The FEWness of the Saved
The Fewness of the Saved - It is not meant to depress, but to encourage us all to do better.
Yes, God is
merciful and forgiving, but
He is also just.
Lent is a time to
reconnect and take our faith seriously. To not be "lukewarm" as Jesus says in Revelation 3:16, "But
because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit
thee out of my mouth. "
The Saints took
their faith seriously and we admire them...and their
words... I pray to take these words seriously and to heart! THEY ARE A WAKE-UP CALL TO ME.
For many are
called but few are chosen. St. Mark 20:16
Lord, are there
few that are saved? But he (JESUS) said to them: Strive to enter by the
narrow gate; for many, I tell you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.St.
Luke 13:23-24
Enter ye in at the
narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and many there are who go in there at. How narrow is the gate and
how strait is the way that leads to life, and few there are that find it! St. Matthew 7:13-14
Be one of the
small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into
Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of
whom are lost. Do not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to
life and is narrow; the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no
middle way.
St. Louis
Marie de Montfort
How many souls
turn away from the road to glory, and go to hell! St. Francis Xavier -
INCORRUPT
There are many who
arrive at the faith, but few who are led into the heavenly kingdom. Behold how
many are gathered here for today's Feast-Day: we fill the church from wall to
wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen
company of the Elect? Pope
St. Gregory the Great
The greater number
of men still say to God: Lord we will not serve Thee; we would rather be slaves
of the devil, and condemned to Hell, than be Thy servants. Alas! The greatest
number, my Jesus - we may say nearly all - not only do not love Thee, but
offend Thee and despise Thee. How many countries there are in which there are
scarcely any Catholics, and all the rest either infidels or heretics! And all
of them are certainly on the way to being lost. St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori
A multitude of
souls fall into the depths of Hell, and it is of the faith that all who die in
mortal sin are condemned for ever and ever. According to statistics,
approximately 80,000 persons die every day. How many of these will die in
mortal sin, and how many will be condemned! For, as their lives have been, so
also will be their end. St.
Anthony Mary Claret
As a man lives, so
shall he die. St. Augustine
I had the greatest
sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell, [...] I saw souls
falling into hell like snowflakes. St. Teresa of Avila
The Lord called
the world a "field" and all the faithful who draw near to him
"wheat." All through the field, and around the threshing-floor, there
is both wheat and chaff. But the greater part is chaff; the lesser part is
wheat, for which is prepared a barn not a fire. [...] The good also are many,
but in comparison with the wicked the good are few. Many are the grains of
wheat, but compared with the chaff, the grains are few. St.
Augustine
The more the
wicked abound, so much the more must we suffer with them in patience; for on
the threshing floor few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the
piles of chaff burned with fire. Pope St. Gregory the Great
God wills all men
without exception to be saved, although not all men will be. Council
of Quercy
What do you think?
How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about
to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this
thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people
will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that! St.
John Chrysostom
Taking into
account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be
saved. Lucia of Fatima
So many people are
going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! So many people falling
into hell! Blessed Jacinta of Fatima
The perverse are
hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite.Ecclesiastes
1:15
The greater part
of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God.
St.
Alphonsus Maria Liguori
The number of the
damned is incalculable. St. Veronica Giuliani
What is the number
of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than
the damned! Alas! The greater portion of mankind lives in sin unto the devil,
and not unto Jesus Christ. O Saviour of the world, I thank Thee for having
called and permitted us to live in the true faith which the Holy Roman Catholic
Church teaches. [...] But alas, O my Jesus! How small is the number of those
who live in this holy faith! Oh, God! The greater number of men he buried in
the darkness of infidelity and heresy. Thou hast humbled Thyself to death, to
the death of the cross, for the salvation of men, and these ungrateful men are
unwilling even to know Thee. Ah, I pray Thee, O omnipotent God, O sovereign and
infinite Good, make all men know and love Thee! St. Alphonsus Maria
Liguori
I see around me a
multitude of those who, blindly persevering in error, despise the true God; but
I am a Christian nevertheless, and I follow the instruction of the Apostles. If
this deserves chastisement, reward it; for I am determined to suffer every
torture rather then become the slave of the devil. Others may do as they please
since they are [...] reckless of the future life which is to be obtained only
by sufferings. Scripture tells us that "narrow is the way that leads to
life" [...] because it is one of affliction and of persecutions suffered
for the sake of justice; but it is wide enough for those who walk upon it, because
their faith and the hope of an eternal reward make it so for them. [...] On the
contrary, the road of vice is in reality narrow, and it leads to an eternal
precipice. St. Leo of Patara
I was watching
souls going down into the abyss as thick and fast as snowflakes falling in the
winter mist. Blessed Benedict Joseph Labre
The majority of
men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by
righteousness and by every other virtue. St. Justin the Martyr
The majority of
souls appear before the Judgment empty-handed. They did nothing good for
eternity. Venerable Mary of Agreda
All infidels and
heretics are surely on the way to being lost. What an obligation we owe God!
for causing us to be born not only after the coming of Jesus Christ, but also
in countries where the true faith reigns! I thank Thee, O Lord, for this. Woe
to me if, after so many transgressions, it had been my fate to live in the
midst of infidels or heretics! St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori
Brethren, the just
man shall scarcely be saved. What, then, will become of the sinner?
