Explaining the Faith - What is Hell Like? And How to Avoid It (Part 2 of 2)

hi and welcome to the national shrine of the divine mercy for our continuing series explaining the faith we are so happy that you have been able to join us this week we are continuing all new material and i think better than even last week when we started the discussion on what is hell like and how to avoid going there um i kind of set the stage but now we're really going to get into i'm really really really thinking that this talk here is going to help you understand better what you need to know and as you saw in your slide this will be part two of two on what is hell like and also how to avoid it you know i wanted to start by saying today is the feast day of saint rita and she has been a very special one of my holy dozen divine dozen saints she was a huge one for me in my formation today is her feast day and we need to pray through her intercession i just got an email this morning i have not been able to verify if it's true it just was sent to me an email that 20 churches were burned down in india yesterday as a persecution against christians there so let us pray if this is true i have no reason to believe it's not unfortunately let us pray for these christians and the end of this persecution in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen saint rita patron of impossible causes pray for us in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen well thank you everybody for joining us as we talked about last week we had given you some overview of why hell exists and what you need to know we're going to go deeper and i think even a better explanation this week and so it's different it's new and informative in the sense that i think every single person needs to know this so please stay with us and we will try to tackle this difficult but need to know subject all right now god doesn't send anyone to hell is god going to condemn me to hell no we our choices choose it and i know that sounds very strange but let's look at our first slide all right hell by definition according to the catechism is the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with god and the blessed okay we talked about that last week this is just a reminder of that and this is something that we have to realize it's a self-exclusion so because why is that because people can't fathom how hell could be a reality if god is truly love and truly mercy all right if god is all loving and all merciful there couldn't be a hell actually it's the opposite if there is no hell god is a monster what are you saying father yes if god if there is no hell god is a monster why because he would overwhelm our freedom he would control us and he would make it so that we could only choose him that's a monster if somebody forces you to only do their way and you have no say in the matter they're a monster but god is good he's not a tyrant right he gives us the freedom so we can choose him or not to love or not god won't make our decision for us he's not a communist he's not going to force you right he's going to give you freedom those who take away your freedom the marxism ideology those are not what god is god is not a tyrant god's greatest gift is free will but with that free gift and with that gift of free will comes the possibility that we will turn our backs on him and not love our neighbor hate our neighbor this violating the two commandments love god love our neighbor if we violate that we've separated ourselves from him and we have chosen eternal separation from him which is hell all right the catechism continues in 1861 and it says mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom as is love itself that's very interesting so what it's saying is with the gift of this freedom comes the the possibility that we could fall into mortal sin and that's the only way our soul is lost it's to die in an unrepentant state of mortal sin all right so without freedom there is no real love and so god gave us freedom and with that the choice to choose him or not so the existence of hell has to exist if god is truly merciful and loving and gives us freedom freedom is the greatest sign of love if you love someone let them go and if they come back to you it was meant to be right freedom plays a factor then in mortal sin all right and the only way to hell is to die as i said in an unrepentant state of mortal sin let's look at our next slide what does the catechism say about this all right let's continue 1861 mortal sin results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace meaning state of grace it is not if if it is not redeemed by repentance and god's forgiveness it causes exclusion from christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell for our freedom has the power to make choices forever with no turning back wow that's a wake-up call all right so god has given man his entire life on earth to make this decision you will be given your entire life so the time for choosing is now in this life and the choice we make has eternal consequences all right our eternity is sealed at the time of our death all right now god we believe he comes to the soul and gives them a moment at that moment of death that your prayers even today years later can help them at that moment but the soul is sealed make your choices worth it are the choices for pleasure sex money power are they worth the loss of our soul jesus says what good is it to gain the whole world but to lose your soul all right it's serious because our choices affect not only us but others as well you abort a baby you have now affected that baby and their babies and their babies for eternity and the possibility of their eternal fate all right so consider the two texts i'm going to show you from the old testament in the new testament all right let's look at the first one this is jesus talking god talking i'm sorry this is god talking from the old testament he says if i say you shall surely die and you give him no warning nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way in order to save his life that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood i will require at your hand but if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked ways he shall die in his iniquity but you will have saved your life that's ezekiel very important passage what is god saying here he's saying i'm giving you a way to help save your brother and you need to warn him now it's always got to be done with love we don't point the fingers but to warn with love is a work of mercy admonish the sinner now let's look at the new testament let's look at our news next slide this is first timothy 4 16. take heed to yourself and to your teaching hold to that for by doing you will save both yourself and your hearers this is what's going on this is our lord telling us to assist our brothers lead them on the right path it's not merciful to say well i can't help it the junior is cohabitating and i'm not going to church and doesn't believe in god i can't help that because i will offend him if i say anything no it's not merciful to watch them go down the wrong road it's merciful to help them get on the right road now ezekiel seems to indicate that first passage i read that if we don't evangelize if we choose not to evangelize someone god places into our life it may be that this will have been the last opportunity the person had to choose god and we were it we were their last hope and god put them into your life as the last hope both ezekiel and saint paul the two passages i just read remind us of another reason why we need to evangelize save our own souls well i'm going to evangelize