and you can and don't complain about it right there's a lot of grace in that because our salvation came through an act of suffering so suffering has grace in it if we unite it to Christ so we can be purified we don't have to go to purgatory but purgatory isn't so bad when you consider the alternative right so it's part of God's mercy that even though we run perfect we can become purified in the next world right so it's an act of God's mercy scriptural foundations we find in second Maccabees chapter 12 verse 46 remember where there's the battle the Jews many of the Jews were killed on the battlefield and when they went back they found out they were wearing amulets to a pagan god they figured that's why they were struck down and so they took up a collection of something 2,000 silver drachmas or something like that and offered a sacrifice and this was a worthy thought it says with a view toward the resurrection of the Dead so they took up a sacrifice to have a sacrifice off our collection of a sacrifice offered to make reparation for their sins so they believed they could help them after death so that's in the Old Testament in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 3 if any man's work is burned up he will suffer loss though he himself will be saved but only as through fire the Second Vatican Council very much aware of the bonds leaking the whole mystical body so again we're picturing Christ they had and then all the members as some of the members are in heaven already they're members of the mystical body were members through our baptism in the mystical body of Jesus Christ a pilgrim church from the very first ages of the Christian religion has cultivated with great piety the memory of the dead because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sin that's two Maccabees she has also offered prayers for them it's from a document lumen gentium it is one of the greatest sources of hope and consolation for Catholics to know that even if we fall short of the complete holiness that God wants for us in this life God and His mercy desires to purge and purify us so we may enter into his all holy presence now at the time of death we have something called the last rites okay those are actually three different sacraments so a rite are ite is a ritual so the last sacraments are your last confession your last Holy Communion and anointing of the sick right so your last holy commune is called die Attica that's what the Romans called their snack pack right it's called food for the journey so imagine the Romans with the fanny pack or something I don't know where they carried it but that was called their viata come and just been food for the trip so the Christians picked up on that your last communion is your food for the journey to have it right to return it to your last communion and then anointing of the sick is the sacrament anointing with oil as we read in on letter of James okay so those are people sick among you let them send for the priests that the priests program them annoying with the oil so the sacraments are our connection with the mystical body of Christ how we receive the grace that God wants for us to have and they're all established by Jesus right so you'd be learning about those next right sacraments next okay so you hear about the last rites now when people are elderly they can be anointed it's not just your very like how do you know don't wait until your loved ones are on the verge because they can't go to confession when they're so out of it right so it's like or you might call and the priest is out at the you know don't wait to like you do you think they have to be like an exact moment you know what if we're caught in traffic so like call like a couple months early they're fading and people can be anointed more than once but they can make there and we can also bring communion to the home to do for people can't get to Mass and then and then the children have a duty of ensuring the funeral and that the body is cared for in a reverent way so it's up to the children so this is really sad when you have to about Catholic parents the children's lost the faith and they're not making sure that mom or dad in the nursing home are getting the sacraments priest doesn't even know they're there right there's no they're Catholic so you have to tell the pair of local parishes can you come visit you know the family members there okay and then in terms of euthanasia that's considered a mortal sin and you'll get to that under the commandments so we don't kill people remember all social engineer is preceded by verbal engineering so it used to be called mercy killing but people didn't like that of killing so now it's called Death with Dignity well death with dignity means we care for those who are dying we don't kill them right we don't kill that makes it easy for you you don't have to care for them but we walk with them and we keep them pain-free you can give them morphine which sometimes may hasten their death you want to have to be careful not overdoing that you know but that's what Death with Dignity is it's not killing people right and again our life belongs to God he takes us when he's ready and we don't have this clock this is a very American sort of pragmatic approach well what is the quality of their life so they'd be better off dead well he just don't want people thinking like that watching over you right you'd be better off dead says who who are you how are you the judge of that so the life God creates it and God takes it there's different kinds of euthanasia there's passive euthanasia where grandmas there I could give her her medication so she can breathe or her in it but I don't do it so I did I I neglected that's a