Nice Guys Go to Heaven?

What is going to happen to me when I die? Am I going to heaven or hell? If I do no harm to other people, will I go to heaven? The answer is in this week's readings.*

Reading 1
Ez 34:11-12, 15-17

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.

As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD,
I will judge between one sheep and another,
between rams and goats.

Help For the Lost and Scattered

The first reading tells us about God and about us. Have you ever felt like you were in a "cloudy, dark place? We've all been there. God says in this reading that he is well aware of our suffering. He knows that we are lost. He knows that we have strayed. All we have to do is look at our lives and we will be reminded that WE HAVE STRAYED. We are injured. We are sick! So, in this reading, we are reminded of our condition particularly in the spiritual sense.

And what to do we learn about God in this reading? I think the most powerful words here are "I MYSELF". "I MYSELF will look after...... I MYSELF will pasture... I MYSELF will give......" .

As Christians, we are so blessed to know what was meant by God in this reading by the prophet Ezekiel. God literally came "himself" and his name is Jesus, the only begotten Son. He is begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. This is what God meant in this reading by, "I myself". So we are reminded of our need for God in the first reading, and of how much God loves us. He came down to Earth to shepherd us.


Reading II
1 Cor 15:20-26, 28

Brothers and sisters:
Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order:
Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
then comes the end,
when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father,
when he has destroyed every sovereignty
and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
When everything is subjected to him,
then the Son himself will also be subjected
to the one who subjected everything to him,
so that God may be all in all.

More commentary after the Gospel.

Gospel
Mt 25:31-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
'Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."

A Shepherd Who is Also King And Judge

Both the 2nd reading and Gospel speak of Jesus as King, In the 2nd reading, Paul says that he reigns. We don't usually picture a shepherd who "sits upon his glorious throne" and "reigns". His title of shepherd tells us of his kindness and compassion towards us. His title of "King of the Jews" speaks of his power over all things. John 5:22 says the Father "has given all judgment to the Son". John 5:27 continues, "he [the Father] gave him the power to exercise judgment."

So Jesus is the compassionate shepherd and he is also the judge. Even in his judgment he is loving. Any loving parent warns his child not to touch the stove or to put their hands in electrical outlets. Just the same, Jesus wants us to go to heaven which is why he says, I myself will "seek you out" (1st reading).He seeks us out, and protects us.

Like a loving parent, Jesus warns us about judgment. Many of us think that if we don't hurt anybody, we will go to heaven. But in this Gospel, Jesus calls the act of ignoring our "least brothers" EVIL. He calls the ones who ignore the less fortunate, evildoers.

It's time for me to ask myself a couple of questions. When is the last time I gave money to the poor? When is the last time I visited someone who was suffering and alone?

These wretched conditions in the gospel (alone, hurt, in need) sound familiar don't they? Weren't we just reminded in the first reading of how WE suffer from these things and how God has come to help us? That's right, God asks us to do what he himself does to us.

Once again, God tells us the truth about heaven and hell not for the sake of being mean to us. He tells us because he is INVITING us to imitate him. He wants us to love like he does in the 1st reading. It is our job to seek out people in need. If we don't try to love as God has loved us, we willingly refuse the LOVE (the invitation) of God. In failing to love one another, we willingly refuse God himself and accept hell instead (CCC 679). God loves us too much to let us put our fingers in the electric outlet. He wants us to go to heaven. He tells us we cannot get into heaven without loving the least of our brothers.

God loves us.

*salvation comes from faith in Jesus Christ and baptism. (CCC 1987) After baptism we can lose the grace we receive by committing serious sin. This week's readings focus on life after baptism. After baptism, it is absolutely necessary to help those in need if we want to enter heaven.

Real Life


This video features a homeless man I met. He lives in Charlotte, NC. The video shows some people I filmed serving the Lord.



Responsorial Psalm
Ps 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6

R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

"Life's Not Fair. Is God Fair?" - God's Gifts To Us

This week's commentary is a message of God's incredible love. There is an uplifting story at the end. There is commentary after the 1st reading only.

