Monday, July 15, 2013

I know this is not exactly "Modernly-Catholically-Politically Correct"...




But it's about salvation.
Lord, are there few that are saved? But he said to them: Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I tell you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. - Luke 13:23-24
The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be! - St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori  
The greater part of men will set no value on the blood of Christ, and will go on offending Him. - St. Isidore of Seville  
All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost. [...] In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect. - St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori 
Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter. - St. John Mary Vianney  


The Remedy: On Promoting Devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This Blood, when worthily received, drives away demons and puts them at a distance from us, and even summons to us angels and the Lord of angels. . . This Blood, poured out in abundance, has washed the whole world clean. . . This is the price of the world; by it Christ purchased the Church... This thought will check in us unruly passions. How long, in truth, shall we be attached to present things? How long shall we remain asleep? How long shall we not take thought for our own salvation? Let us remember what privileges God has bestowed on us, let us give thanks, let us glorify him, not only by faith, but also by our very works. [14] 
If only Christians would reflect more frequently on the fatherly warning of the first pope: "Look anxiously, then, to the ordering of your lives while your stay on earth lasts.
You know well enough that your ransom was not paid in earthly currency, silver or gold; it was paid in the precious blood of Christ; no lamb was ever so pure, so spotless a victim."[15] If only they would lend a more eager ear to the apostle of the Gentiles: "A great price was paid to ransom you; glorify God by making your bodies the shrines of his presence."[16] Their upright lives would then be the shining ex ample they ought to be; Christ's Church would far more effectively fulfill its mission to men. God wants all men to be saved,[17] for he has willed that they should all be ransomed by the Blood of his only-begotten Son; he calls them all to be members of the one Mystical Body whose head is Christ. If only men would be more responsive to these promptings of his grace, how much the bonds of brotherly love among individuals and peoples and nations would be strengthened. Life in society would be so much more peaceable, so much worthier of God and the human nature created in his image and likeness. - John XXIII 
 

8 comments:

  1. The crown of thorns that surrounds the Sacred Heart represents the indifference of the world.

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  2. I've seen that site you link to before. I'm not saying those quotes of the saints are false, but that site is not reliable in general:

    http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=2532&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=1064317

    In other areas of that site, they say unbaptized babies suffer the fires of Hell. Recent popes have not been in agreement with that statement at all. This site seems to almost relish despair.

    Just trying to keep you from sending Mercury into a tailspin.

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    1. Poor Merc - I hope he avoids it - the post I mean. I didn't check out the rest of the site - thanks for the heads up, I'll cut the link. The quotes I used seem to be substantiated - there were others I had never heard before.

      Thanks CK.

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  3. Haha thanks guys. I do often get worked up about how the saints are almost unanimous in thinking 99% go to hell. I pray for my friends, but do I really have hope for them? Not much.

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    1. Among the saints I see very little reason to hope for those who I know have died without the sacraments, for example. Why even begin to hope for them when there are some saints saying that literally 99% will burn in hellfire forever? The likelihood that many people I know who have died are in hell with no hope, or that the majority of my fiends will die and be condemned, perhaps even my family, seems very high indeed.

      And what are we to make of the writings of John Paul II, or Benedict XVI in "Spe Salvi"? Why do men like Fr. Groeschel, who I think is a login saint, have so much hope for so many, when the saints saw the masses being damned?

      And there so seem to be VERY few saints who did not believe almost everyone goes to hell. Forever. Wouldn't this mean that the path of moral rigorism and total scrupulosity is the way to go?

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    2. Merc - don't get murky. I only posted this for homosexuals.

      What?

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    3. Hahaha. No, it was funny.

      Plus, no one is responsible for my fears and neuroses but me.

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