The pro-life movement is dedicated to advancing the protection of all human life from conception to natural death. Abortion and euthanasia, which sentence a life to death, are of the utmost importance, yet we also work for the end of human suffering, poverty, and illness. We understand that suffering when offered up for the glory of God and the good of souls, bears eternal merit. Abortion, the most heinous of all crimes against human life, robs a soul of life on earth and of eternal life by depriving the infant of the Sacrament of Baptism.
All CatechismClass Lessons follow a time-tested 7-step format: Introduction, Opening Prayers, Scripture and Commentary, Catechism Passages, Integration of the Lesson Topic, an activity, and a closing prayer. Quizzes end each of the lessons.
The elections this November will be essential to furthering the pro-life message! We really need to make sure we vote for those candidates who agree with the Church's teachings on the five non-negotiables, which are always wrong (abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay marriage, euthanasia, and cloning). The Church never supports a candidate, but it supports views on issues.
What were the Apostles of Jesus really like? CatechismClass.com is pleased to offer an affordable, self-paced, online course and paperback that examines the Apostles in detail.
Before the changes to the Roman Calendar in 1955, nearly all feasts of the apostles were preceded by a special Vigil Day. And the Church put those days in place to help us prepare for the importance of a feast of an apostle. Sadly, the observance of fasting on the vigils of the apostles in many places disappeared back in the 1700s.
This course and book examine the Gospels, the Fathers of the Church, Apocryphal writings, encyclicals, and other sources to search out the Apostles’ personalities and history. Along the way, you will look at the prayers, poetry, music, and architecture the Apostles inspired and see how these twelve men are still teaching us today, almost 2,000 years after their deaths. You will see how the faith spread throughout the Roman Empire and even beyond its borders and how each Apostle met his death. You will be surprised at the many different paths of the Apostles as they witnessed Christ.
If you can not name all 12 Apostles and a description of what each of them did after the Ascension, this course is for you!
Learning Our Religion: A Commandment for the Modern Catholic
“For there is no other Name [than Jesus] under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Act 4:12), and yet, how many of us feel a pull on our hearts because of it? How about when we hear St. Paul remind us elsewhere: “How then shall they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). How often do we think about the vast numbers of souls who die each day? How many go to hell? Do we ever think to ourselves, “Is there anything that I can do to stop it?”
We live in a state of complete moral collapse and deterioration in Catholic belief. Since 1970, according to data analyzed from USCCB records, the number of students in religious education has decreased by 60%, adult baptisms have fallen by 68%, and the annual number of infant baptisms has fallen by 18%. Furthermore, according to Sherry Weddell's research published in Forming Intentional Disciples (Our Sunday Visitor, 2012), only 30% of Americans who were raised Catholic still practice the Faith, and 10% of all adults in the United States are fallen-away Catholics.
In our modern age, it is easy to become distracted by the use of technology, the day-to-day responsibilities of life, and the physical demands placed on us each day. How often does the average Catholic in the pew step back and actually pray? Do we attend daily Mass, recite the Divine Office, get in our daily Rosary, and practice thirty minutes of mental prayer a day? Part of the mission of our priests and deacons – as well as our lay teachers – is to help foster a true love of God and the Catholic Faith in the lives of ordinary Catholics.
Religious Education Is A Responsibility for Everyone but Especially The Ordained
Religious education is not an obligation for children alone. It is our responsibility as adults to continue learning our Faith in order to live it out and spread it. And it is a grave responsibility – and an honor – to help pass it on to others.
As stated by Holy Mother Church, "The faithful who devote twenty minutes to a half hour to teaching or studying Christian Doctrine may gain an indulgence of 3 years. The indulgence is plenary on the usual conditions twice a month if the above practice is carried out at least twice a month."
The Church not only bestows upon parents the responsibility to educate their children, but She offers all the Faithful involved in learning and teaching religious Doctrine the temporal remission of sins. How truly generous Holy Mother Church is. Many times when we are given an obligation, and we perform, we do not receive a great reward for doing our duty. But in this instance, we are given, for the performance of this duty, the partial remission of the punishment due to our sins.
Teaching Christian Doctrine Is A Spiritual Work of Mercy
Our Lord Himself observed the Jewish law to the letter and affirmed that He had come to perfect, not abolish, the law (cf. Matt. 5:17). And the law of charity imposes on us who have been given the grace to be Catholic the responsibility to spread the Faith, to admonish sinners, to instruct the ignorant, to raise children in the Catholic Faith, and to be a role model to others. As King David exclaimed in the Psalms, “O how have I loved Thy law, O Lord! it is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 118:97). But, do we really love the Lord’s law? Do we love it enough to set down the television remote, the football, and our other comforts in order to pick up a copy of the Roman Catechism or the Lives of the Saints? And we do seek to pass on to others the fruit of our contemplation every week?
The world and the Church herself are in a state of unprecedented crisis, a crisis that is greatly exacerbated by the average lay Catholic failing to understand his religion. It was only a few decades ago that the illustrious Archbishop Fulton Sheen remarked: “Who is going to save the Church? Not our Bishops, our priests, and our religious. It is up to the laity. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops and your religious act like religious” (Address to the Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus, June 1972). And we can help turn the tide by helping pass on both the knowledge of the fullness of the Faith and love for practicing the Faith.
Resources for Faith Formation in 2023 and Beyond
In our societal moral crisis, clarity is desperately needed. That is why using resources like the Baltimore Catechism or the Catechism of the Council of Trent is necessary still in our day. To this end, I’m happy to have just published “The Roman Catechism Explained for the Modern World” (available at https://amzn.to/3Q4AqZz), which explains for today’s Catholics the teachings of the Catechism of the Council of Trent applied against modern errors like liberalism, modernism, materialism, communism, and others.
I would also highly recommend the programs of CatechismClass.com, which I am honored to have helped since July 2010. The lessons follow a 7-step format with a final test at the end of each lesson. This format has been very effective for those we serve and may be a good format for any religious education classes that priests, deacons, or lay catechists lead:
Introduction: Saint for the Day based on Liturgical Calendar, Description of the Lesson Topic
Opening Prayer: For adults, a decade of the Rosary; for children, it is another prayer. Typically it is learned in both Latin and English.
Scripture: A link to daily Mass readings and mention of Scripture that concerns the lesson topic.
Catechism References: References as they relate to the topic from a variety of catechisms.
Integration: A personally written section that explains and expands upon the Scriptures and Catechism in light of the Church teaching, beliefs, writings of the saints, and other pertinent considerations.
Activity: A way to put the lesson into practice. It may be prayers, a spiritual or corporate work of mercy, or many other activities meant to actualize what has been intellectually learned.
Closing Prayer: For adults, it is an hour from the Divine Office; for children, it is a decade of the Rosary.
May St. Charles Borromeo, the patron of catechists, and St. Stephen, the patron of deacons, pray for our efforts to save souls and spread the doctrine of Christ to every corner of the globe, starting with our own family, friends, and parish.
The Liturgy is the public worship of God using approved rituals. The Catholic Encyclopedia offers the following definition of Liturgy: "Liturgy (leitourgia) is a Greek composite word meaning originally a public duty, a service to the state undertaken by a citizen… So in Christian use liturgy meant the public official service of the Church, that corresponded to the official service of the Temple in the Old Law." As the Baltimore Catechism #925 states: "God commanded ceremonies to be used in the old law, and 2. Our Blessed Lord Himself made use of ceremonies in performing some of His miracles."
But the Liturgy is itself also a highly effective means of transmitting the Catholic Faith to everyone - children, catechumens, and lifelong Catholics. Everyone can learn the Faith from true and pious liturgical acts since at their core they express the timeless, unchangeable Catholic Faith. Two of the primary means we have to learn the Faith through the Liturgy are the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office.
The Mass in Liturgical Catechesis
The Mass is the center of our Catholic lives, including our prayer life. The Mass not only contains prayers but is the foundation of prayer. One can never attend Mass too often.
Quoting from John Senior's fantastic work The Restoration of Christian Culture, "Work is a physical necessity; if you don't work you don't eat. Prayer is a necessity of obligation; if you don't pray you will not enter the Kingdom. Prayer is a duty, an office; it is free, voluntary payment of the debt we owe to God for existence and grace. The Latin word for duty is officium, and the perfect prayer of the Church is its Divine Office; St. Benedict calls it the opus Dei, the work of God" (60).
John Senior continues, "I have cited the Latin for the meaning of many words not for the pretense of learning, but because their meaning is Latin. Latin is the language of the Roman Catholic Church; you can repudiate the tradition and overthrow the Church; but you cannot have the tradition and the Church without its language. And though the Second Vatican Council permitted the substitution of vernacular liturgies where pastoral reasons suggested their usefulness, it commanded that the Latin be preserved. The Catholic Faith is so intimately bound to the two thousand years of Latin prayers any attempt to live the Catholic life without them will result in its attrition and ultimate apostasy - which we have witnessed even in the few years of the vernacular experiment. We must return to the Faith of our fathers by way of prayer of our fathers" (60 - 61).
John Senior's works are beautifully said and express an absolute reality - the Church is timeless; she is outside of time. Only by restoring true Christian culture, as Senior explains throughout his book, will Christ again reign in our hearts, our homes, and our families. Christ must reign. And how can we bring about the reign of Christ without frequent prayer? Prayer is necessary. It is essential for the spiritual life. A life spent in good works of charity that has no prayer is a life built on bad soil. And no soul whose life is built in bad soil can inherit everlasting life.
Living a Catholic life means living for the Mass as the center of your life — your prayer life — your entire life.
The Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and for that reason, it is by definition efficacious. We are present at Calvary. Rather than merely remembering the life and death of Christ, we are present at it and partake of its eternal fruits which flow to us from the altar and during the Canon when the priest stands in the place of Christ and offers the Eternal Victim on the Altar to God. We can further receive grace by partaking of the Holy Eucharist if we are Catholics in the state of grace.
It was Pope St. Pius X who famously remarked:
The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice, dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar. If you wish to hear Mass as it should be heard, you must follow with eye, heart and mouth all that happens at the altar. Further, you must pray with the priest the holy words said by him in the Name of Christ and which Christ says by him. You have to associate your heart with the holy feelings which are contained in these words and in this manner you ought to follow all that happens at the altar. When acting in this way, you have prayed Holy Mass.
Above all, to participate in the Holy Mass is not to be the loudest person, to say the responses out loud, to move around a lot, etc. To truly participate in the Mass is to be the most contemplative and aware of the presence of God and the offering of our Lord on the Cross. For that reason sometimes those who participate the most fully in the Mass are those who say the very least.
The Divine Office in Liturgical Catechesis
This prayer is actually Liturgy, which means it forms part of the official, public prayers of the Church. Because it is liturgy, we must approach it with respect and reverence, and follow the proper postures and guidelines, just as if we were attending the Liturgy of the Holy Mass.
This prayer is called the Divine Office which is contained in a series of books called the Breviary. At certain points throughout the day, all of the Church prays the same liturgy to God, and we are all united in this wonderful prayer. The purpose of the Divine Office is to sanctify time and our day, making us constantly in prayer before the Father.
