Fr. Shannon Collins - The Hell There Is - IHM Conference
NOTES taken during the talk....
Father, in his commanding presence, related the story of a priest who had a near death experience. It was not the comforting, white light version where people return to living an unchanged life, this priest heard his sins recounted by angels and agreed when he was condemned. But then a woman interceded...Our Mother.
And he changed.
We don't deserve heaven. It is supernatural. We will be judged not on whether we were nice people but on supernatural criteria. Understanding that criteria is relevant to our ultimate goal...heaven.
Modern world rejects hell. Aren't modernists so much wiser than our ancestors? But that is not the teaching of the Catholic Church. The bible tells us of hell, of Sodom and Gomorah, the 4 sins that cry out to heaven.
St. Augustine states that the number of the damned will be greater than the saints. And there are many more who speak the same. Many are concerned that this is negative talk. But consider the source...saints AND Jesus Himself. Their aim? To guide us with Truth, as difficult as it may be. There is a REAL fire below.
Fear may bring about the seeds of conversion. Hell should get our attention. It's not myth or metaphor. It's Jesus' words - fire - Gehenna - a constant burning - the Jews knew it to be a place where human sacrifice was practiced as a band played to drown out the screams of those thrown into the actual pagan pit.
The modern world has lost track of offending God. A soul made in God's image and likeness has been taken in abortion, murder and so those crimes are against God. Only Jesus could pay the infinite price that no one could pay.
Keep your end in mind. Read St. John Bosco's dream of hell. Seek God's mercy NOW in confession. For at death, He will be all justice.
Father, in his commanding presence, related the story of a priest who had a near death experience. It was not the comforting, white light version where people return to living an unchanged life, this priest heard his sins recounted by angels and agreed when he was condemned. But then a woman interceded...Our Mother.
And he changed.
We don't deserve heaven. It is supernatural. We will be judged not on whether we were nice people but on supernatural criteria. Understanding that criteria is relevant to our ultimate goal...heaven.
Modern world rejects hell. Aren't modernists so much wiser than our ancestors? But that is not the teaching of the Catholic Church. The bible tells us of hell, of Sodom and Gomorah, the 4 sins that cry out to heaven.
St. Augustine states that the number of the damned will be greater than the saints. And there are many more who speak the same. Many are concerned that this is negative talk. But consider the source...saints AND Jesus Himself. Their aim? To guide us with Truth, as difficult as it may be. There is a REAL fire below.
Fear may bring about the seeds of conversion. Hell should get our attention. It's not myth or metaphor. It's Jesus' words - fire - Gehenna - a constant burning - the Jews knew it to be a place where human sacrifice was practiced as a band played to drown out the screams of those thrown into the actual pagan pit.
The modern world has lost track of offending God. A soul made in God's image and likeness has been taken in abortion, murder and so those crimes are against God. Only Jesus could pay the infinite price that no one could pay.
Keep your end in mind. Read St. John Bosco's dream of hell. Seek God's mercy NOW in confession. For at death, He will be all justice.
2 comments:
Love Fr. Shannon, and miss him!
What a blessing you are part of this!
So, where can one read St. John Bosco's vision of hell?
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