them because yeah i kind of want them to be saved but you know what if they don't choose it that's their fault no because it's also your soul on the line this is a wake-up call educating the ignorant admonishing the sinner are spiritual works of mercy we will be judged on the last day by these works of mercy so the risks are worth the reward or i should say the reward are worth the risks wow all right now what about some objections some say in the bible my one of my sisters was telling me now this morning that some of the protestant sects are now teaching that the hell's not eternal and a lot of christians are now believing this i got emails from my first talk telling me that god would never ever ever create something like hell it's actually his mercy and we'll talk more about that some say the bible doesn't teach that there's a hell yes it does and well at least father not an eternal hell well yes it does the truth is most of what we know about hell and eternity comes from the very lips of jesus his very lips john paul ii said quote the words of christ are univocal in matthew's gospel christ speaks clearly of those who will go to eternal punishment it's matthew 25 catechism let's go back to that 10 35 says the teaching of the church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity most importantly scripture itself could hardly be more clear so let's take a look at an example let's go to our next slide this is revelation 2010 and the devil who had decided deceived i'm sorry the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever you know revelation 20 14 through 15 right after that john declares that humans will go to the same place all right what about our next slide this is matthew 25. jesus says as heaven represents eternal life hell also represents eternal punishment let's what does it say then he will say to those at his left hand depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels and they this is the righteous will go away to unrighteous i'm sorry and they the unrighteous will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life so the bible says here that there is a second death a lake of fire we die our first death on earth and then the bible says there will be a second at the lake of fire and if anyone's name is not found within the book of life he will be put into that lake of fire so we determine our fate all right one more slide here all right revelation 21 8 this says as well that includes us if we die in mortal sin quote but as for the cowardly the faithless the polluted as for murderers fornicators sorcerers idolaters and liars their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death all right now i'm saying all this not to scare you i'm saying all this that out of love we can turn back to the very source of love god is goodness itself why do we not want to be united with that and if we choose not to be this is what happens it's not by god condemning us it's because we consciously make the choice not to be with him nobody can force you into that not even god himself this is why it's freedom free will the great gift now the catholic dogma sometimes misuses the biblical text for hell now what do i mean by that people understanding of catholic dogma is sometimes misunderstood let's look at our next slide all right hell the word sometimes translated as hell is hades which is greek or sheol which is the hebrew you've probably heard that sheol hades hell all right shoal and hades generally represent something different they are a place of the dead the place where those who died before jesus went to wait like a waiting room all right in the old testament it was both for the righteous and the unrighteous it wasn't hell as we know it it wasn't the hell of the damned so when we say in the creed jesus descended into hell we don't mean hell of the damned they cannot be saved there's no reason jesus would have went down into hell of the damned to bring souls out souls in the hell of the damn cannot get out jesus went to the hell of the dead or the place of the dead not the hell of the damned that as we see in greek is hades in hebrew sheol so what is the hell of the damned gehenna gehenna is the word used for hell and catholic dogma in scripture for eternal damnation let's look at this picture the next slide this is the hell of the damn gehenna and it came that picture that i'm showing you is from an actual place in jerusalem that actual place in jerusalem was a garbage dump an incinerator incinerator that they would burn and you could smell the smelling and they even put sacrificed babies there's even a place of sacrifice children and you could smell the burning flesh it was a place in place there on the outskirts of jerusalem and jesus referred to this this was the place of the damned gehenna is used in in in this sense of the 12 times gehenna is mentioned in the new testament 11 come from the lips of jesus and refer to hell the truth is the biblical text is very clear when it comes to this reality it is a reality let's look at our next slide so are these flames of hell literal there it says lake of fire that's what the actual bible says are they real all right let's talk about this both the joy of heaven and the pains of hell are completely unimaginable in this lifetime we cannot even begin to imagine the joys of heaven paul said eye is not seen ear has not heard the joys that await you in heaven likewise the pains of hell are unimaginable to us in this lifetime the flames of fire are simply the most painful things that we can imagine on this earth the reason they say flames of fire is because that's one of the most painful ways to die because it isn't instant it's it's it's it's an awful suffering so the flames of fire of hell are not necessarily literal why because souls in hell don't have their bodies yet so how the souls in hell could be facing literal fires when they don't have their bodies yet they will because after the general judgment is coming it is true then that the nature what is the nature of the pains of hell then so if it's looked at as this this most extreme separation of god we can get our answer in the catechism 1472. let's look what it says next slide these two punishments purgatory temporal hell eternal must not be conceived as a must not be conceived as a kind of vengeance inflicted by god from without but is following from the very nature of sin and we'll see in a minute from within oh wow wait a minute here the pains are quite real quite literal and consist of two things the literal pain is a pain of loss when you recognize what i could have had in jesus but turn my back on it the pain of loss is the first but there's also a pain of sense that will involve the body after the resurrection so then it becomes more literal there could be flames in that sense because then we will be united with our body all right follow from the very nature of sin all right they arise from the inside out not from the outside in these pains you know c.s lewis said hell is locked from the inside again the catechism emphasizes the fact that hell is primarily a separation from god and since god is goodness hell is a privation of the good you don't want to be with god and that lack of goodness who is god itself causes this pain it is an absolute emptiness and isolation beyond anything we can imagine all right let's look at this mortal sin then it ties to that it said the nature of all this is from sin all that pain that the souls endure is from sin mortal sin is the rejection of the love of god and neighbor it's complete selfishness ultimately the damned will get what they wanted themselves and yourself is