THE SONG OF JESUS

My heart, like a weary dove was searching

For a place to rest,

In the garden of your heart, on the flowers of your beauty

It now makes its nest.

Unlike roses that soon fade away and die,

My longing inside grows each day, watered by thoughts of you,

And I sigh.

Poems they say,  are nothing more than the heart

Singing,

How, then, can I not write, when to my heart new songs

You are bringing.

Your eyes are like the sky on which a

Symphony plays,

Your smile, the hymn of sunshine that chases the

Clouds away.

In thoughts of you, so sweet, I find

My delight,

From nowhere, you stole my heart like a thief

in the night.

I was caught off guard, but

I let you in,

I was captured by your mercy and the cleansing 

Of my sin.

Now, the song of Jesus is what

My heart sings,

A song renewed each day in my heart,

In my soul it rings.

Can you hear the chorus? Can you hear the canticle

It imparts?

It’s my soul soaring to it’s rest in the meadows

                                               Of  your  Sacred  Heart.                                            

                                                                                                   Fr. Jon

WHEN I THINK OF YOU, JESUS

The days drag on, the nights seem longer,

How true it is, Love makes the heart grow stronger.

Why my heart feels this way, Jesus, I haven’t a clue,

I only know it beats faster

When

I think of you

When we talk in prayer, time fades away,

Like icicles that form on a warm winters day.

To be in your presence makes me smile anew,

And my troubles take flight

When

I think of you

Your voice, like the cry of a dove,

Carries my thoughts to the clouds above.

There the Cherubim sing songs that are true,

My heart joins their melody

When

I think of you

Time! Time! What torture you bring!

Hurry before me! Take to the wing!

Let the beauty of your face, Jesus, be ever in my view,

Because I find my greatest joy

When

I think of you

                                                                              Fr. Jon

DIVINE  EMBRACE

My head rushes, I lie awake at night,

Thoughts of you in my mind race,

I smile remembering your gentle voice, how right,

And I close my eyes and

Dream of

Your embrace

A short time I left you Jesus, but you would not leave me,

My soul fell asleep, like dead roses in a vase,

But you moved my heart like the waves of the sea,

And now I think of you still, Jesus, and

I miss

Your embrace

I wake up each day and turn my thoughts to you,

My life goes on, my dreams I chase,

But as spring grass is kissed by morning dew,

Thoughts of your gentle love make me

Long for

Your embrace

Now each night before I sleep,

I pray you, Jesus, for this one grace,

To shorten the days, shorten the nights so deep,

To sooner be eternally in your arms

Lost in

Your embrace

                                                                                Fr. Jon

LOVE DIVINE

In the quiet of the night, my heart calls out to you,

You bring it joy that before it never knew.

Your name is the rhythm with which it now beats,

Being in your presence are the thoughts it now meets,

Things we regret most are the things left unsaid,

So I’ll tell you the things in my heart and the thoughts in my head,

When I left you Jesus, I left something behind,

When I searched my soul, it’s your name I would find,

To think of you now, Jesus, is to fall into a dream,

Is your mercy and forgiveness as real as it seems?

Then let my heart be the garden for your love to grow,

Thoughts of you will be the sun, your smile the rainbow,

I think of you, Jesus, and the joy that will be mine,

When forever in heaven, I will know your love divine.

                                                                                                                                          Fr. Jon

PERSEVERANCE

( THE SOUL STRUGGLING THROUGH THE SEVEN MANSIONS OF ST. THERESA OF AVILA’S ‘INTERIOR CASTLE’.  THIS IS THE SECOND MANSION)

I look into the depths

Not yet void

From the flesh’s pull and steps

I climb, or fall, by the world decoyed.

I search among the clutter

For treasures mislaid

A voice as a whisper, a mutter

Comes then fades.

My soul hears it truer

Than the things that I find

Stepping, straining over the manure

I stumble as one blind.

From whence does this voice come?

Which direction do I turn

To that which I am dumb

Yet for which my heart burns

My journey takes much strain

My intellect flies here and there

Always earthbound, now untrained

Fettered by the flesh’s care.

A presence in the darkness near

Comes as a gentle breeze blows;

“Perseverance is needed here,

there are yet five more to go”.

                                                                                                    Fr. Jon

THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION AND CONFESSION IN SACRED SCRIPTURE, CHURCH FATHERS, TRADITION, AND CHURCH TEACHING:

PART II – HOW TO MAKE A GOOD CONFESSION WITH EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

1. Conditions for the Sacrament of Confession.

To properly receive the Sacrament of Confession, one must:

1. Examine his/her conscience. (To do this, one can review the Ten Commandments of God and the Commandments of the Church.)

2. Have a sincere sorrow for having offended God, with a detestation of one’s sins.

3. Make a firm resolution to avoid sin in the future and all the dangerous circumstances that lead to sin.

4. Confess one’s sins to the priest.

5. Be willing to do penance for the past sins in order to satisfy the Divine Justice for them.

2. Secrecy of the Sacrament.

On the subject of the secrecy of the Sacrament of Confession, the Catechism of the Holy Catholic Church states:

“Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confession is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the “sacramental seal,” because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains ‘sealed’ by the sacrament.” [C. C. C. # 1467]

“The secret of the sacrament of reconciliation is sacred, and cannot be violated under any pretext. ‘The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore, it is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason.’” [C. C. C. # 2490]

3. Restitution.

In the case of stolen goods, the penitent will be reminded of his obligation to:

1. Return the stolen property, or
2. Give its equivalent value to charity.

In the case of willful damage or destruction of someone’s property, the penitent will be reminded of his obligation to:

1. Pay to repair or replace the property, or
2. Give its equivalent value to charity.

4. Receiving the Holy Eucharist while in a state of mortal sin.

To receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist while in a state of mortal sin is a sacrilege. One must prepare himself by receiving the Sacrament of Confession prior to receiving the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist to ensure that he is in a state of grace.

On this subject, Saint Paul states: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” [1 Cor. 11:27-30]

5. Sin separates us from God.

The six benefits that are received through the Sacrament of Confession are:

1. Reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers his state of grace;

2. Reconciliation with the Church;

3. The remission of the eternal punishment incurred through mortal sins;

4. The remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin;

5. Peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation;

6. An increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.

By approaching the Sacrament of Confession, the penitent obtains pardon from God’s mercy for the sins he has committed against God, therefore being reconciled with the Holy Catholic Church which was wounded by the shipwreck of one of its members. (C.C.C. # 1422, 1496)

6. Ways of sinning.

A sin can be committed by thought, desire, word, action or omission.

7. Mortal sin.

For a sin to be serious or mortal, it must meet the following conditions:

1. The thought, desire, word, action or omission must be seriously wrong or considered seriously wrong. It must be serious matter.

2. The sinner must be mindful of the serious wrong. He must have had sufficient reflection upon committing the sin.

3. The sinner must fully consent to the sin. His free will must have consented to it.

8. Guilt by assisting others to sin (also called ‘guilt by association).

One can be guilty by helping someone else to sin in any of the following ways:

1. By advising someone to sin.

2. By commanding someone to sin.

3. By provoking someone to sin.

4. By consenting to someone’s sin.

5. By showing someone how to sin.

6. By praising someone for his sin.

7. By concealing, remaining silent about, doing nothing to prevent someone’s sin.

8. By taking part in or enjoying the result of someone’s sin.

9. By defending someone’s sin.

Examination of Conscience

The Ten Commandments

1. First Commandment

I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.

Have I…

• Disobeyed the commandments of God or the Church?
• Refused to accept what God has revealed as true, or what the Catholic Church proposes for belief?
• Denied the existence of God?
• Nourished and protected my faith?
• Rejected everything opposed to a sound faith?
• Deliberately misled others about doctrine or the faith?
• Rejected the Catholic faith, joined another Christian denomination, or joined or practiced another religion?
• Joined a group forbidden to Catholics (Masons, communists, etc.)?
• Despaired about my salvation or the forgiveness of my sins?
• Presumed on God’s mercy? (Committing a sin in expectation of forgiveness, or asking for forgiveness without conversion and practicing virtue.)
• Loved someone or something more than God (money, power, sex, ambition, etc.)?
• Let someone or something influence my choices more than God?
• Engaged in superstitious practices? (Incl. horoscopes, fortune tellers, etc.)
• Been involved in the occult? (Seances, ouija board, worship of Satan, etc.)
• Formally left the Catholic Church?
• Hidden a serious sin or told a lie in confession?

2. Second Commandment

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Have I…

• Used the name of God in cursing or blasphemy?
• Failed to keep vows or promises that I have made to God?
• Spoken about the Faith, the Church, the saints, or sacred things with irreverence, hatred or defiance?
• Watched television or movies, or listened to music that treated God, the Church, the saints, or sacred things irreverently?
• Used vulgar, suggestive or obscene speech?
• Belittled others in my speech?
• Behaved disrespectfully in Church?
• Misused places or things set apart for the worship of God?
• Committed perjury? (Breaking an oath or lying under oath.)
• Blamed God for my failings?

3. Third Commandment

Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.

Have I…

• Set time aside each day for personal prayer to God?
• Missed Mass on Sunday or Holy Days (through own fault w/o sufficient reason)?
• Committed a sacrilege against the Blessed Sacrament?
• Received a sacrament while in the state of mortal sin?
• Habitually come late to and/or leave early from Mass without a good reason?
• Shop, labor, or do business unnecessarily on Sunday or other Holy Days of Obligation?
• Not attend to taking my children to Mass?
• Knowingly eat meat on a forbidden day (or not fasting on a fast day)?
• Eat or drink within one hour of receiving Communion (other than medical need)?

4. Fourth Commandment

Honor your father and your mother.

Have I…

• (If still under my parents’ care) Obeyed all that my parents reasonably asked of me?
• Neglected the needs of my parents in their old age or in their time of need?
• (If still in school) Obeyed the reasonable demands of my teachers?
• Neglected to give my children proper food, clothing, shelter, education, discipline and care (even after Confirmation)?
• Provided for the religious education and formation of my children for as long as they are under my care?
• Ensured that my children still under my care regularly frequent the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion?
• Educated my children in a way that corresponds to my religious convictions?
• Provided my children with a positive, prudent and personalized education in the Catholic teaching on human sexuality?
• Been to my children a good example of how to live the Catholic Faith?
• Prayed with and for my children?
• Lived in humble obedience to those who legitimately exercise authority over me?
• Have I broken the law?
• Have I supported or voted for a politician whose positions are opposed to the teachings of Christ and the Catholic Church?

5. Fifth Commandment

You shall not kill.

Have I…

• Unjustly and intentionally killed a human being?
• Been involved in an abortion, directly or indirectly (through advice, etc.)?
• Seriously considered or attempted suicide?
• Supported, promoted or encouraged the practice of assisted suicide or mercy killing?
• Deliberately desired to kill an innocent human being?
• Unjustly inflicted bodily harm an another person?
• Unjustly threatened another person with bodily harm?
• Verbally or emotionally abused another person?
• Hated another person, or wished him evil?
• Been prejudiced, or unjustly discriminated against others because of their race, color, nationality, sex or religion?
• Joined a hate group?
• Purposely provoked another by teasing or nagging?
• Recklessly endangered my life or health, or that of another, by my actions?
• Driven recklessly or under the influence of alcohol or other drugs?
• Abused alcohol or other drugs?
• Sold or given drugs to others to use for non-therapeutic purposes?
• Used tobacco immoderately?
• Over-eaten?
• Encouraged others to sin by giving scandal?
• Helped another to commit a mortal sin (through advice, driving them somewhere, etc.?
• Caused serious injury or death by criminal neglect?
• Indulged in serious anger?
• Refused to control my temper?
• Been mean to, quarreled with, or willfully hurt someone?
• Been unforgiving to others, when mercy or pardon was requested?
• Sought revenge or hoped something bad would happen to someone?
• Delighted to see someone else get hurt or suffer?
• Treated animals cruelly, causing them to suffer or die needlessly?

6 & 9. Sixth & Ninth Commandments

You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

Have I…

• Practiced the virtue of chastity?
• Given in to lust? (The desire for sexual pleasure unrelated to spousal love in marriage.)
• Used an artificial means of birth control?
• Refused to be open to conception, without just cause? (Catechism, 2368)
• Participated in immoral techniques for in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination?
• Sterilized my sex organs for contraceptive purposes?
• Deprived my spouse of the marital right, without just cause?
• Claimed my own marital right without concern for my spouse?
• Deliberately caused male climax outside of normal sexual intercourse? (Catechism, 2366)
• Willfully entertained impure thoughts?
• Purchased, viewed, or made use of pornography?
• Watched movies and television that involve sex and nudity?
• Listened to music or jokes that are harmful to purity?
• Committed adultery? (Sexual relations with someone who is married, or with someone other than my spouse.)
• Committed incest? (Sexual relations with a relative or in-law.)
• Committed fornication? (Sexual relations with someone of the opposite sex when neither of us is married.)
• Engaged in homosexual activity? (Sexual activity with someone of the same sex.)
• Committed rape?
• Masturbated? (Deliberate stimulation of one’s own sexual organs for sexual pleasure.)
• Engaged in sexual foreplay (petting) reserved for marriage?
• Preyed upon children or youth for my sexual pleasure?
• Engaged in unnatural sexual activities?
• Engaged in prostitution, or paid for the services of a prostitute?
• Seduced someone, or allowed myself to be seduced?
• Made uninvited and unwelcome sexual advances toward another?
• Purposely dressed immodestly?

7 & 10. Seventh & Tenth Commandments

You shall not steal.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

Have I…

• Stolen? (Take something that doesn’t belong to me against the reasonable will of the owner.)
• Envied others on account of their possessions?
• Tried to live in a spirit of Gospel poverty and simplicity?
• Given generously to others in need?
• Considered that God has provided me with money so that I might use it to benefit others, as well as for my own legitimate needs?
• Freed myself from a consumer mentality?
• Practiced the works of mercy?
• Deliberately defaced, destroyed or lost another’s property?
• Cheated on a test, taxes, sports, games, or in business?
• Squandered money in compulsive gambling?
• Make a false claim to an insurance company?
• Paid my employees a living wage, or failed to give a full day’s work for a full day’s pay?
• Failed to honor my part of a contract?
• Failed to make good on a debt?
• Overcharge someone, especially to take advantage of another’s hardship or ignorance?
• Misused natural resources?

8. Eighth Commandment

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Have I…

• Lied?
• Knowingly and willfully deceived another?
• Perjured myself under oath?
• Gossiped?
• Committed detraction? (Destroying a person’s reputation by telling others about his faults for no good reason.)
• Committed slander or calumny? (Telling lies about another person in order to destroy his reputation.)
• Committed libel? (Writing lies about another person in order to destroy his reputation.)
• Been guilty of rash judgment? (Assuming the worst of another person based on circumstantial evidence.)
• Failed to make reparation for a lie I told, or for harm done to a person’s reputation?
• Failed to speak out in defense of the Catholic Faith, the Church, or of another person?
• Betrayed another’s confidence through speech?

The  Seven Precepts of the Church

First Precept of the Church

You shall attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

• (see examination under the Third Commandment)

Second Precept of the Church

You shall confess your sins at least once a year.

Have I…

• Made a good Confession of my mortal sins least once a year?
• Purposely omitted telling my mortal sins in my last Confession?
• Performed the penance I was given?
• Made reparation for any harm I have done to others?

Third Precept of the Church

You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.

Have I…

• Fulfilled my Easter duty to receive Holy Communion at least once between the First Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday?
• Received Holy Communion while in the state of mortal sin?
• Fasted an hour before receiving Holy Communion?
• Received Holy Communion more than twice in one day?

Fourth Precept of the Church

You shall keep holy the Holy days of Obligation.

• (see examination under the Third Commandment)

Fifth Precept of the Church

You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence.

Have I…

• Done penance every Friday, if not abstaining from meat, then some other form of penance?
• Abstained from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent (if I am 14 years of age or older)?
• Fasted on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (if I am between the ages of 18 and 59)?
• Spent time in prayer, doing spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and practicing self-denial?

Sixth Precept of the Church

You shall contribute to the support of the Church.

Have I…

• Contributed a just amount of my time, talents and money to support my parish and the work of the Church?

Seventh Precept of the Church

You shall observe the laws of the Church concerning marriage.

Have I…

• Been living in a valid and licit marriage according to the laws of the Catholic Church?
• Abandoned my spouse and family by separation or divorce?
• Kept company with someone whom I cannot marry in the Catholic Church?
• Given scandal by living with a member of the opposite sex without the benefit of a marriage blessed by the Catholic Church?
• Entered into marriage with more than one person at the same time?

– Thank you Jesus, for so great a gift…the Sacrament of Reconciliation…that brings us back into relationship with God, our Father in heaven –

THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION AND CONFESSION IN SACRED SCRIPTURE, CHURCH FATHERS, TRADITION, AND CHURCH TEACHING:

PART I – THE FOUNDATIONS

I. Sacred Scripture:  Jesus Christ Granted the Apostles His Authority to Forgive Sins

John 20:21 – before He grants them the authority to forgive sins, Jesus says to the apostles, “as the Father sent me, so I send you.” As Christ was sent by the Father to forgive sins, so Christ sends the Apostles and their successors to forgive sins.

John 20:22 – the Lord “breathes” on the Apostles, and then gives them the power to forgive and retain sins. The only other moment in Scripture where God breathes on man is in Gen. 2:7, when the Lord “breathes” divine life into man. When this happens, a significant transformation takes place.

John 20:23 – Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” In order for the apostles to exercise this gift of forgiving sins, the penitents must orally confess their sins to them because the Apostles are not mind readers. The text makes this very clear.

Matt. 9:8 – this verse shows that God has given the authority to forgive sins to “men.” Hence, those people who acknowledge that the Apostles had the authority to forgive sins (which this verse demonstrates) must prove that this gift ended with the apostles. Otherwise, the Apostles’ successors still possess this gift. Where in Scripture is the gift of authority to forgive sins taken away from the Apostles or their successors?

Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:10 – Christ forgave sins while in His human nature to convince us that the “Son of man” has authority to forgive sins on earth.

Luke 5:24 – Luke also points out that Jesus’ authority to forgive sins is done as the God-man. The Gospel writers record this to convince us that God has given this authority to men. This authority has been transferred from Christ to the Apostles and their successors.

Matt. 18:18 – the Apostles are given authority to bind and loose. The authority to bind and loose includes administering and removing the temporal penalties due to sin. This was understood from the earliest days of the Church.

John 20:22-23; Matt. 18:18 – the power to remit/retain sin is also the power to remit/retain punishment due to sin. If Christ’s ministers can forgive the eternal penalty of sin, they can certainly remit the temporal penalty of sin.

2 Cor. 2:10 – Paul forgives in the name and presence of Christ (some translations refer to the presence of Christ as “in persona Christi”). Some say that this may also be a reference to sins.

2 Cor. 5:18 – the ministry of reconciliation was given to the ambassadors of the Church. This ministry of reconciliation refers to the sacrament of reconciliation, also called the sacrament of confession or penance.