St.
Arsenius
If the just man
shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly man and the sinner appear? I
St. Peter 1:18
I fear that Last
Day, that day of tribulation and anguish, of calamity and misery, of mist and
darkness, that Day on which, if the just have reason to fear, how much more
should I: an impious, wretched, and ungrateful sinner! Blessed
Sebastian Valfre
The Ark, which in
the midst of the Flood was a symbol of the Church, was wide below and narrow
above; and, at the summit, measured only a single cubit. [...] It was wide where
the animals were, narrow where men lived: for the Holy Church is indeed wide in
the number of those who are carnal minded, narrow in the number of those who
are spiritual. Pope St. Gregory the Great
In the Great
Deluge in the days of Noah, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone
being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins,
continually inundates the earth, and out of this deluge very few escape.
Scarcely anyone is saved. St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori
Out of one hundred
thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved. St.
Jerome
Get out of the
filth of the horrible torrent of this world, the torrent of thorns that is
whirling you into the abyss of eternal perdition. [...] This torrent is the
world, which resembles an impetuous torrent, full of garbage and evil odours,
making a lot of noise but flowing swiftly passed, dragging the majority of men
into the pit of perdition. St. John Eudes
Oh how much are
the worldlings deceived that rejoice in the time of weeping, and make their
place of imprisonment a palace of pleasure; that consider the examples of the
saints as follies, and their end as dishonorable; that think to go to Heaven by
the wide way that leadeth only to perdition! St. John Southwell
Nor should we
think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of
the careless and indifferent, or that in our faith we are, like so many others,
uninstructed. St. Bede the Venerable
We owe God a deep
regret of gratitude for the purely gratuitous gift of the true faith with which
he has favored us. How many are the infidels, heretics and schismatic who do
not enjoy comparable happiness? The earth is full of them and they are all lost!
St.
Alphonsus Maria Liguori
St. Teresa, as the
Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed
her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but
because, had she not risen from the state of Luke-warmness in which she lived,
she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned. St.
Alphonsus Maria Liguori
They who are to be
saved as Saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved. Pope
St. Gregory the Great
They who are
enlightened to walk in the way of perfection, and through lukewarmness wish to
tread the ordinary path, shall be abandoned. Blessed Angela of
Foligno
If you want to be
certain of being in the number of the Elect, strive to be one of the few, not
one of the many. And if you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be
among the fewest of the few; that is to say, do not follow the great majority
of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the
world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day
or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness. St.
Anselm
Live with the few
if you want to reign with the few. St. John Climacus
Many begin well,
but there are few who persevere. St. Jerome
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
Those who are
saved are in the minority. St. Thomas Aquinas
There are few, not
many, who enter in at the narrow gate and find the strait way to eternal life. Origen
The path to Heaven
is narrow, rough and full of wearisome and trying ascents, nor can it be
trodden without great toil; and therefore wrong is their way, gross their
error, and assured their ruin who, after the testimony of so many thousands of
saints, will not learn where to settle their footing. St. Robert
Southwell
So that you will
better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord's words, and perceive more clearly
how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in
the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that
narrow way. It is as though the Saviour intended to say: The path leading to
Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to
discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those
who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of
mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so
irregular and overgrown. St. Jerome
It is granted to
few to recognize the true Church amid the darkness of so many schisms and
heresies, and to fewer still so to love the truth which they have seen as to
fly to its embrace. St. Robert Bellarmine
And how very small
is the kingdom of Jesus Christ! So many nations have never had the faith! St.
Peter Julian Eymard
So vast a number
of miserable souls perish, and so comparatively few are saved!
St.
Philip Neri
For thus it shall
be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as though a few
olives that remain should be shaken out of the olive tree, or grapes when the
vintage is ended. Isaias 24:13
The number of the
saved is as few as the number of grapes left after the vineyard-pickers have
passed. St. John Mary Vianney - INCORRUPT
And it shall be as
when a man gathers in the harvest which remains. [...] And the fruit thereof
that shall be left shall be as a single cluster of grapes; and as the shaking
of the olive tree: two or three berries on the top of the bough, of four or
five on the top of the tree, says the Lord, the God of Israel. Isaias
17:5-6
That those who
walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number is due to the vice and
depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. By these means
Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls, and continues thus to
hurl them into Hell every day, casting so many nations from abyss to abyss of
darkness and errors, such as are contained in the heresies and false sects of
the infidels. Venerable Mary of Agreda
The holy man is
perished from off the earth, and there is no one upright amongst men: they all
he in wait for blood, every one. [...] He who is best among them is like a
brier, and he who is righteous as the thorn. Micheas 7:2,4
But that which
brings forth thorns and briers is reprobate, and very near unto a curse, whose
end is to be burnt. Hebrews 6:8
I do not speak
rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many priests are saved,
but that those who perish are far more numerous. St. John
Chrysostom
Many religious go
strait to Hell because they do not keep their vows! St. Vincent
Ferrer
Bad confessions
damned the majority of Christians. St. Teresa of Avila
Christ's flock is
called "little" (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of
the reprobates.
