Yes, it is very
possible for us to lose our salvation, to lose our way eternally. Our Lord
is crystal clear on this point in His many parables, as much as He is crystal
clear on the need for forgiveness and mercy. But the goal of God's justice is
not to separate us eternally but to restore us."
(By Father Dismas Sayre,
O.P. published in the July August 2025 issue of Light and Life entitled Is
God just, holy and merciful?)
He so earnestly desired the salvation of sinners that He did not cease until He was nailed to a cross between two thieves and shed His Precious Blood for them. Not content with this, having finished the course of His earthly life, He instituted this Sacrament [the Eucharist] by which He might remain among men, so that all who need a remedy would always find it. The same cause that led Him to die for sinners, led Him to institute this Sacrament. It was love that brought Him down to earth and put Him in the hands of sinners; it is love also that brings Him back again and puts Him in the same hands. There was no other cause for this Great work but love on His part and need on our part. Therefore, this Sacrament is a common remedy for the just and for sinners.
This is what they do not understand who stay away from this
Sacrament. They do not realize that this Sacrament was instituted not only as
food for the healthy, but as medicine for the sick; not only as a gift for the
just, but as a remedy for repentant sinners. And he who is weaker needs this
Sacrament more. The weak man is much less able to live than the strong. The
strong man can go for a longer time without help, but he who is so weak that as
soon as God’s eyes are turned from him he begins to fall away, where will he
end if he does not use this aid?
Therefore, the Lord especially compassionated this type of person when He said: ‘If I let them go away hungry, they will fall by the wayside, because some of them have come from afar.’ Then as now those who have come from afar were in greater danger because they have had a longer journey; so also the weak suffer more because they have yet a long way to travel before they reach the perfection of charity. And since this heavenly bread was meant as a help for such as these, it is not temerity but a very salutary prudence to make use of this remedy and medicine which has been provided by Him at the cost of no less love than blood. One of the great faults of men and for which they shall one day have to give an accounting, is that they have not taken advantage of the remedy of the Blessed Sacrament.
(Summa of a Christian Life – Preparation for Communion - Venerable
Louis of Granada, O.P.)
St. Leonard of Port Maurice
"To be saved for all eternity, to be damned for all eternity, and to not make your every effort to avoid the one and make sure of the other, is something inconceivable."
(From The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved)
Lisa Brenninkmeyer
"Let’s take a closer look at the people Jesus loved in the Gospels. It wasn’t just the cleaned-up, spiritually open, nicely behaved people. Jesus loved the ones with scandalous sexual sins, the perfectionists, the dirty outcasts, the cheaters, the ones who were lying to themselves, and the ones who spent most of their lives ignoring Him."
(From Rest: 31 Days of Peace Devotional - (Daily Catholic Wisdom)
St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P.
"If you truly want to help the
soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him
simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can
accomplish what you desire."
(From The Treatise on the Spiritual Life)
We must never presume upon God's mercy. Too many of us take His mercy for granted. We do not like to think of His justice. Why Catholics are being told they all have a reasonable hope of being saved.
This is not quite what many of our Saints have concluded.
 |
| (Image Source: cathopic.com) |
Here are two short examples:
If this is not enough for us to abandon any sense of spiritual complacency we may have adopted and begin anticipatory trembling, ponder this example Venerable Louis of Granada, O.P. shared in his spiritual classic, The Sinner's Guide:
"Ask the saints, and they will tell you, more by their actions than by their words, how terrible is the account we are to render to God…
St. John Climacus gives an example of a holy monk, which is so remarkable that I shall give it as nearly as possible in the saint's own words: 'A religious named Stephen, who lived in the same desert with us, had a great desire to embrace a more solitary life. He had already acquired a reputation for sanctity, having been favored with the gift of tears and fasting and other privileges attached to the most eminent virtues. Having obtained his superior's permission, he built a cell at the foot of Mount Sinai, where Elijah was honored by his marvelous vision of God. Though his life here was one of great sanctity, yet, impelled by desire for still harder labors and greater perfection, he withdrew to a place called Sidon, inhabited by holy anchorites who lived in the most complete solitude. Here he continued for some years in the practice of the severest penance, cut off from all human intercourse or comfort, for his hermitage was seventy miles from any human habitation. As his life approached its term he felt a desire to return to his first cell at the foot of Mount Sinai, where dwelt two disciples, natives of Palestine. Shortly after his arrival he was attacked by a fatal illness. The day before his death he fell into a state resembling ecstasy. He gazed first at one side of his bed, then at the other, and, as if engaged in conversation with invisible beings who were demanding an account of his life, was heard crying out in a loud voice. Sometimes he would say, 'It is true, I confess it; but I have fasted many years in expiation of that sin'; or, 'It is false; that offense cannot be laid to my charge'; or again, 'Yes, but I have labored for the good of my neighbor so many years in atonement thereof.' To other accusations he was heard to say, 'Alas! I cannot deny it; I can only cast myself upon God's mercy.'