Reading 1
Ez 18:25-28

Thus says the LORD:
You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!"
Hear now, house of Israel:
Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?
When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies,
it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.
But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed,
he does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;
since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed,
he shall surely live, he shall not die.

In this reading, God is talking about death. It's clear that he is not talking about mortal death, because regular mortal death is something that happens to everyone. Eternal death relates to heaven and hell. Regarding THIS subject, people 2000 years ago and people today complain that there is a heaven and hell. Whether we like it or not, heaven and hell both exist. Most people believe in heaven, but less people believe in hell.

Here virtue is discussed. But what is virtue? Virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good.1 In other words, virtue is a natural inclination to do good. This is God's gift to us.

The first reading talks about how a man turns away from virtue and then dies. Where does virtue come from? Virtue comes from God. God gives us 3 virtues as a grace to us and for his glory. They are faith, hope, and charity. These cannot be earned, they are given to us by God and we have the choice to use these gifts, or to refuse and destroy them.

Charity


God has instilled in us charity. Charity is the inclination towards “loving God above all other things for God’s sake and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God”. Some people think that we humans are evolved from apes and that we developed purely out of chance. Evolutionists assert that we are just a masses of cells moving around the planet. If I am just a mass of cells, then why do I feel like I should be nice to everyone? Why do I feel bad when I mistreat people? Why do I feel bad when I mistreat myself? The answer is that God has instilled in me (and you) the inclination towards loving God above all other things for God's sake and my neighbor as myself for love of God. That's why we feel remorse and envy, whereas ladybugs cannot. Sometimes we act charitably towards others. In those tiny moments of charity, we are given a glimpse of how God loves. Charity is one God-given virtue that "someone turns away from" in the first reading. God gives us the gift of charity, and we often reject it, or refuse to use it.

Hope

God has also given us the virtue of hope. Through hope, we desire the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life as our happiness and we put our trust in Christ.2 Hope sustains us because hoping and trusting in God does not result in disappointment.4 God keeps his promises. Hoping in God gives us joy even when we are suffering difficulties. It's just like a man who loves his family immensely. He can still smile after a terrible day at work. Hope is a precious gift from God.

Every person wants hope. When asking someone how they are doing, have you ever heard them say, "same old crap, it's just a different day"? We all need hope and we all want something to hope in. God has already infused this hope in us at baptism. Shall we waste it, or use it? Another important note: our hope is nourished through prayer. Just like the wife who misses her husband- her hope is nourished when she hears his voice over the phone. Her hope is restored even though she misses him. We must pray if want something to hope in. If that prayer is to God we have something even better: some-ONE to hope in. He doesn't disappoint. Hope is a gift from God.

Faith

God has given us the natural inclination to "believe in everything that he has said and revealed to us, and everything that Holy Church proposes for our belief."3 You can see this in children. They have not yet sinned against their faith, so they believe everything that their loving parents tell them. Sooner or later, the parents (unlike God)are not 100% truthful to their children, so the children have difficulty believing. We all have faith until we sin against it. Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin had faith, until they sinned against it. Just like everything else in life, God gives us the choice to refuse him so that we can also have the choice to choose him willingly. Just like charity and hope, every person wants faith. Everyone wants to believe in something. That may explain why most people in the world believe in God even though they have never seen him. It seems illogical to believe in something you can't see. Yet,the reason why we have faith is that God wrote that desire in our hearts because he loves us. God completes that desire to know him when he gives us faith at baptism. Faith is a tremendous gift because if God did not give us faith, we would never know him- and how tragic would that be? Most people believe in the God they cannot see because he gave us that desires to kno him as a gift to us.