James 5:15-16 – in verse 15 we see that sins are forgiven by the priests in the sacrament of the sick. This is another example of man’s authority to forgive sins on earth. Then in verse 16, James says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another,” in reference to the men referred to in verse 15, the priests of the Church.

1 Tim. 2:5 – Christ is the only mediator, but He was free to decide how His mediation would be applied to us. The Lord chose to use priests of God to carry out His work of forgiveness.

Leviticus: 5:4-6; 19:21-22 – even under the Old Covenant, God used priests to forgive and atone for the sins of others.

II. The Necessity and Practice of Orally Confessing Sins

James 5:16 – James clearly teaches us that we must “confess our sins to one another,” not just privately to God. James 5:16 must be read in the context of James 5:14-15, which is referring to the healing power (both physical and spiritual) of the priests of the Church. Hence, when James says “therefore” in verse 16, he must be referring to the men he was writing about in verses 14 and 15 – these men are the ordained priests of the Church, to whom we must confess our sins.

Acts 19:18 – many came to orally confess sins and divulge their sinful practices. Oral confession was the practice of the early Church just as it is today.

Matt. 3:6; Mark 1:5 – again, this shows people confessing their sins before others as an historical practice (here to John the Baptist).

1 Tim. 6:12 – this verse also refers to the historical practice of confessing both faith and sins in the presence of many witnesses.

1 John 1:9 – if we confess are sins, God is faithful to us and forgives us and cleanses us. But we must confess our sins to one another.

Num. 5:7 – this shows the historical practice of publicly confessing sins, and making public restitution.

2 Sam. 12:14 – even though the sin is forgiven, there is punishment due for the forgiven sin. David is forgiven but his child was still taken (the consequence of his sin).

Neh. 9:2-3 – the Israelites stood before the assembly and confessed sins publicly and interceded for each other.

Sir. 4:26 – God tells us not to be ashamed to confess our sins, and not to try to stop the current of a river. Anyone who has experienced the sacrament of reconciliation understands the import of this verse.

Baruch 1:14 – again, this shows that the people made confession in the house of the Lord, before the assembly.

1 John 5:16-17; Luke 12:47-48 – there is a distinction between mortal and venial sins. This has been the teaching of the Catholic Church for 2,000 years, but, today, many people no longer agree that there is such a distinction. Mortal sins lead to death and must be absolved in the sacrament of reconciliation. Venial sins do not have to be confessed to a priest, but the pious Catholic practice is to do so in order to advance in our journey to holiness.

Matt. 5:19 – Jesus teaches that breaking the least of commandments is venial sin (the person is still saved but is least in the kingdom), versus mortal sin (the person is not saved).

*** WHY CAN’T I JUST CONFESS MY SINS TO GOD ON MY OWN WITHOUT A PRIEST? WOULDN’T I BE FORGIVEN?

-       You can confess your sins directly to God, but the Sacrament is the “Ordinary Means” by which our sins are forgiven, because it was directly willed and given to us by Christ. 

-       In order for a person to be forgiven outside the Sacrament of Reconciliation (extraordinary means), he needs to have ‘perfect contrition’.  The word ‘contrition’ comes from the Latin contritio–a breaking of something hardened. Therefore, perfect contrition means that a person has absolutely broken from sin and their hard heart has a perfect charity…perfect love of God and neighbor.  A perfect sorrow for sin and purpose of amendment is necessary, and the person must have the intention of going to the Sacrament when able to. 

-       The Sacrament, on the other hand, forgives even imperfect contrition, which might mean that we are going to confession because we are simply afraid of going to Hell.  Love is not the main motivation as it should be, but God can and does work with it.

And so we read in the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Perfect contrition without the sacrament:

-       Regarding that contrition which has for its motive the love of God, the Council of Trent declares: “The Council further teaches that, though contrition may sometimes be made perfect by charity and may reconcile men to God before the actual reception of this sacrament, still the reconciliation is not to be ascribed to the contrition apart from the desire for the sacrament which it includes.” The following proposition (no. 32) taken from Baius was condemned by Gregory XIII: “That charity which is the fullness of the law is not always conjoined with forgiveness of sins.” Perfect contrition, with the desire of receiving the Sacrament of Penance, restores the sinner to grace at once. This is certainly the teaching of the Scholastic doctors (Peter Lombard in P.L., CXCII, 885; St. Thomas, In Lib. Sent. IV, ibid.; St. Bonaventure, In Lib. Sent. IV, ibid.). This doctrine they derived from Sacred Scripture. Scripture certainly ascribes to charity and the love of God the power to take away sin: “He that loveth me shall be loved by My Father”; “Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much”. Since the act of perfect contrition implies necessarily this same love of God, theologians have ascribed to perfect contrition what Scripture teaches belongs to charity. Nor is this strange, for in the Old Covenant there was some way of recovering God’s grace once man had sinned. God wills not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live (Ezekiel 33:11). This total turning to God corresponds to our idea of perfect contrition; and if under the Old Law love sufficed for the pardon of the sinner, surely the coming of Christ and the institution of the Sacrament of Penance cannot be supposed to have increased the difficulty of obtaining forgiveness.

-       Theologians have inquired with much learning as to the kind of love that justifies with the Sacrament of Penance. All are agreed that pure, or disinterested, love is necessary; when there is question of interested, or selfish, love the Church holds that any form of selfish love is not sufficient.

*** WHAT ABOUT ‘GENERAL ABSOLUTION’ WITHOUT PRIVATE CONFESSION? 

HERE IS THE CHURCH’S TEACHING IN THE CATECHISM AND CANON LAW:

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the application of general absolution during the Sacrament of Confession is defined as follows:

“In case of grave necessity recourse may be had to a communal celebration of reconciliation with general confession and general absolution. Grave necessity of this sort can arise when there is imminent danger of death without sufficient time for the priest or priests to hear each penitent’s confession. Grave necessity can also exist when, given the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors to hear individual confessions properly in a reasonable time, so that the penitents through no fault of their own would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time. In this case, for the absolution to be valid the faithful must have the intention of individually confessing their sins in the time required.[Cf. CIC, can. 962 ß1] The diocesan bishop is the judge of whether or not the conditions required for general absolution exist.[Cf. CIC, can 961 ß2]

A large gathering of the faithful on the occasion of major feasts or pilgrimages does not constitute a case of grave necessity.” [Cf. CIC, can. 961 ß1] (C.C.C. # 1483)

Further to the aforementioned, Church Canon Laws state:

Canon 961 ß1 General absolution, without prior individual confession, cannot be given to a number of penitents together, unless:

Canon 961 ß1.1 danger of death threatens and there is not time for the priest or priests to hear the confessions of the individual penitents;

Canon 961 ß1.2 there exists a grave necessity, that is, given the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors available properly to hear the individual confessions within an appropriate time, so that without fault of their own the penitents are deprived of the sacramental grace or of holy communion for a lengthy period of time. A sufficient necessity is not, however, considered to exist when confessors cannot be available merely because of a great gathering of penitents, such as can occur on some major feast day or pilgrimage.

Canon 961 ß2 It is for the diocesan Bishop to judge whether the conditions required in ß1, n. 2 are present; mindful of the criteria agreed with the other members of the Episcopal Conference, he can determine the cases of such necessity.

Canon 962 ß1 For a member of Christ’s faithful to benefit validly from a sacramental absolution given to a number of people simultaneously, it is required not only that he or she be properly disposed, but be also at the same time personally resolved to confess in due time each of the grave sins which cannot for the moment be thus confessed.

Canon 962 ß2 Christ’s faithful are to be instructed about the requirements set out in ß1, as far as possible even on the occasion of general absolution being received. An exhortation that each person should make an act of contrition is to precede a general absolution, even in the case of danger of death if there is time.

Canon 963 Without prejudice to the obligation mentioned in canon 989, a person whose grave sins are forgiven by a general absolution, is as soon as possible, when the opportunity occurs, to make an individual confession before receiving another general absolution, unless a just reason intervenes.

SUMMARY OF GENERAL ABSOLUTION:

-      GENERAL ABSOLUTION IS ALLOWED ONLY IN GRAVE CIRCUMSTANCES

-       FEAST DAYS AND PILGRIMAGES ARE NOT GRAVE CIRCUMSTANCES

-       PEOPLE MUST HAVE THE INTENTION OF GOING TO INDIVIDUAL CONFESSION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AFTER RECEIVING A GENERAL ABSOLUTION.

EXAMPLE OF GRAVE CIRCUMSTANCES:

-       - WHEN OUR MILITARY MEN AND WOMEN ARE PREPARING TO GO INTO BATTLE, A PRIEST MAY GIVE GENERAL ABSOLUTION IF HE DOES NOT HAVE TIME TO HEAR THEIR CONFESSIONS INDIVIDUALLY. 

I. The Early Church’s Practice of Oral Confession

“Do not come to prayer with a guilty conscience.” Epistle of Barnabas, 19:12 (A.D. 74).

“In church confess your sins, and do not come to your prayer with a guilt conscience. Such is the Way of Life…On the Lord’s own day, assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure.” Didache, 4:14,14:1 (c. A.D. 90).

“Moreover, it is in accordance with reason that we should return to soberness[of conduct], and, while yet we have opportunity, exercise repentance towards God. It is well to reverence both God and the bishop.” Ignatius, Epistle to the Smyraeans, 9 (c. A.D. 110).

“Moreover, that this Marcus compounds philters and love-potions, in order to insult the persons of some of these women, if not of all, those of them who have returned to the Church of God–a thing which frequently occurs–have acknowledged, confessing, too, that they have been defiled by him, and that they were filled with a burning passion towards him. A sad example of this occurred in the case of a certain Asiatic, one of our deacons, who had received him (Marcus) into his house. His wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, fell a victim both in mind and body to this magician, and, for a long time, travelled about with him. At last, when, with no small difficulty, the brethren had converted her, she spent her whole time in the exercise of public confession, weeping over and lamenting the defilement which she had received from this magician.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1:13 (A.D. 180).

“Such are the words and deeds by which, in our own district of the Rhone, they have deluded many women, who have their consciences seared as with a hot iron. Some of them, indeed, make a public confession of their sins; but others of them are ashamed to do this, and in a tacit kind of way, despairing of [attaining to] the life of God, have, some of them, apostatized altogether; while others hesitate between the two courses, and incur that which is implied in the proverb, ‘neither without nor within;’ possessing this as the fruit from the seed of the children of knowledge.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1:13 (A.D. 180).

“Father who knowest the hearts of all grant upon this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen for the episcopate to feed Thy holy flock and serve as Thine high priest, that he may minister blamelessly by night and day, that he may unceasingly behold and appropriate Thy countenance and offer to Thee the gifts of Thy holy Church. And that by the high priestly Spirit he may have authority to forgive sins…” Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 3 (A.D. 215).

“The Pontifex Maximus–that is, the bishop of bishops–issues an edict: ‘I remit, to such as have discharged (the requirements of) repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication.’” Tertullian, Modesty, 1 (A.D. 220).

“In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and laborious: the remission of sins through penance…when he does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord.” Origen, Homilies on Leviticus, 2:4 (A.D. 248).

“For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with their time still unfulfilled, while persecution is still raging, while the peace of the Church itself is not vet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands Of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.’” Cyprian, To the Clergy, 9 (16):2 (A.D. 250).

“Moreover, how much are they both greater in faith and better in their fear, who, although bound by no crime of sacrifice to idols or of certificate, yet, since they have even thought of such things, with grief and simplicity confess this very thing to God’s priests, and make the conscientious avowal, put off from them the load of their minds, and seek out the salutary medicine even for slight and moderate wounds, knowing that it is written, ‘God is not mocked.’ God cannot be mocked, nor deceived, nor deluded by any deceptive cunning. Yea, he sins the more, who, thinking that God is like man, believes that he evades the penalty of his crime if he has not openly admitted his crimes, I entreat you, beloved brethren, that each one should confess his own sin, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession may be received, while the satisfaction and remission made by the priests are pleasing to the Lord?” Cyprian, To the Lapsed, 28-29 (A.D. 251).

“It is necessary to confess our sins to those whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted.” Basil, Rule Briefly Treated, 288 (A.D. 374).

“These are capital sins, brethren, these are mortal.” Pacian of Barcelona, Penance, 4 (A.D. 385).

“For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one, being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to draw nigh to that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests; since by their agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation. For they who inhabit the earth and make their abode there are entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven, and have received an authority which God has not given to angels or archangels. For it has not been said to them, ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.’ They who rule on earth have indeed authority to bind, but only the body: whereas this binding lays hold of the soul and penetrates the heavens; and what priests do here below God ratifies above, and the Master confirms the sentence of his servants. For indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He has given them when He says, ‘Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain they are retained?’ What authority could be greater than this? ‘The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son?’ But I see it all put into the hands of these men by the Son.” John Chrysostom, The Priesthood, 3:5 (A.D. 387).

“The Church holds fast its obedience on either side, by both retaining and remitting sin; heresy is on the one side cruel, and on the other disobedient; wishes to bind what it will not loosen, and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns itself by its own sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of binding and of loosing should be alike, and sanctioned each by a similar condition.  Each is allowed to the Church, neither to heresy, for this power has been entrusted to priests alone. Rightly, therefore, does the Church claim it, which has true priests; heresy, which has not the priests of God, cannot claim it. And by not claiming this power heresy pronounces its own sentence, that not possessing priests it cannot claim priestly power. And so in their shameless obstinacy a shamefaced acknowledgment meets our view. Consider, too, the point that he who has received the Holy Ghost has also received the power of forgiving and of retaining sin. For thus it is written: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.’ So, then, he who has not received power to forgive sins has not received the Holy Spirit. The office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it is specially to forgive and to retain sins. How, then, can they claim His gift who distrust His power and His right?” Ambrose, Concerning Repentance, I:7-8 (A.D. 388).

“All mortal sins are to be submitted to the keys of the Church and all can be forgiven; but recourse to these keys is the only, the necessary, and the certain way to forgiveness. Unless those who are guilty of grievous sin have recourse to the power of the keys, they cannot hope for eternal salvation. Open your lips, them, and confess your sins to the priest. Confession alone is the true gate to Heaven.” Augustine, Christian Combat (A.D. 397).

“Just as in the Old Testament the priest makes the leper clean or unclean, so in the New Testament the bishop and presbyter binds or looses not those who are innocent or guilty, but by reason of their office, when they have heard various kinds of sins, they know who is to be bound and who loosed.” St. Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, 3:16,19 (A.D. 398).

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

VI. THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION

1440 Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God’s forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.³⁸

Only God forgives sin

1441 Only God forgives sins.³⁹ Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, “The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” and exercises this divine power: “Your sins are forgiven.”⁴⁰ Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.⁴¹

1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the “ministry of reconciliation.”⁴² The apostle is sent out “on behalf of Christ” with “God making his appeal” through him and pleading: “Be reconciled to God.”⁴³

Reconciliation with the Church

1443 During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners into the community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God’s forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the People of God.⁴⁴

1444 In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ’s solemn words to Simon Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”⁴⁵ “The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head.”⁴⁶

1445 The words bind and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome back into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.

The sacrament of forgiveness

1446 Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as “the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.”⁴⁷

1447 Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries the reconciliation of Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this “order of penitents” (which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime. During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the “private” practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day.

1448 Beneath the changes in discipline and celebration that this sacrament has undergone over the centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God’s action through the intervention of the Church. The Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion.

1449 The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:

“God, the Father of mercies,

through the death and the resurrection of his Son

has reconciled the world to himself

and sent the Holy Spirit among us

for the forgiveness of sins;

through the ministry of the Church

may God give you pardon and peace,

and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”⁴⁸

VIII. THE MINISTER OF THIS SACRAMENT

1461 Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation,⁶⁵ bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops’ collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

1462 Forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation with God, but also with the Church. Since ancient times the bishop, visible head of a particular Church, has thus rightfully been considered to be the one who principally has the power and ministry of reconciliation: he is the moderator of the penitential discipline.⁶⁶ Priests, his collaborators, exercise it to the extent that they have received the commission either from their bishop (or religious superior) or the Pope, according to the law of the Church.⁶⁷

1463 Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them. In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication.⁶⁹

1464 Priests must encourage the faithful to come to the sacrament of Penance and must make themselves available to celebrate this sacrament each time Christians reasonably ask for it.⁷⁰

1465 When he celebrates the sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God’s merciful love for the sinner.

1466 The confessor is not the master of God’s forgiveness, but its servant. The minister of this sacrament should unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ.⁷¹ He should have a proven knowledge of Christian behavior, experience of human affairs, respect and sensitivity toward the one who has fallen; he must love the truth, be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, and lead the penitent with patience toward healing and full maturity. He must pray and do penance for his penitent, entrusting him to the Lord’s mercy.

1467 Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives.⁷² This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the “sacramental seal,” because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains “sealed” by the sacrament.

IX. THE EFFECTS OF THIS SACRAMENT

1468 “The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.”⁷³ Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.”⁷⁴ Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.⁷⁵

1469 This sacrament reconciles us with the Church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion. The sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense it does not simply heal the one restored to ecclesial communion, but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from the sin of one of her members.⁷⁶ Re-established or strengthened in the communion of saints, the sinner is made stronger by the exchange of spiritual goods among all the living members of the Body of Christ, whether still on pilgrimage or already in the heavenly homeland:⁷⁷

It must be recalled that . . . this reconciliation with God leads, as it were, to other reconciliations, which repair the other breaches caused by sin. The forgiven penitent is reconciled with himself in his inmost being, where he regains his innermost truth. He is reconciled with his brethren whom he has in some way offended and wounded. He is reconciled with the Church. He is reconciled with all creation.⁷⁸

1470 In this sacrament, the sinner, placing himself before the merciful judgment of God, anticipates in a certain way the judgment to which he will be subjected at the end of his earthly life. For it is now, in this life, that we are offered the choice between life and death, and it is only by the road of conversion that we can enter the Kingdom, from which one is excluded by grave sin.⁷⁹ In converting to Christ through penance and faith, the sinner passes from death to life and “does not come into judgment.”⁸⁰

1496 The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are: 
- reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace; 
- reconciliation with the Church; 
- remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins; 
- remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin; 
- peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation; 
- an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.

1497 Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church.

WHAT THE HELL?

THE REALITY AND TRUTH ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF HELL

FROM SACRED SCRIPTURE, CHURCH TEACHING AND THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS

What is Hell? – WITNESS OF SACRED SCRIPTURE:

Hell is a state to which the wicked are condemned, and in which they are deprived of the sight of God for all eternity, and suffer according to the way they died in mortal, unrepentant sin.

OLD TESTAMENT WITNESS TO THE REALITY OF HELL:

1.   Isaiah 33:14 – “Who of us can dwell in the everlasting fire?”

- This is a reference to hell which is forever.

2.  Isaiah 66:24 – “their worm shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched.”

- We cannot fathom the pain of this eternal separation from God.

3.  Jer. 15:14 – “in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn forever.” – Hell is the proper compliment to the eternal bliss of heaven.