brokenness not goodness itself only god is goodness itself we without god are utter misery and brokenness so if you're left with yourself and only yourself what are you going to have utter brokenness for eternity it is said that a man will go insane if he is kept in isolation for too long because human beings are ordered towards communion with god and others you know when um i would see these documentaries on on vietnam and world war ii in vietnam one of the worst tortures was isolation i remember seeing a story of jeremiah denton and he was held a prisoner of war in vietnam and and they would isolate him and all the prisoners that came back said by fire you can ask this about prisoners too in our modern day prisons the greatest punishment is isolation being left to yourself in time you will go insane and so we don't want to be left to ourselves that's what hell is it's yourself because your whole life you live selfishness you god will give you what you want in the end yourself but yourself without god is pure brokenness and misery we don't want to be left to ourselves we want to be like that little child in humility who is dependent upon god his father his abba hell will be that isolation that will lead anyone to insanity the problem is for the condemned they will never lose their faculties so it will continue on and on they will be fully cognizant of their pain and isolation you don't want to go there some may ask well what about the revelation of saint faustina who talked about in hell you'll have the company of the devil at least that's some company no you don't want that company all right that's like the worst possible bed fellow you don't want that all right being part this will be in hell she said she said this now how does this square with isolation i just told you you'll be left to yourself what about the fact that the devil's there well at least maybe i'll be bad but at least i'll have company in the bad no the isolation that we are talking about doesn't necessarily mean there will not be other persons present there will be other souls damned and they will attack each other they will turn on each other and you will still be ultimately left alone you know it's like it's like being at a party at one time or another we've all felt this you've been in some situation somewhere where you're with a ton of people but you felt totally alone this is why we don't go to parties by ourselves we want to go with somebody we know sometimes you've been left at a party you feel completely isolated and so that's what we're talking about here it's tormented it's tormenting to feel that loneliness all right now let's go to our next slide is hell a real place or is it a state of being all right hell is primarily like heaven a state of being i talked about this in my heaven talk but souls will have bodies after the resurrection so they will in a sense have location as well thus we can say hell is a place in a particular sense but most of all it's a state of being in fact we could say the same thing as i just mentioned about heaven both heaven and hell are not places in the sense that you can leave it and come back like your hometown or whatever all right as a state of being heaven and hell are present where heaven is present where the saints are and hell is present where the damned are this is why jesus said the kingdom of heaven is on earth where in the hearts in your hearts well wait a minute which hearts the hearts of the virtuous the hearts of the saints the hearts of those who follow our lord and are trying even if we're faulty and we fall get back up as long as we're trying that's where heaven is found in our hearts so where is heaven where the saints are where is hell where the damned are and so if we're living saints or striving to be saints on this earth in this earth heaven is found in our hearts and then you can bring that heaven to other people it's hard am i saying it's easy no we fall all the time this is why jesus says this it's in your heart even here on earth all right next here's a very interesting question how is it possible that the just in heaven will be able to rejoice how is it possible that you will be able to rejoice in heaven for all eternity when you find out that you have loved ones who are in hell for all eternity now that people say father if my children are not there i do not want to go to heaven and i get that but heaven says there'll be no mourning there will be no tears how's this possible how could the angels and saints rejoice in heaven as it tells us in revelation 21 knowing that the damned are not there and suffering for all eternity as it tells us in revelation 20. whoa this is an interesting question in the answer revelation 14 11 says the damned and well not the answer yet this is giving you an idea of the picture i'm sorry revelation 14 11 gives us an idea of the picture the dam shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb this means in the presence of god how in the world could that lead to rejoicing how could god allow it we already said because if he didn't give us the freedom to choose love or not love he would be a monster so the existence of hell is mercy but how could we rejoice when we see it this sounds crazy all right i'm going to turn here to tim staples a good catholic apologist who gives the answer and i'm going to show you a video clip in a second but basically he says it's like a court case if your daughter he says was assaulted raped and murdered by a criminal you went to the court case and the judge says he's free to go allow him to live a life of joy and happiness you would scream out that's injust you would say it's just that they have to suffer and be imprisoned that gives us kind of an idea at the general judgment we will know what every person has been done has done and that they will have been judged rightly so the righteous to the the joys of eternal life the unrighteous to the lake of fire they got what they chose so we will see things with god's eyes and that's why the blessed will be able to rejoice because justice was done if a murderer and a rapist of your daughter was allowed to enjoy life for the rest of of his life and joy and in freedom he would be like that's unjust he deserves to be put in prison and put away and when he is put in prison you would say that's just you would rejoice in the decision of the court i've seen victims of families come out and say thank you for the judge the judge leveled what was right and just don't forget god is mercy and justice this isn't justice that he is throwing which is on mercy this is justice based on your choices so let's watch this video of tim staples as he explains this much better than i did you know how can god or how can we be in heaven rejoicing knowing let's say we have a loved one who is in hell for all eternity you see that depicted in revelation 14 revelation 20 you know the souls of those who are in hell being tormented for all eternity and then in the same chapter the saints in heaven rejoicing well here's here's the key aaron is number one souls in heaven never mourn god is not in mourning god is absolutely and infinitely to to say happy you know doesn't quite cut it you know blessed in in a way that we can't even even fathom even in the face of souls who go to hell and aaron here's an analogy i use in in my set that might help you imagine if aaron your daughter had been raped and killed by someone and then you're in the courtroom and you happen to know that your daughter was raped and killed by this man who's on trial and then you hear the jury form and say not guilty aaron what do you think what would your reaction be