The Reason For the Gifts

These virtues God has given us. 2nd Peter 1:4 says, "he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature". So, through baptism, God has given us faith, hope, and charity, so that we can be and love like him. Think of Jesus on the cross. He has been abandoned by his friends, he is humiliated by spectators. He has nails in his hands and feet. But, because Jesus has faith, he believes that God will offer salvation to all of God's lowly people, so Jesus remains on the cross. Jesus has perfect faith. Because Jesus has hope, he knows that heaven is just around the corner, so he suffers without complaint even though it hurts like crazy. Because Jesus has charity,he thinks only of forgiving the people who had tortured him as well as the thief next to him.

Jesus is a very good person. We love him and we wish that we could be more like him. Isn't that what all of our heroes are made of? Our heroes are often men and women who sacrifice of themselves for the benefit of the less fortunate or for the sake of goodness even though the world hates and kills them for it. And so, God wants us to share in his great love and to be just like him. He gives us hope, faith, and charity that is necessary. In this reading, the Lord says, "When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies,it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die." We know very well that God has given us everything. He has given us faith, hope, and charity. If we refuse these things, we will surely die. Because they come from Jesus "the vine", the branches cannot survive without the vine. So if we sin against our faith and refuse God's virtues, not only will we die, but we will choose an eternity in hell with the same God who offers us life eternal.

How to Practice Virtue

We musn't be afraid to hear this. We must take courage. Is God not telling us what he desires for us through his gifts? His gifts tell us that he desires each one of us to be in heaven with him.

* Faith- In order to keep it, we must not sin against it. If we have sinned against our faith (we always do), we must quit that sin and go to confession.

* Hope- In order to maintain our hope, we must pray. Praying 30 seconds before each meal is not enough. If prayer time was listed on your phone bill, would God be the most contacted person? Or would it be your boyfriend, or best friend? Would Jesus even be ON your phone bill? We must pray constantly and God will nourish the hope he has already given us.

* Charity- In order to persevere in charity, we must be loving to our enemies. That means we have to love people who hate us and we even have be loving towards people who ANNOY the heck out of us (especially those people). Jesus loved those hard-headed annoying apostles, so he wants us to do the same.

Real Life

Since I left missionary work, I've been looking for a job. I believed from the beginning that God would find a job that HE wanted for me. I believed that God would give me a sign when the right job came along. As decision time approached, I prayed even more for God's help especially in making a decision. I made the decision about which job to take just recently. This past week, I had interviewed with a lady. She sent me an email a day later which said,"Something interesting happened after I dropped you off [at airport]. I kept thinking about this would work out so I started working on straightening out some really old files which are pertinent to [the job]. In the card I sent you something that I found in those files."

This morning, I received her card in the mail. Inside was a greeting card with 3 napkins inside. On these napkins was my name in bronze-colored embossing. For some reason, in the file cabinet related to the job, she found 3 napkins with my name on them right after the interview. She wrote in her card, "I hope Chicago*[she knew I had an interview with another company the same week] is pleasant. But, I really hope and pray that Detroit*[the city where her company is] is calling you." I smiled when I saw this and then I went to my bedroom.

When I got there, I was filled with this incredible feeling of warm and perfect love. I believe that God was reminding me which job he wanted me to take. But this feeling would not go away and I started to get emotional. Even though I know God loves me, I kept wandering "why do you love me so much Lord?" So I dropped to my knees in tears and told God, "I love you, I love you, I love you. Thank you, thank you, thank you." I thought of Jesus asking Peter if he loved Jesus. Then I thought of the 3 napkins in the letter. I thought of faith, hope, and charity, and I thought of the 3 napkins. I thought of God's incredible faithfulness. Not only did he want to communicate to ME which job to take, he wanted to communicate it to my future boss as well! When this happened, I saw in my mind God (with a white beard) embracing me. I felt as though God was hugging me. I felt as though I was in his presence. Before his immense glory and love, I felt very, very small and I wondered: "Why does he love us so much?" If you ever wondered if God cares about your job, he does. He cares about everything you do. God loves us!



*This picture was taken on 9-27-08. These are not the true city names.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

R. (6a) Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not;
in your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.

Reading II
Phil 2:1-11 or 2:1-5

Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also for those of others.