Priests, deacons, monks, and nuns are required to pray these hours throughout the day. However, everyone is invited to pray these. Holy Mother Church encourages all of her faithful to regularly pray the Hours, especially in common (Code of Canon Law, Canon 1174.2).
The Divine Office is immensely helpful to a life of grace, and it is a great grace to be able to enter into the prayer of the Church before God. The main hours to pray are Lauds, Vespers, and Compline are the major hours. Prime, Terce, Sext, and None are the little hours. Matins, the first hour, is often prayed very early in the morning or night and usually immediately precedes Lauds. As a layman, you don't need to pray the Office perfectly. But it would be very worthwhile for you to unite your prayers to the Church's official Liturgy.
An article from America Press Volume 27 written 1922 remarks, that the Divine Office, especially Vespers and Compline, along with the Solemn High Mass are powerful not only for the Faithful but for missionary work among Protestants. And similarly, they are highly effective for liturgical catechesis:
"But the most amazing thing of all is to see the way the most valuable instruments that the clergy have are left unused. The evening service, which could be made so attractive, is now usually a hit-or-miss compilation of private devotions made to serve a public need. The rosary, so strange to Protestants in any case, is recited in so rapid a manner that hardly a word is understood by the Protestant who is present. Even Benediction is often given in a slap-dash manner. From all this the Protestant forms the opinion that the great thing about Catholic prayer is to have it over as soon as possible. Can we blame him so much?
"In the average parish High Mass is very seldom sung except at a funeral. Yet many a soul has been converted by a High Mass. Even where High Mass or the Missa Cantata is the Sunday custom, the Proper of the Mass is left unsung and so the real teaching part of the service is not known by the poeple, and never is put before the truth-seeker at all. Yet the Missal is a storehouse of missionary material. What a splendid thing it would be if in every parish church it were possible to take one's Protestant friends to Solemn Mass or Vespers! What could be better adapted to attract Protestants than Compline properly changed? Why is it that with all the wealth of the liturgy at her disposal the Church in this country makes no effort to use it? Even in our cathedrals the Divine Office is not performed, nor a daily High Mass sung. Is it any wonder if the Protestant comes to think that the Catholic is weary of the worship of God? Music, art, the dramatic instinct, all these things could be used to advantage in this country."
You might be concerned and ask "how many hours of prayer must I perform daily?" Quoting again from Senior on the topic, "The strictly cloistered monk and nun lead that life in the highest degree, but each of us in his station must pay his due. There are three degrees of prayer: The first, of the consecrated religious, is total. They pray always, according to the counsel of Our Lord. Their whole life is the Divine Office, Mass, spiritual reading, mental prayer... They pray eight hours, sleep eight hours and divide the other eight between physical work and recreation... The third degree is for those in the married state (or single life) who offer a tithe of their time for prayer — about two and a half hours per day — with eight hours for work, eight for sleep, and the remaining five and a half for recreation with the family" (62-63).
Make an effort — an obligation — pray the Divine Office and other pious devotions for 2 and a half hours each day. And no prayer is greater than the Mass. If possible, attend Holy Mass daily. We quote one final time from Senior who said, "Whatever we do in the political and social order, the indispensable foundation is prayer, the heart of which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the perfect prayer of Christ Himself, Priest and Victim, recreating in an unbloodly manner the bloody, selfsame Sacrifice of Calvary. What is Christian Culture? It is essentially the Mass" (16-17).
Conclusion
The Law of Prayer is the Law of Belief. If we pray a certain way, it shows in a powerful way what we believe. And conversely, irreverent Masses, hurried prayers, and parishes that never encourage the Divine Office or at least the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, fail in effective liturgical catechesis.
For parishes or individuals looking at better catechesis, please consider the wonderful programs of CatechismClass.com. The lessons are unwaveringly faithful to the Catholic Faith and highlight often the importance of liturgical catechesis and the Sacramental life. All adult-level lessons for instance incorporate the Divine Office. Pairing a truly exceptional program like those by CatechismClass.com with a Sacramental and liturgically-based prayer life can help establish a truly solid foundation of liturgical catechesis.
There Has Never Been A Stronger Need for Sound Catechesis
The lack of sound faith formation and reverent liturgies over the past few decades has led to disastrous consequences for the Catholic Faith. Based on statistics available from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate the collapse in enrollment in Catholic religious education, as well as Sacramental reception, has been profound.
Based on statistics available from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate the collapse in enrollment in Catholic religious education, as well as Sacramental reception, has been profound. Since 1970, the number of children in a primary school religious education program has dropped 60% and the number of secondary school students in religious education has dropped 55%. Since 1960, the number of annual adult baptisms has fallen 68%. Since 1975, the number of annual infant baptisms has fallen 18%.
Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddell further illustrates the consequences following the changes post-Vatican II. These decades saw significant changes in the Sacramental life of Catholics and the customs and practices of living out a Catholic life (e.g. times of fasting, processions, cultural celebrations). The Church was also shaken by the disastrous consequences of the sexual abuse crisis by some of Her priests. The results are grim: only 30% of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practicing and 10% of all adults in America are ex-Catholics.
In one often-quoted study, data by D’Antonio, Dillon, & Gautier in 2013 showed 33% of American Catholics are unaware of the Church’s teaching of Christ in the Real Presence and an additional 4% even deny this central tenet of the Faith. The number of Catholics who are unaware of the official Church teaching illustrates the inability of modern religious education to meet the needs of today’s Catholics.
COVID-19 Has Led To Greater Challenges Than Even Before
In response to the continued threat from COVID-19 and the legal ramifications, large numbers of Dioceses continue to restrict Masses, cancel religious education programs for adults and children, and put a number of precautionary measures in place. Online education, to which the Church must turn especially in times like this, is the solution to both the pandemic and to bucking the trend of children not actually learning the Faith.
Remote learning does not have to mean a lack of quality. For instance, CatechismClass.com focuses on providing authentic and unwaveringly sound Theology in a way that ensures accountability. One of the founding hallmarks of that program, as built by Fr. James Zatalava, is that there is accountability built into all of the lessons. As students take lessons, parishes will receive instantaneous quiz reports of the students' progress. They can see the questions, how well the student did, the amount of time they spent on a lesson, and they have the ability to issue retakes for quizzes that need them. In addition to these instant quizzes, parishes may at any time log in to run a roster report to see how students are doing, their cumulative scores, the average time spent on lessons, etc to ensure that they are learning the materials.
Remote Catechesis During COVID-19 Is the Solution
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education published a meta-analysis of evidence-based studies of K-12 and postsecondary online learning programs. The study reported that “students who took all or part of their class online performed better on average than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.” We have reason to believe that children in religious education will also perform better.
Children want to learn and be challenged. The discipline in a secular classroom should carry over to religious education. Children should have regular activities and homework — including frequent reception of the Sacraments, the practice of prayers and pious devotions, and ample opportunities for them to share what they learn.
Children want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to feel connected and a part of something; the internet provides this connectivity and hands-on learning, so long as parents and priests help foster this life.
One of the benefits of the pandemic is surely the rise in online, flexible, and sound catechesis. Programs like CatechismClass.com have arisen to solve these needs and since 2004 they have served thousands of families and parishes.
While the Catholic Faith and its doctrines are timeless and unchanging, the manner in how we teach the Faith must adapt to newer standards in order to help ensure our children do not become statistics for ex-Catholics in the next decade. The Internet is a tool that children and adults are already using. Let’s as a Catholic community use it for the good of their souls.
The word “catechism” today is often used only in reference to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, originally published in 1992. Yet, this catechism often fails in many respects for converts and even for adult Catholics: its verbose language, its frequent references to the novelties of Vatican II as opposed to actual dogmatic works, and the recent errors promulgated by Pope Francis in regard to capital punishment. In fact, the number of religious education programs that feel they must teach children from this catechism is frightening – no young child could attempt to learn from a text that is best suited for an undergraduate or master’s course. So why do we either water down the faith or teach children that the only true source of doctrine is the 1992 text?
Unbeknown to many, the new catechism is far from the only catechism. St. Peter Canisius, who was instrumental in fighting Protestantism in Germany, wrote the first catechism in 1555, known as the "Catechism of St. Peter Canisius." Shortly afterward, in 1566, the Roman Catechism was commissioned by the Council of Trent, overseen by St. Charles Borromeo, and issued by His Holiness Pope St. Pius V. It remains the most authoritative catechism in print. Known as the “Roman Catechism,” the “Catechism of St. Pius V,” or also as the “Catechism of the Council of Trent,” this book has unfortunately fallen into extreme disuse.
The decades after the Council of Trent saw Fr. Laurence Vaux "Catechism of Christian Doctrine" published in 1567 and St. Robert Bellarmine's Catechism published in 1597.
Fr. Henry Tuberville followed with the Douay Catechism in 1649, which was modeled on the Catechism of the Council of Trent and written to help combat English Protestantism. It remains one of the clearest English catechisms ever written as it contains a simple-to-understand question and answer format.
Fast forward to 1781 and Bishop George Hay published the extensive and heavily Scripturally based "Hay's Catechism" with a longer question and answer format. Fr. Stephen Keenan in 1846 published his catechism with the purpose of countering heresies of the time especially in regard to papal infallibility. And one year later in 1847, master catechism Fr. Joseph Deharbe wrote the most accomplished German catechism ever written called "A complete catechism of the Catholic religion."
Throughout the mid-1800s additional catechisms by Fr. Francis Jamison, St. John Neumann, Fr. Patrick Power, Fr. Michael Muller, and Cardinal Gibbons were also published. Then in 1885, the Bishops of the United States enjoined by order of the Third Council of Baltimore the Baltimore Catechism, which was the most widely used catechism in the United States for over a century up until Vatican II.
The notion that the “Catechism” is the exclusive right to the 1992 text promulgated by Pope John Paul II is absurd. In fact, as the crisis in the Church deepened, Pope Benedict XVI remarked while still a Cardinal of the failure of modern catechesis in the Church when he said in an interview with Zenit in 2003, “It is evident that today religious ignorance is enormous; suffice it to speak with the new generations. Evidently, in the post-conciliar period, the concrete transmission of the contents of the Christian faith was not achieved.” This echoed his previous sentiments which he published before the New Catechism was written when the future Pontiff wrote, “The catastrophic failure of modern catechesis is all too obvious.”
Some of these older Catechisms, like the Baltimore Catechism and the Roman Catechism, are still in print. Others that have fallen out of print are being published once again by the work of Tradivox. And organizations like CatechismClass.com are combining passages from various Catechisms along with Scripture and relevant prayers and commentary to teach the Faith in a way that resonates with more people. Whispers of Restoration lists 20 older catechisms and links to them in an online format.
As the many catechisms show us, the Faith is the same yet it can often be explained in slightly different ways. Whereas one definition or example may teach one person, another person may be better able to understand it explained in a different way. The Faith is changeless and timeless but we can use many different catechisms to teach the one, same Faith.
Check out some of these older catechisms and resources. Share them with your family and friends.