St.
Bede the Venerable
The greater number
of Christians today are damned. The destiny of those dying on one day is that
very few - not as many as ten - went straight to Heaven; many remained in
Purgatory; and those cast into Hell were as numerous as snowflakes in
mid-winter. Blessed Anna Maria Taigi
The common opinion
is that the greater part of adults is lost. St. Alphonsus Maria
Liguori
Among adults there
are few saved because of sins of the flesh. [...] With the exception of those
who die in childhood, most men will be damned. St. Regimius or
Rheims
It is as though
Jesus said: "O My Father, I am indeed going to clothe myself with human
flesh, but the greater part of the world will set no value on my
blood!" St. Isidore of Seville
How many among
these uncivilized peoples do not yet know God, and are sunk in the darkest
idolatry, superstition and ignorance! [...] Poor souls! These are they in whom
Christ saw, in all the horror of His imminent Passion, the uselessness of His
agony for so many souls! St. Francis Xavier Cabrini - INCORRUPT
Nothing afflicts
the heart of Jesus so much as to see all His sufferings of no avail to so many.
St. John Mary Vianney - INCORRUPT
O Jesus! [...]
Remember the sadness that Thou didst experience when, contemplating in the
light of Thy divinity the predestination of those who would be saved by the
merits of Thy sacred passion, thou didst see at the same time the great
multitude of reprobates who would be damned for their sins, and Thou didst
complain bitterly of those hopeless, lost, and unfortunate sinners. St.
Bridget of Sweden
The greater part
of men will set no value on the blood of Christ, and will go on offending Him. St.
Isidore of Seville
Take care not to
resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God's will only condemns them to more
severe punishment. Blessed John of Avila
If you wish to
imitate the multitude, you shall then not be among the few who shall enter in
by the narrow way. St. Augustine
How few the Elect
are may be understood from the multitude being cast out.
St.
Hilary of Poitiers
Notwithstanding
assurances that God did not create any man for Hell, and that He wishes all men
to be saved, it remains equally true that only few will be saved; that only few
will go to Heaven; and that the greater part of mankind will be lost
forever. St. John Neumann - INCORRUPT
Meditate on the
horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed
mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal
flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved. St.
Benedict Joseph Labre
Taking into
account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human
race will be saved [...] many will be lost. Lucia of Fatima
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 - INCORRUPT
Behold how many
there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have
no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment,
especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow. St.
John of the Cross
Throughout many
generations, few are chosen. Origen
The number of the
elect is so small - so small - that, were we to know how small it is, we would
faint away with grief: one here and there, scattered up and down the world!
St.
Louis Marie de Montfort
And they [...]
shall be so few that they shall easily be counted, and a child shall write them
down. Isaias 10:19
Oh, Jesus, Divine
Redeemer of souls, behold how great is the multitude of those who still sleep
in the darkness of error! Reckon up the number of those who stray to the edge
of the precipice. Consider the throngs of the poor, the hungry, the ignorant,
and the feeble who groan in their abandoned condition. Oh Lord, our sins darken
our understanding, and hide from us the blessing of loving Thee as Thou dost
merit. Enlighten our minds with a ray of Thy divine light. Thou art the Friend,
the Redeemer, and the Father of the one who turns penitent to Thy Sacred Heart.
Amen.
Pope
St. Pius X
THE SAINTS ARE HERE TO GUIDE US.....
10 comments:
Thank you Allison. These quotes provide MUCH food for meditation.
Wonderful, again just what I needed!!
This was a huge inspiration for me today. and I'll be thinking about this for time to come. this must have taken you a long time to piece together, but it is so well thought out. thanks for sharing.
Wow! That's quite a piece of work you did there, Allison! Thank you!
Thank you for these quotes! We all need to read these during Lent. God bless!
Someone else did all the work ladies. There is a link at the top. At the link even all the references are detailed!
I awarded you a blog award on my site (doesn't matter that you didn't do all the work on that last post !. I still love it), http://lovemylittleflower.blogspot.com/2010/02/im-beautiful-blogger.html
Ah, I am preparing for Confession this afternoon... this was timely as I am thinking and praying and desire to make a good Confession.
Have a nice weekend!
I think I am crying... thank you for this, now I will be praying extra hard all of Lent that at least one more person finds Jesus at Easter time. Oh, to think how much He loves all of those people who never end up accepting His love... No wonder He was in such agony in the garden.
What a wonderful post for Lent. Thank you for this. It is very humbling.
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