4.  Judith 16:17 – “in the day of judgment the Lord will take vengeance on the wicked and they shall weep in pain forever.”

- Hell is a place that sinners have prepared for themselves by rejecting God, who desires all people to be saved in His Son Jesus Christ. God sends no one to hell.

NEW TESTAMENT WITNESS TO THE REALITY OF HELL:

1.  “If, then, thy hand or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off and cast it from thee; it is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than, having two hands or two feet, be cast into everlasting fire.

And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; it is better for thee, having one eye, to enter into life, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.” — (Matt. xviii, 7; compare v., 29.)

2.  “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body into hell.” — (Matt. x. 28.)

3.  “The rich man also died, and he was buried in hell.  Now, lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” — (Luke xvi., 22.)

4.  “Then the Judge will say to them that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.” — (Matt xxv., 41.)

5.  “Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down in the kingdom of heaven.  But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” — (Matt. viii., 11.)

6.  “The King went in to see the guests, and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment.  And he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment? But he was silent.  Then the King said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall weeping , and gnashing of teeth.” — (Matt. v., 22.)

7.  “The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.” — (Matt xxv., 30.)

8.  “But I say to you: Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matt. v., 22.)

9.  “The Son of Man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all scandals and them that work iniquity;  And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” — (Matt. xiii., 41.)

10.  “If thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into unquenchable fire.  There, the gnawing worm dies not and the fire is not extinguished.

“And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting than having two feet, to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire.

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.

“And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out; it is better for thee with one eye to enter into the Kingdom of God, than, having two eyes, to be cast into the hell of fire.

11.  “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.” — (Mark ix., 42)

12.  “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and shall be cast into the fire.” — (Matt. XII., 19.)

13.  “I am the vine; you the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.  If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.” — (John xv., 5.)

14.  “Already, the axe is laid to the root of the tree: and every tree that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire.”

15.  “Whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor; and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Words of St. John the Baptist. — (Matt. iii., 10.)

16.  “The beast and the false prophet who had seduced them who had received the character of the beast, and who had admired his image, were cast alive into the pool of fire burning with brimstone.” (Apoc., xix., 20.)

“Where they were tormented day and night, for ever and ever.

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire.” — (Apoc. xx., 15.)

SUMMARY OF SACRED SCRIPTURE TEACHING ON HELL:

as a place of torment (Lk 16:28),

as the netherworld (Lk 16:22),

as the abyss (Lk 8:31; Rev 9:1-2,11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1,3),

as a fiery furnace (Mt 13:42, 50),

as a pool of fire (Rev 20:10, 14),

as a fiery pool of burning sulfur (Rev 19:20),

as a pool of fire and sulfur (Rev 20:10; 21:8),

as Tartarus (Greek mythological place of punishment)(2 Pet 2:4),

as Gehenna or as the fire of Gehenna (Mt 5:22, 29; 10:28; 18:9; 23:33).

As a state, Scripture speaks of hell with many words:

as death (Rom 6:21; 8:6; 8:13; 2 Cor 2:14-16),

as the second death (Rev 2:11; 20:6; 21:8),

as eternal ruin (2 Thess 1:9; 1 Tim 6:9),

as outside darkness (Mt 8:12; 22:11-13; 25:30),

as eternal fire (Mt 18:8, 25:41; Jude 7),

as eternal punishment (Mt 25:46),

as destruction (Mt 7:13; Phil 1:28; 2 Pet 3:7),

as damnation (Mk 16:16; Jn 12:25),

as perishing (Jn 3:16; 10:27; Rom 2:12),

as unquenchable fire (Mk 9:42-47; Lk 3:17),

as fire and sulfur (Rev 14:9-14),

as thick gloom of darkness (2 Pet 2:17; Jude 13),

as corruption (Gal 6:8),

CHURCH TEACHING:  Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1033 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.”

1034 Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna,” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he “will send his angels, and they will gather all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,” and that he will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!”

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, “eternal fire.” The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance”: Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us from final damnation, and count us among those you have chosen.

WITNESS OF THE EARLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH:

Ignatius of Antioch

 Corrupters of families will not inherit the kingdom of God. And if they who do these things according to the flesh suffer death, how much more if a man corrupt by evil reaching the faith of God for the sake of which Jesus Christ was crucified? A man become so foul will depart into unquenchable fire, and so will anyone who listens to him. (Letter to the Ephesians 16:1–2 [A.D. 110]) 


 Second Clement

 If we do the will of Christ, we shall obtain rest; but if not, if we neglect his commandments, nothing will rescue us from eternal punishment. (Second Clement 5:5 [A.D. 150]) 


 Justin Martyr

 No more is it possible for the evildoer, the avaricious, and the treacherous to hide from God than it is for the virtuous. Every man will receive the eternal punishment or reward which his actions deserve. Indeed, if all men recognized this, no one would choose evil even for a short time, knowing that he would incur the eternal sentence of fire. On the contrary, he would take every means to control himself and to adorn himself in virtue, so that he might obtain the good gifts of God and escape the punishments. (First Apology 12 [A.D. 151]) 


Justin Martyr

[Jesus] shall come from the heavens in glory with his angelic host, when he shall raise the bodies of all the men who ever lived. Then he will clothe the worthy in immortality; but the wicked, clothed in eternal sensibility, he will commit to the eternal fire, along with the evil demons. (ibid., 52) 


The Martyrdom of Polycarp

 Fixing their minds on the grace of Christ, [the martyrs] despised worldly tortures and purchased eternal life with but a single hour. To them, the fire of their cruel torturers was cold. They kept before their eyes their escape from the eternal and unquenchable fire. (Martyrdom of Polycarp 2:3 [A.D. 155]) 


Mathetes

When you know what is the true life, that of heaven; when you despise the merely apparent death, which is temporal; when you fear the death which is real, and which is reserved for those who will be condemned to the everlasting fire, the fire which will punish even to the end those who are delivered to it, then you will condemn the deceit and error of the world. (Letter to Diognetus 10:7 [A.D. 160]) 


Athenagoras

We [Christians] are persuaded that when we are removed from this present life we shall live another life, better than the present one. . . . Then we shall abide near God and with God, changeless and free from suffering in the soul . . . or if we fall with the rest [of mankind], a worse one and in fire; for God has not made us as sheep or beasts of burden, a mere incidental work, that we should perish and be annihilated. (Plea for the Christians 31 [A.D. 177]) 


Theophilus of Antioch

Give studious attention to the prophetic writings [the Bible] and they will lead you on a clearer path to escape the eternal punishments and to obtain the eternal good things of God. . . . [God] will examine everything and will judge justly, granting recompense to each according to merit. To those who seek immortality by the patient exercise of good works, he will give everlasting life, joy, peace, rest, and all good things. . . . For the unbelievers and for the contemptuous, and for those who do not submit to the truth but assent to iniquity, when they have been involved in adulteries, and fornications, and homosexualities, and avarice, and in lawless idolatries, there will be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish; and in the end, such men as these will be detained in everlasting fire. (To Autolycus 1:14 [A.D. 181]) 


Irenaeus

The penalty increases for those who do not believe the Word of God and despise his coming. . . . It is not merely temporal, but eternal. To whomsoever the Lord shall say, “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire,” they will be damned forever. (Against Heresies 4:28:2) 


Hippolytus

Standing before [Christ’s] judgment, all of them, men, angels, and demons, crying out in one voice, shall say: “Just is your judgment!” And the righteousness of that cry will be apparent in the recompense made to each. To those who have done well, everlasting enjoyment shall be given; while to the lovers of evil shall be given eternal punishment. The unquenchable and unending fire awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which does not die and which does not waste the body but continually bursts forth from the body with unceasing pain. No sleep will give them rest; no night will soothe them; no death will deliver them from punishment; no appeal of interceding friends will profit them. (Against the Greeks 3 [A.D. 212]) 


Minucius Felix

I am not ignorant of the fact that many, in the consciousness of what they deserve, would rather hope than actually believe that there is nothing for them after death. They would prefer to be annihilated rather than be restored for punishment. . . . Nor is there either measure nor end to these torments. That clever fire burns the limbs and restores them, wears them away and yet sustains them, just as fiery thunderbolts strike bodies but do not consume them. (Octavius 34:12–5:3 [A.D. 226]) 


Cyprian of Carthage

An ever-burning Gehenna and the punishment of being devoured by living flames will consume the condemned; nor will there be any way in which the tormented can ever have respite or be at an end. Souls along with their bodies will be preserved for suffering in unlimited agonies. . . . The grief at punishment will then be without the fruit of repentance; weeping will be useless, and prayer ineffectual. Too late will they believe in eternal punishment, who would not believe in eternal life. (To Demetrian 24 [A.D. 252]) 


Lactantius

The sacred writings inform us in what manner the wicked are to undergo punishment. For because they have committed sins in their bodies, they will again be clothed with flesh, that they may make atonement in their bodies; and yet it will not be that flesh with which God clothed man, like this our earthly body, but indestructible, and abiding forever, that it may be able to hold out against tortures and everlasting fire. . . . The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment. (Divine Institutes 7:21 [A.D. 307]) 


Cyril of Jerusalem

We shall be raised therefore, all with our bodies eternal, but not all with bodies alike: For if a man is righteous, he will receive a heavenly body, that he may be able worthily to hold converse with angels; but if a man is a sinner, he shall receive an eternal body, fitted to endure the penalties of sins, that he may burn eternally in fire, nor ever be consumed. And righteously will God assign this portion to either company; for we do nothing without the body. We blaspheme with the mouth, and with the mouth we pray. With the body we commit fornication, and with the body we keep chastity. With the hand we rob, and by the hand we bestow alms; and the rest in like manner. Since then the body has been our minister in all things, it shall also share with us in the future the fruits of the past. (Catechetical Lectures 18:19 [A.D. 350])

Saints and the Reality of Hell:

FATIMA – On July 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary opened her hands over the three children, and the light streaming from them seemed to penetrate the earth; the three children beheld a vision of Hell. Lucia cried out in terror, calling upon Our Lady. “We could see a vast sea of fire,” she revealed many years later. Lucia described the vision:

“Plunged in the flames were demons and lost souls, as if they were red-hot coals, transparent and black or bronze-colored, in human form, which floated about in the conflagration, borne by the flames which issued from them, with clouds of smoke falling on all sides as sparks fall in a great conflagration without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of sorrow and despair that horrified us and caused us to tremble with fear. The devils could be distinguished by horrible and loathsome forms of animals, frightful and unknown, but transparent like black coals that have turned red-hot.” Full of fear, the children raised their eyes beseechingly to Our Lady, who said to them with unspeakable sadness and tenderness: “You have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people do what I ask, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”

Little Jacinta, in particular, was powerfully struck by Our Lady’s revelations on the poor sinners who are condemned to Hell for all eternity. She would exclaim, “Oh, Hell! Hell! I am so sorry for the souls who go there!” And thus motivated, she prayed and made sacrifices continually.

Our Lady said at Fatima, “Many souls go to Hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.”

St. Faustina’s Vision of Hell

“I, Sister Faustina Kowalska, by the order of God, have visited the Abysses of Hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence…the devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God, What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell.” (Diary 741)

“Today, I was led by an angel to the Chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw:

The First Torture that constitutes hell is:

     The loss of God.

The Second is:

     Perpetual remorse of conscience.

The Third is

     That one’s condition will never change.

The Fourth is:

     The fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger.

The Fifth Torture is:

     Continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own.

The Sixth Torture is:

The constant company of Satan.

The Seventh Torture is:

Horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.

These are the Tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings.

Indescribable Sufferings
There are special Tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned.

I would have died
There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me.

No One Can Say There is No Hell
Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like…how terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God’s mercy upon them. O My Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend you by the least sin.” (Diary 741)

St. John Bosco:

Vision of Hell

On Sunday night, May 3 [1868], the feast of Saint Joseph’s patronage, Don Bosco resumed the narration of his dreams:

I have another dream to tell you, a sort of aftermath of those I told you last Thursday and Friday which totally exhausted me. Call them dreams or whatever you like. Always, as you know, on the night of April 17 a frightful toad seemed bent on devouring me. When it finally vanished, a voice said to me: “Why don’t you tell them?” I turned in that direction and saw a distinguished person standing by my bed. Feeling guilty about my silence, I asked: “What should I tell my boys?”

“What you have seen and heard in your last dreams and what you have wanted to know and shall have revealed to you tomorrow night!” He then vanished.

I spent the whole next day worrying about the miserable night in store for me, and when evening came, loath to go to bed, I sat at my desk browsing through books until midnight. The mere thought of having more nightmares thoroughly scare me. However, with great effort, I finally went to bed.

“Get up and follow me!” he said.

“For Heaven’s sake,” I protested, “leave me alone. I am exhausted! I’ve been tormented by a toothache for several day now and need rest. Besides, nightmares have completely worn me out.” I said this because this man’s apparition always means trouble, fatigue, and terror for me.

“Get up,” he repeated. “You have no time to lose.”

I complied and followed him. “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“Never mind. You’ll see.” He led me to a vast, boundless plain, veritably a lifeless desert, with not a soul in sight or a tree or brook. Yellowed, dried-up vegetation added to the desolation I had no idea where I was or what was I to do. For a moment I even lost sight of my guide and feared that I was lost, utterly alone. Father Rua, Father Francesia, nowhere to be seen. When I finally saw my friend coming toward me, I sighed in relief.

“Where am I?” I asked.

“Come with me and you will find out!”

“All right. I’ll go with you.”

He led the way and I followed in silence, but after a long, dismal trudge, I began worrying whether I would ever be able to cross that vast expanse, what with my toothache and swollen legs. Suddenly I saw a road ahead. “Where to now?” I asked my guide.

“This way,” he replied.

We took the road. It was beautiful, wide, and neatly paved. “The way of sinners is made plain with stones, and in their end is hell, and darkness, and pains. “ (Ecclesiasticus 21: 11, stones: broad and easy.) Both sides were lined with magnificent verdant hedges dotted with gorgeous flowers. Roses, especially, peeped everywhere through the leaves. At first glance, the road was level and comfortable, and so I ventured upon it without the least suspicion, but soon I noticed that it insensibly kept sloping downward. Though it did not look steep at all, I found myself moving so swiftly that I felt I was effortlessly gliding through the air. Really, I was gliding and hardly using my feet. Then the thought struck me that the return trip would be very long and arduous.

“How shall we get back to the Oratory?” I asked worriedly.

“Do not worry,” he answered. “The Almighty wants you to go. He who leads you on will also know how to lead you back.”

The road is sloping downward. As we were continuing on our way, flanked by banks of roses and other flowers, I became aware that the Oratory boys and very many others whom I did not know were following me. Somehow I found myself in their midst. As I was looking at them, I noticed now one, now another fall to the ground and instantly be dragged by an unseen force toward a frightful drop, distantly visible, which sloped into a furnace. “What makes these boys fall?” I asked my companion. “The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling-block by the wayside.” (Psalms 139: 6)

“Take a closer look,” he replied.

I did. Traps were everywhere, some close to the ground, others at eye level, but all well concealed. Unaware of their danger, many boys got caught, and they tripped, they would sprawl to the ground, legs in the air. Then, when they managed to get back on their feet, they would run headlong down the road toward the abyss. Some got trapped by the head, others by the neck, hand, arms, legs, or sides, and were pulled down instantly. The ground traps, fine as spiders’ webs and hardly visible, seemed very flimsy and harmless; yet, to my surprise, every boy they snared fell to the ground.

Noticing my astonishment, the guide remarked, “Do you know what this is?”

“Just some filmy fiber,” I answered.

“A mere nothing,” he said, “just plain human respect.”,

Seeing that many boys were being caught in those straps. I asked, “Why do so many get caught? Who pulls them down?”

“Go nearer and you will see!” he told me.

I followed his advice but saw nothing peculiar.

“Look closer,” he insisted.

I picked up one of the traps and tugged. I immediately felt some resistance. I pulled harder, only to feel that, instead of drawing the thread closer, I was being pulled down myself. I did not resist and soon found myself at the mouth of a frightful cave. I halted, unwilling to venture into that deep cavern, and again started pulling the thread toward me. It gave a little, but only through great effort on my part. I kept tugging, and after a long while a huge, hideous monster emerged, clutching a rope to which all those traps were tied together. He was the one who instantly dragged down anyone who got caught in them. It won’t do to match my strength with his, I said to myself. I’ll certainly lose. I’d better fight him with the Sign of the Cross and with short invocations.

Then I went back to my guide. “Now you know who he is,” he said to me.

“I surely do! It is the devil himself!”

Carefully examining many of the traps, I saw that each bore an inscription: Pride, Disobedience, Envy, Sixth Commandment, Theft, Gluttony, Sloth, Anger and so on. Stepping back a bit to see which ones trapped the greater number of boys, I discovered that the most dangerous were those of impurity, disobedience, and pride. In fact, these three were linked to together. Many other traps also did great harm, but not as much as the first two. Still watching, I noticed many boys running faster than others. “Why such haste?” I asked.

“Because they are dragged by the snare of human respect.”

Looking even more closely, I spotted knives among the traps. A providential hand had put them there for cutting oneself free. The bigger ones, symbolizing meditation, were for use against the trap of pride; others, not quite as big, symbolized spiritual reading well made. There were also two swords representing devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, especially through frequent Holy Communion, and to the Blessed Virgin. There was also a hammer symbolizing confession, and other knives signifying devotion to Saint Joseph, to Saint Aloysius, and to other Saints. By these means quite a few boys were able to free themselves or evade capture.

Indeed I saw some lads walking safely through all those traps, either by good timing before the trap sprung on them or by making it slip off them if they got caught.

When my guide was satisfied that I had observed everything, he made me continue along that rose-hedged road, but the farther we went the scarcer the roses became. Long thorns began to show up, and soon the roses were no more. The hedges became sun-scorched, leafless, and thorn-studded. Withered branches torn from the bushes lay criss-crossed along the roadbed, littering it with thorns and making it impassable. We had come now to a gulch whose steep sides hid what lay beyond. The road, still sloping downward, was becoming ever more horrid, rutted, guttered, and bristling with rocks and boulders. I lost track of all my boys, most of whom had left this treacherous road for other paths.

I kept going, but the farther I advanced, the more arduous and steep became the descent, so that I tumbled and fell several times, lying prostrate until I could catch my breath. Now and then my guide supported me or helped me to rise. At every step my joints seemed to give way, and I thought my shinbones would snap. Panting, I said to my guide, “My good fellow, my legs won’t carry me another step. I just can’t go any farther.”

He did not answer but continued walking. Taking heart, I followed until, seeing me soaked in perspiration and thoroughly exhausted, he led me to a little clearing alongside the road. I sat down, took a deep breath, and felt a little better. From my resting place, the road I had already traveled looked very steep, jagged, and strewn with loose stones, but what lay ahead seemed so much worse that I closed my eyes in horror.

“Let’s go back,” I pleaded. “If we go any farther, how shall we ever get back to the Oratory? I will never make it up this slope.”

“Now that we have come so far, do you want me to leave you here?” my guide sternly asked.

At this threat, I wailed, “How can I survive without your help?”

