Canadians deserting the faith

It was Frank Bigeart who reminded us that, "..if freedom of choice is, as we believe it to be, an integral part of man's human nature, then it would seem that unless God takes away that freedom, unless, that is to say, man's nature is to be fundamentally changed, such a loss at least seems possible.  So long, therefore, as man is a free agent he must be free to reject the sovereignty of God; and God will not compel him to accept it.  Man can fight his own perfection.  He can deliberately choose to remain outside the love of God....That this power of choice may be lost, and lost forever, is, in part at least, that which underlies the doctrine of Hell.  The will can be fixed in antagonism to God."

And what is the price of love rejected?  What is Hell?  Fyodor Dostoevski provides an answer: "What is hell?  It is the suffering that comes from being unable to love.  Once in an infinite existence that cannot be measured in time or space, a spiritual creature, appearing on earth, was given the ability to say, 'I am, and I love.'  Once, and only once, he was given a moment of active, living love, and it was for that that he received earthly life with its temporal limitations.  But that happy being did not appreciate and welcome the priceless gift; he rejected it, looking at it perversely and unmoved.  He goes loveless before God to draw near to those who have loved when he has despised their love...They cursed God in life and now they are themselves accursed.  They feed on their malignant pride like a man starving in the desert who sucks blood from his own veins.  But they can never have enough, never and they spurn forgiveness, cursing the God Who called them.  They cannot look upon the Living God without hating Him and they wish that the God of Life could be no more, that He would destroy Himself and all His Creation.  They will burn eternally in the flames of their own rage, longing for death and nothingness.  But there will be no death for them."

This is the fate of those who spurn God and His Law of Love.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church warns that, "We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love Him.  But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against Him, against our neighbor or against ourselves.." (1033).  How many have forgotten this truth?  Even within the Church.  And so, fornication is justified, abortion is justified, homosexuality and contraception are justified, deserting the sacraments is rationalized away: "I might not go to Mass but I'm basically a good person."  And yet, Our Lord assured us that unless we eat His Body and drink His Blood, we would have no life in us. 

The door of Hell is locked not from without but from within.  The self-will which ultimately leads to Hell manifests itself in this life.  God and neighbor are spurned.  And with the saddest of consequences.