Have in you the same attitude
that is also in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel
Mt 21:28-32

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people:
"What is your opinion?
A man had two sons.
He came to the first and said,
'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
He said in reply, 'I will not, '
but afterwards changed his mind and went.
The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, ‘but did not go.
Which of the two did his father's will?"
They answered, "The first."
Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you,
tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness,
you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that,
you did not later change your minds and believe him."

1- CCC 1803
2- CCC 1817
3- CCC 1814
4- Romans 5:5

"There IS a Hell and It's Not Empty!" #21

This weeks' reading speak of judgment, hell, and forgiveness. There is commentary following the 1st Reading AND the Gospel.

Reading 1
Wis 12:13, 16-19

There is no god besides you who have the care of all,
that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.
For your might is the source of justice;
your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.
For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved;
and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,
and with much lenience you govern us;
for power, whenever you will, attends you.
And you taught your people, by these deeds,
that those who are just must be kind;
and you gave your children good ground for hope
that you would permit repentance for their sins.


1st Reading and Psalm -The Just Judge

The first reading describes God as lenient and talks about how he judges with lenience. Let's go through an exercise for a moment. Think of 3 really bad sins you have committed. Please do this now.

Example sins just to refresh your memory:

• Renouncing God, cursing God, involvement in other religions, denying your faith
• Sins against your parents
• Abortion, assault
• Sexual sin, adultery, pornography
• Stealing, lying

Right now, think of 3 really bad sins you have committed during your life.

Those sins were terrible weren't they? You probably don't want to commit them any more. Now after committing those sins, did God kill you? Probably not, since you are reading this. We should remember that at any time during our sins, God could have lost patience with us and just erased us from existence or sent us to hell. Yet, he hasn't done this yet. He hasn't done it yet, because he judges with leniency. As this week's Psalm says, God is "slow to anger".

The first reading reminds us that God has taught us by his deeds. God teaches us by example. He gives life to us despite that he has nothing to gain from it, rather he only wishes to share. By God's example of generosity, we know to help the poor man on the street even though we have very little to gain from it. God offers us forgiveness for our sins, and in doing so, he teaches us to forgive our friends, family, and even the biggest enemies of God.

Our Hope, His Loyalty, Our Prayers

The reading goes on to say that we have a reason for hope. Our hope is that we turn away from our sins. What this means is that although God is the almighty judge and he does punish sinfulness, he gives us easy access to hope. We can give up our sins and live in peace and love with him and the entire family of believers. Our hope is that we turn away from our sins and to God instead.

In this week's Psalm, David says that God is "abounding in fidelity". That means that God is loyal. How do we know that he is loyal? Again, we can look at the sins that we committed and the fact that God has not abandoned us. Like a faithful spouse of an faithful spouse, he wants us to remain together forever even though we offended him terribly. His mercy and generosity shows that he IS LOYAL forever.

This Psalm says that God is good and forgiving. David then asks God to hear (hearken) his prayer. Remember that our hope is that we repent (turn away) from our sins. When we do this, we must turn towards the Lord, because he is good and forgiving. Many of us turn to our friends when we screw up instead of God. We ask our friends to hear our stories in hope that they will agree with OUR side of the story. Instead of asking for forgiveness from God, we ask for sympathy from our pals and in doing so, we wallow in our sins and we ARE NOT forgiven. Instead of doing this, let's take our sins to God the way David did and receive the forgiveness that we need and hope in.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16

R. (5a) Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn toward me, and have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.

Reading II
Rom 8:26-27

Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
And the one who searches hearts
knows what is the intention of the Spirit,
because he intercedes for the holy ones
according to God's will.

Gospel
Mt 13:24-43 or 13:24-30

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him,
'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

He proposed another parable to them.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

He spoke to them another parable.
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."


Judgment

This gospel is VERY simple and straight to the point. In Jesus' parable, the children of the kingdom go to heaven, and the children of the evil one go to hell for eternity. Who are the children of the evil one? Jesus describes them as, "all who cause others to sin, and evildoers". Are we evildoers? Do we cause others to sin? I remember once before, I knew a girl who was using a guy for money. I advised her to get all she could get. I caused her to sin. In another example, a friend of mine advised his buddy that because he is extremely wealthy, he should not have a girlfriend. He then suggested that his buddy could have sex with lots of girls instead of having just one girlfriend.