“Then follow me.”

We continued our descent, the road now becoming so frightfully steep that it was almost impossible to stand erect. And then, at the bottom of this precipice, at the entrance of a dark valley, an enormous building loomed into sight, its towering portal, tightly locked, facing our road. When I finally got to the bottom, I became smothered by a suffocating heat, while a greasy, green-tinted smoke lit by flashes of scarlet flames rose from behind those enormous walls which loomed higher than mountains.

“Where are we? What is this?” I asked my guide.

“Read the inscription on that portal and you will know.”

I looked up and read these words: “The place of no reprieve.” I realized that we were at the gates of Hell. The guide led me all around this horrible place. At regular distance bronze portals like the first overlooked precipitous descents; on each was an inscription, such as: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25: 41) “Every tree that yielded not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the the fire.” (Matthew 7: 19)

I tried to copy them into my notebook, but my guide restrained me: “There is no need. You have them all in Holy Scripture. You even have some of them inscribed in your porticoes.”

At such a sight I wanted to turn back and return to the Oratory. As a matter of fact, I did start back, but my guide ignored my attempt. After trudging through a steep, never-ending ravine, we again came to the foot of the precipice facing the first portal. Suddenly the guide turned to me. Upset and startled, he motioned to me to step aside. “Look!” he said.

I looked up in terror and saw in the distance someone racing down the path at an uncontrollable speed. I kept my eyes on him, trying to identify him, and as he got closer, I recognized him as one of my boys. His disheveled hair was partly standing upright on his head and partly tossed back by the wind. His arms were outstretched as though he were thrashing the water in an attempt to stay afloat. He wanted to stop, but could not. Tripping on the protruding stones, he kept falling even faster. “Let’s help him, let’s stop him,” I shouted, holding out my hands in a vain effort to restrain him.

“Leave him alone,” the guide replied.

“Why?”

“Don’t you know how terrible God’s vengeance is? Do you think you can restrain one who is fleeing from His just wrath?”

Meanwhile the youth had turned his fiery gaze backward in an attempt to see if God’s wrath were still pursuing him. The next moment he fell tumbling to the bottom of the ravine and crashed against the bronze portal as though he could find no better refuge in his flight.

“Why was he looking backward in terror?” I asked.

“Because God’s wrath will pierce Hell’s gates to reach and torment him even in the midst of fire!”

As the boy crashed into the portal, it sprang open with a roar, and instantly a thousand inner portals opened with a deafening clamor as if struck by a body that had been propelled by an invisible, most violent, irresistible gale. As these bronze doors — one behind the other, though at a considerable distance from each other — remained momentarily open, I saw far into the distance something like furnace jaws sprouting fiery balls the moment the youth hurtled into it. As swiftly as they had opened, the portals then clanged shut again. For a third time I tried to jot down the name of that unfortunate lad, but the guide again restrained me. “Wait,” he ordered. “Watch!”

Three other boys of ours, screaming in terror and with arms outstretched, were rolling down one behind the other like massive rocks, I recognized them as they too crashed against the portal. In that split second, it sprang open and so did the other thousand. The three lads were sucked into that endless corridor amid a long-drawn, fading, infernal echo, and then the portals clanged shut again. At intervals, many other lads came tumbling down after them. I saw one unlucky boy being pushed down the slope by an evil companion. Others fell singly or with others, arm in arm or side by side. Each of them bore the name of his sin on his forehead. I kept calling to them as they hurtled down, but they did not hear me. Again the portals would open thunderously and slam shut with a rumble. Then, dead silence!

“Bad companions, bad books, and bad habits,” my guide exclaimed, “are mainly responsible for so many eternally lost.”

The traps I had seen earlier were indeed dragging the boys to ruin. Seeing so many going to perdition, I cried out disconsolately, “If so many of our boys end up this way, we are working in vain. How can we prevent such tragedies?”

“This is their present state,” my guide replied, “and that is where they would go if they were to die now.”

“Then let me jot down their names so that I may warn them and put them back on the path to Heaven.”

“Do you really believe that some of them would reform if you were to warn them? Then and there your warning might impress them, but soon they will forget it, saying, ‘It was just a dream,’ and they will do worse than before. Others, realizing they have been unmasked, receive the sacraments, but this will be neither spontaneous nor meritorious; others will go to confession because of a momentary fear of Hell but will still be attached to sin.”

“Then is there no way to save these unfortunate lads? Please, tell me what I can do for them.”

“They have superiors; let them obey them. They have rules; let them observe them. They have the sacraments; let them receive them.”

Just then a new group of boys came hurtling down and the portals momentarily opened. “Let’s go in,” the guide said to me.

I pulled back in horror. I could not wait to rush back to the Oratory to warn the boys lest others might be lost as well.

“Come,” my guide insisted. “You’ll learn much. But first tell me: Do you wish to go alone or with me?” He asked this to make me realize that I was not brave enough and therefore needed his friendly assistance.

“Alone inside that horrible place?” I replied. “How will I ever be able to find my way out without your help?” Then a thought came to my mind and aroused my courage. Before one is condemned to Hell, I said to myself, he must be judged. And I haven’t been judged yet!

“Let’s go,” I exclaimed resolutely. We entered that narrow, horrible corridor and whizzed through it with lightning speed. Threatening inscriptions shone eerily over all the inner gateways. The last one opened into a vast, grim courtyard with a large, unbelievably forbidding entrance at the far end. Above it stood this inscription: “These shall go into everlasting punishment.” (Matthew 25: 46) The walls all about were similarly inscribed. I asked my guide if I could read them, and he consented. These were the inscriptions:

“He will give fire, and worms into their flesh, and they may burn and may feel forever.” (Judith 16: 21)

“The pool of fire where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Apocalypse 20: 9-10)

“And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up forever and ever.” (Apocalypse 14: 11)

“A land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth.” (Job 10: 22)

“There is no peace to the wicked.” (Isaias 47: 22)

“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)

While I moved from one inscription to another, my guide, who had stood in the center of the courtyard, came up to me.

“From here on,” he said, “no one may have a helpful companion, a comforting friend, a loving heart, a compassionate glance, or a benevolent word. All this is gone forever. Do you just want to see or would you rather experience these things yourself?”

“I only want to see!” I answered.

“Then come with me,” my friend added, and, taking me in tow, he stepped through that gate into a corridor at whose far end stood an observation platform, closed by a huge, single crystal pane reaching from the pavement to the ceiling. As soon as I crossed its threshold, I felt an indescribable terror and dared not take another step. Ahead of me I could see something like an immense cave which gradually disappeared into recesses sunk far into the bowels of the mountains. They were all ablaze, but theirs was not an earthly fire with leaping tongues of flames. The entire cave –walls, ceiling, floor, iron, stones, wood, and coal — everything was a glowing white at temperatures of thousands of degrees. Yet the fire did not incinerate, did not consume. I simply can’t find words to describe the cavern’s horror. “The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.” (Isaias 30: 33)

I was staring in bewilderment about me when a lad dashed out of a gate. Seemingly unaware of anything else, he emitted a most shrilling scream, like one who is about to fall into a cauldron of liquid bronze, and plummeted into the center of the cave. Instantly he too became incandescent and perfectly motionless, while the echo of his dying wail lingered for an instant more.

Terribly frightened, I stared briefly at him for a while. He seemed to be one of my Oratory boys. “Isn’t he so and so?” I asked my guide.

“Yes,” was the answer.

“Why is he so still, so incandescent?”

“You chose to see,” he replied. “Be satisfied with that. Just keep looking. Besides, “Everyone shall be salted with fire.” Mark 9:48

As I looked again, another boy came hurtling down into the cave at breakneck speed. He too was from the Oratory. A he fell, so he remained. He too emitted one single heart-rending shriek that blended with the last echo of the scream that came from the youth who had preceded him. Other boys kept hurtling in the same way in increasing numbers, all screaming the same way and then all becoming equally motionless and incandescent. I noticed that the first seemed frozen to the spot, one hand and one foot raised into the air; the second boy seemed bent almost double to the floor. Others stood or hung in various other positions, balancing themselves on one foot or hand, sitting or lying on their backs or on their sides, standing or kneeling, hands clutching their hair. Briefly, the scene resembled a large statuary group of youngsters cast into ever more painful postures. Other lads hurtled into that same furnace. Some I knew; others were strangers to me. I then recalled what is written in the Bible to the effect that as one falls into Hell, so he shall forever remain. “. . . in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be.” (Ecclesiastes 11:3)

More frightened than ever, I asked my guide, “When these boys come dashing into this cave, don’t they know where they are going?”

“They surely do. They have been warned a thousand times, but they still choose to rush into the fire because they do not detest sin and are loath to forsake it. Furthermore, they despise and reject God’s incessant, merciful invitations to do penance. Thus provoked, Divine Justice harries them, hounds them, and goads them on so that they cannot halt until the reach this place.”

“Oh, how miserable these unfortunate boys must feel in knowing they no longer have any hope,” I exclaimed.

“If you really want to know their innermost frenzy and fury, go a little closer,” my guide remarked.

I took a few steps forward and saw that many of those poor wretches were savagely striking at each other like mad dogs. Others were clawing their own faces and hands, tearing their own flesh and spitefully throwing it about. Just then the entire ceiling of the cave became as transparent as crystal and revealed a patch of Heaven and their radiant companions safe for all eternity.

The poor wretches, fuming and panting with envy, burned with rage because they had once ridiculed the just. “The wicked shall see, and be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth, and pine away. . . “ (Psalms 111: 10)

“Why do hear no sound?” I asked my guide,

“Go closer!” he advised.

Pressing my ear to the crystal window, I heard screams and sobs, blasphemies and imprecations against the Saints. It was a tumult of voices and cries, shrill and confused.

“When they recall the happy lot of their good companions,” he replied, “they are obliged to admit: “We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us.” (Wisdom 5:4-6)

“We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we have not known. What hath pride profited us ? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us ? All those things are passed away like a shadow.” (Wisdom 5: 7-9)

“Here time is no more. Here is only eternity.”

While I viewed the condition of many of my boys in utter terror, a thought suddenly struck me. “How can these boys be damned?” I asked. “Last night they were still alive at the Oratory!”

“The boys you see here,” he answered, “are all dead to God’s grace. Were they to die now or persist in their evil ways, they would be damned. But we are wasting time. Let us go on.”

He led me away and we went down through a corridor into a lower cavern, at whose entrance I read: “Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched.” (Isaias 66: 24) “He will give fire, and worms into their flesh, and they may burn and may feel forever.” (Judith 16: 21)

Here one could see how atrocious was the remorse of those who had been pupils in our schools. What a torment was their, to remember each unforgiven sin and its just punishment, the countless, even extraordinary means they had had to mend their ways, persevere in virtue, and earn paradise, and their lack of response to the many favors promised and bestowed by the Virgin Mary. What a torture to think that they couId have been saved so easily, yet now are irredeemably lost, and to remember the many good resolutions made and never kept. Hell is indeed paved with good intentions!

In this lower cavern I again saw those Oratory boys who had fallen into the fiery furnace. Some are listening to me right now; others are former pupils or even strangers to me. I drew closer to them and noticed that they were all covered with worms and vermin which gnawed at their vitals, hearts, eyes, hands, legs, and entire bodies so ferociously as to defy description. Helpless and motionless, they were a prey to every kind of torment. Hoping I might be able to speak with them or to hear something from them, I drew even closer but no one spoke or even looked at me. I then asked my guide why, and he explained that the damned are totally deprived of freedom. Each must fully endure his own punishment, with absolutely no reprieve whatever.

“And now,” he added, “you too must enter that cavern.”

“Oh, no!” I objected in terror. “Before going to Hell, one has to be judged. I have not been judged yet, and so I will not go to Hell!”

“Listen,” he said, “what would you rather do: visit Hell and save your boys, or stay outside and leave them in agony?”

For a moment I was struck speechless. “Of course I love my boys and wish to save them all,” I replied, “but isn’t there some other way out?”

“Yes, there is a way,” he went on, “provided you do all you can.”

I breathed more easily and instantly said to myself, I don ‘t mind slaving if I can rescue these beloved sons of mine from such torments.

“Come inside then,” my friend went on, “and see how our good, almighty God lovingly provides a thousand means for guiding your boys to penance and saving them from everlasting death.”

Taking my hand, he led me into the cave. As I stepped in, I found myself suddenly transported into a magnificent hall whose curtained glass doors concealed more entrances.

Above one of them I read this inscription: The Sixth Commandment. Pointing to it, my guide exclaimed, “Transgressions of this commandment caused the eternal ruin of many boys.”

“Didn’t they go to confession?”

“They did, but they either omitted or insufficiently confessed the sins against the beautiful virtue of purity, saying for instance that they had committed such sins two or three times when it was four or five. Other boys may have fallen into that sin but once in their childhood, and, through shame, never confessed it or did so insufficiently. Others were not truly sorry or sincere in their resolve to avoid it in the future. There were even some who, rather than examine their conscience, spent their time trying to figure out how best to deceive their confessor. Anyone dying in this frame of mind chooses to be among the damned, and so he is doomed for all eternity. Only those who die truly repentant shall be eternally happy. Now do you want to see why our merciful God brought you here?” He lifted the curtain and I saw a group of Oratory boys — all known to me — who were there because of this sin. Among them were some whose conduct seems to be good.

“Now you will surely let me take down their names so that I may warn them individually,” I exclaimed.

“Then what do you suggest I tell them?”< /LI>

“Always preach against immodesty. A generic warning will suffice. Bear in mind that even if you did admonish them individually, they would promise, but not always in earnest. For a firm resolution, one needs God’s grace which will not be denied to your boys if they pray. God manifests His power especially by being merciful and forgiving. On your part, pray and make sacrifices. As for the boys, let them listen to your admonitions and consult thei conscience. It will tell them what to do.”

We spent the next half hour discussing the requisites of a good confession. Afterward, my guide several times exclaimed in a loud voice, “Avertere! Avertere!”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Change life! “

Perplexed, I bowed my head and made as if to withdraw, but he held me back.

“You haven’t seen everything yet,” he explained.

He turned and lifted another curtain bearing this inscription: “They who would become rich, full into temptation, and and to the snare of the devil.” (1 Timothy 6: 9) (Note: would become rich: wish to become rich, seek riches, set their heart and affections toward riches.)

“This does not apply to my boys! I countered, “because they are as poor as I am. We are not rich and do not want to be. We give it no thought.”

As the curtain was lifted, however, I saw a group of boys, all known to me. They were in pain, like those I had seen before. Pointing to them, my guide remarked, “As you see, the inscription does apply to your boys.”

“But how?” I asked.

“Well,” he said, “some boys are so attached to material possessions that their love of God is lessened. Thus they sin against charity, piety, and meekness. Even the mere desire of riches can corrupt the heart, especially if such a desire leads to injustice. Your boys are poor, but remember that greed and idleness are bad counselors. One of your boys committed substantial thefts in his native town, and though he could make restitution, he gives it not a thought. There are others who try to break into the pantry or the prefect’s or economer’s office; those who rummage in their companions’ trunks for food, money, or possessions; those who steal stationery and books….”

After naming these boys and others as well, he continued, “Some are here for having stolen clothes, linen, blankets, and coats from the Oratory wardrobe in order to send them home to their families; others for willful, serious damage; others, yet, for not having given back what they had borrowed or for having kept sums of money they were supposed to hand over to the superior. Now that you know who these boys are,” he concluded, “admonish them. Tell them to curb all vain, harmful desires, to obey God’s law and to safeguard their reputation jealously lest greed lead them to greater excesses and plunge them into sorrow, death, and damnation.”

I couldn’t understand why such dreadful punishments should be meted out for infractions that boys thought so little of, but my guide shook me out of my thoughts by saying: “Recall what you were told when you saw those spoiled grapes on the wine.” With these words he lifted another curtain which hid many of our Oratory boys, all of whom I recognized instantly. The inscription on the curtain read: The root of all evils.

“Do you know what that means?” he asked me immediately.

“What sin does that refer to?”

“Pride?”

“No!”

“And yet I have always heard that pride is the root of all evil.”

“It is, generally speaking, but, specifically, do you know what led Adam and Eve to commit the first sin for which they were driven away from their earthly paradise?”

“Disobedience?”

“Exactly! Disobedience is the root of all evil.”

“What shall I tell my boys about it?”

“Listen carefulIy: the boys you see here are those who prepare such a tragic end for themselves by being disobedient. So-and-so and so-and-so, who you think went to bed, leave the dormitory later in the night to roam about the playground, and, contrary to orders, they stray into dangerous areas and up scaffolds, endangering even their lives. Others go to church, but, ignoring recommendations, they misbehave; instead of praying, they daydream or cause a disturbance. There are also those who make themselves comfortable so as to doze off during church services, and those who only make believe they are going to church. Woe to those who neglect prayer! He who does not pray dooms himself to perdition. Some are here because, instead of singing hymns or saying the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, they read frivolous or — worse yet — forbidden books.” He then went on mentioning other serious breaches of discipline. When he was done, I was deeply moved.

“May I mention all these things to my boys?” I asked, looking at him straight in the eye.

“Yes, you may tell them whatever you remember.”

“What advice shall I give them to safeguard them from such a tragedy?”

“Keep telling them that by obeying God, the Church, their parents, and their superiors, even in little things, they will be saved.”

“Anything else?”

“Warn them against idleness. Because of idleness David fell into sin. Tell them to keep busy at all times, because the devil will not then have a chance to tempt them.”

I bowed my head and promised. Faint with dismay, I could only mutter, “Thanks for having been so good to me. Now, please lead me out of here.”

“All right, then, come with me.” Encouragingly he took my hand and held me up because I could hardly stand on my feet. Leaving that hall, in no time at all we retraced our steps through that horrible courtyard and the long corridor. But as soon as we stepped across the last bronze portal, he turned to me and said, “Now that you have seen what others suffer, you too must experience a touch of Hell.”

“No, no!” I cried in terror.

He insisted, but I kept refusing.

“Do not be afraid,” he told me; “just try it. Touch this wall.”

I could not muster enough courage and tried to get away, but he held me back. “Try it,” he insisted. Gripping my arm firmly, he pulled me to the wall. “Only one touch,” he cornmanded, “so that you may say you have both seen and touched the walls of eternal suffering and that you may understand what the last wall must be like if the first is so unendurable. Look at this wall!”

I did intently. It seemed incredibly thick. “There are a thousand walls between this and the real fire of Hell,” my guide continued. “A thousand walls encompass it, each a thousand measures thick and equally distant from the next one. Each measure is a thousand miles. This wall therefore is millions and millions of miles from Hell’s real fire. It is just a remote rim of Hell itself.”

When he said this, I instinctively pulled back, but he seized my hand, forced it open, and pressed it against the first of the thousand walls. The sensation was so utterly excruciating that I leaped back with a scream and found myself sitting up in bed. My hand was stinging and I kept rubbing it to ease the pain. When I got up this morning I noticed that it was swollen. Having my hand pressed against the wall, though only in a dream, felt so real that, later, the skin of my palm peeled off.