"Surely this was a thrilling spectacle," continues the saint. "I cannot describe the terror with which we assisted at this invisible judgment. O my God! What will be my fate, if this faithful servant, whose life was one long penance, knew not how to answer some of the accusations brought against him? If after forty years of retirement and solitude, if after having received the gift of tears, and such command over nature that, as I am credibly informed, he fed with his own hand a wild leopard which visited him, the saintly monk so trembled for judgment, and, dying, left us in uncertainty as to his fate, what have we not to fear who lead careless and indifferent lives?"
I can already hear the criticism: Why dwell on this subject area and make so many feel uncomfortable? What good do you accomplish by doing so? My response - in hopes of saving a soul, my own as well!
I agree, it would be far better for us to live our lives in conformity to God's commands out of sheer love of Him rather than out of fear of eternal punishment or in hope of an eternal reward. But is that a reasonable expectation? Apparently not to St. Francis and our holy Father St. Dominic, who according to Louis of Granada, O.P.:
"…commanded in their rules the preachers of their orders to make vice and virtue, reward and punishment, the only subjects of their sermons… it is a common principle among philosophers that reward and punishment are the most powerful motives for good with the mass of mankind. Such, alas, is our misery, that we are not content with virtue alone; it must be accompanied with the fear of punishment or the hope of reward…"
I do not think human nature has changed much since these two preachers walked this earth. I can not speak for you, but I and many souls I know, would eternally benefit if vice and virtue, reward and punishment, were the subject of at least a few homilies?
What are your thoughts?
 |
| (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
In Your infinite wisdom and love, You used my mother's suffering and subsequent death for her eternal benefit and to draw me closer to You.
I recall sitting in the pew and thinking about my life up to that point in time. You allowed me to see the many times I was on the brink of falling into hell for all eternity. That day, You let me appreciate how much You loved me by showing me how often You had withheld Your hand of Justice and extended Your hand of mercy!
I believe You when you told St. Faustina that You would extend Your mercy, even to the most wretched of sinners, who seek it prior to death with just a repenting glance.
How many Chaplets of Divine Mercy I have offered over the ensuing years for the salvation of so many souls.
From this moment forward Lord, let me quick to love, to forgive and to be merciful to all whom I encounter - especially those closest to me whom I have so frequently disappointed - since those are the undeserved gifts I have so often received from You.
Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time.
Mother Angelica
"All earthly joys are finite glimpses of eternal bliss. But because we tend to hold on to what we see with our physical eyes, we tend to forget what can be seen only with the eyes of Faith. And so, it is that Heaven is always remote from our thoughts and removed from our daily experiences."
(From Mother Angelica on God, His Home, and His Angels)
St. Chromatius
“Our Redeemer has taught us not to desire justice, that is to say our salvation and perfection, with a faint-hearted desire, nor with lagging, indolent effort; for He tells us that they are blessed who pursue it with the intense yearnings of an interior desire, in the same way as those who hunger and thirst seek food and drink. For if anyone of us craved and longed for justice with such desire, he could think of nothing else but that justice day or night nor seek anything other than that, since one who hungers and thirsts necessarily thinks about food and drink. Hence, the satiation of eternal refection is rightly promised to those who thus hunger and thirst for Him who is the celestial bread and the fountain of living water.”
(From A Treatise on the Spiritual Life)
St. Paul of the Cross
"Let all creation help you to praise God. Give yourself the rest you need. When you are walking alone, listen to the sermon preached to you by the flowers, the trees, the shrubs, the sky, the sun and the whole world. Notice how they preach to you a sermon full of love, of praise of God, and how they invite you to proclaim the greatness of the one who has given them being."
(From St. Paul of the Cross Monastery)
"The Eucharist is alive. If a stranger who knew nothing about the Eucharist were to watch the way we receive, would he know...
.jpg)