i would be furious yes i mean it would be i can't imagine being in that place but injustice you you should exclaim that is not just that is wrong right and now on the flip side if that person who was guilty was convicted in the jury form and said we find the defendant guilty then you would say that is good now we shouldn't be vengeful and you know about them being locked up for the rest of their lives and whatnot but we we should rejoice in justice and that's the the closest we can get to understanding that the souls who will finally be damned and the souls who are right now are there because that is absolutely just and so actually aaron if they were not there we would say that is not just and of course it's impossible because god is infinitely just as well as infinitely mercy is justice and mercy are one in him and so that's impossible we will know and we will be able to rejoice aaron just as the saints in heaven do in the justice and just as you would rejoice in the rightness in the justice of the conviction of that murder now the hard part is aaron you and i but what if it's a loved one see we won't think like you know justice doesn't go away because it's our relation we will think like god things and we will rejoice in justice no matter who that justice is meted out to no matter who that mercy is meted out to does that help at all aaron it does okay so that was tim staples a really solid catholic apologist that explains it really powerfully well and hopefully gives you an understanding of what i was referencing now another one i always talk about you always hear me say is peter creft he is a powerful uh philosopher at a boston college now he says and i'm going to quote some from him here you know obviously this we all know this that more people have abandoned their faith because the problem of evil you know how could a good and loving god allow evil than probably any other reason and it is certainly the greatest test of our faith and a real temptation to unbelief people use it as an excuse that's why i don't have faith there's no way there could be a god that allows us evil how could god allow such evil and why do the bad things happen to good people i had a family member who used to say that all the time how then can you explain why why bad things happen to good people all right he makes a great point here he says if god is the creator of all things and evil is a thing then god is the creator of evil and he is to blame for its existence correct no no evil is not a created thing father what are you talking about look in the newspaper no evil is a lack of something it's a lack of the good a privation of the good so when we pull god who is goodness itself out of our courts out of our schools out of our homes out of our families we're taking out goodness itself when you remove god what's left is evil you've heard me say this many times before all right but when we choose the damage is done because we've removed god now like blindness what is blindness is blindness a real thing no blindness is a privation it's a lack of vision blindness isn't an actual thing blindness is a lack of something eyes to see clearly so peter kreeft goes on he says second the origin of evil is not the creator but the creatures freely choosing sin and selfishness take away all sin and selfishness you wouldn't have any issues on earth it would truly be heaven on earth there'd be no sin at all even the remaining physical evils we deal with earthquakes hurricanes tsunamis would no longer happen they would no longer cause damage why because they are a result of sin sin is a disharmony to god's universe even these horrible disasters are a result of sin because we put a disharmony into god's universe all right it's because the cause of physical evil is from spiritual evil that's powerful the cause of suffering is sin well father how do you explain a little precious newborn baby yes she's suffering from a disease or deformity because of my sin my sin we are part of the body of christ don't think your sin doesn't affect other people father what i do in my bedroom i mean one of the most craziest experiences i ever had was a 10th grade girl here on the east coast during a confirmation course i was training and i mentioned i was trying to teach them about chastity and she came to me at the break and said father how dare some gray-haired old man in rome tell me what i can do in my bedroom first of all she's in 10th grade we shouldn't be talking about what's going on in her bedroom secondly the whole purpose of that is what's wrong in our mentality of our society today all right that sin in your own room affects me my sin affects you [Music] this is why god wants us to turn away from sin into him that's the definition of sin taking your eye off of the creator and putting it on the creature or the created thing how can spiritual evil sin cause physical evil like suffering and death now a human body the human being is body and soul so the body must share in the soul's choices you're not just a body you're not just a soul so when your conscience and your soul choose something your body is affected if you choose to eat well your body's healthy if you choose to eat bad your body is not healthy same with punishment if your soul chooses something that deserves punishment your body will receive that punishment too it's kind of like getting slapped in the hand for grabbing the cookie out of the cookie jar your will your spirit made the choice to steal that cookie you got slapped your body receive the punishment as well as your soul this is something we don't exa understand this is how you teach children but father i think that's crazy no that's how we teach children they don't understand the soul or the spirit yet they're too young but they can understand a little bit of a discipline now if the origin of evil is free will and god is the origin of free will isn't god the origin of evil peter creeped asked this no for instance our parents the origin of the misdeeds of their children are you the origin of the of the drunk driving accident that killed an innocent person because it was sadly let's say your child gosh i hope this has not happened to anybody i'm just pleased i'm just trying to illustrate a point your child decides to drink and drive and they harm an innocent person are you the origin of that evil are you the cause of that evil nobody would say yes to that parents are they the origin of the misties of their children that they commit just because they're the origin of the children no this is like god i'm talking now an adult child of course now if if this was a younger child and you were negligent and you gave them the keys to drive at 10 years old and they hurt somebody now that's different we're talking about an adult that's why in the teaching of the church when you're age of reason you're now an adult sad not sadly but kind of interestingly it's only seven years old in the church they're saying at seven years old you become responsible for your actions i used to see these kids at 15 years old that had taken the life of another person and the courts would say oh well he was just a minor he didn't know what he was doing i'm sorry at 15 16 17 years old i certainly knew well enough what i was doing and i didn't take somebody's life he knew that was wrong now would we prefer that he make us robots with no free will rather than human beings no so what do we do here we're in a quandary all right so let's look at the next slide god's solution to the problem of evil how does he defeat evil how is the defeat of evil what is it let's look at our next slide the solution is his son jesus