passive but I killed them because I could have easily done that active euthanasia I take the pillow and smother them and then there's letting die which is totally permissible right we don't have to do every single thing for someone because we can we do have to provide food and water and temperature a preemie baby you don't just put them over in the coal hoping they'll die with maybe they have a lot of problems no you give them the right temperature you treat with dignity and always food in water hydration and nutrition which sometimes has to be delivered through a tube now you don't necessarily have to supply nutrition and hydration if they're gonna die in a few hours right but they shouldn't starve to death when you could have easily given them a tube through their stomach right to feed them but sometimes even extraordinary means can be extraordinary so you have burdens versus benefits you have extraordinary versus ordinary food and water is always considered ordinary tick in our country you're in you know Papa New Guinea in the middle of nowhere I mean what are you gonna be able to do you don't your means are gonna be less than in a wealthy society like ours but you don't have to have all those resuscitation things when you're just gonna break the rib cage in there 97 and you know you don't have to have all those protocols but food and water yes you know because I know people and they they've stopped the feeding too and they died like 14 days later which is they were dehydrated that's different from dying from your disease right so you have to care for people but we can't kill them okay so also I believe this is from the preface of the mass for the dead father all-powerful never living God we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord in Him who rose from the dead our hope of Resurrection dawn okay because he's the head so his resurrection our hope that's the dawn of our hope of our resurrection is tied to Christ if Christ hadn't risen from the dead there's no hope for you but death would have been the victor but Christ had the victory over death and we're baptized in Him and we live in the age of the Spirit of Christ in Him who rose from the dead our hope of Resurrection dawned the sadness of death we acknowledge the sadness of parting from our loved one gives way to the bright promise of immortality alright eternal Lord for your faithful people life has changed not ended why is it very careful it's not the big things changed for there's a continuity when the body of our earthly dwelling lies and death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven that's what we pray in the funeral mass and so with the choirs of angels in heaven we proclaim your glory and join there and ending hymn of praise and we praise God the song of farewell saints of God come to our aid we believe the saints in heaven can help us in this world and as we make the transition part of the prayers when someone is dying our litany of saints they say st. Joseph pray for her you know Blessed Mother I prefer okay this is the final commendation in your hands father Mercy's we commend our sister Elizabeth in the sure and certain hope that together with all who have died in Christ she will rise with him on the last day we'll give you thanks for the blessings which you bestowed upon Elizabeth in this life there are signs to us of your goodness and of our fellowship with the Saints in Christ merciful Lord turned toward us and listened to our prayers opened the gates of paradise to your servants so we're pleading on behalf of that soul for God to open paradise to them and help us who remain to comfort one another with assurances of faith until we all meet in Christ and are with you and with our sister forever okay so after remember we're all on the same journey just they've gotten ahead of us we're on the same race right it's a marathon it is not like a short-term sprint you go on to your faith for the long haul right you don't want to burn out I'm not saying you have lack of zeal so you can space it out but I mean we do if we're constantly keeping the vision of how we will die that should keep us from sin you know it should help us we're weak but I mean we have to think about eternity it's eternity right you may not have heaven here and God doesn't promise you heaven here but in eternity now heaven begins in this world because heaven is not simply a reward for those who live the good life heaven is a union of your soul with God so when does that happen baptism when I'm in a state of grace I just went to confession you know the Eucharist Holy Communion right so that's the union of my soul with God so you can have that be in a state of grace and be aware of it live in the kingdom let God reign over you right you've already got your already once foot in heaven not the fullness that we'll have in the next world we still have anxiety and strife and different things but we can be more hopeful more optimistic and more at peace if we live alive in harmony with the Church's teaching and live a life of grace but it's always going to be a battle because of our fallen nature okay any questions on that part okay that's death okay now there's judgment after you die there's the particular judgment which is for you immediately so as soon as you die you're assigned heaven or hell or purgatory okay then we have what's called the general judgment I know it's a little confusing that's at the end of time when Christ comes again now a member outside this world there is no time so those two will be there won't be this big lag like okay you're signed to heaven or hell and now we're waiting okay wait for like thousands of years until my body can no because there's no time