Some people might say, "people have their own choice". But make no mistake, our friends and family listen to what we say. As an example, do you ever see certain movies because your friends recommend them? Have you ever visited a doctor or dentist because of someone's recommendation? Of course you have. Our words are POWERFUL enough to lead someone to heaven or hell. We should be more careful about what we say to others.

We cause others to sin all of the time, especially our best friends. We tell them to watch terrible television programs. We allow our children to do whatever they want! We sing songs that glorify sin!⁴ The singers of these anti-heaven songs are causing others to sin! According to Jesus, what happens to those who cause others to sin? THEY GO TO HELL!


God the Merciful Judge

We have to remember that as Catholics, we don't believe in just certain passages of the Bible, we believe in the whole thing. The whole message of the Bible indicates that although hell exists, God is merciful. God does not want us to go to hell. He leaves it up to us. Our hope is repentance, just as in the first reading. We believe that God is slow to anger and he is forgiving. Just look at the good thief whom Jesus forgave only moments before the thief's death. This thief admitted to committing a crime that deserved death. In America, almost all men who are executed are killed because they are either murderers or rapists. This thief committed terrible crimes and Jesus forgave him because the thief was sorry for what he had done. Remember that Peter sinned terribly against God by denying that he knew Jesus. Jesus' reaction was to forgive him. It's important to remember that although we CAN choose hell, it's not the choice that God wants for us.

Jesus Warns Us

On MANY occasions, Jesus warned people about the existence of hell and the road that leads to it. Some examples include:

• Matthew 5:22 - "Fiery Gehenna"
• Matthew 5:29 - "Your whole body thrown into Gehenna"
• Matthew 10:28 - "….both body and soul in Gehenna"
• Matthew 13:42 - "They will throw them into the fiery furnace"
• Mark 10: 45: "thrown into Gehenna"
• Matthew 22:15 - "into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."

Some people argue that God is loving and there is no hell. This argument is completely illogical and totally wrong. Just like the teaching of the Eucharist, the passion, and forgiveness, Jesus repeats his most important teachings. This warning about hell is an important teaching to Jesus and to us as well. In an act of love, Jesus warns his friends of danger. After all, a fake friend will pass his alcoholic friend a drink, while a real friend would knock the drink out of his friend's hands and then warn him about alcoholism. Just the same, Jesus loves us. He did not come to condemn us. He came to save us.²

Hope

In Matthew chapter 20, Jesus tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard. There are complaints when those who showed up at the last minute still got a full day's pay. Part of the message of this parable is this: even though we have all sinned, it is NEVER too late to say sorry to God and to turn away from sin. As David says in the psalm, giving us permission to turn away from sin, is "good ground for hope". Let's put our faith in Jesus, who came to save us.

The Point

• Despite years of sinning, God has not killed us. He wants to forgive us
• God is a generous, lenient judge. We can see this by looking at Jesus' life
• A huge source of hope is that we can turn away from sins and receive forgiveness
• We know that God is loyal because despite all we have done to offend him, he sticks with us to the end.
• We nudge our friends and family towards the path to hell with what we say to them
• Hell exists and God wants to warns us not to choose hell
• It is never too late to turn away from sins. As Catholics we believe that in order to go to hell, we have commit mortal (serious) sin and persist in it until the end.³ So, there is always hope and always an opportunity to be saved all the way until the end of our lives.

Real Life

I have mentioned this incident before, but I would like to tell this story in more detail.

About 6 months ago, I went to a Catholic retreat. There, I saw a priest with a huge beard who gave several talks. I was very intrigued by this man as soon as I saw him. There was something special about him, and I wanted to meet him. So, I waited in a long line for confession and there were 3 priests available to hear confessions. I made sure that I got to see the guy with the huge beard.