Bear in mind that I have tried not to frighten you very much, and so I have not described these things in all their horror as I saw them and as they impressed me. We know that Our Lord always portrayed Hell in symbols because, had He described it as it really is, we would not have understood Him. No mortal can comprehend these things. The Lord knows them and He reveals them to whomever He wills.

Personal Experiences:

1.    A friend of mine, Tom, from my hometown in Pennsylvania, was in church when he noticed some flyers in the back relating to an ‘evangelist/healer’ who was coming to town.  Some of his friends asked if he would like to go, but he said no because it was not a Catholic speaker.  However, his friends went anyway.  After the talk and healing ministry by this non-catholic minister, Tom’s friends told him that one of the things this preacher talked about was that we no longer believed in hell.  God is all good and loving, and hell is just a metaphor in Scripture to make a point…but it doesn’t really exist.  Tom noticed his friends were overjoyed at this revelation.

Tom, being a man of prayer, immediately went before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and prayed on it. 

Suddenly, he found himself in a deep chasm of nothingness, emptiness, and despair. A strong voice rang through his whole being and said, “You better believe there is a hell!”.  Knowing that many of his catholic friends (and even priests and religious) were going to hear this minister preach, he continued to pray for guidance, and the same voice told him; ‘How many has he led from the True Faith”.

This person, a close friend of mine, was in tears for three days afterward.  He was able to recover and tell me this story.  As a Priest, and as a close friend of his, I know his experience to be real and true. 

There is a Hell, and people go there.  People who die in unrepentant, mortal sin have already chosen to reject God, and after death the choice is eternally confirmed. 

Heavenly Father, you are eternally Just and eternally Merciful. Help us, we pray, to always choose you in this life…what is right, true, and just, according to your teachings through your Catholic Church, that we may enjoy everlasting life in heaven with you. Amen. 

God our Heavenly Father, knowing from all eternity that the hardness of man’s heart would cause him to turn away from Truth to chase after shadows and myths, established a solid Rock foundation on which our Faith could anchor and remain firm amidst the changing tides of culture and the storms and winds of time.  That Rock foundation is the Roman Catholic Church, with Christ Himself as the Corner Stone and invisible head and Peter and his successors as the visible head here on earth.

2 TIMOTHY : Chapter 4

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power:

proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.

For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.”

MATTHEW 16:16

Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the Death shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Sacred Scripture:

In the Old Testament, we find that the name “Rock” was only capitalized and used as a name in reference to God.  Here are a some examples;

Isaiah 26:4; “Trust in the LORD forever! For the LORD is an eternal Rock.”

Psalms 28:1; “To you, LORD, I call; my Rock, do not be deaf to me.”

I.              Peter is the Rock on which the Church is Built

Jesus tells Simon that it is God the Father who chose him out of the Twelve, to his new mission as “Rock”.  Jesus confirms this choice of His Father and renames Simon as ‘Peter’ – the Rock foundation on which He will build His Church.

Matthew 16:16, Mark 3:16; John 1:42 – Jesus renames Simon “Kepha” in Aramaic which literally means “Rock.” This was an extraordinary thing for Jesus to do, because “rock” was not even a name in Jesus’ time. Jesus did this, not to give Simon a strange name, but to identify his new status among the apostles. When God changes a person’s name, He changes their status.

Gen. 17:5; 32:28; 2 Kings 23:34; Acts 9:4; 13:9 – for example, in these verses, we see that God changes the following people’s names and, as a result, they become special agents of God: Abram to Abraham; Jacob to Israel, Eliakim to Jehoiakim, Saul to Paul.

Jesus, knowing that He will ascend into heaven and will need to leave a safeguard for His Truth, appoints Peter to a new mission of  “confirming the brethren” and holding fast to ALL He has revealed for our salvation.

Luke 22:32; “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.”

2 Sam. 22:2-3, 32, 47; 23:3; Psalm 18:2,31,46; 19:4; 28:1; 42:9; 62:2,6,7; 89:26; 94:22; 144:1-2 – in these verses, God is also called “Rock.” Hence, from these verses, non-Catholics often argue that God, and not Peter, is the Rock that Jesus is referring to in Matt. 16:18. This argument not only ignores the plain meaning of the applicable texts, but also assumes words used in Scripture can only have one meaning. This, of course, is not true. For example:

1 Cor. 3:11 – Jesus is called the only foundation of the Church, and yet in Eph. 2:20, the apostles are called the foundation of the Church. Similarly, in 1 Peter 2:25, Jesus is called the Shepherd of the flock, but in Acts 20:28, the apostles are called the shepherds of the flock. These verses show that there are multiple metaphors for the Church, and that words used by the inspired writers of Scripture can have various meanings. Catholics agree that God is the Rock of the Church, but this does not mean He cannot confer this distinction upon Peter as well, to facilitate the unity He desires for the Church so it will stand firm after He ascends into heaven.

Matt. 16:18 – Jesus said in Aramaic, you are “Kepha” and on this “Kepha” I will build my Church. In Aramaic, “kepha” means a massive stone, and “evna” means little pebble. Some non-Catholics argue that, because the Greek word for rock is “petra”, that “Petros” actually means “a small rock”, and therefore Jesus was attempting to diminish Peter right after blessing him by calling him a small rock. Not only is this nonsensical in the context of Jesus’ blessing of Peter, Jesus was speaking Aramaic and used “Kepha,” not “evna.” Using Petros to translate Kepha was done simply to reflect the masculine noun of Peter.

Moreover, if the translator wanted to identify Peter as the “small rock,” he would have used “lithos” which means a little pebble in Greek. Also, Petros and petra were synonyms at the time the Gospel was written, so any attempt to distinguish the two words is inconsequential. Thus, Jesus called Peter the massive rock, not the little pebble, on which He would build the Church. (You don’t even need Matt. 16:18 to prove Peter is the Rock because Jesus renamed Simon “Rock” in Mark 3:16 and John 1:42!).

Matt. 16:17 – to further demonstrate that Jesus was speaking Aramaic, Jesus says Simon “Bar-Jona.” The use of “Bar-Jona” proves that Jesus was speaking Aramaic. In Aramaic, “Bar” means son, and “Jonah” means John or dove (Holy Spirit).  See Matt. 27:46 and Mark 15:34 which give another example of Jesus speaking Aramaic as He utters in rabbinical fashion the first verse of Psalm 22 declaring that He is the Christ, the Messiah. This shows that Jesus was indeed speaking Aramaic, as the Jewish people did at that time.

Matt. 16:18 – also, in quoting “on this Rock,” the Scriptures use the Greek construction “tautee tee” which means on “this” Rock; on “this same” Rock; or on “this very” Rock. “Tautee tee” is a demonstrative construction in Greek, pointing to Peter, the subject of the sentence (and not his confession of faith as some non-Catholics argue) as the very Rock on which Jesus builds His Church. The demonstrative (“tautee”) generally refers to its closest antecedent (“Petros”).  Also, there is no place in Scripture where “faith” is equated with “rock.”

Matt. 16:18-19 – in addition, to argue that Jesus first blesses Peter for having received divine revelation from the Father, then diminishes him by calling him a small pebble, and then builds him up again by giving him the keys to the kingdom of heaven is entirely illogical, and a gross manipulation of the text to avoid the truth of Peter’s leadership in the Church. This is a three-fold blessing of Peter – you are blessed, you are the rock on which I will build my Church, and you will receive the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Matt. 16:18-19 – to further rebut the Protestant argument that Jesus was speaking about Peter’s confession of faith (not Peter himself) based on the revelation he received, the verses are clear that Jesus, after acknowledging Peter’s receipt of divine revelation, turns the whole discourse to the person of Peter:  Blessed are “you” Simon, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to “you,” and I tell “you,” “you” are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church. I will give “you” the keys to the kingdom, and whatever “you” bind and loose on earth will be bound and loosed in heaven. Jesus’ whole discourse relates to the person of Peter, not his confession of faith.

Matt. 16:17 – to further rebut the notion that Jesus was calling Peter a small pebble, Simon in Aramaic means “grain of sand.” If Simon’s name meant “grain of sand,” it would be pointless for Jesus to change his name from “grain of sand” to “pebble.”

Matt. 16:13 – also, from a geographical perspective, Jesus renames Simon to Rock in Caesarea Philippi near a massive rock formation on which Herod built a temple to Caesar. Jesus chose this setting to further emphasize that Peter was indeed the Rock on which the Church would be built.

Matt. 7:24 – Jesus, like the wise man, builds His house on the Rock (Peter), not on grain of sand (Simon) so the house will not fall.

Luke 6:48 – the house (the Church) built upon the Rock (Peter) cannot be shaken by floods (which represent the heresies, schisms, and scandals that the Church has faced over the last 2,000 years). Floods have occurred, but the Church still remains on its solid Rock foundation.

Matt. 16:21 – it is also important to note that it was only after Jesus established Peter as leader of the Church that He began to speak of His death and departure. This is because Jesus had now appointed His representative on earth.

John 21:15 – Jesus asks Peter if he loves Jesus “more than these,” referring to the other apostles. Jesus singles Peter out as the leader of the apostolic college.

John 21:15-17 – Jesus, the ‘Good Shepherd’ selects Peter to be the chief shepherd of the apostles when He says to Peter, “feed my lambs,” “tend my sheep,” “feed my sheep.” Peter will shepherd the Church as Jesus’ representative.

Luke 22:31-32 – Jesus also prays that Peter’s faith may not fail and charges Peter to be the one to strengthen the other apostles – “Simon, Satan demanded to have you (plural, referring to all the apostles) to sift you (plural) like wheat, but I prayed for you (singular) that your (singular) faith may not fail, and when you (singular) have turned again, strengthen your brethren.

Acts 1,2,3,4,5,8,15 – no one questions Peter’s authority to speak for the Church, declare anathemas, and resolve doctrinal debates. Peter is the Rock on which the Church is built who feeds Jesus’ sheep and whose faith will not fail.

II. Peter has the Keys of Authority over the Earthly Kingdom, the Church

2 Sam. 7:16; Psalm 89:3-4; 1 Chron.17:12,14 – God promises to establish the Davidic kingdom forever on earth.

Matt. 1:1 – Matthew clearly establishes this tie of David to Jesus. Jesus is the new King of the new House of David, and the King will assign a chief steward to rule over the house while the King is in heaven.

Luke 1:32 – the archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that her Son would be given “the throne of His father David.”

Matt. 16:19 – Jesus gives Peter the “keys of the kingdom of heaven.” While most Protestants argue that the kingdom of heaven Jesus was talking about is the eternal state of glory (as if Peter is up in heaven letting people in), the kingdom of heaven Jesus is speaking of actually refers to the Church on earth. In using the term “keys,” Jesus was referencing Isaiah 22 (which is the only place in the Bible where keys are used in the context of a kingdom).

Isaiah 22:22 – in the old Davidic kingdom, there were royal ministers who conducted the liturgical worship and bound the people in teaching and doctrine. But there was also a Prime Minister or chief steward of the kingdom who held the keys. Jesus gives Peter these keys to His earthly kingdom, the Church. This representative has decision-making authority over the people – when he shuts, no one opens. See also Job 12:14.

Rev. 1:18; 3:7; 9:1; 20:1 – Jesus’ “keys” undeniably represent authority. By using the word “keys,” Jesus gives Peter authority on earth over the new Davidic kingdom, and this was not seriously questioned by anyone until the Protestant reformation 1,500 years later after Peter’s investiture.

Matt. 16:19 – whatever Peter binds or looses on earth is bound or loosed in heaven / when the Prime Minister to the King opens, no one shuts. This “binding and loosing” authority allows the keeper of the keys to establish “halakah,” or rules of conduct for the members of the kingdom he serves.  Peter’s “keys” fit into the “gates” of Hades which also represent Peter’s pastoral authority over souls.

Matt. 23:2-4 – the “binding and loosing” terminology used by Jesus was understood by the Jewish people. For example, Jesus said that the Pharisees “bind” heavy burdens but won’t move (“loose”) them with their fingers. Peter and the apostles have the new binding and loosing authority over the Church of the New Covenant.

Matt. 13:24-52 -Jesus comparing the kingdom of heaven to a field, a mustard seed, leaven, and a net demonstrate that the kingdom Jesus is talking about is the universal Church on earth, not the eternal state of glory. Therefore, the keys to the “kingdom of heaven” refers to the authority over the earthly Church.

Matt. 25:1-2 – Jesus comparing the kingdom of heaven to ten maidens, five of whom were foolish, further shows that the kingdom is the Church on earth. This kingdom cannot refer to the heavenly kingdom because there are no fools in heaven!

Mark 4:26-32 – again, the “kingdom of God” is like the seed which grows and develops. The heavenly kingdom is eternal, so the kingdom to which Peter holds the keys of authority is the earthly Church.

Luke 9:27 – Jesus says that there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the “kingdom of God.” This kingdom refers to the earthly kingdom of Christ, which Jesus established by His death and resurrection on earth.

Luke 13:19-20 – again, Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which grew into a tree. This refers to the earthly Church which develops over time, from an acorn to an oak tree (not the heavenly state of glory which is boundless and infinite).

Matt 12:28; Mark 1:15; Luke 11:20; 17:21 – these verses provide more examples of the ” kingdom of God” as the kingdom on earth which is in our midst.

1 Chron. 28:5 – Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord. This shows that the “kingdom of God” usually means an earthly kingdom.

1 Chron. 29:23 – Solomon sits on the throne of the Lord as king in place of King David. The throne of God refers to the earthly kingdom.

Matt. 16:19 – Peter holds keys to this new Davidic kingdom and rules while the real King of David (Jesus) is in heaven.

Luke 12:41-42 – when Peter asks Jesus if the parable of the master and the kingdom was meant just for the apostles or for all people, Jesus rhetorically confirms to Peter that Peter is the chief steward over the Master’s household of God. “Who then, (Peter) is that faithful and wise steward whom his master will make ruler over His household..?”

Ezek. 37:24-25 – David shall be king over them forever and they will have one shepherd. Jesus is our King, and Peter is our earthly shepherd.

III. Peter’s Keys and Papal Succession

Jer. 33:17 – Jeremiah prophesies that David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the earthly House of Israel. Either this is a false prophecy, or David has a successor of representatives throughout history.

Dan. 2:44 – Daniel prophesies an earthly kingdom that will never be destroyed. Either this is a false prophecy, or the earthly kingdom requires succession.

Isa. 22:20 – in the old Davidic kingdom, Eliakim succeeds Shebna as the chief steward of the household of God. The kingdom employs a mechanism of dynastic succession. King David was dead for centuries, but his kingdom is preserved through a succession of representatives.

Isa. 22:19 – Shebna is described as having an “office” and a “station.” An office, in order for it to be an office, has successors. In order for an earthly kingdom to last, a succession of representatives is required. This was the case in the Old Covenant kingdom, and it is the case in the New Covenant kingdom which fulfills the Old Covenant. Jesus our King is in heaven, but He has appointed a chief steward over His household with a plan for a succession of representatives.

Isa. 22:21 – Eliakim is called “father” or “papa” of God’s people. The word Pope used by Catholics to describe the chief steward of the earthly kingdom simply means papa or father in Italian. This is why Catholics call the leader of the Church “Pope.” The Pope is the father of God’s people, the chief steward of the earthly kingdom and Christ’s representative on earth.

Isa. 22:22 – we see that the keys of the kingdom pass from Shebna to Eliakim. Thus, the keys are used not only as a symbol of authority, but also to facilitate succession. The keys of Christ’s kingdom have passed from Peter to Linus all the way to our current Pope with an unbroken lineage for almost 2,000 years.

Acts 1:20 – we see in the early Church that successors are immediately chosen for the apostles’ offices. Just as the Church replaced Judas, it also replaced Peter with a successor after Peter’s death.

John 21:15-17; Luke 22:31-32 – Jesus’ creation of Peter’s office as chief shepherd with the keys passed to Linus, Cletus, Clement I, all the way to our current Holy Father.

Matt. 23:2 – this shows that the Jews understood the importance of succession to the chair and its attendant authority. Here, Jesus respects Moses’ seat (“cathedra”) of authority which was preserved by succession. In the Church, Peter’s seat is called the “cathedra,” and when Peter’s successor speaks officially on a matter of faith or morals, it may rise to the level of an “ex cathedra” (from the chair) teaching.

Eph. 3:21 – this divine word tells us that Jesus Christ’s Church will exist in all generations. Only the Catholic Church can prove by succession such existence. Our Protestant brothers and sisters become uncomfortable with this passage because it requires them to look for a Church that has existed for over 2,000 years. This means that all the other Christian denominations (some of which have been around even less than one year!) cannot be the church that Christ built upon the rock of Peter.

V. The Church is Visible and One

Matt. 5:14 – Jesus says a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, and this is in reference to the Church. The Church is not an invisible, ethereal, atmospheric presence, but a single, visible and universal body through the Eucharist. The Church is an extension of the Incarnation.

Matt. 12:25; Mark 3:25; Luke 11:17 – Jesus says a kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and will not stand. This describes Protestantism and the many thousands of denominations that continue to multiply each year.

Matt. 16:18 – Jesus says, “I will build my ‘Church’ (not churches).” There is only one Church built upon one Rock with one teaching authority, not many different denominations, built upon various pastoral opinions and suggestions.

Matt. 16:19; 18:18 – Jesus gave the apostles binding and loosing authority. But this authority requires a visible Church because “binding and loosing” are visible acts. The Church cannot be invisible, or it cannot bind and loose.

John 10:16 – Jesus says there must only be one flock and one shepherd. This cannot mean many denominations and many pastors, all teaching different doctrines. Those outside the fold must be brought into the Church.

John 17:11,21,23 – Jesus prays that His followers may be perfectly one as He is one with the Father. Jesus’ oneness with the Father is perfect. It can never be less. Thus, the oneness Jesus prays for cannot mean the varied divisions of Christianity that have resulted since the Protestant reformation. There is perfect oneness only in the Roman Catholic Church.

John 17:9-26 – Jesus’ prayer, of course, is perfectly effective, as evidenced by the miraculous unity of the Catholic Church during her 2,000 year history.

John 17:21 – Jesus states that the visible unity of the Church would be a sign that He was sent by God. This is an extremely important verse. Jesus tells us that the unity of the Church is what bears witness to Him and the reality of who He is and what He came to do for us. There is only one Church that is universally united, and that is the Catholic Church. Only the unity of the Catholic Church truly bears witness to the reality that Jesus Christ was sent by the Father.

Rom. 15:5 – Paul says that we as Christians must live in harmony with one another. But this can only happen if there is one Church with one body of faith. This can only happen by the charity of the Holy Spirit who dwells within the Church.

Rom. 16:17 – Paul warns us to avoid those who create dissensions and difficulties. This includes those who break away from the Church and create one denomination after another. We need to avoid their teaching, and bring them back into the one fold of Christ.

1 Cor. 1:10- Paul prays for no dissensions and disagreements among Christians, being of the same mind and the same judgment. How can Protestant pastors say that they are all of the same mind and the same judgment on matters of faith and morals?

Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23-32; Col. 1:18,24 – again, the Church does not mean “invisible” unity, because Paul called it the body (not the soul) of Christ. Bodies are visible, and souls are invisible.

Eph. 4:11-14 – God gives members of the Church various gifts in order to attain to the unity of the faith. This unity is only found in the Catholic Church.

Eph. 4:3-5 – we are of one body, one Spirit, one faith and one baptism. This requires doctrinal unity, not 30,000 different denominations.

Eph. 5:25 – the Church is the Bride of Christ. Jesus has only one Bride, not many.

Eph. 5:30; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:15 – we, as Christians, are one visible body in Christ, not many bodies, many denominations.

Phil. 1:27 – Paul commands that we stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel.

Phil. 2:2 – Paul prays that Christians be of the same mind, of one accord. Yet there are 30,000 different “Protest”ant denominations?

Col. 1:18 – Christ is the Head of the one body, the Church. He is not the Head of many bodies or many sects.

1 Tim. 6:4 – Paul warns about those who seek controversy and disputes about words. There must be a universal authority to appeal to who can trace its authority back to Christ.

2 Tim. 2:14 – do not dispute about words which only ruin the hearers. Two-thousand years of doctrinal unity is a sign of Christ’s Church.

2 Tim. 4:3 – this is a warning on following our own desires and not the teachings of God. It is not a cafeteria where we pick and choose. We must humble ourselves and accept all of Christ’s teachings which He gives us through His Church.

Rev. 7:9 – the heavenly kingdom is filled with those from every nation and from all tribes, peoples and tongues. This is “catholic,” which means universal.

1 Peter 3:8 – Peter charges us to have unity of spirit. This is impossible unless there is a central teaching authority given to us by God.

Dan. 7:14 – Daniel prophesies that all peoples, nations and languages shall serve His kingdom. Again, this catholicity is only found in the Catholic Church.

1 Cor. 14:33 – God cannot be the author of the Protestant confusion. Only the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church claims and proves to be Christ’s Church.

VI. The Church is Hierarchical

Matt. 16:18; 18:18 – Jesus uses the word “ecclesia” only twice in the New Testament Scriptures, which demonstrates that Jesus intended a visible, unified, hierarchical, and authoritative Church.

Acts 20:17,28 – Paul refers to both the elders or priests (“presbyteroi”) and the bishops (“episkopoi”) of the Church. Both are ordained leaders within the hierarchical structure of the Church.

1 Cor. 12:28 – God Himself appoints the various positions of authority within the Church. As a loving Father, God gives His children the freedom and authority to act with charity and justice to bring about His work of salvation.

Eph. 4:11 – the Church is hierarchical and includes apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers, all charged to build up the Church. The Church is not an invisible entity with an invisible foundation.

Phil. 1:1 – Paul addresses the bishops and deacons of the Church. They can all trace their unbroken lineage back to the apostles.

1 Tim. 3:1; Titus 1:7 – Christ’s Church has bishops (“episkopoi”) who are direct successors of the apostles. The bishops can trace the authority conferred upon them back to the apostles.

1 Tim. 5:17; Titus 1:5; James 5:14 – Christ’s Church also has elders or priests (“presbyteroi”) who serve the bishops.

1 Tim. 3:8 – Christ’s Church also has deacons (“diakonoi”). Thus, Jesus Christ’s Church has a hierarchy of authority – bishops, priests and deacons, who can all trace their lineage back to Peter and the apostles.

Exodus 28:1 and 19:6 – shows the three offices of the Old Testament priesthood (1). high priest – Aaron (Ex. 28:1); (2). Ministerial priests – Aaron’s sons (Ex. 19:6; 28:1); and (3). Universal priests – Israel (Ex. 19:6). The New Testament priesthood also has three offices:  (1) High Priest – Jesus Christ (Heb. 3:1); (2) Ministerial priests – the ordained bishops and priests (Rom. 15:16; 1 Tim. 3:1,8; 5:17; Titus 1:7); and (3) Universal priests – all the baptized (1 Pet. 2:5,9; Rev. 1:6).

Tradition / Church Fathers

I. Peter is the Rock on which the Church is Built

“Peter, who is called ‘the Rock on which the church should be built,’ who also obtained ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven…’” Tertullian, On the Prescription Against the Heretics, 22 (c. A.D. 200).

“And Peter, on whom the Church of Christ is built, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail…” Origen, Commentary on John, 5:3 (A.D. 232).

“By this Spirit Peter spake that blessed word, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ By this Spirit the Rock of the Church was established.” Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany, 9 (ante A.D. 235).

“’…thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church’ … It is on him that he builds the Church, and to him that he entrusts the sheep to feed. And although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single Chair, thus establishing by his own authority the source and hallmark of the (Church’s) oneness…If a man does not fast to this oneness of Peter, does he still imagine that he still holds the faith. If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church?” Cyprian, De Unitate Ecclesiae (Primacy text), 4 (A.D. 251).

“…folly of (Pope) Stephen, that he who boasts of the place of the episcopate, and contends that he holds the succession from Peter, on whom the foundation of the Church were laid…” Firmilian, Epistle To Cyprian, Epistle 75(74):17(A.D. 256).

“…Peter, that strongest and greatest of all the apostles, and the one who on account of his virtue was the speaker for all the others…” Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 2:14 (A.D. 325).

“And Peter,on whom the Church of Christ is built, ‘against which the gates of hell shall not prevail’” Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 6:25 (A.D. 325).

“…the chief of the disciples…the Lord accepted him, set him up as the foundation, called him the rock and structure of the church.” Aphraates, De Paenitentibus Homily 7:15 (A.D. 337).

“Peter, the foremost of the Apostles, and Chief Herald of the Church…” Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures,1 1:3 (A.D. 350).

“[B]lessed Simon, who after his confession of the mystery was set to be the foundation-stone of the Church, and received the keys of the kingdom…” Hilary de Poiters, On the Trinity, 6:20(A.D. 359).

“[F]or the good of unity blessed Peter, for whom it would have been enough if after his denial he had obtained pardon only, deserved to be placed before all the apostles, and alone received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to be communicated to the rest.” Optatus of Milevis, De Schismate Donatistorum, 7:3(A.D. 370).

“[T]he Lord spoke to Peter a little earlier; he spoke to one, that from one he might found unity, soon delivering the same to all.” Pacian, To Sympronianus, Epistle 3:2 (AD 372).

“Simon, My follower, I have made you the foundation of the Holy Church. I betimes called you Peter (Kepha), because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on earth a Church for me…I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, have given you authority over all my treasures.” Ephraim, Homily 4:1, (A.D. 373).

“[T]he first of the apostles, the solid rock on which the Church was built.” Epiphanius, In Ancorato, 9:6 (A.D. 374).

“Peter upon which Rock the Lord promised that he would build his church.” Basil, In Isaias, 2:66 (A.D. 375).

“As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the Rock on which the church is built!” Jerome, To Pope Damasus, Epistle 15 (A.D. 375).

“Seest thou that of the disciples of Christ, all of whom were exalted and deserving of choice, one is called Rock, and is entrusted with the foundations of the church.” Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration 32:18 (A.D. 380).

“[W]e have considered that it ought be announced that although all the Catholic Churches spread abroad through the world comprise one bridal chamber of Christ, nevertheless, the holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront not by conciliar decisions of other churches, but has received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Savior, who says: “You are Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it…”…The first see, therefore, is that of Peter the Apostle, that of the Roman Church, which has neither the stain nor blemish nor anything like it.” Pope Damasus, Decree of Damasus, 3 (A.D. 382).

”It was right indeed that he (Paul) should be anxious to see Peter; for he was the first among the apostles, and was entrusted by the Savior with the care of the churches.” Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Galatians, PL 17:344 (A.D. 384).

“Peter bore the person of the church.” Augustine, Sermon 149:7 (inter A.D. 391-430).

“Number the priests even from that seat of Peter. And in that order of fathers see to whom succeeded: that is the rock which the proud gates of hades do not conquer.” Augustine, Psalmus contro Partem Donati (A.D. 393).

“But you say, the Church was rounded upon Peter: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one (Peter) among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism.” Jerome, Against Jovinianus, 1 (A.D. 393).

“The memory of Peter, who is the head of the apostles…he is the firm and most solid rock, on which the savior built his Church.” Gregory of Nyssa, Panegyric on St. Stephen, 3 (ante A.D. 394).

“Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church,” Wherefore where Peter is the Church is…” Ambrose, Commentary on the Psalms, 40:30 (AD 395).

“At length, after being tempted by the devil, Peter is set over the Church.” Ambrose, Commentary on the Psalms, 43:40 (AD 397).

“In order that he may show his power, God has endowed none of his disciples with gifts like Peter. But, having raised him with heavenly gifts, he has set him above all. And, as first disciple and greater among the brethren, he has shown, by the test of deeds, the power of the Spirit. The first to be called, he followed at once…The Saviour confided to this man, as some special trust, the whole universal Church, after having asked him three times ‘Lovest thou me?’ And he receive the world in charge…” Asterius, Homily 8 (A.D. 400).

“(Peter) The first of the Apostles, the foundation of the Church, the coryphaeus of the choir of disciples.” John Chrysostom, Ad eos qui scandalizati 17(ante A.D. 407).

“Peter, that head of the Apostles, the first in the Church, the friend of Christ, who received revelation not from man but from the Father…this Peter, and when I say Peter, I mean that unbroken Rock, the unshaken foundation, the great Apostle, the first of the disciples, the first called, the first to obey.” John Chrysostom, De Eleemosyna, 3:4 (ante A.D. 407).

“This Peter on whom Christ freely bestowed a sharing in his name. For just as Christ is the rock, as the Apostle Paul taught, so through Christ Peter is made Rock, when the Lord says to him: “Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my church…” Maximus of Turin, Homily 63 (A.D. 408).

“…the most firm rock, who (Peter) from the principal Rock received a share of his virtue and his name.” Prosper of Aquitaine, The Call of All Nations, 2:28(A.D. 426).

“He promises to found the church, assigning immovableness to it, as He is the Lord of strength, and over this he sets Peter as shepherd.” Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew (A.D. 428).

“[B]ut that great man, the disciple of disciples, that master among masters, who wielding the government of the Roman Church possessed the authority in faith and priesthood. Tell us therefore, tell us we beg of you, Peter, prince of the Apostles, tell us how the churches must believe in God.” John Cassian, Contra Nestorium, 3:12 (A.D. 430).

“There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the Apostles, pillar of faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even to to-day and forever, lives and judges in his successors. The holy and most blessed Pope Celestine, according to due order, is his successor and holds his place…” Philip, Council of Ephesus, Session III (A.D. 431).

“[B]lessed Peter preserving in the strength of the Rock, which he has received, has not abandoned the helm of the Church, which he under took…And so if anything is rightly done and rightly decreed by us, if anything is won from the mercy of God by our daily supplications, it is of his work and merits whose power lives and whose authority prevails in his See…to him whom they know to be not only the patron of this See, but also primate of all bishops. When therefore…believe that he is speaking whose representative we are:..” Pope Leo the Great, Sermon 3:3-4 (A.D. 442).

“We exhort you, honourable brother, to submit yourself in all things to what has been written by the blessed Bishop of Rome, because St. Peter, who lives and presides in his see, gives the true faith to those who seek it. For our part, for the sake of peace and the good of the faith, we cannot judge questions of doctrine without the consent of the Bishop of Rome.” Peter Chrysologus, Epistle 25 of Leo from Peter (A.D. 449).

“If Paul, the herald of the truth, the trumpet of the Holy Ghost, hastened to the great Peter in order that he might carry from him the desired solution of difficulties to those at Antioch who were in doubt about living in conformity with the law, much more do we, men insignificant and small, hasten to your apostolic see in order to receive from you a cure for the wounds of the churches. For every reason it is fitting for you to hold the first place, inasmuch as your see is adorned with many privileges.” Theodoret of Cyrus, To Pope Leo, Epistle 113 (A.D. 449).

“[T]he Lord wished to be indeed the concern of all the Apostles: and from him as from the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body: so that any one who dares to secede from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery.” Pope Leo the Great, To Bishops of Vienne, Epistle 10 (A.D. 450).

“Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the Rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith…” Council of Chalcedon, Session III (A.D. 451).

“Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the Rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness. ‘Peter, the apostle, who is the Rock and support of the Catholic Church.’” Paschasinus, Council of Chalcedon, Session III (A.D. 451).

“Peter is again called ‘the coryphaeus of the Apostles.’” Basil of Seleucia, Oratio 25 (ante A.D. 468).

“The holy Roman Church is senior to the other churches not by virtue of any synodal decrees, but obtained the primacy from Our Lord and Savior in the words of the Gospel, ‘Thou art Peter…’” Pope Gelasius, Decree of Gelasium (A.D. 492).

“[T]he statement of Our Lord Jesus Christ who said, ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,’…These (words) which were spoken, are proved by the effects of the deeds, because in the Apostolic See the Catholic religion has always been preserved without stain.’” Pope Hormisdas, Libellus professionis fidei, (A.D. 519).

“To Peter, that is, to his church, he gave the power of retaining and forgiving sins on earth.” Fulgentius, De Remissione Peccatorum, 2:20 (A.D. 523).

“Who could be ignorant of the fact that the holy church is consolidated in the solidity of the prince of the Apostles, whose firmness of character extended to his name so that he should be called Peter after the ‘rock’, when the voice of the Truth says, ‘I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven’. To him again is said “When after a little while thou hast come back to me, it is for thee to be the support of thy brethren.” Pope Gregory the Great, Epistle 40 (A.D. 604).

“The decrees of the Roman Pontiff, standing upon the supremacy of the Apostolic See, are unquestionable.” Isidore of Seville, (ante A.D. 636).

“For the extremities of the earth, and all in every part of it who purely and rightly confess the Lord, look directly towards the most holy Roman Church and its confession and faith, as it were a sun of unfailing light, awaiting from it the bright radiance of our fathers, according to what the six inspired and holy Councils have purely and piously decreed, declaring most expressly the symbol of faith. For from the coming down of the Incarnate Word among us, all the churches in every part of the world have possessed that greatest church alone as their base and foundation, seeing that, according to the promise of Christ Our Savior, the gates of hell do never prevail against it, that it possesses the Keys of right confession and faith in Him, that it opens the true and only religion to such as approach with piety, and shuts up and locks every heretical mouth that speaks injustice against the Most High.” Maximus the Confessor, Opuscula theologica et polemica (A.D. 650).

“Peter was pronounced blessed by the Lord…the duty of feeding the spiritual sheep of the Church under whose protecting shield, this Apostolic Church of his has never turned away from the path of truth in any direction of error, whose authority, as that of the Prince of all the Apostles, the whole Catholic Church and the Ecumenical Synods have faithfully embraced…” Pope Agatho, To Ecumenical Council VI at Constantinople, (A.D. 680).

“A copy of the letter sent by the holy and Ecumenical Sixth Council to Agatho, the most blessed and most holy pope of Old Rome…Therefore to thee, as to the bishop of the first see of the Universal Church, we leave what must be done, since you willingly take for your standing ground the firm rock of the faith, as we know from having read your true confession in the letter sent by your fatherly beatitude to the most pious emperor: and we acknowledge that this letter was divinely written (perscriptas) as by the Chief of the Apostles, and through it we have cast out the heretical sect of many errors which had recently sprung up..” Constantinople III, Council to Pope Agatho, (A.D. 680).

“For, although the devil desired to sift all the disciples, the Lord testifies that He Himself asked for Peter alone, and wished that the others be confirmed my him; and to Peter also was committed the care of ‘feeding the sheep’(John 21:15);and to him also did the Lord hand over the ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven’(Matthew 16:19),and upon him did He promise to ‘build His Church’ (Matthew 16:18);and He testified that ‘the gates of Hell would not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:19).” Pope Pelagius II, Quod Ad Dilectionem (c. A.D. 685).

“’Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven’? When Wilfrid spoken thus, the king said, ‘It is true, Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?’ He answered, ‘It is true O king!’ Then says he, ‘Can you show any such power given to your Columba?’ Colman answered, ‘None.’ Then added the king, “Do you both agree that these words were principally directed to Peter, and that the keys of heaven were given to him by our Lord?’ They both answered, ‘We do.’” Venerable Bede, (A.D. 700), Ecclesiastical History, 3:5 (A.D. 700).

There is ample evidence in the New Testament that Peter was first in authority among the apostles. Whenever they were named, Peter headed the list (Matt. 10:1-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, Acts 1:13); sometimes the apostles were referred to as “Peter and those who were with him” (Luke 9:32). Peter was the one who generally spoke for the apostles (Matt. 18:21, Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41, John 6:68-69), and he figured in many of the most dramatic scenes (Matt. 14:28-32, Matt. 17:24-27, Mark 10:23-28). On Pentecost it was Peter who first preached to the crowds (Acts 2:14-40), and he worked the first healing in the Church age (Acts 3:6-7). It is Peter’s faith that will strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:32) and Peter is given Christ’s flock to shepherd (John 21:17). An angel was sent to announce the resurrection to Peter (Mark 16:7), and the risen Christ first appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34). He headed the meeting that elected Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:13-26), and he received the first converts (Acts 2:41). He inflicted the first punishment (Acts 5:1-11), and excommunicated the first heretic (Acts 8:18-23). He led the first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15), and announced the first dogmatic decision (Acts 15:7-11). It was to Peter that the revelation came that Gentiles were to be baptized and accepted as Christians (Acts 10:46-48).

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gifts you have given us in Your Church, the safeguard of Truth.  Never let us take this gift for granted.  May we always hold this gift as our ‘treasure hidden in the field’ and the ‘pearl of great price’.  With our mother Mary, may we one day, through the ministry of your Catholic Church, praise You for all eternity in heaven with your Saints and Angels in glory.  Amen.

God our Father in heaven, knowing his children would meet with many trials, temptations, and struggles, prepared…from all eternity…a great gift.  This gift was to surpass creation itself, for it would show the humility and depths of God’s love for his creation.  This greatest of all of His gifts would bring delight to the Saints, make heaven rejoice, refresh the Souls in Purgatory, convert sinners, strengthen the Faithful, and bring terror to Demons.  This gift, undeserved, unmerited, comes forth from the very depths of the heart of God.  This gift is none other than God Himself, present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Most Holy Eucharist.  This was planned by God all along as our Spiritual Food and Life for our souls… 

Real Presence in the Bible:

In the OT there are many foreshadowings of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. First, in Mal 1:11 we see that in every place, as an eternal decree, a sacrifice will be made. In Exo 12:14 we see that the feast of the paschal lamb is a perpetual ordinance. Jer 33:17-18 says that the house of Israel shall never want of a priest “to do sacrifice continually.”  The Eucharistic Sacrifice fulfills all of these prophecies.

Also in Genesis 14:18 Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem  (Melchizedek and Salem together mean “King of righteousness and Peace”), brought out bread and wine to offer to God Most High.  Melchizedek is a mysterious figure in Scripture.  He is mentioned in the Book of Hebrews as having no beginning or end, without geneology (Hebrews 7:3)…a type of Christ.   