outside of this world so I mean there's a time in purgatory in the sense of periods it's the way we talk about it and we also also have to be careful about talking about these mysteries in an overly a detailed manner because a lot is not defined lot is mystery that's why it's kind of good to stick to the Catechism and maybe sometimes avoid these conjectured approaches which may be off the mark there are also things called private revelation and those are saints who had visions some of which are approved but you never have to believe private revelation it's different from doctrine that Christ taught or these different central levels private revelation for example the apparitions in Fatima now as the church approves belief in that and I would recommend it but you wouldn't have to believe in private revelation but you'll find like these different Saints who wrote all about having her purgatory I think Katherine what's-her-name who Mel Gibson based the the passion a lot of the details of it on the writings of like the way the crucifixion happened on the rise of this Saint I was gonna say Catherine Emmerich but it that's not right but anyway so those are you have to be careful about equating that with the gospel all right we have the gospel narrative if you want to fill in through these private revelations but they're not on the same level right you don't have to believe those kinds of details so just a caution for you but still could be very interesting to read about these things okay what is the Catechism say about the judgment well let's just go back a little bit here No okay it starts here in 1051 every man receives his eternal recompense in his immortal soul from the moment of his death and a particular judgment by Christ the judge of the living in the dead we believe that the souls of all who die in Christ grace are the people of God beyond death on the day of resurrection death will be definitively conquered when these souls will be reunited with their bodies we believe the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Miriam paradise form the Church of heaven so now it's talking about immediately got into heaven where an eternal blessedness they see God as he is and where they also to various degrees are associated with the holy angels in the divine governance exercised by Christ and glory by interceding for us and helping our weakness of the souls in heaven so if you get to heaven you will be a saint you won't be an angel remember angels are a different kind of being they don't have bodies they're not human right so we stay human we're human and we're human in eternity so on earth were human beings in heaven were human beings were Saints and hell we'd be human beings who are damned okay okay so but they can help us so you will be able to help people when you're in heaven st. Teresa don't say rest in peace for me just like I want to help people on earth I plan to spend my heaven doing good on earth so people love to pray to Saint duress because she said that those who die in God's grace and friendship imperfectly purified but they're dying in God's grace and friendship they're just not perfect although they are assured of their eternal salvation yeh undergo a purification after death so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God what exactly is that like I don't know some people said no suffering is worse than the suffering in purgatory other people say no place is happier except for heaven than purgatory because you know you're going to heaven but also you know you what you did maybe there's this regret and it creates a certain sadness that's kind of could be a kind of a suffering to a purgatory by the virtue of the community Saints the church commenced the dead to God's mercy and offers her prayers especially the holy sacrifice the Eucharist so always I have masses offered for the dead honor if you notice in Massillon sensei and sir mr. mr. Smith for whom this mass is offered so the masses are always offered for an intention so if you want mass said for your deceased relatives maybe they weren't Catholic for five hundred years and no one's been praying for them so you can have mass for all the living deceased members of your family or all this these members and you just go to the office and say I'd like a mass when's the next available probably five months out sometimes but if you want the anniversary of a death or if a baptism you know of marriage or something like that you can do that but you have to think way in advance they don't always open the book more than a year in advance right Hilary don't you yeah but they're about four or five months out they're all taken so but you can always like when someone dies it's a great Catholic has you send them a mass card because what do you want more when you're dead a building named after you know you want that mass and people will put in their wills like hey here's $100 usually a donation is $10 for a mass it's it you're not buying a mass okay we don't sell sacraments but is a donation for the priest so that's a custom it's an ancient custom and that your sacrifice involves a little sacrifice often the sacrifice for the person of the priest is can offer then you participate in that sacrifice I guess in a sense by making the law furring so which $10 today is not no outrageous you know but but I'm suppose if you couldn't didn't have any money at all that would be covered somehow but so in the as the pastor I have to offer masks for the congregation or make sure that is offered every Sunday mass is offered further for the congregation but you send them you can send them a mask art which is really great very consoling thing to do I just a priest friend of mine had