Amusing, yet very True
Yesterday I was driving past one of the local Baptist churches which always has a saying on their marquee sign in front. Their saying for this week caused me to laugh out loud. It says, “Stop, Drop and Roll will not work well in Hell.”
I am sure that some of the so-called “more enlightened,” will be shocked at the reference to Hell, but it needs to be talked about, yet in too many Catholic parishes there is a reluctance to talk about Hell, or even Judgment, because it might upset somebody.
Eschatology is the branch of theology that deals with the Four Last Things, namely, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. It seems to me that no one has a problem talking about Heaven. For many people they talk about it as if it is that retirement home that they have already paid for. While I certainly hope that all souls go to Heaven, we need to guard against the sin of presumption. Christ has won the victory over sin and death which makes Heaven a possibility for us, but we still need to accept and cooperate with the grace of Salvation that He offers us. In a certain way, presumption is a sin against the Divine Gift of Free Will that God has given us. God has made us for Heaven, but He will not force it on us.
I knew a priest who thought he was being so terribly “traditional” because he reminded people that Purgatory was real possibility besides immediately going to Heaven after death. While this is a step in the right direction, the real alternative to Heaven is Hell, not Purgatory. Purgatory is not for eternity (despite the TERRIBLE “theology” in the movie Van Helsing in which a family was condemned to spend eternity in purgatory). For the souls in Purgatory, Hell is NOT a possibility — they have been judged worthy of Heaven; they just need to atone for the damage they committed to the Body of Christ. While God is Perfect Love, He is also Perfect Justice. In the end there are only two places in which we will end up — Heaven or Hell. And in case you have not heard this in a while, Hell is a very bad place to end up. We should fear going to Hell. While perfect contrition springs from filial fear of God (we are sorry for our sins because they offend God who is all good, and not just because of our fear of going to Hell), servial fear is not a bad starting place. This is one of the reasons I do not like how they have “renamed” the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in most Confirmation classes so that Fear of the Lord becomes “Awe and Wonder”.
One of the options that a priest has in vesting for a funeral Mass is to wear violet (the other two are white and black), and I usually wear violet. Some people have asked me why, especially since I do not “match” the pall covering the casket. First, the pall over the casket is white because it represents the baptismal garment. I wear violet to remind people of God’s Divine Judgment and the need for repentance.
Hell is a bad place to be. Try to avoid it. To quote St. John, “My children, love one another for love is of God.”