christ look at that hand holding the crucifix to fight the devil the father's love sent his son to die for us to defeat the power of evil in human nature that's john 3 16 god so loved the world he sent his only begotten son so how do we get god off the hook for allowing evil god is not off the hook oh wait a minute father what are you talking about god is the hook the cross is the hook how do we get god off the hook for evil we don't god is not off the hook the cross is the hook that's the point of the crucifix you just saw in that hand fighting the the demons fighting evil that's why all exorcisms let's go back to that slide notice that that is talking about the exorcisms look there at the bottom of that slide if you can see it exorcists tell their story they're holding the crucifix the cross is god's part of this practical solution to evil we are saved through the cross through the grace of christ's work of redemption all right did but what a minute father jesus did it all you're saying we have you know you're saying that that that we have to do it you crazy catholics say that you have to do good works jesus did it all yes but the bible says we have to cooperate with that grace so our part according to the bible is to cooperate with the grace so repent believe be baptized work with god in fighting evil how with love that's why we catholics believe in works of love not the law works of love that's why catholics mean faith and works people always send me the letters you think you're going to work yourself into heaven by working at a soup kitchen no faith in works according to the catholic we mean works of love not the law romans 3 28 people pointed out to me when i was in north carolina it says you are saved by faith alone and not by works no that's not what it says martin luther added the word alone it says you are saved by faith we catholics believe that and not by works of the law we catholics believe that as james says faith without works is dead james 2 24 what kind of works love all right let's keep going so what is the key to avoiding hell father you've been telling me all about hell now how do i avoid it how do i avoid it two words love and humility love and humility peter tells us that love covers a multitude of sins first peter 4 8 and also no soul will be in heaven with pride only humility jesus said unless we are humble like the children we shall not enter the kingdom of god love and humility so let's go back to the question why do bad things happen to good people father i still struggle with that all right the question makes some assumptions peter kraft tells us first of all who's to say that we are all good people right without god we're broken we're misery jesus tells that that's not me saying that don't say father you're being really negative here i'm not a bad person no united to god you are a great person jesus tells saint faustina not united to him without him separated from him we're nothing but broken misery i'm not saying that that's god himself i mean i agree with it but that's jesus himself saying it so please don't write me letters saying that i'm being too negative and calling you a bad person i'm not i'm just telling you what jesus said these are the words of christ the best man who ever lived jesus christ said no one is good but god alone ha that's a good answer nobody is good but god alone jesus himself said that so when we say why do bad things happen to good people we first got asked wait a minute what's it mean to be a good person the question should not be why do bad things happen to good people but why do good things happen to bad people that seems unjust god's given good things to bad people if peter creef uses this example that was kind of funny if the fairy godmother told cinderella right that she could wear her magic out until midnight the question should not be why can't i wear until after midnight kind of like your kids when you give them the car to use and you're trying to be home by midnight well why can't i come home after midnight the question should be why do i get to wear it at all so the child should say you know what i'll take the car for whatever i can get you tell me to be about home by midnight okay i'm still happy that i got it at all and that's how we should be with god the best people are the ones who are the most reluctant to call themselves good sinners many times think they're saints but the saints know that they are sinners that's what i always say in the confessional the first thing to people and they say father i'm so discouraged i'm broken i sound like a broken record i say praise be god the first and most important step is that you're here that you recognize you need mercy what is the first step of the 12-step programs of alcoholics you have to admit that you are helpless without god but with god i can do all things that's on the shoe of stefan curry with god i can do all things and i can do all things with jesus christ in jesus christ this is powerful stuff second he says who's to say that suffering is all bad okay i know this is a little touchy life without any kind of suffering a rep retribute not retribution but ramifications would produce nothing but a world of spoiled brats and i think back i used to get upset with my parents when they would tell me no often now i look back that's not a bad thing a child has never been told no is going to have a very difficult time realizing when he grows up that the world doesn't care god cares that's what they have to realize suffering can actually be redemptive third he says who's to say that we have to know god's reasons for doing this he didn't promise all the answers in this life we'll understand everything at the general judgment that's when we'll understand everything for instance he says animals don't always understand us because they don't have the thought process we do why should we be able to understand about god there's a bigger difference gap between us and god than there is between us and the animals i thought this was interesting all right now the obvious point about the book of job remember the book of job is the world's greatest it's it's considered the world's greatest exploration of the problem of evil all right the point is that we just don't know what god is up to or why he does what he does [Laughter] nobody can understand but we will at the general judgment we'll see how all of god's plans come together for the greater good well father why can't i be told now that's what faith and trust are about faith is that you have the belief when you put that faith into action a living faith it's trust what a hard lesson that we have on this earth right he says lesson one it's hard to learn that we are ignorant in many ways we are just infants we know that we have to trust we can't know all of god's reasons we can't know this but god has already given us a lot of the reasons he lifted the curtain on the problem of evil and showed us his son so don't think everything is hidden from you the veil is lifted wait a minute father where do i see the veil lifted at the mass the mass is the connection where the roof pope benedict said opens up and heaven and earth are united and the veil is lifted isn't there there was a viral video that went around about a year or so ago called the veil lifted several people sent it to me it's about the mass do you know in fact the meaning of the word apocalypse the meaning of the book of revelation the book of the apocalypse does not mean hurricanes earthquakes tornadoes the word apocalypse means unveiling so god has shown us a lot father he keeps saying we won't know to the general judgment he has shown you