Catholics need to make occasion to reflect on Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, especially since it is so rare that pastors preach on these subjects nowadays. This talk from Matthew is based on his book Eschatology: The Catholic Study of the Four Last Things. That book and this talk heavily quote from The Four Last Things – Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven by Father Martin Von Cochem O.S.F.C., which was originally published by the Benzinger Brothers in 1899 and is in the public domain. Matthew is the President of CatechismClass.com
Prepare for the Inevitable: The Four Last Things and the Fatima Message
Reverend Fathers, esteemed guests, and friends, I’m grateful for the opportunity to address you today and present this talk on The Four Last Things and the Fatima Message. Indeed, as we prepare to begin the great and holy fast of 40 days and to celebrate the mystery of our Lord’s Resurrection, there is hardly a better time to reflect on death, judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Some of these topics will be difficult to hear but it’s what I believe we as Catholics need to hear more of today.
In my talk with you today I’m hoping to do three things. First, I’d like to examine and remind all of you on the key dogmas of the Faith as its concerns the Four Last Things and to present them as a useful meditation for us. Secondly, I’m hoping to in a special way highlight the importance of the four last things to the Fatima Message. And thirdly, I’m hoping to inspire all of you to have before your eyes each and every day – especially during Lent – the certainty of your own death and what we can do to save our own souls and those of others.
I will die. You will die. I will face judgement. You will face judgment. Let us stop putting off our preparation for what we know with complete certainty will one day happen to each us. Be ready for the Lord may very well be near to call you to judgment within the next few years, or maybe months, or maybe even days.
Eschatology
What is Eschatology? Eschatology is the study of the end of life, the end of times, and the Final Coming of Christ. In Eschatology, Christian Theology focuses primarily on the “Four Last Things.” They are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. In addition to these four, we will also explore Purgatory, the place of temporary purification after death for souls that die in the state of grace who are destined for Heaven but are not yet perfect and able to enter Heaven.
We begin with death. Memento mori: remember you must die.
Death
When I say the word death what comes to mind? We surely all have concepts or images that come to our mind. But what is death? Death is the separation of the soul and the body. Death is the result of Adam and Eve’s sin. But it is not the end of life. Death is the transformation (the door) to life everlasting. Death is real – all mankind must undergo death. We are to be reminded of this very soon on Ash Wednesday when we receive ashes on our foreheads and the reminder: Remember man, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. Yet so many of us suffer from pride and envy when in fact we will be reduced to ashes in so short a time.
Even our Lord Jesus Christ – who did not have to undergo death because He was sinless (since He is God) – chose to undergo death to bring about the salvation of mankind. When we profess in the Creed that Christ died, what we are saying is that His Body and His soul separated. That is what death is. And it is widely believed that at the end of Mary’s sinless life, before her Assumption of soul and body into Heaven, that she too experienced death: the separation of her Body and her Soul.
Regarding death, there are 2 points worth considering. First, the terrors of death. And secondly, the assaults of satan at the hour of death.
First, regarding the terrors of death:
Why do we fear death? Why do even Christians who have so much to hope for in the resurrection and life everlasting fear the separation of our souls and our bodies? However old a man may be, however broken in health, however miserable his circumstances, the thought of death is an unwelcome one. And there are three principal reasons why all sensible people fear death so much:
First, the dread of death is inherent in human nature. Secondly, because every rational being is well aware that death is bitter, and the separation of soul and body cannot take place without suffering. And thirdly, because no one knows whither he will go after death, or how he will stand in the Day of Judgment.
Everyone shrinks instinctively from death, because it is bitter, and painful beyond description to our human nature. The soul of man is subject to many anxieties, apprehensions and sorrows, and the body is subject to pain and sickness of all kinds, yet none of these pains can be compared to the agony of death. A man who loses his good name and his property feels acute grief, but he does not die of it. All suffering and sickness, all grief and anguish, however terrible, is less bitter than death. Hence we see death to be a mighty monarch, the most cruel, the most relentless, the most formidable enemy of mankind. Look at a man wrestling with death, and you will see how the tyrant overpowers, disfigures, prostrates his victim. But why is death so hard, so terrible a thing?
It is because the soul has to separate itself from the body. Body and soul were created for each other, and so intimate is their union that a parting between them seems almost impossible. They would endure almost anything rather than be torn apart.
The soul is fearful of the future, and of the unknown land to which she is going. The body is conscious that as soon as the soul departs from it, it will become the prey of worms. Consequently, the soul cannot bear to leave the body, nor the body to part from the soul. Body and soul desire their union to remain unbroken, and together to enjoy the sweets of life. And this is the primary reason why for all men that death is so abhorrent. Even our Lord in His human nature feared death and that is one of the primary reasons He suffered so much the agony in the Garden.
In one of his epistles to St. Augustine, St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, relates what was told him by a man who had been raised from the dead. Amongst other things, he said: "The moment when my soul left my body, was one of such awful pain and distress that no one can imagine the anguish I then endured. If all conceivable suffering and pain were put together they would be as nothing in comparison with the torture I underwent at the separation of soul and body."
And to emphasize his words, he added, addressing St. Cyril: "Thou knowest that thou hast a soul, but thou knowest not what it is. Thou knowest that beings exist called Angels, but thou art ignorant of their nature. Thou knowest also that there is a God, but thou canst not comprehend His being. So it is with everything that has not corporeal shape; our understanding cannot grasp these things. In like manner it is impossible for thee to understand how I could suffer such intense agony in one short moment."
And if some people apparently pass away most peacefully, this is because nature, exhausted by suffering, has no longer the force to struggle with death.
We know from the testimony of Our Redeemer Himself that no agony is like the agony of death. Although throughout the whole course of His sorrowful Passion, He was tortured in a terrible manner, yet all the martyrdom He endured was not to be compared with what He suffered at the moment of His death. This we gather from the Gospels.
Nowhere do we find that at any period of His life the greatness of the pains He bore extorted from Our Lord a cry of anguish. But when the moment came for Him to expire, and the ruthless hand of death rent His Heart asunder, we read that He cried out with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. Hence it is evident that at no period of the Passion did Christ suffer so acutely as at the most painful separation of His sacred soul from His blessed body.
In order that mankind might at least in some measure understand how terrible was the death Christ died for us, He ordained that we, at our end, should taste something of the bitterness of His death, and experience the truth of the following words of Pope St. Gregory: "Christ’s conflict with death represented our last conflict, teaching us that the agony of death is the keenest agony that man has ever felt or will ever feel. It is the will of God that man should suffer so intensely at the close of his life, in order that we may recognize and appreciate the magnitude of Christ's love for us, the inestimable benefit He has conferred on us by enduring death for our sakes. For it would have been impossible for man fully to know the infinite love of God, unless he too had drunk to some extent of the bitter chalice which Christ drank."
In this passage from the writings of the holy Pope Gregory we are taught that Christ ordained that all men in the hour of their dissolution should suffer the like pains which Christ suffered for us in His last agony, in order that they may gain some knowledge, by their own experience, of the terrible nature of the death He endured for us, and the great price He paid for our ransom. How painful, how terrible, how awful death will be for us, if our death is in any degree to resemble Christ's most agonizing death!
How severe a conflict is before us! What torments await us at our last hour! One is almost inclined to think it would have been preferable never to have been born, than to be born to suffer such anguish. But it is thus that Heaven is to be won, and through this narrow gate alone can we enter into Paradise.
We as Christians accept our destiny cheerfully and form a steadfast resolution to bear unmurmuringly the bitterness of death.
Seconding, let me comment on the assaults of satan at the hour of death:
Although death is in itself most bitter, its bitterness is greatly enhanced by 1. the vivid remembrance of the sins of our life, 2. by the thought of the judgment to come, 3. of the eternity before us, and 4. by the assaults of Satan. At that moment we will wish that we had more fruitful Lents, more penance in our lives, and more charity for God and our fellow men.
I'd like to review, with some explanation, each of these four things and also indicate some means of combating the fears they inspire.
With regard to the assaults of Satan, know that the all-just God permits him to have great power to assail us at the hour of death ; not indeed for our perdition, but for our probation. This is one reason we consistently beg of our Blessed Lady to intercede for us “at the hour of death.”
Before expiring the Christian has yet to prove that nothing can avail to make him forsake his God. For this reason, the evil enemy employs all the power he has received and brings all his forces to bear upon a man when he is dying, in the hope of causing him to sin, and thrusting him down to Hell. During our whole lifetime he attacks us fiercely and neglects no means where he may deceive us. But all these persecutions do not bear comparison with the final onslaught with which he endeavours to overcome us at the last. Then he raves and rages, like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
This we learn from the passage in the Book of the Apocalypse (12:12): "Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time." These words bear a special application for the dying, against whom the devil conceives a great wrath, and whom he makes every effort to seduce. For he knows full well that if he does not get them into his power now, he will never again have the chance of doing so. Hear what St. Gregory says on this point:
" Consider well how terrible is the hour of death, and how appalling the remembrance of our evil deeds will be at that time. For the spirits of darkness will recall all the harm they have done us and remind us of the sins which we have committed at their instigation. They will not go to the death bed of the godless only, but they will be present with the elect, striving to discover something sinful whereof to accuse them. Alas! how will it fare with us hapless mortals in that hour, and what can we say for ourselves, seeing how innumerable are the sins to be laid to our charge? What can we answer to our adversaries, when they place all our sins before us, with the object of reducing us to despair?"
The evil spirits will tempt their unhappy victim at the moment of death on various points, but especially in regard to the sins into which he has most frequently fallen. If during his lifetime he has cherished hatred towards any one, they will conjure up before his dying eyes the image of that person, rehearsing all he did to injure him in order to revive the flame of hate towards that enemy or kindle it anew. Or if anyone has transgressed against purity, they will show him the accomplice of his sin, and strive to awaken the guilty passion felt for that individual. If he has been troubled with doubts concerning faith, they recall to his mind the article of belief which he had difficulty in accepting, representing it to him as untrue. The man who has sinned through pride, and boasted of his good works, they seek to ensnare by flattery, assuring him that he stands high in the favour of God, and all he has done cannot fail to secure him a place in Heaven. And, if in his lifetime a man has given way to impatience, allowing himself to be angry and irritated by every trifle, they make his illness appear most irksome to him that he may become impatient, and rebel against God for having sent upon him so painful a malady. Or if he has been tepid and lacking in devotion, they try to maintain in his soul this state of apathy, suggesting to him that his physical weakness is too great even to allow him to join in the prayers his friends read to him. Finally, they tempt those who have led a godless life, and repeatedly fallen into mortal sin, to despair, representing their transgressions to be so great as to be passed any hope of forgiveness.
But the devils do not always confine themselves to tempting a man in regard to his chief failings and predominant faults; they frequently tempt him to sins of which he has not been guilty. For these diabolical agents from hell spare no pains to deceive the dying, and if they fail in one way, they attempt to succeed in another.
These temptations are of no ordinary character. They are sometimes so violent that it is impossible for weak men to resist them without supernatural assistance. If it is all that any one in good health can do to withstand the assaults of the devil, and even such a one is often overcome by them, how difficult must it be for one who is encumbered by sickness to struggle against foes so formidable!
And it is for this reason I ask you now and throughout the whole of the upcoming season of Lent to pray each day for the souls of the sick and dying to have the grace to resist such awful temptations. Pray for those who in their last agony to be reconciled with the Church lest they pass through death as an enemy of God. With your families, I suggest visiting a hospital once this Lent, visiting people there if you can, and above all praying for those who are sick and suffering there. Pray for their health, yes. But most of all, pray for them to resist the attacks of the devils and to save their souls.