just buried his mother and I had to wait till I had an opening to say a private Mass because I always have an intention and you can't just say a second Mass because you want to fulfill something so after wait till I have a blank and then I can do it as soon as I want to say Mass for myself a law firm s for me or for people that I said I pray for you know I said I want to find out later you never said that mass that you said you would do for those people so I says for whoever I've said that I'd have it okay okay now following the example Christ a Church warns the faithful of the sad and lamentable but reality of eternal death because who mentions who mentions Hell more than anyone in the New Testament its Christ it's very clear and it's an eternal state right you know he'll we've been hearing this right remember just this last Sunday the sheep and the goats and they went off to eternal paradise and the ghost went off to eternal punishment eternal which part of eternal don't you understand it sounds incomprehensible for us and overly harsh I think okay a thousand years and then you're done no it's eternal and Christ is very clear so we will know but you have to choose to go there you don't just go to hell by accident alright so don't do that okay because Jesus is God and God when he speaks about this it's a reality it's not about well in my real you know I don't believe that well you're not believing what Jesus said then because those are his words so there it is you don't get to pick and choose and make up your own religion because you might be deadly wrong for eternity okay so all right so not to make like I think so there's a little section on hell hell is interesting isn't it let me read more about how I did say some we were doing door-to-door evangelization and what you do with religion to marry and this woman said father I think there need to be more sermons on hell I said only in the Diocese of Arlington but st. Teresa of ávila trach doctor said her greatest grace was having a vision of seeing her place in hell nothing like that to make you straighten up your act right she became a great saint so she said that was a great grace you know to see and part of the vision of Fatima was the children the Fatima children saw Souls like leaves falling into house so they offered their lives to sacrifices for souls so we have to make reparation for our sins and of other people we should care about that we should want everyone to go to heaven even people we hate like we shouldn't hate anybody but like let's think of Hitler okay do you think God I mean God is the father of everyone so do parents ever hate their children I mean those parents are those mass murderers you know they're just distraught right so they don't stop loving their children even you know when they're like that so God doesn't stop loving in fact it's the devil who would want the souls to go to hell and we should want what God wants which is the conversion of people we shouldn't want one soul to go to hell okay this is 1058 the church prays that no one should be lost Lord let me never be parted from you if it is true that no one can save himself it's also true that God desires all men to be saved 1 Timothy and that for him all things are possible I can saw the Holy Roman Church for any beliefs and confesses that on the day of judgment all men will appear in their own bodies before Christ this is the general judgement member so when you die immediately that's a particular judgment and then you have the general judgment which will be seemingly simultaneous right at the end of time will appear in their own voice before Christ's tribunal to render an account of their own deeds at the end of time the kingdom of God will come in its fullness then the just will reign with Christ forever glorify to embody in soul and it's been revealed to us that I has not seen in ears not her what God has prepared for those who love him so use the Canon mansion we can't the just will reign with Christ glorified body and soul and the material universe itself would be transformed God will then be all in all in eternal life ok so we have a little bit of time so I thought I would read about Hell because it's interesting and you never hear about it now these are from the general audiences that were given 1999 by st. John Paul the second so this is what he said about it it's kind of long do you mind if I just read for a little bit I think it's interesting God is the infinitely good and merciful Father but man called to respond to him freely can unfortunately choose reject his love and forgiveness once and for all thus separating himself forever from joyful communion with him so God respects her freedom doesn't force us to go to heaven it is precisely this tragic situation that Christian doctrine explains when it speaks of eternal damnation or Hell it's not a punishment imposed externally by God but a development of premises already set by people in this life like some people are already on the road to hell and have rejected God almost they put themself in hell the very dimensions of unhappiness which this obscure condition brings can in a certain way be sensed in the light of some of the terrible experiences we have suffered which as is commonly said make life hell in a theological sense however hell is something else it's the ultimate consequence of sin itself which turns against the person who committed it it is the state of those who definitively reject God's mercy even at the a moment of their life right because even if we just lived a horrible life we drifted away from the faith if there's that repent that openeth his sorrow okay you get a new Peugeot Tori right but God will not he'll respect our