a heck of a lot he's unveiled salvation history through the cross through his son the greatest evil of the cross brought the greatest solution the greatest good to the problem of evil it is that our salvation and remember as i said evil is the result of sin which is the privation of good which is a lack of god turn back to god we have all the answers all right now here's something fascinating i'm wrapping up here i just got one page and a little bit for your extra notes to go can god use satan to achieve his plan or is satan nothing but an obstacle in the way of that plan you might be surprised by this one all sin we said traces its origin to the sin of satan which was what pride somebody else sent me an email saying father i'm misleading everybody because i said the main sin is pride mary said in hell most sins are there for impurity what is impurity impurity is a selfishness self focus on my gratification it's a form of pride pride is the king's sin and so all sin traces its origin back to satan the fallen prince of angels and that was pride scott hahn goes on to deliver and congratulations his son jeremiah was ordained to priest yesterday so god bless them and their family scott hahn says the words deliver us from evil can be misunderstood in the translation he said in the greek new testament there is a definite article before the word evil so jesus is actually saying to pray for deliverance from the evil the evil one so before the fall satan already refused to serve god and enticed a third of the angels to fall okay they rebelled and they fell the devil now lives to oppose god's will because he was he was facing the consequences of it remember the consequences of turning from god is your suffering so now he tempts us that we may follow him into destruction why because we're the reason for his fall satan fell when it was announced that god was going to become one of us a man and satan says no i'm not going to have anything to do with that because i'm an angel i'm higher than a man i'm created higher i have a superior intellect i i'm i'm greater yes by nature man is below the angel but by grace man was elevated above the angel and that's what satan had a problem with so satan fell because of man so now he's declared war on man all right this is it yet his work believe it or not actually helps god whoa father what are you saying well okay in what way it's because his work is futile all right god's plan is going to be accomplished no matter what satan can't stop it so in a way the devil's work isn't completely futile it is actually self-defeating for him he's never going to win but when we resist his temptations that he keeps throwing at us we go stronger in virtue and we gain divine life through grace even if we sometimes succumb to these empty promises but then we return to god in sorrow and confession we grow stronger it's like weightlifting when you lift weights you tear the muscle down but it's when it rebuilds when you sleep that it's stronger and so even if you fall but you get up go to confession confess and repent and then try again you're stronger believe it or not father that sounds crazy no this is the truth this is why god allows us to fall don't get discouraged now is it an excuse to fall no you know i hear a lot of sins of impurity in the confessional and one of the things that i like to say to the people is remember the words of a great saint said to resist one strong sexual temptation is to pass a greater test than even that faced by satan and his demons at the time of the fall so i'm not giving you that fact about you can fall and become stronger oh hey you know i'm gonna fall tonight father chris said uh that's a good thing no i'm not saying that i'm saying if you do but you truly repent you truly go back to confession you truly are sorry and you come back to god even stronger because you realize you need him more then it's a good thing but it's also good to resist those temptations satan tempting you the more you resist the stronger you're going to grow so you're like that weight lifter he's wanting to tear you down but you're going to keep building up this is amazing and so don't get discouraged all right let's not get discouraged now let's look at our next slide this is john paul ii satan cannot block the construction of the kingdom of god indeed we can say with saint paul that the work of the evil one cooperates for the good that's insane no it's not see romans 8 28 this is fascinating isn't it and that it helps to build up the glory of the chosen ones confer ii timothy 2 10 holy mackerel father this gives me some hope this gives me some purpose nah it's not coming from me this is the teaching of the church let's look at our next slide the book of job this is a famous one the scriptures give us proof positive of this in the book of job the devil afflicts job with disease and poverty but he brutally takes the lives and i should say not but and he brutally the evil one ends up taking the lives of job's children and his livestock not job he doesn't kill job god didn't allow it but the evil one wreaked havoc but job remained steadfast in his faith and in his godliness even when his own wife was saying give up on this god through the ordeal job grew in wisdom and proved his love for god when it seemed it was impossible today is saint rita the saint of impossible causes if you think your case is impossible ask saint rita today she is the amazing saint one of my divine dozen and so i'll ask her to intercede for you saint rita please through the power invested me in the priesthood intercede for each and every one of these marian helpers these beautiful members of our marian family to help them persevere in what seems to be impossible causes for them whether it's addiction pornography drugs whatever it might be there is hope this is what job taught us and i'm ironic that satan was part of it god can bring a greater good out of even the worst evil you can't get worse evil than satan even god can use them father you're sounding crazy now no this is the teaching of the church job remains steadfast through this whole ordeal when it seemed impossible and in the end he was holier wiser and even richer than he had ever been before and happier who gets the credit should we give credit to the devil no despite himself god is using him that's what we say about me god you're using me as a priest despite myself despite my brokenness my wretchedness but that's when united with god i can become good i can help let god use you that's what surrender means that's what surrender is actually about except for god no one worked harder to bring holiness to job than the devil did the devil was directly responsible that sounds crazy it's interesting because nobody wanted it less father are you telling me the devil wanted job to be holy no he didn't want him to be holy it's the same for you but this is an amazing story so be vigilant be aware if satan succeeds in tempting you to despair or commit mortal sin we could consent and die the death of our soul or we can repent be enlivened given sanctifying grace back again and survive but if we like job and more like jesus cling to our father rejecting satan and all his works and all this pomps we will be holier wiser and even richer in the end not richer money just richer in spirit and you're rich in spirit by detaching from things of the earth again this does not mean that we should seek to do combat with the devil and take them on don't think you're going to become an exorcist that takes years of training and unbelievable you've got to go through the church but basically you don't want to engage them because he