In order to prepare ourselves before our last illness to combat these temptations, there is an old prayer that I recommend. It goes as follows:
O Jesus, compassionate Redeemer of mankind, I recall to mind the threefold temptation Thou didst undergo from the evil enemy, and I pray Thee through the glorious victory Thou didst obtain over him, to stand by me in my last conflict and fortify me against all his temptations. I know that in my own strength I cannot contend against so powerful a foe, and I must assuredly be vanquished unless Thou, or Thy blessed Saints, grant me timely assistance. Therefore, I now earnestly implore Thy help and that of Thy Saints, and propose to arm myself to the best of my ability by Thy grace, to meet the temptations that await me. I promise now, before Thee and the holy Angels and blessed Saints, that I will never voluntarily expose myself to any temptation, of whatever nature it may be, but with the help of Thy grace I will combat it vigorously. Amen.
And thus, after death comes Judgment.
Judgment
The second of the Four Last Things.
Above and beyond all that we have already considered as contributing to make death terrible to us, is the thought that we must stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account of all we have done and left undone. How awful this judgment is, we learn from these words of St. Paul: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).
For if it is very alarming even to fall into the hands of an angry man, how much more terrible will it be to fall into the hands of an omnipotent God!
All the Saints trembled in anticipation of the sentence that would be passed on them by God, for they well knew how exceedingly severe His judgments are. The Psalmist says: "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord, for in Thy sight no man living shall be justified" (Ps. cxlii. 2).
And holy Job exclaimed: "What shall I do if God arise to judge me? What am I that I should answer Him? I cannot answer Him one for a thousand."
We read also in the lives of the Fathers that the holy Abbot Agathon was overwhelmed with fear as his end drew near. His brethren said to him: "Why shouldst thou be afraid, reverend Father, thou hast led so pious a life?" But he answered them: "The judgments of God are very different from the judgments of man." The holy Abbot Elias used likewise to say: "There are three things that I fear. First I dread the moment when my soul has to leave my body; secondly, the moment when I must stand before the tribunal of God; thirdly, the moment when sentence is passed upon me." For indeed, beside the general judgment, there is nothing so much to be feared as these three things. All good and holy men have feared them, all do fear them. Those who do not fear them, prove that they know very little about them, or have meditated scarcely at all upon them.
Consider, first of all, what a strange new sensation it will be for your soul, when she finds herself separated from the body, in an unknown world.
Now for the first time her eyes are opened, and she sees clearly what eternity is, what sin is, what virtue is, how infinite is the being of the Almighty God, and how wondrous is her own nature.
All this will appear so marvelous to her that she will be almost petrified with astonishment. After the first instant of wonder, she will be conducted before the tribunal of God, that she may give an account of all her actions; and the terror that will then seize upon the unhappy soul surpasses our powers of conception.
If it is so fearful for a criminal to be brought before an earthly judge, how can we understand the terror of a soul when she is introduced into the presence of God, the strict and all-knowing Judge, and required to give the most accurate account of all the thoughts, words, deeds and omissions of her past life. Holy Job acknowledges this when he says: "Who will grant me this, that Thou mayst protect me in Hell, and hide me till Thy wrath pass" (Job xiv. 13). Observe that even the patient Job would rather lie in a darksome pit, and be concealed in a gloomy, sombre cave, than appear before the countenance of an angry God.
There are six things which strike terror into the soul, when she is summoned to the particular judgment.
(1) The soul fears because she knows her Judge to be omniscient; that nothing can be concealed from Him, nor can He be in any way deceived.
(2) Because her Judge is omnipotent; nothing can withstand Him, and no one can escape from Him.
(3) Because her Judge is not merely the most just, but the strictest of judges, to whom sin is so hateful that He will not allow the slightest transgression to pass unpunished.
(4) Because the soul knows that God is not her judge alone, but also her accuser; she has provoked Him to anger, she has offended against Him, and He will defend His honour and avenge every insult offered to it.
(5) Because the soul is aware that the sentence once uttered is irrevocable; there is no appeal for her to a higher court, it is useless for her to complain of the sentence. It cannot be reversed, and whether adverse or favourable she must accept it.
And (6) The most powerful reason of all why the soul fears to appear before the judgment seat is because she knows not what the sentence of the Judge will be. She has far more cause to fear than to hope. And all thought of help is now over.
Consider, furthermore, in what form you wilt appear before the Judge. If a man in punishment of his evil deeds were sentenced to be stripped to the skin in presence of a whole multitude, how greatly ashamed he would feel! Thus, it be with you (and me) before the Judge in the presence of many hosts of Angels.
There are two Judgments; the first of which is the personal judgment that each of us will have at the moment of our death. This judgment will determine our eternal destiny in either Heaven or Hell. This is the one that I have mentioned thus far.
There is a second judgment known as the Last (or Final) Judgment at the end of the world. This Judgment will not decide our own destiny; the sentence we have received from God will not be reversed at this Judgment. Rather, at this time, the souls of all peoples (in Heaven or Hell) will be reunited with their bodies. And the sins of all people will be made known to everyone else in the world. While some theologians debate if the sins of the elect in Heaven will also be revealed at the Last Judgment, most seem to believe that the sins of all – those in Heaven and those in Hell – will be revealed.
Why are there two judgments? The Baltimore Catechism explains: “There is need of a general judgment, though everyone is judged immediately after death, that the providence of God, which, on earth, often permits the good to suffer and the wicked to prosper, may in the end appear just before all men.” The Catechism continues, “There are other reasons for the general judgment, and especially that Christ Our Lord may receive from the whole world the honor denied Him at His first coming, and that all may be forced to acknowledge Him as their God and Redeemer.”
The Catholic Church teaches that at the time of the last judgment Christ will come in His glory, and all the angels with Him, and in His presence the truth of each man's relationship with God will be laid bare, and each person who has ever lived will be judged with perfect justice. Those already in heaven will remain in heaven; those already in hell will remain in hell; and those in purgatory will be released into heaven. After the last judgment the universe itself will be renewed with a new heaven and a new earth.
Catholics have always believed that Jesus Christ would come back to close the current period of human history on earth. This event is not to be confused with the Particular Judgment. The time when Christ will return is given many names: The Day of the Lord, The End Time, and the Second Coming of Christ. The Bible describes the events of Jesus' return in apocalyptic images.
The Final Coming will be unmistakable because it will be accompanied by unprecedented signs: "For just as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:27). Some signs are general events concerning the evangelization of the world: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). Other signs are more proximate. Mark (Chapter 13), Matthew (Chapter 24), and Luke (Chapter 21) all describe the unmistakable signs with apocalyptic images.
The Church also teaches that we should avoid pointless speculations about the time, the date, the details of the signs, the nature of the difficulties, etc. The Church focuses instead on the need for living the Gospel so as to be prepared for the End of Times – and our own particular judgment – whenever it happens.
Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, "Be holy because I (am) holy" (1st Peter 1:13-16).
There exists among many Evangelical Protestants a popular but false belief based on some passages in the Scripture called millennialism which means a "thousand-year reign." The rapture is another false protestant belief which is in direct contradiction to the fact that the End of Times will be unmistakable.
Some centuries before there was some disagreement whether the just go to the reward of Heaven immediately after death or if they must wait for the Final Judgment. This was settled by Pope Benedict 12th. In 1336 Pope Benedict 12th issued the Papal Bull, Benedictus Deus, on the Beatific Vision of God. This Papal Bull dogmatically defined the Church's belief that the souls of the departed go to their eternal reward immediately after death, as opposed to remaining in a state of unconscious existence until the Last Judgment. As such, we are required as Catholics to absolutely believe this. The following is taken from that bull:
“Moreover we define that according to the general disposition of God, the souls of those who die in actual mortal sin go down into hell immediately after death and there suffer the pain of hell. Nevertheless, on the day of judgment all men will appear with their bodies "before the judgment seat of Christ" to give an account of their personal deeds, "so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body"
We spend so much thing worrying about the things of this world. What will we have for dinner? What should I do tomorrow? Where should I go to school? Should I retire? What should I do for work? Where should we go on vacation? Etc. Etc?
But how many of us ask: what will happen to me at judgment? Will I be condemned for all eternity? Will I suffer for hundreds of years in Purgatory? Will my family have Masses offered for me? Will I die in the state of mortal sin and go to Hell and no number of Mass can save me? Did I in my life frequent the Sacraments and pray enough?
We should always have before us our Judgment and ask ourselves daily, “If I were to die today, would I be sentenced to eternal death and fire?”
Hell
Hell is a real and actual place where souls that die in the state of mortal sin go. All too often in our modern era, people claim that either Hell does not exist or that it is not a place where souls go for all eternity. The Church is clear though in her teaching that Hell exists… and it exists forever. And souls do indeed go there.
In a homily on Sunday, March 25, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI said, "Jesus came to tell us that He wants us all in heaven and that hell - of which so little is said in our time - exists and is eternal for those who close their hearts to His love."
It is also far too common to think that only egregious and public sinners go there. Yet, many people go to Hell because they have neglected the Faith and its practice. Our Lady at Fatima reminded us also that many go to hell because no one prays for them. As our Lord Himself said, the road to Hell is wide and many follow it. Amongst those in Hell are surely souls who have committed one mortal sin that they were too ashamed to confess and for that sin, their souls were lost. Our Lord in the Gospels has said that many souls are lost – and the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in our modern world, especially in Fatima, have affirmed this.
There is much that can be said on Hell and in my online course on Eschatology as well as in the book “Eschatology: The Catholic Study of the Four Last Things” I go into far more detail than I can cover in our short time together here. But I would like to highlight just a few of the harsh realities of Hell.
First, the fires of Hell. We know that there really is fire in Hell, from the words Christ spoke to the wicked: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his Angels " (Matt. 25: 41). This shows that there is real fire in Hell, and that in it the damned must burn eternally. What the intensity of that pain will be it is beyond the power of man to depict. For of all the varied kinds of physical suffering to which man can be subjected, there is none so great, so cruel, so agonizing, as that which is caused by fire. The rack, the wheel, amputation of a man’s limbs, are all terrible torture, but they are not to be compared to the pain of burning. And far worse than burning here on this earth – the fire of Hell will never cease for all eternity without end. Forever.
The damned will one day be cast, body and soul, into the huge and awful furnace of Hell, into the immense lake of fire, where they will be surrounded by flames. There will be fire below them, fire above them, fire all round about them. Every breath will be the scorching breath of a furnace. Now is the time for us to act and do penance and save our souls and those of our friends and family before it is too late. We still have time.
Secondly, the souls in Hell will suffer hunger and thirst for all eternity. Besides hunger the damned suffer the most burning thirst, which it is beyond the power of words to describe. Everyone knows how terrible are the sufferings caused by thirst. Those who are plagued by thirst will drink from the most impure sources, and if nothing at all can be obtained to quench their thirst, a lingering and painful death is the result. The thirst suffered by lost souls is infinitely greater, more intense, more painful than any thirst experienced on earth, however great that may be.
Picture yourself on the Eastern Coast of the United States with the job of moving the sand from the entire East Coast up to the top of Mount Everest. But you must take each grain of sand one at a time the entire journey to Mt Everest where you will scale the mountain by yourself, deposit the grain of sand there, and return to the East Coast to do it over and over and over again. One grain of sand at a time. That is what an eternity in Hell will feel like.