Next, although it is common knowledge that Jesus is the “paschal lamb” (cf. 1 Cor 5:7), what is often forgotten is that the lamb must be eaten.  This is seen in Exo 12:8,11 where the Israelites were told to eat the lamb so that the angel would pass over them.  If they did not eat the lamb, they would die.  In Exo 29:33  ”they shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them”.  In Lev 7:15 the flesh of the sacrifice must be eaten. In 2 Chron 30:15-17 (cf. 2 Chron 35:1,6,11,13; Ezr 6:20-21) the lamb is eaten so as to achieve purification. In Ezek 2:8-10 and 3:1-3 Ezekiel is commanded by God to eat the scroll–the Word of God–which was in his mouth “as honey for sweetness.”  All of these verses foreshadow Jesus Christ, the lamb and the Word of God, who must be eaten and consumed for our eternal life.

Jesus Himself said that those who eat His flesh and drink His blood have eternal life and He would raise them up on the last day…in other words, pass from death to life.  So we see that eating the paschal lamb in the old testament caused the Angel of death to ‘passover’ the Israelites homes, so we consume Jesus our Paschal lamb and the Angel of death ‘passes over’ us as we journey towards our promised land which is Heaven.

From here we move to the New Testament.

The first thing about the “Eucharistic Discourse” (as it is often called) from the Gospel of John chapter 6 is that it occurs on the eve of the Passover, sign of the old covenant, when the lambs are slaughtered and eaten (John 6:4). This adds greater significance to His words and further points to Him as the paschal lamb that must be eaten as  a pledge of the new covenant.  Jesus reveals His divine plan for this new covenant, and he begins to gradually call the Jews to a greater act of faith. First, Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fishes. This points to the Eucharist in many ways. Jesus will be their nourishment and they will never grow hungry. Also noteworthy is the fact that the account of the miracle begins with almost the very same words as those which the Gospels and St. Paul use to describe the institution of the Eucharist (cf. Mat 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:25).  Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, and gave it away.  This indicates that the miracle is a symbol of the Eucharist, about which our Lord will speak shortly.  After this miracle, the people begin to believe, but their beleif is imperfect because they see him as an earthly savior and wish to make him king (cf. John 6:14-15).  Remember what he tells the people right after this miracle, “you’re looking for me because you were fed, but seek after the food that lasts forever…”  then He tells them about His body and blood.

From this act of faith, he calls for one still greater. 

Next, He compares Himself to the manna which came from heaven that fed the Israelites is the desert for 40 years before they entered the promised land. But, while that manna nourished for a time, if they will only believe in Him, the True Bread, they will be filled forever (John 6:32-35).  This is no small claim, to compare oneself to that very bread that saved the Israelites.  But this is what Jesus has done… and on top of that, He asks that they believe in Him as their spiritual savior.  The Manna was the bread and nourishment for their journey in the desert until they reached the Promised Land.  It wasn’t only once and a while they received this bread, but Scripture tells us that is was every day for 40 years.  In the same way, Jesus is our spiritual nourishment for the whole of our earthly journey, feeding us until we reach our promised land which is in heaven.  

But, yet again, the Jews show their lack of faith (John 6:36,41).  Jesus is not done, for he demands the most sublime act of faith, and what is this sublime act of faith, that will weed out the unbelievers and even cause some of His very own apostles to depart from Him?  It is to eat His flesh and drink His blood.

He begins by saying that this bread from heaven which they will eat is His flesh (John 6:51).  The Greek word used for “eat” here is φαϖγομαι (or “phago”), which means “to eat or consume.”  In response, the Jews obviously take Him literally; they “argued among themselves” (John 6:52).  If He was still speaking metaphorically, would this not have been the time to clarify Himself?  Afterall, He wasn’t getting the act of faith He was looking for and it seemed to be because of how they were understanding Him.  Also, we know that in many similar instances, Jesus explains Himself to the people and clarifies any symbolism, or at least to the 12 Apostles on the side (see Mat 16:11-12; Mark 4:34; John 3:3-11 to name but a few).

But, He does not do that here.  Instead, He is even more persistent.  Starting with vs. 54 in John chapter 6, we find Jesus telling the crowd 4 more times that they must eat His flesh and 3 more times that they must drink His blood:

Gospel of John Chapter 6:

54 “Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.

55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him.  (dwelling here means to ‘take up residence’…)
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, shall have life because of me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: unlike your fathers who ate and are dead: he that eats of this bread shall live for ever”.

*** Despite using repitition to drive the point home, he even uses a new, much harsher and more explicit word for “eat.”  In these instances, the Greek word is τρωϖγω (or “trogo”) which means “to gnaw, crunch, or chew.”  While “phago” may have a spiritual application, “trogo” is never used metaphorically in Greek.  It occurs only two other times outside this discourse (Mat 24:38 and John 13:18) and in both cases means a literal eating.  It is undeniable what Jesus is asking of them.  They must eat His flesh and drink His blood.

Verse 55 in chapter 6 of John is also quite significant.  For one, we are to eat, not His “body” (σω∍μα, or “soma”), which often has a metaphorical meaning in the Bible, but His flesh.  The Greek word here is σαϖρξ (or “sarx”) and it is always used for literal flesh in the Bible.  Also, His flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed.  The Greek word here for ‘indeed’ is αϕληθω∍⇓ (or “alethos”).  It means “truly, of a truth, in reality, most certainly” and would only be used if there were doubts concerning the reality of Jesus’ flesh and blood as being food and drink.  This is why we say ‘Amen’ before receiving the Holy Eucharist.  We confirm, by an act of Faith, that truly, certainly, it is a reality that Jesus is really, truly, substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament.

In response to this many walk away, including many of His very beloved disciples.  But even now, even when He has lost His most faithful followers, He does not back down.  He turns to the faithful remnant, who acknowledge that this is a hard saying (vs. 60), and says to them, “Does this offend you?” (vs. 61). “Will you also leave?” (vs. 67).  He does not intend to retract His statement or to explain it away.  Instead, He explains to them why some don’t believe, because they are not thinking spiritually:

61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said to them, “Does this offend you?
62 What if you should see the Son of man ascend up to where he was before? (in other words, Jesus is from heaven, the Son of God, all things are possible with Him)
63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing (don’t worry about being filled physically): the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
64 But there are some of you that do not believe”. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that would not believe, and who would betray him.

Side note:

- St. Padre Pio, while meditating on the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, said that the greatest suffering of Jesus at that moment, was that some would not believe in His real presence in the Holy Eucharist, and that this great gift that issues from His Sacred Heart would be neglected and abused down through the centuries.-  

It is often asserted here that, by saying that His words are spirit and life that He is meaning to clarify that He was only speaking symbolically. There is no merit in this claim.  For one, nowhere in the bible is the word “spirit” meant to mean “symbol” and nowhere else is something said to be symbolic because it is spiritual.  Instead, what we find here is a comparison between the spirit and the flesh that is often used throughout the bible to mean one thing:  human wisdom vs. supernatural faith.  Both Jesus and Paul use this terminology often to point out that we must go beyond the natural to comprehend the supernatural (cf. John 3:6; Mark 14:38; 1 Cor 2:14; 3:3; Rom 8:5; Gal 5:17).

In response to all of this, we find the words of Peter:

68 Then Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 And we believe and are sure that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

Here Jesus has finally received that most sublime act of faith that He requires from every one of us.

It doesn’t mean that Peter understood everything that Jesus was saying, but because he believes that  Jesus is the Son of God, then it is possible and will come about whether he completely understands it or not.  Faith has taken over.

At the Last Supper, Jesus reveals to His Apostles how He is to fulfill this promise of giving them His body and His blood.

Matthew 26:26f, Mark 14:22f, Luke 22:19f

1. The Last Supper; ‘This is my body…This is my blood”.  Eucharistic language: “took, blessed, broke, gave”

       a. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).  The same ‘Word’ which was sent forth over the waters of chaos and the void in Genesis 1:2f and brought all things into existence out of nothing, is the same ‘Word’ – now become flesh in the person of Jesus Christ – who spoke these words over bread and wine.  God who brought all things into being out of nothing can turn bread and wine into His body and blood.  

Luke 24:30f… Jesus reveals Himself in the breaking of the bread:

1. Jesus reveals himself in the ‘breaking of the bread’ to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and reveals His true presence in the Eucharist.  

The “breaking of the bread” was the terminology used in the early Church for the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass.  

The two disciples are walking along the road to Emmaus shortly after the resurrection, when Jesus suddenly appears next to them and asks them what they are discussing along the way.  They say they are saddened at the death of Jesus who they thought was the Promised One of Israel.  Jesus explains to them that the Promised One was indeed supposed to suffer and die in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  They are moved by His words and invite Him in to their home, though they did not recognize that it was Jesus.

While there, we hear again the use of Eucharistic language:  Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes where opened and they recognized Him.  They didn’t recognize Him because they suddenly saw His wounds (as some false teachings would say), but they recognized Him in His real, substantial presence in this Eucharist which they just now received.  That is why Jesus suddenly disappears from their sight.  He doesn’t get up and walk out the back door, but literally disappears from before their very eyes.  Why?  Because He is giving them a teaching…He will shortly ascend into heaven but He will still be with them, among them, until the end of time, present in the Holy Eucharist!  He never actually left them, but truly remains with them under the appearance of bread and wine.  The two disciples are filled with such joy, that they run to tell the other Apostles how Jesus revealed Himself to them in the ‘breaking of the bread”.  

After this teaching, we move on to the early Church as we read St. Paul and his experience and understanding of the Eucharist in regard to the Christian community at Corinth:

1. St. Paul: 1 Corinthians 11:17f, The Lord’s Supper and abuse in Corinth.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul clears up some confusion over the Lord’s Supper and the common meal.  The Christians of Corinth were gathering together and not distinguishing between how they celebrated the Mass and how they conducted themselves while eating a regular, common meal.

1. St. Paul tells them that this is what was passed on to him by Jesus Himself; That the Lord Jesus took bread and said, “this is my body”.  In the same way he took the cup and said, “this is my blood”.  St. Paul admits that he did not receive this second hand, but from Jesus’ own words.  

2. Anyone who eats this bread and drinks this cup unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of Christ.  If this was common bread and wine, then this sentence would not make sense.  But Paul believes it to be the Real, True, Substantial body and blood of Jesus.  

He goes on to say:

3. Everyone is to examine himself before receiving this bread and this cup.  Why?  So as not to receive Jesus Christ in a state of sin or with a lack of faith in the Real Presence.  

Again St. Paul states:

4. He who does not discern the Body of Christ in this bread, and eats it unworthily, eats for his own condemnation, or damnation. 

- How could one ‘eat common bread and common wine’ and eat and drink for their own damnation?  These words make no sense unless St. Paul understands that it is the Real, True, and Substantial Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  

He goes on to say:

5. That’s why many are sick and have died (eating body of Our Lord unworthily).

- These are powerful words of St. Paul… many have died or become sick because they have eaten the Eucharist unworthily, in a state of sin, lack of faith and acknowledgment that it is Jesus really present Who they are receiving.  The language of St. Paul cannot get much stronger than this.  He knows and believes that at the Mass the bread and wine are changed… transubstantiated (changed in substance) into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ and this is what he wants his listeners to understand.  

What they believed in the Early Church after the time of St. Paul:

There are many witnesses concerning the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in the early Church among the Church Fathers:  

1.  ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH

St. Ignatius became the third bishop of Antioch, succeeding St. Evodius, who was the immediate successor of St. Peter. He heard St. John preach when he was a boy and knew St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. Seven of his letters written to various Christian communities have been preserved. Eventually, he received the martyr’s crown as he was thrown to wild beasts in the arena.

“I have no taste for the food that perishes nor for the pleasures of this life. I want the Bread of God which is the Flesh of Christ, who was the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood which is love that cannot be destroyed.”

-”Letter to the Romans”, paragraph 7, circa 80-110 A.D.

2.  ST. JUSTIN MARTYR

St. Justin Martyr was born a pagan but converted to Christianity after studying philosophy. He was a prolific writer and many Church scholars consider him the greatest apologist or defender of the faith from the 2nd century. He was beheaded with six of his companions some time between 163 and 167 A.D.

“This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God’s Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.”

” First Apology”, Ch. 66, inter A.D. 148-155.

3.  ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS

St. Irenaeus succeeded St. Pothinus to become the second bishop of Lyons in 177 A.D. Earlier in his life he studied under St. Polycarp. Considered, one of the greatest theologians of the 2nd century, St. Irenaeus is best known for refuting the Gnostic heresies.

“[Christ] has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own Blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own Body, from which he gives increase to our bodies.”

Source: St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 180 A.D.:

“So then, if the mixed cup and the manufactured bread receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, that is to say, the Blood and Body of Christ, which fortify and build up the substance of our flesh… It is this which is nourished by the cup which is His Blood, and is fortified by the bread which is His Body… These two then receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of Christ.”

-”Five Books on the Unmasking and Refutation of the Falsely

4.  ST. ATHANASIUS

St. Athanasius was born in Alexandria ca. 295 A.D. He was ordained a deacon in 319 A.D. He accompanied his bishop, Alexander, to the Council of Nicaea, where he served as his secretary. Eventually he succeeded Alexander as Bishop of Alexandria. He is most known for defending Nicene doctrine against Arian disputes.,

“‘The great Athanasius in his sermon to the newly baptized says this:’ You shall see the Levites bringing loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘And again:’ Let us approach the celebration of the mysteries. This bread and this wine, so long as the prayers and supplications have not taken place, remain simply what they are. But after the great prayers and holy supplications have been sent forth, the Word comes down into the bread and wine – and thus His Body is confected.”,

-”Sermon to the Newly Baptized” ante 373 A.D.,

5.  ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA

“Christ said indicating (the bread and wine): ‘This is My Body,’ and “This is My Blood,” in order that you might not judge what you see to be a mere figure. The offerings, by the hidden power of God Almighty, are changed into Christ’s Body and Blood, and by receiving these we come to share in the life-giving and sanctifying efficacy of Christ.”

Source: St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 26,27, 428 A.D.:

6.  ST. AUGUSTINE

“You ought to know what you have received, what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That Bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. The chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ.”

-”Sermons”, [227, 21]

This is only a partial list of the early Church Fathers and their teachings on the Real, True, and Substantial presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.  A study of what the early Church believed is a witness to what was handed down through Tradition from the time of the Apostles to our own day.

Throughout the centuries, God Himself has given witness to His True presence in the Holy Eucharist through Eucharistic miracles.  Here are a few:

Eucharistic Miracles

A. Sienna, Italy – year 1730

1. Thieves steal Ciborium containing over 340 consecrated Hosts from the church of St. Francis. 

2. The Hosts are found and preserved in the tabernacle for veneration and reparation.

3. After hundreds of years have passed, Hosts are still fresh with no sign of deterioration. 

B. Amsterdam, Holland – year 1345

1. A sick man threw up after receiving Eucharist (Viaticum) in his home.

2. Contents are thrown into the fireplace.

3. Next day, while cleaning the warm coals of the fireplace, a woman finds the Host perfectly intact, surrounded by light.

4. Host was put into a box until the Church could be notified.

5. Priest places the Host in a pyx, but next time he looks the Host had miraculously transported back to the box.

6. After several fires over the centuries, the Host and the monstrance always survived unscathed.

C. Bolsena-Orvieto, Italy – year 1263

1. Fr. Peter of Prague begins to doubt that the bread and wine really turn into the Body and Blood of Christ while celebrating Mass.

2. After saying the words of consecration at Holy Mass, the Host begins to bleed profusely.

3. Mass is interrupted, and Church authorities are called in to witness the blood.

4. It is found to be miraculous, and the priest has a conversion.

5. Pope Urban IV, who personally met with this priest, orders St. Thomas Aquinas to compose a ‘Proper of Mass’ and ‘Divine Office’ in honor of the Holy Eucharist as the Body of Christ.

6. Shortly after this, Pope Urban IV institutes the Feast of Corpus Christi.

D. Blanot, France – year 1331

1. Host which falls onto a piece of cloth during Mass dissolves into a round stain of blood.

E. Lanciano, Italy – 8th century

1. Priest doubts the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

2. During Mass, after the words of consecration, the Host and wine in the cup turn to flesh and blood.

3. The miracle is still visible in Lanciano, Italy.

4. In our own day, the flesh and blood have been scientifically tested, and the flesh was found to be heart muscle of a human being, and the blood was of the rarest type and still retains the qualities of freshly shed blood.

5. The blood type, AB, was the same as tested on the Shroud of Turin. 

Today, Jesus continues to reveal His True Presence in the Eucharist through heroic figures… often young children, who have the simple faith required to see with spiritual eyes. They give us the model of Faith and courage to witness His love in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  

Here are some of those witnesses:

1.  THIS GREAT SACRAMENT OF LOVE – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

A couple of months before his death Bishop Fulton J. Sheen was interviewed on national television. One of the questions was this:

4.  When I attended Franciscan University of Steubenville, one of my friends came to my room at the dorm late at night in tears.  I asked him what had happened, and this is what he told me;  He had always been a proud, arrogant person but was experiencing a real conversion while at Steubenville.  He went in front of the Blessed Sacrament and asked Jesus to reveal Himself to him.  As soon as he said this, he felt a power overwhelm him and he was unable to move for one hour.   He felt the power of God and his own weakness.  His faith in the Real Presence grew stronger over time and he eventually became a Priest.

The list goes on and on.  If Jesus Christ were not truly present in the Blessed Sacrament and it was only ‘cookie worship’, he would not answer our prayers in front of it…but He has revealed Himself countless times as is evident in the writings and miracles of the Saints, Fathers and Doctors of our Catholic Church over the last two thousand years, and the experiences of the Faithful in our own day.

Jesus told St. Margaret Mary as He revealed His Sacred Heart to her, “Behold this Heart, which has loved so much, but is loved so little in return”.  The depths of God’s love is revealed in the Holy Eucharist.  It is there that He humbles Himself to be with us.  But more than that, He gives His very life, all that He has and is, to be one with us.   In this great gift something wonderful takes place, something that makes the Angels look on in wonder… 

A mystical marriage takes place.  In Holy Communion God becomes one with His creatures.  And just as in the oneness and union of natural marriage between one man and one woman new life is brought forth in the form of a child, the fruits of that union, so our oneness with Jesus brings forth the fruits of new life… the Virtues and Holiness of life.  

Jesus doesn’t come to us with the revelation of His full power and glory because we would be afraid to approach Him.  Remember Mt. Tabor and the Transfiguration, where Jesus appeared in all His glory and majesty, the Apostles saw Him like this and fell down afraid, as if dead.  

Remember the Book of Revelation, where Jesus reveals Himself to John the Apostle, His beloved friend… what happened?   John, seeing Jesus in all His glory and majesty, falls down in fear as if dead.  Jesus has to touch him and assure him, “it’s o.k.’. 

Jesus, knowing the weakness of our human nature, does not come to us in that way.  Every Holy Communion is like Christmas, where Jesus humbled Himself and was pleased to dwell in a manger… He humbles Himself and is pleased to dwell in our hearts as the new manger where he takes up His place among us, with us, within us.  He humbles Himself under the appearance of bread and wine but is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity, so that we can approach Him, so we can touch Him, so we can be one with Him.