is an angel of the highest order he has an intelligence far superior than yours or mine on our own we don't have the strength to defeat him and he has brought the downfall of many he has so we have to pray from deliverance from satan father rippinger and others have great prayers out there you can find him online pray for deliverance because we know we cannot defeat him one on one that's why we pray lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil the only way our soul is lost is to die in an unrepentant state of mortal sin so the answer to this whole thing how to avoid hell stay in a state of grace father how do i stay in a state of grace confession and holy communion it all goes back to the sacraments this is why jesus left us the sacraments all right let's look at a great quote here from padre pio we're almost done padre pio said the devil is like a mad dog tied by a chain kind of like cameraman giuseppe's dog if you saw my video yesterday on will pets go to heaven you see what padre pio was talking about no i'm just kidding i actually know giuseppe's rocky he is a great little dog just a little kidding there beyond the length of the chain he cannot catch hold of anyone and you therefore keep your distance if you get too close you will be caught remember the devil has only one door with which to enter into our soul our will there are no secret hidden doors no sin is a true sin if we not fully willfully consented padre pio all right but there's hope here father you're given all this negative no the hope is jesus's mercy the sacraments confession communion realizing that without him we are broken in misery with him we are we can't fail i'm going to summarize right now here we're ending up we're going to be short or going to end up finishing early today catechism 10 33 through 10 37 regarding hell i'm going to summarize it all for you right now these are just going to be bullets of summary that that basically you want to see it more description i talked about it over the last two talks we cannot be united with god unless we freely choose to love him and our neighbor this is why god gives us free will so we can choose that catholic teaching is that we are saved through god's grace but we must cooperate with that grace and how do we cooperate works of love but we can't love god if we persist in sin try your best to break those chains go to the sacraments go to confession break the chain deliverance prayers our lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we keep falling to meet failing to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones this is the works of mercy that's matthew 25 works of love we must take care of loving god and loving our neighbor all right last few paragraphs to die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting god's merciful loves remain separating from him forever by our own free choice you and you alone have the power to stop that how to avoid hell choose god this state of definitive exclu self-exclusion from communion with god and the blessed is called hell it's real jesus talked more about hell than heaven jesus mentioned gehenna in hell more in scripture than heaven jesus often speaks of gehenna as the unquenchable fire jesus solemnly proclaimed that quote he will send his angels and they were gather all evil doers and throw them into the furnace into the furnace of fire matthew 13 41 and that he will pronounce their condemnation depart from me you curse it into the eternal fire matthew 25 41 why am i saying this not to scare you to get us on the right path and we'll talk more about that in a minute to close so revelation and the teaching of the church affirm the existence of hell and its eternity immediately after death our souls die we are judged now that's the time to get your prayers in even years later ask for prayers to be given at that moment jesus says in paragraph 14 86 of the diary of saint faustina he comes to the soul three times he gives a chance to repent your prayers need to come in even prayers from the future paragraph 1698 he says when it looks like all hope is lost it isn't because i give them a chance but you need to pray for them so that they will say yes mary said many souls go to hell because there's nobody to pray for him you can make a difference so when we die if we die in a state of mortal sin unrepent mortal sin we're lost to hell which is the eternal fire what is that chief punishment of hell it's eternal separation from god in whom alone man can possess life and happiness for which we were created so if you take away the very reason for which you are created you really don't exist in the fullness of how you should exist you become misery this all calls for us to be aware of the power of our free will our free will determines our eternal destiny so every time before you make a choice say a little prayer every morning get up make a morning offering say god help me in all my choices today for the choices to lead me to eternal life in heaven let's look at we only have a couple slides to go let's look at this this is also a call to conversion enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it matthew 7 and remember last talk the first episode of this series of hell i explained that so you might want to go back to that god predestines nobody to hell we do believe in predestination to heaven but not to hell we don't believe in double predestination as catholics a willful turning away from god a moral mortal sin and dying in that state will lose our soul and persistence in it until the end will lose your soul what's the only unforgivable sin lying stealing murder abortion no if you're sorry and you repent you're forgiven of all that there's only one unforgivable sin the sin against the holy spirit what is that final impenitence what is final impenitence denying god to the end refusing to repent i don't need god i don't want anything to do with this don't give me a priest don't send me the sacraments i hate the church well you hate the church jesus said to paul if you're persecuting the church you're persecuting me jesus said that so here's the key you want to avoid hell love and humility what's the fruits of that you don't despair you don't be presumptuous avoid those two ends of the spectrum despair are those people who say no matter what i do i'm damned god can't love me i'm too big a sinner no god's mercy is greater than any sin don't despair on the flip side don't be presumptuous i had friends in college that every single friday night would hook up with a different girl then every single saturday morning they go to confession they knew they were going to do that now i'm not saying if it was out of weakness and you're trying and you're trying and you're trying and you fall into it then you got to go to confession again yes i've been a broken record in the confessional myself but he planned it that way just sleep with this girl on friday go to confession on saturday but this girl the next friday go to confession on saturday it's got on my calendar no does not work that way so this is important don't be presumptuous saying no matter what i do god won't ever send me to hell no he won't you will though your choices will so this sounds hard but there is hope there is hope it's called god's mercy in the liturgy and the mass in our daily prayers of the faithful the church implores the mercy of god who does not want quote this is in our liturgy any to perish but all to come to repentance second peter 3 9 but remember we do know there are souls in hell that have chosen this universalism that no souls will ever go to hell is a heresy don't be one of those who don't