choice right so I say you have to put yourself there right hell is a state of eternal damnation to describe this reality sacred scripture uses a symbolic language which will gradually be explained in the Old Testament the condition of the Dead had not yet been fully disclosed by revelation moreover it was thought that the dead were amassed in shale a land of Darkness a pit from which one cannot rias end a place in which it is impossible to praise God and then it quotes he quotes Ezekiel Isaiah job the New Testament sheds new light on the condition of the Dead for claiming above all by Christ by his resurrection conquered death and extended his liberating power to the kingdom of the Dead Redemption never the so all the souls before Christ that were holy including maybe st. Joseph though he might be a separate case but all the patriarchs are all the good people even the noble pagans there is no way for them to get to heaven until Christ conquered death and sin by his own offering to the Father he was the sacrifice acceptable that's what it took those sins were so horrible and the original rejection so now that opened the pathway for all people of goodwill to get to heaven right so those who through no fault of their own weren't baptized for example Redemption nevertheless remains in an offer of salvation which is up to the people to accept freely or not this is why they will all be judged by what they have done by using images the New Testament presents the place destined for evildoers as a fiery furnace where people will weep and gnash their teeth Matthew or like Gehenna with its unquenchable fire jános life is a trash dump outside of Jerusalem or they would burn the trash all this is narrated in the parable of the rich man which explains that hell is a place of eternal suffering with no possibility of return nor of the alleviation of pain Luke chapter 16 verses 19 to 31 that's the rich man and Lazarus member and this there was no way for him to get cross over to the other side and he said well let me go back and warn my brother sir on the wrong pathway and I said no even if someone should come back from the dead they may not listen I mean Christ is talking about himself by using I mean in the parable that's what he will do by using images the New Testament presents the place destined for university' pfeiffer the book of Revelation also figuratively portrays in a pool of fire those who exclude themselves from the book of life thus meeting with the second death whoever continues to be close to the gospel is therefore preparing for eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might the images of hell that Sacred Scripture present to us must be correctly interpreted they show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God rather than a place hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God the source of all life and joy this is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the truth to die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice the state of definitive self exclusion from commune with God and the Blessed is called hell eternal damnation therefore is not attributed to God's initiative because in his merciful love he can only desire the salvation of the beings he created in reality it is the creature who closes himself to his love damnation consists precisely and definitive separation from God freely chosen by the human person and confirmed with death that seals this choice forever God's judgment ratifies this state so you can't have that second thoughts after you're dead oh wait a minute let me reconsider so that it needs to happen before you die right so we all have the time we need to be converted and to live with God in heaven and we have to help other people to to respond to God's grace but we can't make people drink and neither can God we are saved from going to hell by Jesus who conquered Satan Christian faith teaches us that in taking the risk of saying yes or no which marks the human creatures freedom some have already said no they are their spiritual creatures that rebelled against God's love and are called demons so the Angels that rebelled what happened to them is a warning to us it's a continuous call to avoid the tragedy which leads to sin and to conform our life to that of Jesus who lived his life with a yes to God eternal damnation remains a real possibility but we are not granted without special divine revelation the knowledge of whether or which human beings are effectively involved in it so we're not granted to know who's in hell the thought of Hell even a even and even less the improper use of biblical images must not create anxiety or despair but is a necessary and healthy reminder of freedom within the proclamation that the Risen Jesus has conquered Satan giving us the Spirit of God who makes us cry Abba Father this prospect rich in hope prevails in Christian proclamation it's effectively reflecting the liturgical tradition of the church as the words of the Roman can attest father accept this offering from your whole family save us from final damnation and count us among those you have chosen that's what we pray in the first Eucharistic prayer you know that prayer final damnation so it's kind of a shock okay interesting kind of clarifies it doesn't it now how about purgatory or heaven it's up to you what do you want to hear for it you want to leave on heaven so why don't we do purgatory okay so I think you guys have a good a sense of purgatory though as we have seen in the previous two catechesis on the basis of the definition option for against God the human being finds he faces one of these alternatives it delivered the Lord an eternal beatitude or to remain far