Wednesday 18 August 2010 It Is Not I Who Condemn You It Is You Who Have Damned Yourselves

Jesus assures us in Sacred Scripture that, "it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish" (Mt 18:14). This truth is found in paragraph 1037 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "GOD PREDESTINES NO ONE TO GO TO HELL; FOR THIS, A WILLFUL TURNING AWAY FROM GOD (A MORTAL SIN) IS NECESSARY, AND PERSISTENCE IN IT UNTIL THE END. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance":Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us from final damnation, and count us among those you have chosen."It is not the will of our heavenly Father that any should perish. But this does not mean that none perish. It is not God's will that any should sin either. But we do sin. Matthew 18:14 does not refute hell but only a double predestination; the idea that God "wants" some to go to hell. Some people [wrongly] assert - or believe inwardly - that hell is not possible because God would have to be a monster, a God of wrath, hatred and vengeance, to permit some to suffer there eternally.Not so. And this is explained beautifully by Father Charles Arminjon in his book "The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life": "Finally, we may say, love is all-powerful, with its own secrets and excesses, of which our hearts can have no inkling and, whatever may be said, cannot consent to condemn forever a creature made by its own hands, redeemed by its own blood. Ah! We might indeed set love against justice if it were justice that punished. But justice was propitiated nineteen centuries ago, on Calvary; at the foot of the Cross, it forgave men the debts they had incurred for their crimes, casting away the sword of rigor, never to wield it again. Let us listen to St. Paul: 'Who shall bring a charge against God's chosen ones? God, who justifies? Who shall condemn them? Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, was raised up, who is at the right hand of God and who intercedes for us?' BUT IT IS BECAUSE DAMNATION ISSUES FROM LOVE THAT SALVATION IS NOT POSSIBLE. If it were justice that punished, love might intervene once more on the mount and say, 'Mercy, Father, spare man and, in exchange for the death that is due to him, receive the homage of my flesh and blood!'However, when it is the very one who is to us more than a brother, more than the most affectionate friend, who tightens this heart consumed with tenderness and turns it into an abode of inexhaustible hatred, how can the ingratitude of the man who has wrought this transformation (all the more terrible as it is unnatural) dare to expect hope and refuge?O you who, at one time or another on this earth, have loved with a love that is sincere, ardent, and boundless; you know the demands and the laws of love. Love offers itself for a long time, insistently and abundantly; it suffers, dedicates itself unreservedly, humbles itself, and becomes small. But one thing that renders it implacable, and that it never forgives, is obduracy in contempt, contempt maintained until the end. Go then, ye cursed, THE SAVIOR WILL SAY ON THE DAY OF HIS JUDGMENT: ITE MALEDICTI. I DID EVERYTHING FOR YOU; I GAVE MY LIFE, MY BLOOD, MY DIVINITY, AND MY PERSON FOR YOU. AND IN RETURN FOR MY INFINITE GENEROSITY, I ASKED ONLY FOR THESE SIMPLE WORDS: I OBEY AND I LOVE YOU. YOU HAVE CONSTANTLY SPURNED ME AND HAVE RESPONDED TO MY APPROACHES SOLELY WITH THESE WORDS: GO, I PREFER MY GROSS INTERESTS AND MY BRUTISH SENSUAL PLEASURES TO YOU.Be your own judges, the Savior will add. What sentence would you pronounce against the most dearly beloved creature who displayed the same indifference and same obstinacy toward you?IT IS NOT I WHO CONDEMN YOU; IT IS YOU WHO HAVE DAMNED YOURSEVES. YOU HAVE CHOSEN, OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL, THE CITY WHERE EGOTISM, HATRED, AND REVOLT HAVE ESTABLISHED THEIR DOMINION. I RETURN TO HEAVEN, WHERE MY ANGELS ARE, AND THITHER I BRING BACK THIS HEART, THE OBJECT OF YOUR INSULTS AND SCORN. BE THE CHILDREN OF YOUR OWN CHOICE, STAY WITH YOURSELVES, WITH THE WORM THAT DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE THAT IS NEVER EXTINGUISHED." (pp. 199-200).

Origin: esoteric-soup.blogspot.com