"Which of you, having a son or an ox that fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a sabbath day?" (Luke 14:5)
That's us, poor children of God and his dumb creatures who have fallen.
And just as the answer to the question is everyone, so Jesus does it too, drawing us up from our fallenness through the well of baptism, and on a sabbath day too, the Great Sabbath, Holy Saturday, when he descends into the hell we have provided for ourselves with our sins and draws up our humanity, united to his, as the New Creation of which his Resurrection is the dawn.
Showing posts with label Hell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hell. Show all posts
November 3, 2017
March 27, 2012
Weeping, as We Should
I've been enjoying the prayers over the people that the new missal offers during Lent. Today's is especially good:
Like so many prayers, this one would be easy to take the wrong way, as if God has somehow decided to be nice to us--and maybe just this once--when what he really wants is to be angry, or if our contrition somehow buys us divine consolation.
The punishment we receive for our sins, in this life and all the way down the road to hell, is only what we do with the emptiness we suffer from lacking the goodness of God that ought to be there. This emptiness, as we sinners sorely know, is all too easily filled with violence, craving, despair, self-medication, and every other settling for less by which we purchase for ourselves our alienation and misery. Take this to our created finality, and that's hell.
The spiritual work is to refuse to fill the emptiness with anything else, but to sit in it and grieve the absence of God we have insisted upon with our sins. This is the beginning of compunction. It does not buy us God's consolation, but merits it in the sense that praying out of the emptiness in a mode of receptive grief opens us to the consolation God is just dying--literally--to give us.
It is in the openness of this grieving for our emptiness that we really begin to see Christ crucified, God having united his very self to our pain, our stuckness, our alienation, our feeling of abandonment. And it is then that we realize the mercy of the divinity of Christ crucified, because he has blazed a trail--for our humanity--through our suffering to the new creation that is the Resurrection.
O God, who choose to show mercy not anger to those who hope in you, grant that your faithful may weep, as they should, for the evil they have done, and so merit the grace of your consolation. Through Christ our Lord.
Like so many prayers, this one would be easy to take the wrong way, as if God has somehow decided to be nice to us--and maybe just this once--when what he really wants is to be angry, or if our contrition somehow buys us divine consolation.
The punishment we receive for our sins, in this life and all the way down the road to hell, is only what we do with the emptiness we suffer from lacking the goodness of God that ought to be there. This emptiness, as we sinners sorely know, is all too easily filled with violence, craving, despair, self-medication, and every other settling for less by which we purchase for ourselves our alienation and misery. Take this to our created finality, and that's hell.
The spiritual work is to refuse to fill the emptiness with anything else, but to sit in it and grieve the absence of God we have insisted upon with our sins. This is the beginning of compunction. It does not buy us God's consolation, but merits it in the sense that praying out of the emptiness in a mode of receptive grief opens us to the consolation God is just dying--literally--to give us.
It is in the openness of this grieving for our emptiness that we really begin to see Christ crucified, God having united his very self to our pain, our stuckness, our alienation, our feeling of abandonment. And it is then that we realize the mercy of the divinity of Christ crucified, because he has blazed a trail--for our humanity--through our suffering to the new creation that is the Resurrection.
November 15, 2011
For Better Or For Worse
Sometimes I hear the complaint that the Church is more likely to canonize priests and religious than lay people, and that this somehow displays a discriminatory tendency.
But I think it's an important counterpoint to keep in mind that there is also probably a greater proportion of priests and religious in hell. So it goes both ways.
God gave me my religious and priestly vocation not because I was special, but as an act of mercy. This was God's best bet for saving me. It's the best way for me to become a saint. But I also know that if I become worse on account of religious life and the priesthood, I will be far worse than I could have ever become without them.
As the variously attributed quote goes, 'the path into hell is paved with the skulls of priests, with bishops as the sign-posts.'