listen to this call rather turn to god's mercy it's the answer see our slide right here the image of divine mercy that's the face of the father's mercy this is the answer to everything jesus said mankind's last hope of salvation is divine mercy this is awesome and we're going to be starting a new program on ewtn i'll be hosting from here at the shrine coming in september stay tuned it's going to be called living divine mercy and jesus said if you don't pass through the doors of my mercy you must pass through the doors of my justice as i always say i don't know about you but i'm not getting through the doors of justice i need the doors of mercy now is the time for mercy if anything i have said to you today scares you one part of me says i'm sorry but the other part of me says good if it gets you on the right track not scaring you just to scare you for the purpose of scaring you that's not our goal so scare is a wrong word if it helps to correct you praise be to god praise be to god now is the time for mercy turn to him now jesus says after this will come the time of justice right now he's giving us complete time of mercy we can be completely forgiven of everything the sacraments you have them right there you don't have to fear hell go to confession receive holy communion you don't fear hell if you have a contrite heart now it's not a magic wand i can just do whatever i want that's presumption so all of this god's mercy is the answer and i explain all of this we're done now i just want to finish up on the slides with a chance if you want to go deeper you can get my new book it's called understanding divine mercy people say well father you can't understand divine mercy why do you say that no jesus said we can't understand him in his essence but we can come to know god by his attributes and his greatest attribute is mercy you don't have to fear fear is a tool of satan well father you just said it was good we scared you i said no scare's not the proper word it's good that we correct you and sometimes the only way to correction for some people is fear that's why one of the gifts of the holy spirit is a holy fear of god i got you on that one a holy fear of god that's what i'm talking about not scared so i know i'm going to get i know i'm going to get a ton of letters saying father fear is of the devil how dare you say that it was good you did that no no no one of the fruits of the holy spirit is fear of god a holy reverential fear so that we get on the right track that's what we're talking here and if you have that and you do that and you ask for the mercy of god you have nothing to fear that's the answer mercy so this book you can get if mark can show it back up again you can get it for any donation it's called understanding divine mercy you can get it at the divine mercy dot org slash udm for understanding divine mercy or call peter he's in today he's in the office today at 1-800 i'm sorry um peter's uh for the pilgrimage i'm sorry you can call for the book at 800-462-7426 to get a copy of the book there are operators standing up high that's what i should have said and finally you know what join our family we want you to be part of our family next slide is mic prayers.org become a marian helper it takes 10 seconds there is no cost all we ask you to do is pray for us so we can pray for you that's what it's all about be a mirian helper and subscribe to our youtube channel here what if you said well i don't want to be marrying helping father well at least subscribe to our channel because this channel allows us the more subscribers youtube will put it out to more people as a preview to view and that's where we are finding souls so many souls are writing to us that they're coming back to the church they're coming back to the sacraments praise be god the only reason that we are able to do what we do as marian fathers is because you have subscribed and you are watching do you think i could get brother mark to come here every saturday and sit here and do this if we weren't getting people to watch if there weren't people watching this would have been canceled a long time ago but praise be to god you're watching and that's why we want you to be part of our marian family visit mic prayers and finally one last thing i'll be doing a pilgrimage coming up in october uh the 14th through the 24th of this year with stephen ray one of the greatest uh apologists a good friend of mine we're gonna be following in the footsteps of paul this is what peter's in today i'm sorry for you can call peter at 413-298-1303 you want to get a slot in this pilgrimage i would love to meet you i would i love nothing more than meeting our marion helpers meeting you talking with you having dinner with you if you want to come on this it's a cruise it's in greece it's opened up now um we're good we're looking great please join us on this if you would like also too if you'd rather a land uh uh pilgrimage uh on uh june 20th of next year 2022 through july 2nd i'll be going with deacon harold silver's fabulous guy great great guy we'll be leading a pilgrimage to the shrines of france so we'll be at lords we'll be at just some great places so please join us if you want you can visit marion.org pilgrimages or call peter who's in today at 413-298-1303 god bless you for being part of our marian family we're grateful that you are with us and that we're continuing this journey to seminary you are getting a seminary education better than some priests because this is all stuff that i have taken i've gone to theologians i got some great st help from my staff like chris sparks and other people on my staff that have helped me to be able to give you sure and pure cheer church teaching so god bless all of you and we hope that you will continue to come to back to seminary with us through this series and we bless you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen and god bless you hi i'm father chris ayler and i'm excited to tell you about the completion of my newest project it's been a long time in the making it's called understanding divine mercy my new book from marion press that finally in one place i feel gives you the all the answers of everything you need to know about god's divine mercy in fact it answers what is divine mercy who is saint faustina and what message did god give her for the world how about the feast of divine mercy and what do you have to do to receive the graces that jesus promises on this one day of the year we talk about the meaning of the image and how to pray the novena and how to understand the chaplet and what to do in the hour of mercy and much much more answering questions like why would a merciful god allow such suffering so please we hope that you'll pick up a copy of this book for you and your loved ones because if you get the understanding of what god's mercy is you will understand why jesus said it's mankind's last hope of salvation so please visit us at shopmercy.org or give us a call at 800 800-462-7426 thank you and may almighty god bless you you

Channel: Divine Mercy

Views: 103,213

Keywords: Divine Mercy, Mercy, Jesus, Christ, Marian, priest, catholic teaching, spiritual, spirituality, grace, pray, prays, praying, chris alar, alar, fr. Chris, fr. alar, Catholic, Church, God, fr. chris alar, divine mercy, mary, sacraments, service, salvation, faith, death, judgment, particular judgment, general judgment, judgement, heaven, faustina, state of grace, resurrected, resurrection, catechism, non Catholics, hell, eternal punishment, Satan, demons, fallen angels, free will, condemnation

Id: OCAeUKIdVU0

Length: 81min 11sec (4871 seconds)

Published: Sat May 22 2021