When I sat next to him and looked into his eyes, I felt like I was looking at Jesus. It wasn't just because the guy was a priest and he had a beard. As soon as I sat down with this man, I knew that he LOVED ME. I just knew it. It was radiating from his whole being. For a very brief instant, I was a little bit scared, because I felt like he could see my bad spiritual condition. But because of his love, I almost immediately felt total peace and comfort. I felt as though I could tell him anything.

After confessing about 3 really bad sins and telling him that I was ashamed of these sins, he said, "those are pretty big sins". I raised my eyebrow at that surprising comment. He went on to say, "those sins are like drops in the ocean of God's mercy. Listen to me very carefully, God is going to forgive you now for all of the sins you have ever committed. Do you understand I said, "yes". I closed my eyes and felt a light touch on my head. It felt very strange and tingly, so I peaked through my eyes and saw that the priest was not touching me. It was literally the hand of God touching my head! During the absolution it felt as though a mountain was being lifted off of my back. While my eyes were closed, I could see the ocean of mercy that the priest spoke of. It was incredible.

Before the retreat had started, I was hoping that God would speak to me regarding my vocation and the purpose that he had for me for my whole life. Rather than reveal that to me, God granted me forgiveness. It reminded me of the story of the healing of the crippled man in Mark 2:1-12. The man wanted to be healed of his condition. Jesus didn't say to the man, "I heal you in the name of God!" No, rather he said, "your sins are forgiven". He gave the man exactly what he NEEDED, not what he wanted. Just like the crippled man, God gave me EXACTLY what I NEEDED instead of what I wanted, and soon afterwards it was easier for me to walk the path God had for me, just like this crippled man

On this particular occasion with the huge-bearded priest, God gave me exactly what I needed and exactly what he wants to give to all of us. He wants us to have real HOPE that comes through turning away from sin (repentance)

God loves us!

=======================Mass Excitement #21=====================

1- there is no #1 sorry
2 - John 3:17
3 - CCC 1037
4- I was recently at an abortion "clinic" and one of the visitors drove off listening to a popular song called "promiscuous girl" in which the singers celebrate promiscuity.

"The Best Known Bible Passage" #7 From April 6, 2008

This week features the most well-known passage of the Bible- John 3:16. It is an awesome message. We will discuss his love, hell, and God’s mercy. The only commentary is after the Gospel.


Reading 1Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9


Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinaias the LORD had commanded him,taking along the two stone tablets.Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses thereand proclaimed his name, "LORD."Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,"The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord,do come along in our company.This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins,and receive us as your own."


Responsorial PsalmDn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56R. (52b) Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;And blessed is your holy and glorious name,praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.R. Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.R. Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.R. Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you who look into the depthsfrom your throne upon the cherubim,praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.R. Glory and praise for ever!


Reading II2 Cor 13:11-13


Brothers and sisters, rejoice.Mend your ways, encourage one another,agree with one another, live in peace,and the God of love and peace will be with you.Greet one another with a holy kiss.All the holy ones greet you.The grace of the Lord Jesus Christand the love of Godand the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.


GospelJn 3:16-18


God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perishbut might have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,but that the world might be saved through him.Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.


Gospel

God loved us so much that he sent his only Son so that if we believe in him we will not perish, but have eternal life. What does that mean? How is sending your son a sign of love?In order to answer these questions, we have to look at why God assumed human form (his only son). Why did he do that?

• God became flesh in order to rescue us.1 Think about your life for a moment. Have you committed serious sins? You probably have and I certainly have committed them as well. The worst part about these sins is that they hurt God. When you lie to someone, you are hurting that person, but even worse is the fact that you are offending and disobeying the God who created you and who loves you. So we have all screwed up. We need a savior. God recognized our terrible condition and sent his Son to rescue us.
  