Jesus, we thank you for giving us this Bread of Life, this greatest of all your gifts to the world.  May we never take this blessing for granted.  May we always approach this great mystery in a state of grace, and return love for love.  Amen.    

I. The Universal Call To Holiness:
-The road to perfection is meant to be traveled by men and women of good will in all walks of life.
-Too often the average lay person thinks of holiness as ‘just beyond’ his or her grasp…if only they were in a cloistered monastery, then things might be different, they tell themselves.
Summary of the Christian life:
A.)The goal of human life is ‘holiness’
B.)Everyone is called to this holiness
C.) Holiness is the perfection of our relationship with God
D.) This relationship finds it’s beginning, growth, and fulfillment in prayer…

1. Means To Approach The Call To Holiness:
As St. Theresa of Avila points out, “Mental prayer is nothing else than an intimate friendship, a frequent heart to heart conversation with Him by whom we know ourselves to be loved.”
The beginning of our relationship with God, then, must be prayer. In her work Interior Castle, St. Theresa imagines Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords enthroned in great majesty in the center of a great castle (the soul in a state of grace), in which a person enters by seven stages, or mansions, each stage representing a deepening of our relationship with God.

- St. Theresa will call this road the “royal highway” or “heavenly journey”.
- As St Theresa points out; “Insofar as I can understand, the door of entry to this castle is prayer and reflection”
- Prayer and meditation, then, are the means through which Christians begin this journey. St. Theresa of Avila beautifully illuminates the way in which this journey can be traveled, pointing out all the dangers, blessings, and steps or means necessary to take on this road, which we have stated earlier, is for every devout Christian no matter what their vocation in life.
The means to reach this perfection then, are prayer and meditation, which over time (depending on God’s grace and our disposition) perfects us in love for God and our neighbor.
In order to understand how this should take place we first need to define some terms; prayer and meditation.

II. What is Prayer and Meditation?
We’ll use St. Theresa’s definitions. For Theresa prayer is a dialogue, a conversation with God who dwells within and an exchange of love… that which we have for God and that which God has for us.
- This converse, or dialogue, can take place because of a principle basic to Theresa’s spirituality, that God is present within the depths of our soul. Here, Theresa is following in the footsteps of St. Augustine who tried to fulfill the longings of the human heart through the material things of the world, but realized after introspection, that it was God who had been calling out to his heart all along.
- When we speak of this ‘indwelling’ we often hear the term ‘mystical’, which comes from the Latin meaning ‘secret’ or ‘hidden’ . With this in mind, namely that prayer is a conversation with the most Holy Trinity who dwells within us, we can then provide a simple definition of meditation.
- For Theresa, meditation involves knowing and loving. Knowing means simply being aware of who we are speaking to (who our prayer is addressed to), and who we are in relation to Him whom we are addressing. He is everything, we are nothing without Him .
- This necessarily involves loving, because our desire to converse with God needs to be motivated by our love for Him. As St. Theresa puts it, “The soul’s profit, then, consists not in thinking much, but in loving much”. Love above all.

1. The need for meditation
- God has created us for Himself and is always calling us to be with Him;
“Although man can forget God or reject Him, He never ceases to call every man to seek Him, so as to find life and happiness” (CCC ch.1,&30). “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in His own blessed life. For this reason at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him with all his strength…” (CCC Prologue, &1).
If God has created us for Himself, and prayer and meditation are a conversation and intimacy with Him, then we find the need for this type of relationship to develop. Without it, St. Theresa warns us in her ever so subtle way; “He who neglects mental prayer needs not a devil to carry him to hell, but brings himself there with his own hands”.

2.The reason for meditation
- The reason then, for meditation, is the fostering of a love relationship with God.
- As such, the Christian life is an interior one.
Prayer is our primary means of building this relationship.
- This relationship can be likened to marriage.
Example of man who comes home and doesn’t give time to his wife…
Imagine a married couple, with the husband working full time. He comes home every evening and passes by his wife, but never says a word to her. This happens day in and day out for the entire week, month after month, without so much as a thought for his spouse. There’s no communication between the two.
And then once a week he sits down with his wife and says, “OK, honey, let’s chat for an hour”. And the whole time he looking at his watch wondering when it will be over. How much love is there? How long will the relationship last?
- It’s the same in our relationship with God. If we neglect to speak with Him, then how long will our relationship last? How much love do we have for him? This is often how we treat God…
We may once in a while give Him a small amount of attention on Sunday at mass, but the rest of the week we don’t give a thought to Him.

Basic principle of the spiritual life:
- Love yearns to know what it loves. If we only begin this journey then, with the right dispositions, our heart begins to long for more. Loving leads to knowing, which leads to loving more, which leads to wanting to know more, etc.

- Our reason for prayer and meditation then, is based on our love and knowledge of God, which build and feed on each other.
- It is God Himself who calls men and women into relationship with Himself.
We read in the Catechism, “This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator” (CCC I.27).

3. St. Theresa’s idea of meditation
- St. Theresa speaks of prayer and meditation in the same breath.
- Prayer is our conversation with God, and meditation is the consideration and loving attention to the one to whom we are speaking.

How can we start this ‘mental prayer’ or prayer with loving attention?
- For Theresa, the humanity of Jesus is the starting point, “Yet do not imagine I want you to make long meditations on our divine Savior or much reasoning or profound and subtle conceptions. If you cannot do more, keep your eyes fixed for some moments on your adorable spouse”.

III. How to begin meditation
We’ve established the need and reason for prayer and meditation, we need to move on to the actual way of meditation itself.

1.Preparation and disposition
- First, we need to explain that the actual method of prayer used by Theresa is not necessarily the only one, as she herself indicates.
- She intends merely to distinguish clearly the necessary elements preparatory to our conversation with Christ. If her outline is followed, it may be worked out in any framework of the individual’s choosing”.
- For Theresa, the first step should be to ‘put oneself in the presence of Christ’.
- This is the prerequisite for proper prayer and meditation for the beginner. – Distractions should be kept at a minimum, so it may be necessary to simply find a quiet place where our thoughts can be focused on our project ahead.
- This necessarily involves determination and perseverance before one even begins.
- Once the mind is stilled and the surroundings are free from anything that may divert one’s attention, then its time to make sure there is something to give the mind to meditate upon, something to consider that will raise our hearts and minds to God.
- Here it is necessary to properly choose the material to meditate upon

2.Material for use in meditation
In order to properly focus our attention, we need to have something which will engage the senses.
- We use the senses because we are sentient beings and we experience reality through our senses of touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste.
- This gives the mind something to be occupied with.
- For Theresa, the humanity of Christ was the subject with which to begin meditation.
- This could be a scene from his passion or a scene from his earthly life, according to your own personal mood.
- Theresa herself, for many years could not even enter into her prayer time without a book to help focus her wandering mind and aid her in concentrating on the life of Christ, as she herself states; “…my soul would become disturbed and my thoughts would wander…as soon as I started to read they began to collect themselves and the book acted like a bait to my soul. Often the mere fact that I had it by me was sufficient”.

- This is what Theresa refers to as ‘taking charge of the senses’. – Even a picture can be of great use to bring about a loving attention towards Him, in the same way as a picture we may carry in our wallet reminds us of our loved ones when they are not with us.
- Thus, the value of spiritual books, sacred scripture, and sacred images, and the things of the created world around us.

3.Methods of meditation
- What do we do now that we’re ready to begin? While we can say that there is no hard and fast rule of just how to proceed, we can draw from the writings of Theresa a ‘way’ of entering into prayer with Christ.
- We begin by taking the material and consider the subject matter before us. For example; if we’ve chosen the gospels as our material, we choose a scene, such as the ‘agony in the garden’ (one of Theresa’s favorites), and we may even use a picture of Jesus in this scene, to look at as we read the actual account from one to the Gospels.
- We imagine the scene before us. We imagine with our minds eye that Jesus is kneeling in a garden with olive trees, and we are also there in the garden with him. We see the trees, the grass, the rocks, and Jesus in front of us. We listen to him talking to the Father.
- Imagine what he would say, and use the words of the gospels as a guide but don’t restrict yourself to them.
- This is also the method of prayer for beginners which St. Francis de Sales recommends in his work ‘Introduction to the Devout Life’ in which he states; “This is simply to picture in the imagination the entire mystery you wish to meditate on as if it really took place here before us. For example, if you wish to meditate on our Lord on the cross, imagine that you are on mount Calvary and that there you see and hear all that was done or said on the day of the passion…by such imaginative means we restrict our mind to the mystery on which we meditate so that it will not wander about, just as we cage a bird…”.
- This is also the teaching of another great spiritual master, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who states in his classic work on spirituality The Spiritual Exercises; “The first prelude (to our conversation with Jesus) consists of a certain mental re-creation of the place. It should be observed in this regard that during any meditation or contemplation…of for example Christ…we shall see with a sort of imaginary vision a physical place representing what we are contemplating…for instance a mountain with Jesus on it…and everything else related to the theme of our contemplation…”

We have the scene, we’ve put a rein on the senses, now what?
- Now we ponder the scene before us, and ask ourselves questions;
-Who is it before us that is suffering?
-Why is he suffering?
-What does his suffering mean to me?
-This is Theresa’s way of preparing for the next great step, that of conversation with Jesus, which is the fundamental element of beginning meditation.
-We now actively begin to speak to our Lord. If we have chosen the agony in the garden to meditate upon, then we may tell him we love him, or ask forgiveness for our sins that are the cause of his suffering. We can offer Him comfort, holding him in our arms, taking the place of the Angel that came to him in his anguish.
-We can wipe the bloody sweat from his face and just be with Him, as we would be for a dear friend who was in deepest need.
-We need to really be there.
-We use our imagination to picture the scene and we move and participate, if only in our minds and hearts, fully in the event before us.
-Imagine what caressing his beard and face would be like. Look into his beautiful, divine eyes and see the love that radiates for us, even amidst such deep and sorrowful suffering.
-Another example is one given by St. Theresa when speaking about the scourging at the pillar; “The mind sets to work to seek out the reasons which are to be found for the great afflictions and distress which His Majesty must have suffered when He was alone there…it is well to reflect for a time and to think of the pains which He bore there, why He bore them, who He is that bore them and with what love He suffered them”
-This immerses and occupies our senses and keeps our attention fixed on the subject matter of our meditation.
-We can approach our Lord in different ways; “Speak to Him as with a Father, a Brother, a Lord and a spouse…and sometimes in one way and sometimes in another, He will teach you what you must do to please Him”.
- Sometimes, no words are necessary, as when two lovers hold each other in their arms, no words are exchanged but each knows that the heart of the other beats for it alone.
- In the words of Theresa; “It is well to reflect for a time…but sometimes we must remain by His side with our minds hushed in silence. If we can, we should occupy ourselves in looking upon Him Who is looking at us; keep Him company; talk with Him; pray to Him; humble ourselves before Him; have our delight in Him”.
-This is all a means of approaching our Lord and finding subject matter for a loving conversation with Him, which is the heart of beginning meditation.
- Now that we’ve studied the subject matter, put ourselves into the scene, and pondered questions about what is taking place before us, we now talk with Jesus.
- For those who argue that they can’t meditate on our Lord without having seen Him physically, Theresa argues “You will ask me how you can possibly do all this, and say that, if you had seen His Majesty with your bodily eyes at the time when He lived in the world, you would have done it willingly and gazed at him forever. Do not believe it…anyone who would not make the slight effort necessary for recollection in order to gaze upon this Lord present within her, would have been far less likely to stand at the foot of the cross with the Magdalen.
- Here, we need not repeat long prayers and meditations that others have composed, but we need to speak our own words. This is what is meant by ‘praying with the heart’.
- We simply say what is on our minds, not worrying about content or form, as Theresa tells us, “With regard to the habit of conversing often with your Divine Spouse, be confident that He will suggest to your heart what to say. You are not embarrassed when you speak to His creatures, why should words fail you when you wish to speak to your God? Do not believe that will happen to you: for my part, at least, I look on that as impossible if you have acquired the habit of this interior conversation with Our Lord”
- As we mentioned above, the main thing to keep in mind during all of this process is not to think much but to love much, as Theresa points out; “He has no desire that we tire our brains by a great deal of talking, if only we can realize that we are in His presence…”
- We need to mention also that our words to God need not be audible, but from the interior, a conversation with the heart. This is what makes our material for meditation so important, we have something to focus our minds on so we can form mental images of our subject.
- If words do fail completely, and we feel restless just trying to be in the Lord’s presence, then we can turn to the traditional ‘four ends’ of prayer; adoration, thanksgiving, contrition, and petition.
- In adoration we turn to Jesus with acts of love and affection, which can lead us into thanksgiving for all he has done for us and for who he is, which might lead to contrition as we think of our ingratitude for all his gifts, which can lead us into petition for our needs and those of others.
- Here we must emphasize again that we mustn’t confine ourselves to any given method or formula, but we must let our love and prayers flow naturally from our hearts as we feel inspired.
- As St. Theresa tells us, “Do you suppose that because we cannot hear Him, He is silent? He speaks clearly to the heart when we beg Him from our heart to do so.

- It is an expression of love, not one of simply asking our Lord to supply all of our needs. We, in turn, listen to our Lord speaking to us in our hearts with His light, grace, and holy inspirations.
- We have the material for meditation, and we try to initiate a conversation.
- What if we have so many distractions that our mind still can’t focus on the subject before us? St. Theresa offers the solution of vocal prayer. She states, “I know there are many people who practice vocal prayer in the manner already described and are raised by God to the higher kind of contemplation without having had any hand in this themselves or even knowing how it has happened. For this reason, daughters, I attach great importance to your saying your vocal prayers well…”
- She goes on to describe one of her sisters who was supposedly having trouble meditating, and so resorted to repeating the Our Father over and over slowly during her prayer times.
- When Theresa examined her, she found that this sister had reached perfect contemplation through this simple method.
- The ‘Our Father’ was one of Theresa’s favorite prayers, and she goes into detail in her work The Way of Perfection giving over a dozen chapters of commentary on this prayer because she knew this was a great way to enter into contemplation when recited properly, especially since it was given to us by Jesus, the Master Himself.
- She explains, “By using these means we may learn to say the Paternoster well and not find ourselves thinking of something irrelevant. I have sometimes experienced this myself, and the best remedy I have found for it is to try to fix my mind on the Person by Whom the words were first spoken”.
- Sometimes our minds our so distracted that vocal prayer is the only remedy, but this should not discourage us, as Theresa encourages “I must tell you that while you are repeating the ‘Our Father’ or some vocal prayer, it is quite possible for the Lord to grant you perfect contemplation”.
- Another remedy for distractions that is suggested by Theresa is meditative reading which acts as a means of keeping the mind occupied with holy thoughts amidst distractions and also acts as a guide.
- She tells us “To use a book written in our own language is another very useful means of holding discourse with the Lord. While reading it, your mind will become more easily recollected and you will feel better disposed for prayer”.
- This practice was, for St. Theresa, the only remedy for distractions in her early prayer life while trying to meditate. She tells us, “During all these years, except after communicating (receiving Holy Communion), I never dared to begin to pray without a book…It seemed to me, in these early stages of which I am speaking, that provided I had books and could be alone, there was no risk of my being deprived of that great blessing.
- This practice of meditative reading has long been a practice among the monastic traditions of the Church where it is known as ‘Lectio Divina’ which is from the Latin meaning ‘Divine Reading’.
- The Catholic Encyclopedia gives this definition; “A meditative reading of Sacred Scripture leading to prayer…with a view to the enrichment of one’s spiritual life”.

- Fr. Santan Pinto, spiritual director and retreat master, provides this guidance with scripture prayer; “Don’t choose scripture passages at random and pray. Divide the entire book or letter into sections that are manageable. Choose parts which are not too long or too short, (about 15 to 18 verses) and then focus on one section at a time. Read it first at your normal pace, then a second time more slowly and attentively. As you read a third time, pick out the ideas that have and impact on you. If you are drawn to particular verses or qualities of Christ, or have insights, write them down with the verse. Number these points, and reflect on each one, slowly, drawing fruit from each before shifting to another point”.
- This way of praying with good spiritual reading is important to keep the mind full of holy thoughts not only for the period of prayer but throughout the entire day, and by so doing we learn more about the one to whom our prayer is directed.
- As Fr. Marie-Eugene points out in his book I Want To See God, “…love begins to yearn to know that which it loves”. This is what I call the ‘great circle of love’- the more we know of God the more we love Him, and the more we love Him, the more we want to know of Him, etc. This will be our greatest joy in Heaven, that the knowing more and loving more will never end.
- We must also note here that the time for meditation shouldn’t be the only time we take to be with God. We must develop an attitude of awareness that the God who dwells within is always available for dialogue throughout our entire day.
- St. Theresa points out, “We must retire within ourselves even during our ordinary occupations. If I can recall the companionship which I have within my soul for as much as a moment, that is of great benefit”.
- This prayer then permeates all that we do with the constant awareness of God present and acting in all that we do.
- For the periods of time especially set aside for prayer, it can be a valuable exercise to end with a reflection on how our time was spent, what distractions we had, and what fruits or graces we may have received. This is recommended by great spiritual masters such as St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis de Sales.
- This practice helps us to evaluate the way our prayer is going and the way Our Lord is leading us, and it can help us to plan our next meditation.
- Some like to make a ‘prayer journal’, to keep track of prayer time, it’s lights and fruits, etc.

4.The ends of meditation
- With these different methods we must keep one thing in mind…the ends of meditation.
- The ends of meditation are a deepening relationship with God, the perfection of love, and the growth of all the virtues.
- It can happen that people can become attached to a method of prayer, which provides them with a “comfort zone” in which they feel they are praying if they simply recite their daily quota of prayers.
- Although the habit of prayer is good and indeed necessary, we must not confine ourselves to any set standard for our prayer time. The time may come when God will raise us to a higher level of prayer beyond vocal and meditative prayer, that of contemplation.
- In the beginnings of meditation discussed above, we use much of our own effort in prayer. In the later stages of meditation, God himself brings us to a higher level of relationship and intimacy with himself.
- These higher states of prayer cannot be reached by our own efforts, but they can be prepared for, that’s what the early stages of prayer are for, we are preparing for God to draw us closer to himself.
The early stages are a testing ground for our perseverance, fortitude, and love on this heavenly highway. When God feels we are ready, he draws us up with his own hand.

IV. Growing in holiness
These beginning levels require the individual to put forth an effort in order that God, whose generosity is without limit, will see the love that one has for him in desiring to come closer to Him. This is ultimately what prayer, our conversation with God is – an expression of our love for Him. If we truly love someone, then we want to spend time with that person. This is the test for beginners at prayer…whether or not they are willing to take the time, effort, and sacrifice necessary to draw closer to and build a relationship with God.

End:
- The relationship we build with God here, on earth, is what we carry over into eternity. Our glory in heaven will be determined by our holiness now.
- Because our holiness is ultimately a measure of our love for God that has developed over our lifetime…