But I think it's an important counterpoint to keep in mind that there is also probably a greater proportion of priests and religious in hell. So it goes both ways.
God gave me my religious and priestly vocation not because I was special, but as an act of mercy. This was God's best bet for saving me. It's the best way for me to become a saint. But I also know that if I become worse on account of religious life and the priesthood, I will be far worse than I could have ever become without them.
As the variously attributed quote goes, 'the path into hell is paved with the skulls of priests, with bishops as the sign-posts.'
April 13, 2011
Two of Nine, If I Remember Rightly
This conversation goes in the "I came not to serve but to be served, and to give my life as an aggravation for many" file.
Annoyed friar: "It will be a cold day in hell."
Me: "Some parts of hell are cold, you know."
Even more annoyed friar: "How do you know?"
Me: "I have a licentiate in sacred theology."
Annoyed friar: "It will be a cold day in hell."
Me: "Some parts of hell are cold, you know."
Even more annoyed friar: "How do you know?"
Me: "I have a licentiate in sacred theology."
June 3, 2010
Prayers on the Feast of St. Charles
Dear St. Charles, you were martyred, at least in part, for refusing to accept a situation of sexual abuse. Pray for our bishops and priests, and for all of us who serve in the Church, that we might have the same zeal and resistance, as well as the courage to name the sicknesses and immaturities in our own culture.
Pray for the people of Uganda, for all African people throughout the world. By your intercession, may all people seek the true peace based in justice. May God help us all to desire and work for reparation and reconciliation for all the injustices bequeathed us by our ancestors.
Last of all, pray for me, Brother Charles of New Haven, friar of the Capuchin Franciscan Order, that I--having already wasted enough time to merit hell--may finally consent to the grace to make a beginning of a spiritual life.
Pray for the people of Uganda, for all African people throughout the world. By your intercession, may all people seek the true peace based in justice. May God help us all to desire and work for reparation and reconciliation for all the injustices bequeathed us by our ancestors.
Last of all, pray for me, Brother Charles of New Haven, friar of the Capuchin Franciscan Order, that I--having already wasted enough time to merit hell--may finally consent to the grace to make a beginning of a spiritual life.
February 16, 2010
People That Are Going To Hell
Leave it to the self-ironic pop punk of the Vandals to take what would otherwise be a very crass pious thought and make it amusing, safe, and comforting.
A little levity for Pancake Day. Very solemn Ash Wednesday post will appear in the morning.
Some people are bad and they don't give a damn what they do or who they hurt
they go through their lives and don't apologize
for the stuff that they've disturbed
but they don't bother me at all
cuz i know quite well-
when they're lives are over and they're done what they've done
they're the people that are going to hell
they go through their lives and don't apologize
for the stuff that they've disturbed
but they don't bother me at all
cuz i know quite well-
when they're lives are over and they're done what they've done
they're the people that are going to hell
A little levity for Pancake Day. Very solemn Ash Wednesday post will appear in the morning.
December 8, 2009
Tim Dolan on the Immaculate Conception
Last night, on the vigil of the Immaculate Conception, here in the Yonkers vicariate of the Archdiocese of New York, we had our official visit by our new archbishop, who came to offer Mass with his priests, deacons, and people in the mother church of Yonkers, dedicated to Mary under that same title.
Archbishop Dolan gave a homily that was at once encouraging, entertaining, scriptural, good catechesis, and included a vocal solo.
Our first parents, though they had been given everything, refused divine love through disobedience and said "no" to God. After that God could have said to them, literally, "go to hell." But He didn't. Instead, our God is so good and so generous that He "won't take no for an answer." God refused to take our 'no' as a final response. So, as soon as our first parents had sinned, God began to sing a song...
And so began the long Advent, the long wait for the Savior. God prepared the New Eve to be the mother of this New Adam, and her fiat, her "let it be done to my according to your word," became the 'yes' that reversed the 'no' of our first parents. How was she able to make such a total assent to the work of God within her? She had been preserved from the corruption of sin from the first moment of her conception, making her free to conceive the Word of God in all spiritual freedom.
