Saturday, July 30, 2011

"This is one truth that is necessary to recall often in these times.."

We know from Sacred Scripture that God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).  But this does not mean that all men will be saved.  Only that God desires it.  Cardinal Luciani, who would become Pope John Paul I, spoke these words after visiting with Sister Lucia of the Fatima apparitions: "Hell exists, and we could fall into it. At Fatima, Our Lady taught us this prayer: “O my Jesus, forgive us, deliver us from the fire of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.” There are important things in this world, but there is nothing more important than to merit Heaven by living well. It is not only Fatima that says so, but the Gospel: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)


Our priests are not, for the most part, speaking on Hell.  And this because many of them have lost their faith.  Some refuse to speak on Hell because they know full well that their actions merit such a punishment.  But the teaching of the Church is clear: "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: 'He who does not love remains in death.  Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.'  Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.  To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice.  This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called 'hell.'" (CCC, 1033).

Our Lady told Saint Jacinta, "The sins which lead the most souls to hell are sins of the flesh."  And Blessed Lucia once said, "Do not be surprised that I speak to you so much about hell.  This is one truth that is necessary to recall often in these times, because we forget that souls are falling into hell in droves."  If this truth is so necessary as Blessed Lucia said (and it is) all the more reason for our priests to speak on hell.  But there is only silence.

On July 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared to the three children at Fatima and Lucia described the event:

"She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me).


The demons were distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear.

We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly: 'You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.'"

Those of us who oppose the homosexual agenda within the Church are falsely accused of being "uncharitable" and "unloving."  But Saint Augustine writes, "...what God by His prophet has said of the everlasting punishment of the damned shall come to pass - shall without fail come to pass - 'their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.' In order to impress this upon us most forcibly, the Lord Jesus Himself, when ordering us to cut off our members, meaning thereby those persons whom a man loves as the most useful members of his body, says, 'It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched.'" (City of God, p. 778, Modern Library edition).

Souls go to hell because they freely choose not to love God.  Our Lord Jesus said that if we love Him we will keep His commandments (John 14:15).  There are many today who do not want to hear this message.  And so our priests refuse to speak on hell.  This silence is damnable.  Our Lady told Fr. Stefano Gobbi of the Marian Movement of Priests that, "The cause of such a vast diffusion of errors and of this great apostasy rests with unfaithful pastors. They remain silent when they should speak with courage to condemn error and to defend the truth. They do not intervene when they should be unmasking the rapacious wolves who, hidden beneath the clothing of lambs, have insinuated themselves into the flock of Christ. They are mute dogs who allow their flocks to be torn to pieces...."

Mute dogs who allow rapacious wolves to tear their flocks to pieces.  Strong words indeed.  But true.


5 comments:

Betty said...

Thanks for posting on the Fatima message again Paul. You're right. We need so desperately to hear this truth. God bless!

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

"Sophisticated Catholics," those enamored with their own "intelligence," will no doubt scoff at the Fatima message Betty. Such people believe that if Hell exists it is empty or nearly so. The sin of presumption has infected large segments of the Church today.

Anonymous said...

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

Anonymous said...

Have you read a new book on Catholic Prophecy called Unveiling the Apocalypse by Emmett O'Regan? It covers a broad range of subjects ranging from the number of the beast and the abomination of desolation, to Fatima, La Salette and Fr Gobbi. It's a very good read and unlike Yves Dupont's Catholic Prophecy or Desmond Birch's Trial, Tribulaiton & Triumph, it lists all of the original sources of a number of prophecies - so it is useful for research purposes as well.

Anonymous said...

Paul, I am always thrill when someone review Our lady of Fatima, what I don't know and which I would want to know are two suject here, Is Sister Lucia or Lucy the same person as Blessed Lucia and is Blessed Jacinta now Saint Jacinta? please kindly let me know.

PAX
MikeB

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