(c)Mary TV 2014
June 7, 2018
Dear Family of Mary!
Fr. Leon, the
chaplain to the English speaking pilgrims in Medjugorje, gives what he
calls "Sanctuary Snippets" every day before English Mass. (http://marytv.tv/sanctuary-snippets-2/ ) These "Snippets" are short teachings on our Catholic faith, and they are brilliant! Here is the Snippet for June 4, 2018:
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Sometimes
to know what we truly believe, we have to ask questions, and ask good
questions! And expect an answer. And the sort of questions that children
ask are usually very good. For example, children will ask things like,
"Does God love the devil?" What's your answer? Anyone for yes? Anyone
for no? Ok! Undecided!
Now, does God love the devil? That is a
very important question. The short answer is, yes! Of course He does. I
knew someone who always used to say, "I can't reconcile the idea of a
God of love with the existence of Hell." So I said to him, "Well, look,
if there is no Hell, it means we are forced to go to Heaven. And if we
are forced to go to Heaven against our will, then God is some kind of
despot, or He is not love." Right? Because we are forced, and if we are
forced it is not love. So Hell exists because God is love.
And I will put it to you this way. The
cause of all three things, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, is God's love.
In Hell the damned are loved by God, and they don't want to be loved. So
they experience it as shear torture. In Purgatory, the Holy Souls are
loved by God. And they see how they have held back from His love. How
they have been selfish. And this pain purifies them. In Heaven the
Blessed are loved by God, and they delight in being loved. And this is
the cause of their Beatific State, seeing God as He is, face to face.
Becoming like Him, living by His Divine Life. Ok, so all three are
caused by God.
In the Narnia Chronicles, the last book -
you know those children's books by C.S. Lewis - the last book is called
"The Last Battle". Near the end, there is a scene in which the heroes,
the children, end up in a barn with all the bad guys. And the heroes,
the children, experience the barn as all lit up beautifully, with all
these wonderful silver candlesticks holding candles, and a wonderful
meal set out on silver platters. And they drink fine red wine out of
crystal goblets. But meanwhile, the baddies think they are in a dark
barn, eating and drinking swill. And they tread on each other and they
curse each other, and they hate everything and everyone including
themselves.
This is a powerful image of both Heaven
and Hell, both caused by God's love. To the extent you are open to God's
love and mercy, you receive it. To the extent that you are closed, you
receive His justice. There is a gentleman, a friend of mine now, who was
a pilgrim like you. And he said, "Father I used to struggle to believe
that God loved me, but ever since you said that God loves the devil, I
think I can believe it now!"
But remember God is love, God is not
sentimentality. We must be open to that love. And if we are not open,
then He will lovingly send us to Hell.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Mirjana once asked Our Lady why people go to Hell. Our Lady's answer was the same as Fr. Leon's:
Monday, January 10, 1983
Confidences
from Mirjana to Fr. Tomislav Vlasic: During the 18 months that I saw
the Gospa, a great intimacy was established between us. I felt her
maternal love. I could ask her all kinds of questions. Thus I asked her
why God was so merciless in sending sinners to Hell for eternity.
"Men
who go to Hell no longer want to receive any benefit from God. They do
not repent nor do they cease to swear and to blaspheme. They make up
their mind to live in Hell and do not at all contemplate leaving it."
(Man's refusal is an irreversible choice.)
God's
love for us requires that He have a profound reverence for our free
will. So He causes Himself great sorrow, in that He will not force us to
join Him in Heaven. He does not want the loss of any soul for eternity.
May we learn to love like our Father in Heaven. Maybe then we will help
others to choose God and Heaven, rather than choose eternal separation
from God.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
© Mary TV 2018
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