Our God won't take 'no' for an answer, and he takes the 'yes' of sinless Mary as the beginning of the new creation. Amen.
It was an enjoyable and encouraging evening. I'm happy for the Archdiocese of New York, and I offered the Mass for the ministry of our new Archbishop. May God furnish him with every good gift and grace and he bears the burden of shepherd and teacher.
_______________________________
Extra feast day credit for mendicants and mendicant sympathizers: Anybody care to rehearse St. Thomas's trouble with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (see ST 3,27,2) and/or describe how it might be used as a reductio ad absurdum for the implicit Christology above? What then is the alternative?
Archbishop Dolan gave a homily that was at once encouraging, entertaining, scriptural, good catechesis, and included a vocal solo.
Our first parents, though they had been given everything, refused divine love through disobedience and said "no" to God. After that God could have said to them, literally, "go to hell." But He didn't. Instead, our God is so good and so generous that He "won't take no for an answer." God refused to take our 'no' as a final response. So, as soon as our first parents had sinned, God began to sing a song...
And so began the long Advent, the long wait for the Savior. God prepared the New Eve to be the mother of this New Adam, and her fiat, her "let it be done to my according to your word," became the 'yes' that reversed the 'no' of our first parents. How was she able to make such a total assent to the work of God within her? She had been preserved from the corruption of sin from the first moment of her conception, making her free to conceive the Word of God in all spiritual freedom.
Our God won't take 'no' for an answer, and he takes the 'yes' of sinless Mary as the beginning of the new creation. Amen.
It was an enjoyable and encouraging evening. I'm happy for the Archdiocese of New York, and I offered the Mass for the ministry of our new Archbishop. May God furnish him with every good gift and grace and he bears the burden of shepherd and teacher.
_______________________________
Extra feast day credit for mendicants and mendicant sympathizers: Anybody care to rehearse St. Thomas's trouble with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (see ST 3,27,2) and/or describe how it might be used as a reductio ad absurdum for the implicit Christology above? What then is the alternative?
August 25, 2009
Woe To Me
Words from Jesus like those in the gospel for today scare me:
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23: 23-36)
If I were to die later on this morning, it would not surprise me one bit to find myself at my particular judgment and hear similar words. 'Woe to you, Charles, you hypocrite. You are careful to observe rubrics and prepare marriage and baptism paperwork but have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment, mercy, and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others...you cleanse the vessels in the sacristy and neatly set ribbons in breviaries but inside you are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind friar, cleanse and set up the inside first, so that the outside also may be clean.'
Maybe the problem isn't that I'm scared, but that I'm not scared enough. To achieve a salutary fear should be the goal, so that the Lord's words would literally scare the hell out of me.
July 30, 2009
Limbo?
Another of the friars and I were talking about limbo, the idea that there is some kind of eschatological destiny that corresponds to perfect natural happiness for the human person. This is opposed, of course, to the idea of heaven, which is perfect supernatural happiness.
At certain points in the history of Christian theological reflection, limbo served as a solution to two theological problems. First, where did the patriarchs, prophets, and righteous people of God of the old covenants await the resurrection they would receive in Christ? This is the so-called limbo of the fathers. Second, what becomes of infants who do not receive baptism through no fault of their own? Certainly God would not deny them a happy destiny! So perhaps there is a state on the "border" or limbus of hell, that corresponds to natural fulfillment, short of the supernatural fulfillment of heaven. This seems to have been the view of St. Thomas, though we have to say that Thomas was not always real good on eschatology; after all he didn't really want to accept the Immaculate Conception. And oh yes, the Immaculate Conception is a doctrine about eschatology and ultimate destiny.
Now folks will point out, quite correctly, that we don't talk about limbo anymore. Indeed, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, when it faces the question of unbaptized infants doesn't mention it all but holds out a well-founded and confident hope for their highest salvation.