Thirdly, the foul odors of hell and the rotting stench of suffering – including the perpetual rotting of our own bodies – will never cease.
Fourthly, the sounds of hell will include the most profane blasphemies and insults against our Lord, our Lady, and the saints. And our very companions will be the devils themselves for we will have no friends in hell. We will also feel abandoned and alone. Forever
Yet of all these pains, that which gives the worst anguish is being deprived of the vision of God. It will never be given to the damned to behold the Divine countenance. They will never see God. They will no longer feel His love because they chose their own sins rather than His Law. And, this pain will far outweigh all the other torments which I have mentioned.
Even those of us here who surely love our Lord and follow the Traditional teachings of the Catholic Faith are not immune. We must as the Scriptures say work out our salvation in fear and trembling lest we, after we have preached to others, ourselves should be cast away. St. Paul himself uses these same lines in 1 Corinthians 9:27.
This is a frightening topic, but many souls have been saved by reflecting and meditating on the consequences of Hell. In fact, the Council of Trent said in Canon 7 on Justification: “If any says, that the fear of hell is a sin or makes sinners worse let him be anathema.”
Every day an average of 290,000 people die, are judged and begin an eternity of endless bliss or hopeless misery. One day we will be among that number. But rather than focus on ourselves, how many of us feel a pull on our hearts knowing that souls are dying eternally because there is no one to pray for them!
At Fatima Our Lady revealed that devotion to her Immaculate Heart is a particular means that God wishes to use to save souls from Hell. This is the second of the three Secrets of Fatima.
At Fatima Our Lady showed the three children a terrifying vision of Hell, then told them, "You have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace."
Thus, the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was revealed expressly to save souls, so how can Our Lady refuse to save souls if we appeal to her Immaculate Heart? If this person's conversion seems very unlikely, let us not think about that, nor try to figure out a clever way to win over his heart, but simply have confidence in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We can entrust to her the sinner we are praying for- especially if it is a relative or godchild of ours or someone to whom we have special ties using the following words, and even repeating this act many times throughout the day:
IMMACULATE Heart of Mary, I entrust to thee the salvation of [Name], having great confidence that thou wilt save him [or her]!
Picture someone in your lives that needs that prayer. And let’s pray it now – each of us individually to ourselves: IMMACULATE Heart of Mary, I entrust to thee the salvation of [Name], having great confidence that thou wilt save him [or her]!
All is not without hope. We have hope. Hope in working out our salvation and those for our friends and family. And one of the means that should inspire us is the fact that we don’t have to leave our lives completely perfect. God in His generosity and love has created purgatory.
Purgatory
Since there is so much misunderstanding on purgatory let’s review a definition of what purgatory is. This is taken from A Catholic Dictionary, 1951:
Purgatory is "the place and state in which souls suffer for a while and are purged after death, before they go to Heaven, on account of their sins. Venial sins, which have never in life been remitted by an act of repentance or love or by good deeds, and grave sins, the guilt of which with its eternal punishment has indeed been removed by God after an act of repentance but for which there is still left a debt of temporal punishment due to His justice on account of the imperfection of that repentance, must be purged away after death by the pain of intense longing for God, whose blissful vision is delayed, and also, as is commonly taught, by some pain of sense inflicted probably by material fire."
This is from the Church's Teaching Authority:
Pope St. Gregory I quoting from St. Augustine: "Even as in the same fire gold glistens and straw smokes, so in the same fire the sinner burns and the elect is cleansed." Pope St. Gregory is saying that those in Hell and those in Purgatory suffer from the same fires – but for those in Purgatory, it will not last forever.
Council of Florence (1438-1443): Next, from the Council of Florence: "If they have died repentant for their sins and having love of God, but have not made satisfaction for things they have done or omitted by fruits worthy of penance, then their souls, after death, are cleansed by the punishment of Purgatory; also . . . the suffrages of the faithful still living are efficacious in bringing them relief from such punishment, namely the Sacrifice of the Mass, prayers and almsgiving and other works of piety which, in accordance with the designation of the Church, are customarily offered by the faithful for each other."
Catechism of Council of Trent, The Creed - Article V, Different Abodes Called Hell "Among them is also the fire of purgatory, in which the souls of just men are cleansed by a temporary punishment, in order to be admitted into their eternal country, into which nothing defiled entereth. The truth of this doctrine, founded, as holy Councils declare,' on Scripture, and confirmed by Apostolic tradition, demands exposition from the pastor, all the more diligent and frequent, because we live in times when men endure not sound doctrine."
Catechism of Council of Trent, Prayer: "Prayers for the dead, that they may be liberated from the fire of purgatory, are derived from Apostolic teaching"
Mystics have confirmed the existence of purgatory as well. One such passage I’ve reflected on several times before is the following from Blessed Anna Katarina Emmerich:
"I was in Purgatory tonight. It was as if I were being led into an abyss, where I saw a large hall. It is touching to see the Poor Souls so quiet and sad. Yet their faces reveal that they have joy in their hearts, because of their recollection of God's loving mercy. On a glorious throne, I saw the Blessed Virgin, more beautiful than I had ever beheld Her. She said, 'I entreat you to instruct people to pray for the suffering Souls in Purgatory, for they certainly will pray much for us out of gratitude. Prayer for these holy souls is very pleasing to God because it enables them to see Him sooner...'" (From the Revelation of Blessed Anna Katarina Emmerich)
Please, my friends, let us not let one single day go by this Lent in which we do not make pious prayers and offer our good works for the intention of the Poor Souls. Not one day. Our Lady asks it of us. In August of 1917 Our Lady at Fatima told the children, "pray much and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to make sacrifices for them." It was in this same spirit that the Angel of Fatima spoke to the children in 1916: "Offer up everything in your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners . . . More than all else, accept and bear with resignation the sufferings that God may send you."
For what greater charity and what more worthy work can we do now and this Lent than by freeing souls from purgatory and making reparation for our own sins so that we may one day experience the eternity of happiness in Heaven.
Heaven
In stark contrast to all that we have mentioned to this point is the eternal happiness of Heaven. Heaven, the fourth of the Four Last Things, is the prize of so few. None of us deserve it. No one on this earth is worthy of all the joy of Heaven, yet Our Divine Redeemer chose to suffer the worst torments of death to show us how much He loved us and to open to us the possibility of an eternity of happiness with Him, His Mother, and the whole court of Heavenly saints and angels.
We must not, as some do, picture to ourselves Heaven as a purely spiritual realm. For Heaven is a definite place, where not only God is, and the Angels now are, but where Christ is also in His sacred humanity, and Our Lady with her human body. There, too, all the blessed will dwell with their glorified bodies after the Last Judgment. We know that after the Last Judgment the Saints will behold Heaven with their bodily eyes, and consequently it must be a visible kingdom.
For since God has created Heaven for Himself and for His elect, He has made it so beautiful and so glorious that the blessed will never tire of the contemplation of its splendors for all eternity.
Concerning the size of Heaven all we know is that it is immeasurable.
One saint remarked, "If God were to make every grain of sand into a new world, all these innumerable spheres would not fill the immensity of Heaven."
The Church teaches us, in the office for martyrs, that each one of the elect will have his own place in the kingdom of Heaven. “I will give to My Saints an appointed place in the kingdom of My Father." And the Psalmist says: " The Saints shall rejoice in glory ; they shall be joyful in their beds " (Ps. cxlix. 5).
We have also Christ’s words: "In My Father’s house there are many mansions." Hence it may be inferred that each one of the redeemed has his separate abode in Heaven. For as a just and prudent father divides his real and personal property amongst his children, assigning to each one his particular share, so our heavenly Father apportions to each of His elect a part of His celestial treasures, both visible and invisible, giving to each one more or less, according to the amount he deserves to receive. There will be different degrees of glory in Heaven.
Who shall describe the majesty and glory of these heavenly mansions? If the kings and princes of this world build grand and costly palaces for themselves, what must be the splendour and beauty of the celestial city which the King of kings has built for Himself and those who love Him and are His friends? Hear what St. John says concerning this city: "An Angel showed me the holy city Jerusalem, having the glory of God. The light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal. The city itself was of pure gold, like unto glass, and the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones " (Apoc. xxi. u, 18, 19).
For not only the souls of the saved, but their glorified bodies also, will be conducted by the Angels of God into Heaven after the Day of Judgment. St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and many other Saints do not hesitate to maintain that there are in Heaven real trees, real fruits, and real flowers, indescribably attractive and delightful to the sight, taste, smell, and touch, different from anything we can imagine.
Meditate often, therefore, upon the things of Heaven; raise your eyes and your heart to the bright firmament above and awaken within your heart by this or other means a keen desire to behold the mansions of the eternal Father, and to dwell in them for evermore.
In her revelations to St. Bridget, the Mother of God once said: "The Saints stand around my Son like countless stars, whose glory is not to be compared with any temporal light. Believe me, if the Saints could be seen shining with the glory they now possess, no human eye could endure their light all would turn away, dazzled and blinded."
Think what happiness it will be for you, when your body shines like the sun at midday. Everything that lives and moves rejoices in the light and warmth of the sun: it gladdens all the face of nature. In like manner your body will be a joy and delight to yourself and all around you in Heaven, because of its beauty and its glory.
Indeed, the blessed in Heaven will delight in all their senses. The power of sight will be so perfect that nothing can be hid from their eyes. They will see what is distant as distinctly as what is near, the smallest object as plainly as the largest, the dark will be to them as clear as the light. Their vision will be so undimmed that they will be able to gaze without flinching at the sun, even were its light a hundred times more dazzling. Their sight will be so keen that no obstacle will offer a hindrance to it. And much can be said on the other senses and the great delights which we just don’t have time to reflect on here in this talk.
We spend so much time on earthly pursuits. Do we really want Heaven? Are you willing to do what is necessary to save your soul and those of others?
What if we just miss the mark?
If we lose Heaven, we will lose everything.
What does Christ say about the number of the elect? His words are grim: "Bind his hands and his feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness. For many are called, but few chosen." And there are many other similar ones, of which I will quote one or two.
In the Gospel of St. Matthew, we read that Our Lord said: "Enter ye in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction, and many there are that go in there at. How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there are that find it" (Matt. vii. 13).
In order that we may better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few are the elect, observe that Christ did not say that those were few in number who walked in the path to Heaven, but that there were but few who found that narrow way. "How strait is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there are that find it."
It is as if the Saviour intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, it is so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who, their whole life long, never find it. And those who do find it are exposed constantly to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and over grown.
Now because Christ knew that these words of His would be misinterpreted and understood in a false sense by both believers and unbelievers, on another occasion He accentuated and emphasized what He had already said concerning the small number of the elect. For when one of the disciples asked Him: "Lord, are they few that shall be saved?" He answered and said: "Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able" (Luke 13:24). Listen to the words of the Divine Teacher. He bids us strive, take trouble, make use of all our powers in order to enter unto the narrow gate.
So much can be said about Heaven and the fewness of those saved. I strongly encourage you to pick up my book on this topic “Eschatology and the Catholic Study of the Four Last Things” where I continue on this study.