• He came so that we might know how much he loves us. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is equivalent to the Father and they are one God. So it’s not like God sent a good friend of his down to us. He sent himself. He came down from heaven to walk the Earth with us! On your wedding day, do you want your best friend to be there? I do. At your deathbed, do you want your best friend to be there? Sure, why not? God wants to be there for us also, so he came to Earth to let us know that he loves us by being present with us-physically on Earth 2000 years ago, and physically now in the Eucharist.
  


• He came to be our role model. We have all heard that the best way to teach is by example. God walked the Earth and if we want to know how to live well, we only have to look at his life. Fortunately, his life was documented in great detail. What an opportunity we have to know in great detail how God lives and how he loves. We have a wonderful teacher. Jesus says, “love one another as I have loved you.”3 In other words, “you have seen how I love, all you have to do is copy me!” Pretty simple right? Because of his love for us, Jesus wanted to make it easy for us to understand him and how we should live.4

John 3:16 is the passage that we have seen at sporting events and it may be the most popular and best known verse of the Bible because it is so important. God shows that he loves us by giving his only son, so that we might not perish but have eternal life. If you look at the text above, you can see how loving it is of God to give his only Son and why God did it. He did it as a gift to us. The next part of the Gospel says that God “did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” We have just discussed how God sent his Son to save us. But why would anyone think that Jesus was sent to condemn us?

Chewing on Lead

When I was about 16 years old, I was hanging out with a friend of mine. Another kid from the neighborhood was with us. My friend and I had some lead pellets that were meant for an air rifle (BB gun). This other kid from the neighborhood “Ricky” grabbed one of the lead pellets and began to chew on it. I was very alarmed when he did that because the package said that “lead is a reproductive toxin and causes brain damage.” I said to Ricky, “you know that eating lead causes brain damage, don‘t you?” Then I told him to quit chewing on the lead. He got very defensive immediately. He said, “that’s not true”. Then Ricky told me that he chewed on lead all of the time. I felt sorry for him, but he seemed angry at me for bringing it up. I just wanted to warn him that he was hurting himself. I understand why Ricky was defensive. He had chewed on lead before and if he admitted that I was right, he had to admit the damage he had done to himself. It must have been upsetting to him. God also notices that we are “chewing on lead” when we sin. He knew 2000 years ago how in need we were, so he sent his only Son. Jesus came to baptize with “fire and water“ (Matt 3:11). The Holy Spirit is described as fire because of fire’s ability to change and to transform. Jesus wants to transform us, but he does this not to condemn us, but so that we can be saved. Jesus does not want us to sin because it damages not only our brains, but our souls. He came to save us, not to condemn us.

Here are some example scenarios in our lives today:

Me: I love my girlfriend and we are going to have sex.

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

Me: I am going to have an abortion. It is the right choice.

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

Me: My wife and I can’t get along, I want to get a divorce.

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

Me: I am rich! It’s time to live it up! Life is short, I wanna have as much fun as possible before I die! As for poor people, they need to get jobs!

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

God came to warn us and stop us from hurting ourselves. It’s painful to admit that we are wrong, but that’s the first step towards change.

Where is God?

My fellow missionaries and I often visit jail inmates. One common reason they give for not believing in God is that so many bad things have happened to them that they think that a good, loving God would not allow such things. In other words, God doesn’t exist because if he did, evil would not exist, nor go unpunished. Many of us have been hurt by rape, theft, murder, lies and other sins. WE WANT JUSTICE! In other words, we want wrong-doers to be punished! On the other hand, I often hear people say that if God was loving, there would be no hell. They ask, “How can God be good if there is a hell?”

Crazy Demands

Our demands of God are ridiculous when you think about it. On the one hand, we want punishment for wrong doers. On the other hand, we ARE the wrongdoers and we don’t want to be punished. How ridiculous we are! This reminds me of a child who wants to “have his cake and eat it”. It’s like the kid who wants to keep a dollar and also wants to spend it at the same time. In sin, we make these types of requests of God:

• Lord, I want unmarried sex with someone’s daughter, or son, but I don’t want responsibility


• 
  Lord, I want all the money I can get, but I don’t want to share.