from his presence for those who find themselves in the condition of being open to God but still imperfectly the journey towards full beatitude requires a purification which the faith of the church illustrates in the doctrine of purgatory okay in church Scripture we can graph certain elements that help us to understand and the meaning of this doctrine even if it's not formally described they expressed the brief the belief that we cannot approach God without undergoing some kind of purification accorded the Old Testament religious law what is destined for God must be perfect as a result physical integrity is also specifically required for the realities which come into contact with God at the sacrificial level such as for example sacrificial animals okay they can't be wounded you know they have to be perfect right you don't give your crummy peaches if you're a farmer as a sacrifice you give your best to God right or the institutional levels in the case of priests or ministers for worship total dedication to the god of the covenant along the lines of great teaching found in Deuteronomy and which must correspond to his physical integrity is required of individuals in society as a whole it's a matter of loving God with all one's being with purity of heart and the witness of Deeds the need for integrity obviously becomes necessary after death for entering into perfect and complete commune with God those who do not possess this integrity must undergo purification this is suggested by a text of Saint Paul the Apostle speaks of the value of each person's work which will be revealed on the day of judgment and says if the work which any man has built on the foundation which is Christ 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 okay so that's a purification through fire after this life but they're gonna be saved so what do you want to call it that's what we call purgatory you know if you don't like to use that word you can call us something else purification after death but it's very biblical at times to reach a state of perfect integrity a person's intercession or mediation is needed for example moses obtains pardon for the people with the prayer in which he recalls the saving work done by God in the past and praise for God's fidelity to the oath made to his ancestors the figure of the servant of the Lord outlined in the Book of Isaiah has also betrayed by his role of intercession expiation for many at the end of his suffering he will see the light and will justify many bearing their iniquities Psalm 51 can be considered according to perspective the Old Testament as a synthesis of the process of integration the sinner confesses and recognizes his guilt asking insistently to be purified or cleanse so as to proclaim the divine praises okay purgatory is not a place but a condition of existence in the New Testament Christ is presented as the intercessor who assumes the function of High Priest on the day of expiation but in him the priesthood is presented in a new and definitive form he enters the heavenly shrine once and for all to intercede with God on our behalf he is both priest and the victim for the sins of the whole world so a priest is one who offers his sacrifice but he's also the sacrifice it's not a lamb it's him so he's the priest who makes the offering and he is the victim that is offered on the new altar which is the cross just before it would be an altar like we use it Mass but there would be a Holika there would be you know sticks and wood and you'd put the lamb on there slaughtered probably and there would be consumed and that was the offering to God well Christ that's a pre figure of Christ who offers himself for our sin those were meant to represent sin offerings but Christ is the definitive one who atones for our sin and he's the priest that makes the offering and he's the victim that is offered so you hear a lot about Christ's priest and victim the word hosts Ostia means victim like if you're throwing a party no well think about in biology you know how you have the parasites what do they call what they feed on and your guests are not parasites but let's face it they are feeding on you know but that's where that guy isn't that funny host and hostess but your victim so but the host so that's what we call that the host it means the victim and if we say for benediction singing to the Eucharist Oh solitaries Ostia Oh saving victim opening wide so Christ is the victim but he's also the priest that he freely offered himself so okay Jesus this the offer of mercy does not exclude the duty to present ourselves to God pure in Hall rich in that law of which par so again it's our freedom is important that we worship God in freedom and following the gospel exhortation to be perfect like the Heavenly Father remember when Jesus said that maybe be perfect like your father in heaven is perfect during her earthly life we were called to grow in love to be sound and flawless before God the Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints we were invited to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit because the encounter with God requires absolute purity every trace of attachment to evil must be eliminated every imperfection of the soul corrected purification must be complete and indeed this is precisely what is meant by the Church's teaching on purgatory term does not indicate a place but a condition of existence those who after death exists in a state of purification are already in the love of Christ who are moves from them the remains of imperfection it is necessary to explain that the state of purification is not a prolongation of the earthly condition almost as if after death one were given another possibility to