Conclusion
To conclude, I address to you the words the mother of the Machabees addressed to her youngest son, a mere boy, when he was about to be tortured to death, as his six brothers had been before him: "My son, I beg thee to look up to Heaven."
So I say to you, look up to Heaven every day, especially in time of trial and temptation. Heaven is well worth every suffering and every sacrifice and every combat required of us, and even a thousand times more! Life is short; its trials, its sufferings, its labours, its combats, its crosses also are short and transitory; but Heaven and its joys are inconceivable, satiating every desire of the heart and never-ending!"
Just a few weeks ago on Septuagesima we heard the words of St. Paul: “Brethren: Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize. So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things. And they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown: but we an incorruptible one.”
This Lent put life in perspective. Do you fast not as a means to the end but for the purpose of saving your own soul and those of others? In your prayers, are you honoring the message of Fatima and making prayers and sacrifices for sinners? Our Lady said that little Francisco would enter Heaven but that he had to pray many rosaries. How many more Rosaries do we need to do for our sins if a small child had to do many?
Pray for the Poor Souls each and everyday this Lent. And let us never let one day pass when we do not beg our Lady to pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Prepare for the inevitable for we are living on borrowed time.
Reverend Fathers, esteemed guests, and friends, I’m grateful for the opportunity to address you today and present this talk on Apologetics: Learning the True Faith in an Age of Apostasy. As I first accepted the opportunity to speak here, I was reflecting on the title for my talk and came across the wise words of Fr. Gommar Depauw who wrote, “Today’s condition of the Catholic Church is beyond the point of doctrinal heresy, factual schism and even apostacy. It is in a state of chaos and utter collapse resulting from the systematic destruction of first our liturgical and other traditions, and now our very beliefs and morals.” Our beliefs as Catholics are under a full assault.
Truly, if someone asks me what worries me, what keeps me up at night, it’s precisely what we are talking about here today at this conference. The Faith today is assaulted by more false ideologies from both within and without the Church than arguably ever before in Her history. These are truly times that the world has never seen.
You and I are all being individually called upon to live radically Catholic lives. And unlike ages past, the Faith today is fading so quickly it will be left to a small remnant to keep it alive. And you, my friends, are part of that remnant. We are the last vestiges of the Catholic Faith left in the world and it is our duty to know it, live it, and defend it. The words of St. Paul as recorded in Romans 10:14 are a driving force in my life. For those who haven’t memorized that passage, in it St. Paul wrote, “How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard?”
This is no small task that the Lord has charged us with. These are times unlike She has seen in Her history but therein lies the ability to do these actions well to make reparation for our sins and those of others, and by living as true Catholic missionaries in our daily lives, we will render homage to God and help keep the remnant of the Catholic Faith from extinction. What we need is for you, especially our young Catholics, to be Catholic apologists who are grounded in the teachings of the Faith and who can boldly and bravely spread and defend Her teachings.
My talk here today will focus on three primary issues.
First, I’d like to discuss what is apologetics and why it is so badly and desperately needed today.
Secondly, I’d like to turn to what is the Catholic Faith, what tools do we have to defend the Faith, and what are some of the modern assaults in this age of apostacy against Her eternally true and unchanging teachings. In particular, I’d like to address some of the modern errors in this age of apostacy that are so prominent yet are countered by so few of the clergy.
And finally, and most importantly, what are we going to do about it. I’m going to present a list of real, concrete actions that I’m going to encourage all of you to take. More than ever before, the crisis in doctrine and in the Faith has led to worldwide apostacy even in the very Church founded by our Divine Redeemer. And as result, more than ever before, the average layman is being called on to be a missionary and to publicly defend, serve, and spread the True Faith of Jesus Christ.
Part 1: What is Apologetics and Why Do We Need Young Catholic Apologists Today
First, I’d like to share that it is my great joy to be able to be with so many young people today who understand the importance of the True Faith. First, if I may, a little information about me for context. I have been involved in Catholic action and catechesis now for about 15 years. My youthful years in high school, college, and my 20’s were really defined by my Catholic identity. In fact, tomorrow is my 30th birthday so I can say for one more day I’m a member of your group of young Catholics.
I raised in a non-religious household but, by the grace of God found the Catholic Faith and was baptized into the faith at the age of 16 back in 2004. In 2005 I started the online blog “A Catholic Life” which I still run to this day. My work with A Catholic Life is to help foster an appreciation for the Faith, to share valuable resources and traditional devotions and prayers, and to be an advocate for change to help the Church in our world that is opposed to Her sovereign, Her majesty, and Her beauty. I credit the website FishEaters.com, which you may know, for introducing me very early on after my Baptism to the Traditional Catholic Faith and information on the Latin Mass.
Over the years since 2004 I’ve had my share of successes and shortcomings as I have endeavored to defend the Faith and convert souls to our holy religion. For most of my high school years, I spent the evenings after school on the computer where I defended Catholic doctrines on Yahoo Answers, the Catholic Community Faith Forums, and a few other online forums.
Fast forward to 2010 now. I was entering my senior year in college and at that time, I was elected the President of CatechismClass.com, an online-based religious education course provider. Since taking over CatechismClass.com, which was founded by Fr. James Zatalava, a priest in Pennsylvania, our apostolate began to offer a number of programs ranging from traditional online RCIA classes for catechumens, children’s faith formation courses for parishes and individual homeschoolers, a best-selling godparent/parent baptism preparation class, and elective courses for adults who simply want to better learn the Faith in order to love and pass on true doctrine to others. We have taken a defiantly traditional stance since I took over the reigns and have grown our reach by double digits every single year now for all 8 years in a row. I also have happily been invited to a number of parishes over the years to speak on a variety of topics for the Catholic world.
As a result, I can speak from personal experience about the satisfaction of engaging in apologetics as a young Catholic.
So, what is apologetics? If you have ever been a member of a jury in a criminal case, or if you have ever watched a real or fictional trial in movies or on TV you have witnessed apologetics in action. Attorneys make use of apologetics to convince the jury that the person accused of a crime (the defendant) is either guilty or not guilty. If the jury believes the proofs and the arguments proposed by the prosecutor, the defendant is found guilty, and the Judge will impose a sentence commensurate to the crime for which the person is found guilty. If, on the other hand, the jury believes the evidence and the arguments given by the defense attorney, the defendant is found not guilty, and is free to walk out of the courtroom a free man. The closing remarks by the prosecutor and by the defense counsel in fact are called “closing arguments.”
These arguments and evidences prominent in the courtroom are actually present in all disciplines.
•The politician sets forth arguments and reasons to convince voters to vote for him or her.
•The scientist makes a scientific statement he posits as true only after he has evidence – proofs – to back the statement.
•A construction contractor, making a bid to build a bridge, includes in that bid the reasons why his bid is better than others. He might cite better building materials or a better, safer design. Those seeking the bid will certainly consider the cost of using one particular contractor over all others, but the lowest bid is certainly not the only consideration those seeking the bids will consider – or at least it shouldn’t be if we are talking about bridge construction!
These proofs and evidences – forms of argument – are, to use a fancy word, apologies. Not the “I’m sorry” type of apology; but rather a defense for a statement or position in a matter. In Christianity, the term apologetics refers to the discipline of putting forth arguments as to why our religion is the only true faith. These arguments set forth by the apologist ideally lead the listener to become Catholic.
Some people feel ashamed of admitting to that last part today. They think that religious discussion should only be to bring each side to an understanding of the other. But our work here and in life is not to engage in never-ending world religious studies. Our mission is to go out and convert souls and spread the teachings of the Lord as our Lord Himself asked in His final words before His Ascension when the Master Himself said: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Apologetics is not arguing. It is not vain. It is not presumptuous. Rather, apologetics is concerned with charity. Firstly, it is concerned that God is to be worshipped, adored, and loved to the highest possible degree. This is in accordance with the 1st Commandment. And secondly, it is concerned with the salvation of our neighbor. Truly one of the most charitable actions we can do is to help others along their path to salvation.
As traditional Catholics – we know that it is necessary for salvation to be Catholic. Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus is a defined dogma of the faith. As Pope Innocent III declared at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: "There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." There was a wonder book published by Mediatrix Press a few years ago that contains the Small Catechism of St. Peter Canisius, who was instrumental in fighting Protestantism when it first came about. Indeed, it was the first Catechism ever produced. And the first question in this catechism is “Who is to be called a Christian.”
The answer in the words of St. Peter Canisius is “Whoever has been initiated by the Sacrament of Baptism of Jesus Christ, true God and man, and confesses the salutary doctrine in His Church, and not those who adhere to any sects or beliefs foreign to the Catholic Church.” So, when we say that apologetics is about defending Christianity, we have to understand that Catholicism and Christianity are one and the same. The notion that protestants are Christians is a false teaching condemned by the Church and clearly condemned in the words of St. Peter Canisius. Catholics are Christians, Orthodox are schismatics, and Protestants are heretics. This is simply the truth. We mean no malice by these words but wish to merely point out these other groups are not members of the Christian Church and must repent and submit to the Lord’s Church.
As a result, apologetics is a spiritual work of mercy if it has as its aim instructing the ignorant and admonishing the sinner rather than merely trying to win arguments or engage in so called religious dialogue. Heaven is not the prize of the philosopher or the intellectualist – it is the prize of a soul who is grounded in charity.
Part 2: What is the True Faith
In my work at CatechismClass.com, we produce several programs of study that help our readers learn the Catholic Faith. The Catholic Faith that I teach and defend daily is founded on two tenets – the two sources of Divine Revelation: Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition. That’s it. As the book “My Catholic Faith” succinctly summarizes: “Divine Revelation comes down to us by two means: through Holy Scripture, written down under divine inspiration, and through Tradition, handed down orally from Apostolic times.”
Those are the two means of divine revelation we have to know the Faith, but we have tools to help us further understand the Faith that has been revealed by God. One of those tools is our ability as human beings to reason. Some things can be known by reason alone. For example, it can be known by reason alone that God exists. This is affirmed explicitly at the Council of Trent. As we examine the created world, as we consider the perfection of creation, as we understand that there had to be a First Cause who started all things, we can use our reason to understand that there must be a divine being. Reason doesn’t inform us who that being is. It just helps us understand that something doesn’t come from nothing. That is our reason working. Reasoning should also be informed by strong, scholastic philosophy.
Another tool at our disposal to bring us to know these truths is the immense generosity and magnanimity of God in His miracles. The Miracles of God further prove the divine origin of the Catholic Faith. So, by two such tools, namely the use of reason and of external proofs of miracles, we can come to believe what the Church teaches. And again, Her teachings come from God Himself in Divine Revelation which have as their origin either Sacred Scripture in the Bible or Sacred Tradition that has been passed down to us from apostolic times.
Another way to describe our tools is in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas who appealed to his contemporaries using both philosophy (which directly relates to our ability to reason) and Theology (which concerns divinely revealed truths). Philosophy is as useful as Theology for an apologist. And it’s interesting to note that some of the most basic human questions like "Does God Exist" are philosophical questions - not theological questions. Being well grounded in Scholasticism and in Catholic doctrine are both foundational to being an apologist.
