God & Faith2 min read
What was the basis for the probable opinion of Ingersoll that he alone had read the Bible through that year? An opinion, to be probable, must have good reasons. A guess won’t do. Ingersoll’s only reason was that other men did not come to his own conclusions. Therefore they could not have read the Bible! If he can get a probable …
Last Things & Salvation1 min read
Yes. “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.” Heb. IX., 27. Retribution follows immediately after death. Souls are judged individually at once, so that probation comes to an end with this life.
The Bible1 min read
The first resurrection is the mystical resurrection from the death of sin. We rise with Christ in Baptism, and those who die still retaining the grace of their baptismal rebirth possess a permanent title to the glorious second and actual resurrection of the body at the last day. On such as these the second death will have no eff…
The Bible1 min read
All childbirth involves some risk, and the merely possible danger would not oblige abstinence. Childbearing, too, is normally accompanied by pain. It is an inescapable penalty. “In sorrow she shall bring forth children.” Christ Himself has said that a woman, when she is in labor, is in distress; but that her sorrow is turned to …
Last Things & Salvation2 min read
Both are equally correct. After the child was born Joseph and Mary waited 40 days for the Purification; then came the flight to Egypt, followed by the return to Nazareth, as mentioned by St. Matt. II., 23. St. Luke omits to mention the flight to Egypt, and mentions only the Purification, and the return to Nazareth. In II., 39, S…
Last Things & Salvation1 min read
He has. And if he does not, he will not even go to purgatory if his sins be grave. Purgatory is not a place for repentance, but for purification. If two men repent on their death-beds, one of whom broke one commandment and the other, all the commandments often, both are saved by their repentance. But they are not both equal befo…
Last Things & Salvation1 min read
Human experience does show us that man can no more escape death than the beasts. But man’s condition is not the same, for his soul lives on, still capable of knowledge and love, happiness or misery. Thus the same Book, in XII., 7, tells us that “the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God w…
Last Things & Salvation1 min read
All are to rise from the dead. “The hour cometh wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” Jn. V., 28-29. Thus, too, St. Paul tells us, “Behold I te…
God & Faith2 min read
That may be the opinion of your friend. But it is no more than his opinion The Catholic Church says that a man may be anointed within from half an hour to two hours of apparent death, according to the type of death. Not that a man is certainly still living but that there is a probability that the soul has not yet departed from t…
Last Things & Salvation1 min read
You must remember that there were in Christ two natures, one human, the other divine. Christ suffered in His human nature, and experienced a natural human shrinking from all that awaited Him. To that natural apprehension He gave expression conditionally, saying, “If it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.” But with His di…
God & Faith2 min read
No. In that chapter of St. Matthew He blends prophecies concerning both the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. Many who were then living witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem. And even as regards the end of the world, the Christian generation will not pass away until it comes. Many superficial readers confuse th…
The Church2 min read
The Catholic Church does not surround death with gloom. But her liturgy is in keeping with man’s nature as God intended it to be. Despite all spiritual joy and consolation, whilst hearts are human they break. Even God does not expect us to be hard and inhuman, unmoved when some dear one is taken from us. Our Lord wept with those…