But this doesn't mean that there is no such thing as limbo; doctrine is accurate to Truth, but it does not exhaust Truth. This is especially true when we are talking about something as difficult as the Last Things. Limbo remains a theological possibility. There are other things like this, theological possibilities that we don't talk about or teach because they are too unsure. For another example, I think it's entirely theologically possible that two or three presbyters (i.e. priests who aren't bishops) could ordain a layman a deacon, or ordain a deacon a priest. But we can't be so sure about this, so we don't put the validity of sacramental ministry in danger by doing such a thing.
For me, I don't have a problem accepting the idea of limbo. To me it sounds pretty good: a state of eternal, perfect happiness on the natural level for those who were denied baptism of water, desire, or blood through no fault of their own. It's not the perfect supernatural happiness of heaven which we begin to live in baptism, but it doesn't sound so bad.
At certain points in the history of Christian theological reflection, limbo served as a solution to two theological problems. First, where did the patriarchs, prophets, and righteous people of God of the old covenants await the resurrection they would receive in Christ? This is the so-called limbo of the fathers. Second, what becomes of infants who do not receive baptism through no fault of their own? Certainly God would not deny them a happy destiny! So perhaps there is a state on the "border" or limbus of hell, that corresponds to natural fulfillment, short of the supernatural fulfillment of heaven. This seems to have been the view of St. Thomas, though we have to say that Thomas was not always real good on eschatology; after all he didn't really want to accept the Immaculate Conception. And oh yes, the Immaculate Conception is a doctrine about eschatology and ultimate destiny.
Now folks will point out, quite correctly, that we don't talk about limbo anymore. Indeed, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, when it faces the question of unbaptized infants doesn't mention it all but holds out a well-founded and confident hope for their highest salvation.
But this doesn't mean that there is no such thing as limbo; doctrine is accurate to Truth, but it does not exhaust Truth. This is especially true when we are talking about something as difficult as the Last Things. Limbo remains a theological possibility. There are other things like this, theological possibilities that we don't talk about or teach because they are too unsure. For another example, I think it's entirely theologically possible that two or three presbyters (i.e. priests who aren't bishops) could ordain a layman a deacon, or ordain a deacon a priest. But we can't be so sure about this, so we don't put the validity of sacramental ministry in danger by doing such a thing.
For me, I don't have a problem accepting the idea of limbo. To me it sounds pretty good: a state of eternal, perfect happiness on the natural level for those who were denied baptism of water, desire, or blood through no fault of their own. It's not the perfect supernatural happiness of heaven which we begin to live in baptism, but it doesn't sound so bad.
June 19, 2009
Quodlibets and Curly Fries
We don't have a formal meal on Friday evenings, and there was nothing else going on, so tonight I went to the senior friars' home for supper.
It was quite the scene. Over their standard Friday supper of fish sticks and curly fries--they're real Catholics--the brethren were having an elaborate discussion about the eternal destiny of Judas Iscariot.
The questions at hand:
1. Is it possible that Judas could be saved?
2. Is final impenitence really possible?
3. Is it a pious and fitting thought to imagine that there are perhaps no human souls in hell?
4. Is it likewise pious and fitting to expect to meet Judas in heaven?
5. If someone were to meet Judas in heaven, what would we say to him?
The conversation self-destructed fairly quickly, but was nonetheless entertaining.
I'll put my contentions in the comment box, just to keep the post clean.
It was quite the scene. Over their standard Friday supper of fish sticks and curly fries--they're real Catholics--the brethren were having an elaborate discussion about the eternal destiny of Judas Iscariot.
The questions at hand:
1. Is it possible that Judas could be saved?
2. Is final impenitence really possible?
3. Is it a pious and fitting thought to imagine that there are perhaps no human souls in hell?
4. Is it likewise pious and fitting to expect to meet Judas in heaven?
5. If someone were to meet Judas in heaven, what would we say to him?
The conversation self-destructed fairly quickly, but was nonetheless entertaining.