change one's destiny the Church's teaching in this regard is unequivocal and was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council which teaches quote since we know neither the day nor the hour we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so when the single course of our earthly life is completed we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed and not like the wicked and slothful servants be ordered to depart into the eternal fire into the outer darkness where men will weep and gnash their teeth Matthew 22 one last important aspect which the church's tradition has always pointed out should be repose today the dimension of Kumu neo those in fact who find themselves in the state of purification are united both with the Blessed who already enjoy the fullness of eternal life and with us on earth on our way towards the father's house so the souls in purgatory are connect with the souls in heaven and also with us that's why we can pray for the debt justice in their earthly life believers are united in the one mystical body so after death those who live in a state of purification experienced the same ecclesial solidarity which works through prayer prayers of suffrage and love for their other brothers and sisters in the faith purification has lived in the essential bond created between those who live in this world and those who enjoy eternal beatitude okay did you get more insight got it okay heaven oh yeah okay it's the first run huh was heaven so they started with heaven okay this is understandable isn't it I mean it break it down I just found it online underneath to be 10 if you want to go back when the form of this world has passed away those who have welcomed God into their lives and have sincerely opened themselves to his love at least at the moment of death see even there will enjoy the fullness of community with God which is the goal of human life right so when the form of this world has passed away those who have welcomed God into their lives and searly open themselves to his love at least at the moment of death will enjoy the fullness of communion with God which is the goal of human life that's the goal of our human life communion with God begins in this world as the Catechism teaches the perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity this community of life and love with the Trinity with the Virgin Mary and the angels and all the blessed is called heaven heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longing the state of supreme definitive happiness so when people get into drugs or sex or alcohol and overdo it what they're really longing for is heaven that they're just they're looking for heaven in all the wrong places right today we will try to understand the biblical meaning of heaven in order to have a better understanding of the reality to which this expression refers in biblical language heaven which is joined to the earth indicates part of the universe scripture says about creation in the beginning God created the heavens and earth metaphorically speaking heaven is understood as the dwelling place of God who is thus distinguished from human beings he sees and judges from the heights of heaven and comes down when he is called upon however the biblical metaphor may it clear that God does not identify himself with heaven or it can be contained in it and this is true even though in some passages of the first book of macabees heaven is simply one of God's names the depiction of heaven as the transcendent dwelling place of the Living God is drawn without of the place to which believers through grace can also ascend as we see in the Old Testament accounts of Enoch and Elijah thus heaven becomes an image of life in God in this sense Jesus speaks of a reward in heaven Matthew five urges people to lay up for yourself treasures in heaven the New Testament amplifies the idea of heaven in relation to the mystery of Christ to show that the Redeemers sacrifice acquires perfect and definitive value the letter the Hebrew says that Jesus quote passed through the heavens and quote entered not into a sanctuary made with hands a copy of the true one but into heaven itself since believers are loved in a special way by the father they are raised with Christ and made citizens of heaven it's worth while listening to what the Apostle Paul tells us about this in a very powerful text quote God who is rich in mercy out of great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses sins made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus then the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2 the Fatherhood of God who is rich in mercy is experienced by creatures through the love of God's crucified and risen son who sits in heaven on the right hand of the Father as lord after the course of our earthly life participation in complete intimacy with the father thus comes through our insertion into Christ Pascal in her Pascal think Easter it's a Paschal Easter mystery that's his his suffering his death and his resurrection is the Paschal mystery st. Paul emphasizes our meeting with Christ in heaven at the end of time with a vivid spatial image this is from first Thessalonians quote thus we who are alive who are left shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall always be with the Lord therefore comfort one another with these words and the context of Revelation we know that heaven or happiness in which we will find ourselves as neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds but a living personal relationship with the Holy Trinity there is our meeting with the father which takes place in the risen Christ to the communion of the Holy Spirit it's always necessary to