• 
  Lord, I want people to be punished for wrongdoing, but don’t punish ME

Apparently, God is very patient with us, because if I were God, I would strike my creatures with lightning any time they made such stupid requests of me. But God does not strike us with lightning because of our sins (even though justice calls for it). He gives us chance after chance after chance in his infinite mercy. God “is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet 3:9) God “wills everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4).

Since we know God, in all of his beauty, we are called to spread the good news of his love. Like a loving parent who warns his kids not to cross the street without looking both ways, Jesus warns us of the dangers of hell.6 Do you believe EVERYTHING that Jesus says? He believes that hell exists.5 Do you? Our knowledge of hell is a call to conversion. Since we know that hell exists, we are supposed to do something about it. Some people know that driving drunk kills people and increases the cost of auto insurance by thousands yet they drink and drive anyway. Are we going to ignore the consequences of our sins in the same way a drunken driver ignores reality? Not only should we listen to Jesus, but we should follow his example. He warned others about hell, and so should we. When we see our relatives, friends, and co-workers inching towards hell, we should try to help them and if we can, we should try to save them.

When you go on a commercial flight, the flight attendant says that if they lose cabin pressure, oxygen masks will emerge. They tell you to put your mask on first before helping others. If not, the whole plane would soon be full of unconscious people. Just the same, we cannot “save our friends” if we don’t first follow God’s loving commandments first.

The Point

• God came to Earth in order to rescue us, to show us how much he loves us, and to be the ultimate role model for us to follow. This proves that “God so loved the world”


• Even though it hurts like a dental appointment, God points out our mistakes because he loves us


• Our loving God is a God of justice. He lets us choose every day whether we wish to go to heaven or hell. It is up to us.


• In our weakness, we want wrongdoers to be punished yet, we don’t want to be punished ourselves.


• God is patient with us. He gives us many chances to go back to him after we sin terribly.


• Jesus believes in hell and we should as well.


• Since we know there is a hell, we must live in such a way to avoid hell. We should help others to live good lives as well.

Real Life

This week, I made a general confession. I did so because St. Francis De Sales recommends that we do it in his book Introduction to Devout Life. Also, I trust the people who recommended this book to me. A general confession means that you tell the priest every sin that you’ve ever committed. It was extremely painful to write. In fact, the day I wrote most of it, I felt horrible and terribly ashamed. I wanted to be invisible for just one day so that no one would see me and know how terrible of a sinner I am. The day that I CONFESSSED these sins to a priest was different. I did feel shame and I shed some tears, but I started to feel better as I spoke to him. He reminded me that at anytime during my terribly sinful life, God could have killed me if he wanted to. Yet, he did not. The priest showed me that in confessing and remembering all of these sins, I was reminded of how much mercy God has on me. God is so good to me. Afterwards, I bowed my head and received God’s forgiveness- again. I have experienced 2 confessions in my life that I will never forget. In the first one, God literally put his hand on my head (I could feel it yet could not see it). In the second one, which took place this past week, the priest put his hand on my head and again, I felt that mountain of sin lift off of my back to replaced by God’s infinite mercy and love. It felt good. Truly, God wants to pat us on our sinful heads and say that, “he so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.”God is beautiful.

Originally written around April 7, 2008 and was entitled "Jesus vs. Lead"

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1- 1 Jn 4:10, 4:14, 3:5

2- 1 Jn 4:9

3- Jn 15:12

4- The entire first section on why God became flesh is nothing I came up with on my own. It is paraphrased from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 457-460.

5- Hell is punishment and the worst part of hell is separation from God. (CCC 1035) When we sin, we make a statement to God. Namely, we are saying, “I don’t trust you.” We don’t trust that Gods knows how we should live. We don’t trust him when he offers us protection from sin through obedience. We don’t trust him and therefore, we reject him. Hell is nothing more than a permanent state of that rejection of God. The sinner, who does not trust God during his life, gets to live in this self-chosen state for eternity.

6- Mat 5:22, 29; 10:28; 13:42, 50; Mk 9:43-48