41 articles from the existing collection.
The Catholic Church holds that faith is a foundational element for achieving eternal happiness, which is understood as the beatific vision—union with God in heaven. Faith is a supernatural gift that enables individuals to assent to God’s revelation, particularly as transmitted through Scripture and Tradition. The Letter to the H…
The Bible frequently refers to heaven as the ultimate destination for those who live in fidelity to God. John 14:2-3 records Jesus promising to prepare a place for His followers in His Father’s house, suggesting a personal and eternal relationship with God. The Book of Revelation describes heaven as a city with no sorrow, where …
The Catholic doctrine of the Assumption teaches that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was taken up into heaven, body and soul, at the conclusion of her earthly life. This belief holds a significant place in Catholic theology, reflecting the Church’s understanding of Mary’s unique role in salvation history. The Assumption is not merely…
In heaven we shall be with Christ and as Christ. This supposes conditions of which we have no experience on earth. It is little use guessing. We have but to accept the fact that there is a heaven, avoiding sin and serving God in order that we may attain to it. Speculate about heaven as we will, we must not miss our eternal happi…
St. Paul did not believe that the end was near. In 1 Thess. IV., 16, he says that the Lord will certainly come again, adding, “Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ.” But he does not say that he himself and his listeners would still be living when Christ comes. He …
Heaven there means the heavens. Our Lord couples the expression with the earth, and predicts that the visible universe will undergo a great change. The heavens, or the whole universe together with the earth, will some day cease to be as we see them at present. The visible order will change, but the teachings of Christ shall not …
We do not go to the unknown, though we do go to the as yet unexperienced. Christ has revealed the essential elements of our future lot. Meantime heaven and hell are not our present thought-forms. Heaven is prepared independently of our thinking processes. Christ said definitely, “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am …
The ascension of Christ until a cloud received Him out of the sight of the Apostles was a phenomenon sufficiently clear to impress upon them some higher state of being. As a matter of fact He ascended only relatively to those who were watching Him. Our notions of ascent and descent are regulated by direction from the center of t…
If the child is brought up as a Protestant it has the same chance as any Protestant in similar circumstances from other points of view. If brought up as a Catholic, it has the additional helfs of the Catholic religion just as any other Catholic child, except that it has the bad example of a non-Catholic parent ignoring obligatio…
I cannot tell you in terms of longitude and latitude, as we mark out places on this earth. Such terms suggest a place in space, and space is measured by distance, and distance in turn is calculated from the material conditions of bodies which have nothing in common with spiritualized beings. It is quite useless, then, to ask for…
The kingdom of Christ is already in this world, though not of it. That kingdom is two-fold, perfect in heaven, imperfect on earth. We pray that God’s kingdom of grace may be extended in the souls of men, and that they may so fulfill the will of God that they may attain that final happiness of the kingdom of heaven. But the words…
Christ, being God, knew all things. Your minister lacked either knowledge of Scripture, or any real belief in the divinity of Christ.
Let us take it for granted that she is aware of her child’s sorrow. Could she be aware of it and perfectly happy at one and the same time? She could not, were she subject still to conditions of earthly life as we know them. But in heaven she is subject to entirely different conditions. Jesus Himself certainly knows of the child’…
That is an absurd statement, for there is no eternal happiness outside Heaven. But I understand what you mean. You believe the Catholic Church to be wrong, and you will not do what you believe to be evil that good may come. But God does not want you to do that. Nor do I. As long as you believe the Catholic Church to be wrong, yo…
With the assistance of the Holy Spirit, she can and does know. She knows God, and knows what holiness is. She examines the life of a holy person, and says that such a life certainly could not lead a soul to hell. The Church canonizes only those whose heroic virtue has been proved. And perfect charity before death destroys all si…
That text has no reference to Baptism. Christ’s purpose there was to insist upon humility. He impressed the moral lesson that only such as cultivate the dispositions of a child before God will enter Heaven. But he never said that all children, even the unbaptized, will necessarily go to Heaven. He would contradict His own doctri…
The idea of merely natural happiness in Heaven is nonsense. The supreme happiness of Heaven is totally different from any happiness we know on earth. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard . . . what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” I. Cor. II., 9. An eternity of the things we know here, and of life as we experience …
Because Our Lord did not add those words to the prayer as He taught it There is nothing wrong with the words in themselves. In fact, they are very beautiful. But they are not Sacred Scripture. Some early Catholic copyists wrote those words in a margin; later copyists mistakenly transcribed them into the text; and the Protestant …
You mean by a storm. There is a great difference between the wrath of Heaven and the wrath of the heavens. On your principles every man who has ever suffered shipwreck or been drowned or struck by lightning is a wicked wretch and the victim of God’s anger. I am as happy as you are that the Armada failed, but I do not admit that …
The dogmas of heaven and hell guarantee the conditions. Nor is there anything in those dogmas which conflicts with sane reason.
Christ never intended this world to be Heaven. He said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” The Church is His Kingdom on earth, but it is not a Kingdom of earth. And I esteem this Kingdom of Christ above all else. This does not forbid me to dress respectably. It does forbid me to rejoice in so far as humanity is in despair and sh…
The Catholic Church’s teaching on baptism is rooted in the words of Jesus Christ, who declared the necessity of being “born again” through water and the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God ( John 3:5 ). This teaching forms the bedrock of the Church’s understanding of baptism as a sacrament that imparts supernatural grace. Baptism…
It would be the greatest possible injustice to regard her as a goddess. It is just to honor her even as God has honored her, which we Catholics do. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, and His mother certainly possesses queenly dignity, holding the highest place in Heaven next to her Divine Son. But that does not, and canno…
Because Our Lord did not add those words to the prayer as He taught it There is nothing wrong with the words in themselves. In fact, they are very beautiful. But they are not Sacred Scripture. Some early Catholic copyists wrote those words in a margin; later copyists mistakenly transcribed them into the text; and the Protestant …
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