Let’s look at another example: The Oneness of the Church. The Bible clearly records how Jesus established one visible Church on earth, not a collection of separate “churches” with competing doctrines. Matthew 16:18-19, John 10:16, and Ephesians 4:3-6 all support the oneness of the Church. Ephesians 4:5 states, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
And reason would teach us this fact too. Since each protestant denomination and other non-Catholic religion teaches a set of doctrine that contradicts the Catholic Church and all other denominations and religions, there can be only one religion on this earth that is right, at most. It is either none or one. It is not two or three since two conflicting bodies of doctrine can not be both true at the same time. That is contrary to what being true means. If the Church was not one, She would have different bodies of doctrine that would have to contradict at least one point of the other Church. But, Our Lord promised in Sacred Scripture that He would preserve the Church from error and be with Her for all times. Therefore, it follows that the Church must be one.
And moreover, miracles further confirm this. The Catholic Church is the great bastion of miracles. Do we have reported Eucharistic miracles in Lutheran churches or Anglican ones? No. Yet in the Catholic Church we do, and we have over 500 people have had the visible (or invisible) wounds of Christ known as the Stigmata on their body including St. Catherine of Siena, St. John of God, St. Francis, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. Marie of the Incarnation, and St. Pio of Pietrelcina. We also have over 150 incorruptible saints whose incorruptibly defies all of science. We have the frequent liquefaction of the blood of St. Januaris which still occurs to this day. And we have dozens of confirmed and verified apparitions in history not only of our Blessed Mother but also of St. Michael the Archangel and other saints.
And all of this has been examined by modern science which continues to find these miracles as unexplainable. God, in His goodness and generosity, showers us with proofs of the accuracy of the Catholic Church’s doctrines. And this too is why satan is not attacking Lutherans, or Baptists, or Muslims. He is attacking the Catholic priesthood, he is infiltrating our seminaries and leading men ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ to betray their office and sexual assault children – an absolutely diabolical and unspeakable blasphemy. And satan does this because in the Catholic Church is the truth. Why would he waste his time on attacking those souls who are already under his rule?
To summarize, the dogma of the Church’s oneness, which is divinely revealed through Scripture and Tradition, is well established and understood by virtue of both reason and miracles. And this is merely one element of the True Faith. Yet the use of reason and miracles to support them holds true for many, many others. Further reading of St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae or his Summa Contra Gentiles all explain with great examples the basis and the arguments in support of the Church as being one. If you are not familiar with these books, look them up and read them.
Let’s consider an additional example and apply this formula of Sacred Tradition and Scripture coupled with the tools of reason and miracles.
For instance, it is a doctrine of our Faith that the Lord chose the apostles and the power He gave them is transmitted down through apostolic succession to our bishops today. You must believe this. And yet we all surely know souls that deny this infallible truth.
Jesus gave the Church one important mission: to proclaim His good news to the whole world as affirmed in Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-16. Our Blessed Lord chose special men (the apostles) and not just anyone who believed in Him, to accomplish this mission. The verses supporting this are numerous and include John 15:16, Luke 22:29-30, John 10:16, Luke 22:32, and more.
The Holy Scriptures even describe how Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins in John 20:23, offer sacrifice in the form of the Holy Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, speak with His voice in Luke 10:16, legislate in Matthew 18:18, and discipline in Matthew 18:17.
And without going into too much detail on Catholic Tradition, there are lengthy documents supporting apostolic succession from Pope St. Clement I from 80 AD, St. Irenaeus in 189 AD, Tertullian in 200 AD, St. Jerome in 396 AD, and St. Augustine in 397 AD. In fact, the principles of apostolic succession are the most upheld teaching in all the Church Fathers and many protestant seminaries forbid the Church Fathers and I’ve heard some protestant lectors even doubt the existence of them in order to keep their students’ minds away from these sources of truth.
Let’s now turn to our ability to reason. We could show our friends and acquaintances that Apostolic Succession is one of the four marks of the Church and it is well established in both Sacred Scripture and in the Traditions of the Church, though, of course, something need not be explicitly mentioned in Scripture since not every last doctrine was written down, but nevertheless apostolic succession is addressed in both Scripture and Tradition. And we could then tell our friends that reason proves this must be true.
If the Lord promised His Church would be without error and if the Lord established the Sacrament of Holy Orders and if the Lord promised His Church would be one and united in the truth, it follows that there must be a group with a connection directly back to these apostles. And if apostolic succession wasn’t important, why would the apostles have gone to such lengths to elect St. Matthias to replace Judas, and why would the Scriptures contain so many sentences on this event if it wasn’t important for the Early Church?
Dave Armstrong wrote an article on this topic for the National Catholic Register and in it he writes, “Most Christians [He is including protestants here] agree that St. Peter was the leader of the early Church and the disciples: whether they believe he was a “pope” or not. It stands to reason, then, that there would continue to be a leader, just as there was a first President when the laws of the United States were established at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
“Why have one President and then cease to have one thereafter and let the executive branch of government exist without a leader? Everyone understands that there is then a succession of Presidents and that it doesn't end with the first one and the prototype.
“So why do people think so differently when it comes to Christianity, which is in need of a governing body and person at the top of the chain of authority, just as any effective organization whatever has? Catholics are, therefore, applying common sense: if this is how Jesus set up the government of His Church in the beginning, then it ought to continue in like fashion, in perpetuity.
“The Church supposedly had a supervisor for ten, twenty years, but then never did again? That makes no sense. What would be the point? We don’t apply such reasoning to virtually any other collective.”
And such an analysis is the use of reason supporting apostolic succession.
And this is also affirmed by our other tool – miracles. On August 6, 1945, the first nuclear bomb ever used was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, killing 140,000 people. Everything within a mile of the blast was annihilated with nothing left standing, no survivors. That is, almost everyone…
Yet, just eight blocks from ground zero (to be exact 1 kilometer or 6/10 of a mile) there was a two story house left standing intact with no damage to it, not even the windows were broken. When inquiry was made as to what was different about the building it was discovered that there was a community of eight Jesuit priests living there who said the Rosary each day.
Fr. Hubert Schiffer who headed the community was virtually untouched by the nuclear blast with no radiation found in his body, and he publicly testified to this miracle at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. In an interview with Fr. Paul Ruge he describes the horrific nightmare of August 6, 1945:
"Suddenly, a terrific explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me 'round and round' like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind."
Fr. Ruge relates that the next thing he remembered was that he opened his eyes and found himself laying on the ground. He looked around and there was NOTHING in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were leveled to the ground. The only physical harm to himself was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with himself.
Shortly thereafter Fr. Hubert was told by medical authorities that he would eventually die of cancer because of all the radiation exposure, yet he lived another 30 years in full health with no cancer or effects from the radiation. The same is said of the other seven survivors of the priestly community. Aside from some slight surface abrasions or scratches they all lived out their days in full health with no cancer or side effects from radiation.
According to Dr. Stephen Rinehart, a nuclear physicist with the U.S. Department of Defense who had studied this phenomenon intently, they should have been dead in a flash.
It was a group of Catholic priests saved. Priests with a connection back to apostolic times. It was not a protestant church. It was not a Buddhist temple. It was a group of Catholic priests. How many of you here have heard of the Rosary Miracle of Hiroshima before?
Yet, so many miracles underscore the divine foundations of the Faith. And this is just one of the many external proofs I cite to people when defending the Faith in our present apostacy. Spend time learning about miracles. Be informed to defend the Faith.
I encourage all of you to be apologists and make use of both reason and miracles to support any element of the Catholic Faith, which will have its basis in either Sacred Tradition or Scripture or both.
Now that we’ve examined two particular dogmas of the Faith, I’d like to step back and examine the Faith on a broader level.
Let’s ask, “what is the Faith”? I’m sure you naturally all want to better learn the Faith – or at least I hope you do – but what is the faith exactly? The Faith is the summation of all that the Holy Church teachings infallibly. That includes the 10 Commandments and what follows from them, Christian morality, the Creed, the doctrine of the Sacraments, the truths of the Holy Mass, etc.
As part of my adult faith formation course that I administer on CatechismClass.com, I conclude the program with a lesson that summarizes the 255 Infallible Dogmas of the Faith. Make a note to go online and search for the 255 infallible dogmas of the Faith to get a good, concise summary of what we as Catholics must believe. There is a great summary of this online that lists all of these 255 dogmas and then 102 certain truths that have not yet been formally defined but which nevertheless are a part of the body of Faith. And I encourage you to pick a few off of this list, study them, and practice how you would use reason, miracles, and an explanation of Scripture and Church Tradition to explain them to someone who didn’t understand them or who even denied them.
I’m sure that if you are here then you love the Church and you love our Lord. But I ask each of you to ask yourselves if you are doing enough to show your love of Him to others and to spread His teachings (which He commanded to be taught and preserved and passed down). Alas, it is impossible to defend and serve the Faith if you are ignorant of it.
In fact, one of our foremost duties as young Catholics is to study the Catholic Faith. And this studying doesn’t end at your Confirmation. I personally spend at least 30 minutes a day still studying the Faith. And that consists of reading the Church Fathers, or a good book on the Faith by Angelus Press, or some of the lives of the Saints, or a passage from the Imitation of Christ, and so on. It doesn’t have to be the same thing everyday. You can have a few books and rotate through them over the course of the week to keep it dynamic. But studying has to be taken seriously if you want to save souls. I ask that you spend a little time each Sunday reflecting on your week and what you have done well and where you can improve upon when it comes to sharing and living out the Faith.
When it comes to studying, the issues we should be examining include the many errors that are widely taught today and which our clergy and our fellow Catholics are not countering strongly enough. These modern errors are particular issues we have to study so we can combat them in this age of apostasy. Some of these errors include religious indifferentism, the separation of Church and state; Communism, Socialism, and Freemasonry; subjectivism; attacks on the rights of God and a misunderstanding of human rights; and the pervasive error that dogmas may evolve over time. I’d like to address just a few today.
A fundamental error with modernism and those who adhere to it, is that they refuse to embrace extra ecclesiam nulla salus ("outside of the Church there is no salvation"). Pope Innocent III declared at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: "There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." His Holiness Innocent III unequivocally declared that all men must belong to the Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Period.
Subsequently, Pope Boniface VIII made the matter even more clear when in 1302 he declared, "We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff" (Unam Sanctam, 1302). Listen to those words carefully: absolutely necessary.
And these remarks are not the only ones pronounced by the Holy Catholic Church. The Church continues to teach that outside of the Church there is no salvation. Period. The Church is unchanging in matters of Faith and Doctrine. If it is true that in the past salvation was possible only for Catholics and if this is not true now, then the Faith has changed. But the Faith cannot change because God doesn’t change. As the Scripture affirm: "Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Back when Catholic Bishops better proclaimed the Catholic Faith, Archbishop John Hughes of New York who was Archbishop from 1842 until 1864 said, “The goal of the Catholic Church is to convert all pagan nations and protestant nations. There is no secrecy in this; it is the commission of God to his one true Church. Everyone should know that we have for our mission to convert the world, including the inhabitants of the United States; the people of the cities, the peoples of the country, the officers of the Navy and the Marines, the commanders of the Army, the Legislature, the Senate, the Cabinet, the President and all.”
And we do this because our Lord commanded us to convert all peoples and nations. Why? Because He is the only means to be saved. Acts 4:12 – “For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.”