maintain a certain restraint in describing these ultimate realities since their depiction is always unsatisfactory today personalist language is better suited describing the state of happiness and peace we will enjoy and our definitive communion with God so it's a state of being in perfect communion with God not necessarily a place in the clouds the Catechism sums up the Church's teaching in this truth by his death and resurrection Jesus Christ has open heaven to us the life of the Blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ he makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will not all those who say Lord Lord will be saved with those who does the will of the Father heaven is the blessed community of all her perfectly incorporating to Christ Sasso is so much fun to be with all those people because they're all like wonderful right they're all been purified and you get to see all the saints and hopefully your family who've been purified but there's no sin no division it's a so it's hard for us to imagine exactly that state of happiness this final state however can be anticipated in some way today in the sacramental life whose center is the Eucharist and in the gift of self through fraternal love or charity if we were able to enjoy properly the good things that the Lord showers upon us every day will already have begun to experience the joy and peace which one day will be completely ours we know that on this earth everything is subject to limits but the thought of the ultimate realities helps us to live better the penultimate reality we know that as we pass through this world we are called to seek the things that are above where Christ is seated the right hand of God or to be with him in the eschatological that means the of time fulfillment when the spirit will fully reconcile with the father all things whether earth or heaven that great so or I anticipate that through communion because we have the Holy Communion we're receiving God's body and blood and soul into our body that's a communion that's holy so that's why we say Holy Communion okay that's all I have for you today questions about heaven or hell aren't this sort of profound you have to discount of it's a way it's a way of trying to describe something that our finite brain it's hard to wrap herself around it but we can study it that's why I say theology is faith seeking understanding it helps this when people explain it okay it increases our faith when we can through the intellect to try to study these mysteries but it's always gonna be a little short like st. Thomas Aquinas who was a great theologian d great theologian of the church at the end of when he was dying he said about his writing it's all straw because it's fall short yeah but in the ultimately the shortcut to heaven is love one act of love cancels a multitude of sins so that's your pathway go for love right and go to confession a lot which is a great Sagat you're gonna love it when you go to confession it's very healing and very it brings a lot of peace you just leave your stuff behind you and it's nothing you it's what God has all done the grace in confession he does it you say or your horrible things and then you hear back his mercy what's not to love about that right you don't have to walk around like a haunted house with all your evil deeds and wonder if God will forgive you and then when you die the devil will have nothing to accuse you of because you'll have accused yourself and been forgiven by his body by the body of Christ on earth which is the church so that's how the sacraments are a little foretaste of heaven they connect us with they give us the peace that we will have in heaven but it's it's not permanent here it's through sigh as well but we'll have we'll see God face to face we won't need the sign so you won't go to communion in heaven Joey seems weird you won't go to Mass in heaven because we don't have to mediate anymore we'll be united perfectly with God but on earth this is how we access the mysteries of the faith through sacraments and science and through our unity with the community of believers okay it'll come together you I mean just have to keep studying things for do refine and what I like doing is reading catechisms I think I told you that once already like catechins that are made from this and they kind of break it down and the more you read it you start getting a better idea in your head it doesn't have to be so vague but it takes a while because these are big huge topics but it held it's helpful to me and I like the way John Paul does this is anchoring in with the scripture what are the words of Christ how do we come up with where's this theology or idea come from come from the words of God so the holy words so there shouldn't be a contradiction between what Christ said and what the Church teaches and there's a tradition of interpreting the scripture within the community of the church right well we separate some frustration kind of interpret our own how do you know you're just not in error that's just your idea so we always have to test that against the deposit of the faith from down the centuries what does the church always believed from the Apostolic times because these people live with Jesus down to the present I want to live in that continuity okay may Almighty God bless you the Father the Son the Holy Spirit amen go in peace go eat your leftover turkey and cranberry sandwiches or put everything in one sandwich with the mashed potatoes or whatever sweet potatoes are good in there aren't they

Channel: The Basilica of Saint Mary

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Length: 61min 55sec (3715 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2017