I'll put my contentions in the comment box, just to keep the post clean.
June 6, 2008
Culture of Death
This is honestly one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. The drivers who hit the poor man just drove off. Others drove around him and kept going. Finally the cops happen by and do something.
I don't see how anyone can say that there isn't something fundamentally wrong with our culture. Our willingness to live with abortion, poverty, execution, and illegal wars waged on false pretenses have damaged our perception and consciences to the point where we are able to ignore the immediate need and suffering of a human life right in our path.
How can our world be converted to the path of putting some value on human life?
April 4, 2007
Spy Wednesday
Holy Wednesday, Spy Wednesday, or Ugly Wednesday; whatever you call it, today is the day we recall the conspiracy instigated by Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus into the custody of the priestly authorities.
He's definitely one of the most mysterious characters in the Scriptures. One the one hand, via the criterion of embarrassment, that Jesus was betrayed to the authorities by one of his own disciples is probably one of the most sure things in the New Testament we can claim really happened. But why did he do it?
Was it really just malice or greed? Did he believe he was accelerating the process of the kingdom of God by precipitating a confrontation between Jesus and the Romans? Given that it was Jesus' destiny to suffer his Passion, was Judas just doing a dirty job that only he was strong enough to do, as in Kazantzakis' Last Temptation of Christ? Was he just a mediator in a prisoner exchange that was supposed to take place anyway, given the incident with the money-changers and the purification of the Temple? And, finally, if the arrest, Passion, and ignoble death of Jesus was his divine destiny from the beginning, how can Judas be faulted?
There are no anti-canonizations. That is to say, though the Church proclaims saints definitively, those whom we can be sure are in heaven with God, the Church has never claimed that anybody at all went to hell for sure. So there's hope that even Judas is in heaven with the saints. And if it's so, he's one of the first people I look forward to talking to.
He's definitely one of the most mysterious characters in the Scriptures. One the one hand, via the criterion of embarrassment, that Jesus was betrayed to the authorities by one of his own disciples is probably one of the most sure things in the New Testament we can claim really happened. But why did he do it?
Was it really just malice or greed? Did he believe he was accelerating the process of the kingdom of God by precipitating a confrontation between Jesus and the Romans? Given that it was Jesus' destiny to suffer his Passion, was Judas just doing a dirty job that only he was strong enough to do, as in Kazantzakis' Last Temptation of Christ? Was he just a mediator in a prisoner exchange that was supposed to take place anyway, given the incident with the money-changers and the purification of the Temple? And, finally, if the arrest, Passion, and ignoble death of Jesus was his divine destiny from the beginning, how can Judas be faulted?
There are no anti-canonizations. That is to say, though the Church proclaims saints definitively, those whom we can be sure are in heaven with God, the Church has never claimed that anybody at all went to hell for sure. So there's hope that even Judas is in heaven with the saints. And if it's so, he's one of the first people I look forward to talking to.
December 1, 2006
Hell
You know it's the end of the liturgical year when you get readings like those of today.
The book of Revelation proclaims the role of hell in the last things:
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire.
(This pool of fire is the second death.)
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life
was thrown into the pool of fire.
Hell is primarily the destination of death itself, not of any of us.
The victory of Christ is not about sending any of us to hell, and indeed the church has never claimed for sure that anybody has even gone there, but consists primarily in sending death and hades themselves to hell.
The book of Revelation proclaims the role of hell in the last things:
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire.
(This pool of fire is the second death.)
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life
was thrown into the pool of fire.
Hell is primarily the destination of death itself, not of any of us.
The victory of Christ is not about sending any of us to hell, and indeed the church has never claimed for sure that anybody has even gone there, but consists primarily in sending death and hades themselves to hell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)