The Reality of Hell

“The national anthem of hell is, I Did It My Way ”

— Peter Kreeft

The doctrine of hell is not just some dusty, theological holdover from the unenlightened Middle Ages. It has significant consequences. Without ultimate justice, people’s sense of moral obligation dissolves; social bonds are broken. People who have no fear of God soon have no fear of man.

June Used to Be Devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus...

It was also the month of weddings and Father's Day as Robert Knight points out in his column yesterday. What does it stand for now in this age of secular wokism?

What Will Be Your Last Words?

If you were the bug in that chicken's mouth what would be your last words?

Browsing my email this morning, I came across a headline asking, "What will be your last words?" I didn't read the article, a sermon for the feast of St. Lawrence. I've avoided the author for years after his severe criticism of home schooling parents. 

Sunday Meditation: A Reminder of Death and Judgment

 I think it was St. Robert Bellarmine who said priests should preach on the four last things at least once a month. Pondering on death and judgment, heaven or hell, has a way of focusing the mind. What’s really important in this life after all? It’s to live in a way that leads us to our God-ordained destiny. As the old Baltimore Catechism put it. “God made us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world so we can be happy with Him in the next.” The big question is, “How am I doing, Lord?” The answer points to our final destination.

Reflecting on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven or Hell

November is the month that Holy Mother Church focuses on the "four last things" -- death, judgment, heaven, or hell. I confess as I move closer to my 70th birthday I think about death more frequently. Not in a morbid sense at all, but in a realistic one.

I'm a practical person and realize that one of us, my husband or myself, will be left to deal with the death of the other. And so we've been talking about how we can make that painful ordeal easier for the surviving spouse. After we prayed a rosary in a local cemetery on All Souls Day, wee talked about buying burial plots now and perhaps planning our funeral Masses.

Do These Two Things Every Day if You Want to Go to Heaven!

St. Robert Bellarmine preached on hell.

Do you want to go to heaven? There are two things that will help you make that goal: love God and meditate on the four last things: death judgment, heaven or hell.

 First, as St. John Bosco always told his boys, "Love God!" Isn't that the same thing Jesus told anyone who asked Him about the most important commandments? "The first is this: Love God with your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole soul, and your whole strength!"

But what does that mean? What is love? So many people say they love this or that. Certainly many people love their gadgets. They put their entire heart, soul, mind, and strength into playing games and expanding their list of friends. They spend most waking hours glued to their Ipads, Iphones, and computers. That's where they invest the most time and energy. How many are chasing Pokemon right now? Is he a little god to be pursued and followed and "loved?" How many are addicted zombie-like to their little boxes? Are these gadgets the new gods seducing us?