To support religious indifferentism violates the First Commandment since, by such support, we deny that there is One God, through whom salvation alone comes.
True enculturation is the answer. We do not force our Lord and the Faith to conform to our cultures. Rather, we all conform to our Lord Jesus Christ. We live our own unique traditions in a way that conforms to the saving truths of the Faith. And in such a way, we preserve the beauty of diverse human experiences and cultures but do so only if they conform to the religion established by God Himself. There is a reason we have different Rites of Mass in the Church or why we have different feastdays in certain countries. Even the exact vestments for Mass can differ region to region. But we are nevertheless united in the same body of doctrine: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.
And another one of the modern errors that we see attacking the faith today is the pernicious idea that dogmas may evolve. This is a core element of the heresy of modernism as condemned by St. Pius X.
The idea that Catholic dogma can change and that what was once true is no longer true is entirely and unequivocally false. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we believed in the unity of the Trinity, the sinlessness of Mary, the necessity of Baptism, the evil of divorce, etc. in times past, those truths remain today. While certain external practices can change like the exact date of feast days or the color of vestments, the essential truths on religion and morality cannot change by the very definition of what a dogma is.
Pope St. Pius X promulgated his papal encyclical letter Pascendi dominici gregis directed against the heresy of Modernism on September 8, 1907. He wrote strongly against this heresy as well in a Syllabus on the Errors of the Modernist and one of those elements stated, “It is an error to believe that Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and to all men, but rather that He inaugurated a religious movement adapted, or to be adapted, to different times and different places.”
Pope St. Pius X then on September 1, 1910, required that every bishop, priest, religious superior, seminarian and professors of Theology and Philosophy swear the oath against modernism. One element of that Oath stated, “I entirely reject the heretical misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously.”
One definition of Catholic Modernism is the attempt to re-interpret the teachings of the Catholic Church by taking into account new philosophical and scientific thought and concepts. But the truths of the Faith as affirmed by the Church and as contained in the Creed and in all of Her teachings cannot and will not change. And reason would teach us such too since something that is as universally true as the authority of Scripture, the nature of Christ, or the necessity of Baptism is a truth that will never change.
So to conclude this second part, the Catholic Faith is the True Faith. It is the only Faith based in an actual adherence to the truths contained in Sacred Scripture and in accordance with the actual history of the Church. Catholics are the only Christians. And, the modern attempts to attack Christian morality, to propose non-Catholics may receive Holy Communion without converting, to attack the long-held practice of priestly celibacy, and the like need to be eradicated. The Church needs soldiers. The Church – Eternal Rome – needs you.
Part 3: Our Response to Learning the Faith
In our world today, as the Faith is under unprecedented assault, it is our responsibility to defend it. It is our duty as Catholics – confirmed soldiers of Christ the King – to do battle on behalf of the True Faith.
To those who think we should not do actions, I wish to share with you the words of St. Anthony of Padua who said, “Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since He Himself cursed the fig tree when He found no fruit but only leaves. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.” And it was St. Pius X, the great Pope against the errors of the Modernists, who asserted, “The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the timidity or rather the cowardice of the faithful.”
I appeal to you – I beg you – to engage in profound and daily Catholic action in catechesis. The great St. Pius X also wrote in his encyclical Acerbo Nimis in 1905: “This we solemnly affirm: the majority of those who are condemned to eternal punishment fall into this everlasting misfortune through ignorance of the mysteries of the Faith which must necessarily be known and believed by all who belong to the Elect.” Souls depend on us. Again the words of St. Paul, “How can they believe in One whom they have not heard?”
Therefore, we are bound to act.
First and foremost, study. Study for 30 minutes a day and study good Catholic books. I have often been asked for good book recommendations for Bibles, Catechisms, Catholic History books, Mariology resources, and the like over the years. I’ve put together a list of my recommendations and you can view that. If you go to CatechismClass.com and in the information links at the bottom of the page above the footer will be a Recommended Books Links.
Some of the items on that list that I strongly recommend adding to your library include "My Catholic Faith" by Angelus Press, "This is the Faith" by Canon Francis Ripley, and "The Catechism of the Crisis in the Church" by Fr. Matthias Gaudron. And there are many others in various categories but those are solid books that will help you lay a strong foundation to learn the Faith in this age of apostacy.
Secondly, and even more importantly, pray. We should have frequent recourse to the Holy Ghost and pray that we learn what we should learn for the glory of God so that we might better know Him, love Him, and serve. As the very first question and answer in the Baltimore Catechism affirms, our purpose in life is to “know, love, and serve God in this life and to be with Him for all eternity.” And if we are not studying, we are not knowing Him. And if we do not frequently have recourse to prayer, to the Sacraments, and to a life that adheres to the Ten Commandments, we can not love Him. Prayer is absolutely essentially for everyone in this room.
Thirdly, I ask that you carry prayer cards, booklets, and Sacramentals in your bags on a daily basis. Post them on bulletin boards around town, in coffee shops, or leave them in movie theaters or laundromats. Be creative to spread the teachings of Christ. Carry as well in your bags extra blessed Rosaries and Miraculous Medals so you can give them out to souls that you may engage in apologetic discussions while going about your day. I keep a handful of pamphlets in my glove compartment on “Reasons to Return to Catholic Faith” and a handful more on “Why Be Catholic.” I ordered them from online from the website by St. Paul’s Street Evangelization so that I can pass them out.
Fourthly, keep a handful of blessed green scapulars as well so you can leave them in places. The green scapular is often hidden under pillows or mattresses of those we are praying to convert. I’ve placed green scapulars under chair cushions in interfaith prayer rooms at universities and in the homes of friends that are not Catholic. And just pray each day the Green Scapular Prayer which is simply: "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at our hour of death."
Fifth, be bold. One such thing I do is destroy bad books. Picture yourself in your local Goodwill store, thrift shop, or garage sale. Venture over to the book section and scan through the religious books in the stacks. You’ll undoubtedly find little in Catholic thought. Instead you’ll find protestant books on the Rapture, protestant books containing all sorts of heresies and false teachings, Protestant Bibles, Jewish prayer books, New Age or Occult manuscripts, and much more. My heart goes out to the people who search in such places for God. These souls – like everyone – are searching for God. And they will likely not find Him in the midst of protestant heresy and paganism.
I was at a Goodwill store back in 2013 and browsing their book section when I decided to take action. I repositioned the Catholic books, which included a book by St. Alphonsus and a few prayer books in a way that they were eye level for those browsing the section.
I then placed into my basket a handful of the heretical books which included works by protestants on the Rapture as well as protestant Scripture commentaries. I purchased them for $0.86 each and took them home and included them as kindling for a bonfire I had that night. These books were unfit to be produced. They would have led souls into heresy.
How many Catholic souls have been lost because of bad books? How many searching souls have been led into false churches and false religions because of these errors? I encourage you to likewise remove profane and irreligious posters from public places and purchase and destroy evil books. Once again, let’s recall to mind the words of St. Pius X who said, “The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the cowardice of the faithful.” Let us not be cowards but courageous soldiers of Christ the King. The cost of our cowardice is the damnation of souls.
Sixth, learn the true meaning of Holy Scripture. We have surely heard protestants twisting Scripture verses to fit their views and know that protestants largely support the error of sola scriptura, by Scripture alone. Of course, Scripture itself condemns this since it blatantly states at the end of the Gospel of John that not all things are written in Scripture. Yet, nevertheless, we can do great work for souls by learning the true meaning of Scripture verses. Get a copy of the Douay Rheims Bible, the most accurate translation of St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, and pair that with Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary. You can pick up a copy or view the text online as the book is viewable online in its entirety. Again, it’s called the Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary.
And finally, in all of this, live a holy life. We must be uncompromising in doctrine but unblemished in our conduct and in our acts of charity to God and to neighbor. Let us never grow despondent and may we never despair or become jaded by what happens in the world and in our Church. God does not require us to be successful but only faithful. We must strive to save our own souls first as the Scriptures state in referring to removing the plank from our own eyes before we can do so with others. And we can do so by being firmly grounded in Catholic doctrine, availing ourselves of the Sacraments, staying close to Tradition, and having a deeply engrained prayer life. Yet, through this all, we must never be a cause for scandal. Souls will only after great labor be converted by our work with apologetics. But souls will in only a few moments be lost if they see us living out a life that is not unblemished and in perfect conformity to the Faith we profess. Keep this in mind in all of your actions – no matter how small in public – souls can be lost by scandal. And let us never have this sin on our souls.
May the words of St. Padre Pio help guide us and remind us that we must strive for holiness if we are to be successful in our work with others. The Saint said, “Holiness means loving our neighbor as our self for love of God. In this connection holiness means loving those who curse us, who hate and persecute us and even doing good to them. Holiness means living humbly, being disinterested, prudent, just, patient, kind, chaste, meek, diligent, carrying out one’s duties for no other reason than that of pleasing God and receiving from Him alone the reward one deserves.”
Therefore, I implore you to never fall into bursts of anger, exhibit envy, be caught in immodesty, or any other action that would cause scandal to our Holy Religion. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the five proofs of God’s existence by St. Thomas Aquinas. The five ways do not prove the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, but they do demonstrate that what is commonly called “God” is necessary if we are to account for motion, causality, possibility, being, and design. And those proofs are quite philosophically sound so why then do atheists reject them? Are atheists just all poor at reasoning? No. Rather, the atheist denies the existence of God for moral reasons, not for philosophical ones. Usually, heretics and atheists are what they are because of scandal. That is why we must live our lives with great personal sanctity. All of our actions at Mass, in prayer, or in a church we must be unblemished. St. Maximilian Kolbe’s words on this may serve as our guide when he said, “When you kneel before an altar, do it in such a way that others may be able to recognize that you know before whom you kneel.”
As a Third Order Dominican Tertiary, I wear the Dominican Scapular under my clothing. When I received that scapular a few years ago from the hands of Fr. Albert, I heard the prayer that goes as follows: “May the Lord also sprinkle you with hyssop, who are about to be clothed with our garments, and may you be so cleansed that, clean and whiter than snow in mind, you may so avail in the outward bearing of our garb as to be, by the example of your good works, the dour of life unto life to all with whom you will hold converse, lest perhaps, by your evil works, our ministry be blamed.” I think of those words often as I reflect on my own external actions.
And those words can apply to all of us. May we be so clean in mind and soul so those with whom we converse will see in us the glory of the Catholic Faith lest by our evil words, bad works, or bad doctrine, our Divine Lord and His Redeemer be blamed.
I conclude with the words of Fulton J Sheen, the great Catholic apologist of the last century who famously remarked, ““Who is going to save our Church? Not our Bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to the laity. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious.” So you see, there is not a better time to learn, teach, and live the Faith than in our present age of apostasy.
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Matthew is a Third Order Dominican from Chicago and an expert on Catholicism, with an emphasis on Traditional Fasting. He has written for "A Catholic Life" since 2005. Matthew is a Certified Catechist and is a speaker available to address your next parish or Catholic conference gathering. Matthew spends his leisure time traveling, teaching, writing, and enjoying Catholic culture. He is also a writer for "Catholic Family News" and "The Fatima Center." Please contact Matthew directly regarding advertising requests for A Catholic Life or in regard to speaking engagements.
