[30] He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. [31] Therefore I say to you: Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven. [32] And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. I hold out hope that God is not finished with me or with others either inside or outside the church who are sunk neck deep in sins which scandalize and hurt others. This time we are in has been a good time of reflection without all the daily distractions and worldly enticements to muddy our thoughts that might otherwise be turned instead toward God and our neighbors. We simply need take the time to listen.
Also, at La Salette, Our Lady mentioned that people needed to stop swearing, driving the carts on Sunday (working), and they must go to Mass on Sunday. If they did not change, the crops would rot.
God will not be finished with anyone until after the Warning and ones rejection of it. All mercy will end at that time, as all will have little time to choose with full knowledge the one true God and the one true church, as all will know the fullness of God and his truth, which is only in the Catholic faith that Jesus Christ established on Pentecost. It's not far off now.
I do not know how to answer the question, but one thing I believe is that many people are converted in the last moment, similar to the good crucified thief, I think that sometimes a person can accept Jesus as a Savior while in a coma, having only one spiritual encounter with it, the physical suffering of diseases causes many sinners in the last moments to obtain repentance.
The Blessed Virgin Mary promised to Saint Dominic and to all who follow that "Whatever you ask in the Rosary will be granted." She left for all Christians Fifteen Promises to those who recite daily the Holy Rosary. Imparted to Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenititude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise. I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Bishop Fulton Sheen (now declared Venerable) used to tell this humorous story: One day Our Lord says to St. Peter, "How are all these people getting into heaven?" "Don't blame me," St. Peter says, "Every time I close a door, your Mother opens a window!"
The Good thief on the Cross stole heaven on his death bed. God in His Infinite Mercy never quits until the last breath. But our secular, sinful society is so cut off from its Christian roots many people who die are pagan atheists who will not naturally turn to God at the end of their lives. England for example has been secular from mid-nineteenth century at least. Many generations cut off from grace. We need to pray more for the dying.
The parable of the workers wherein some workers who came in late in the day were paid the same as those who worked all day, I think this reflects those who obtain the grace of final repentance. Yes, we need to pray each day for the dying. I do agree with what Luan says.
Thanks for sharing this “heavenly” joke from Venerable Fulton J Sheen! You know....on my journey of faith, I came across the old recordings from Venerable Sheen, which I attribute the strengthening of my faith. I would listen to him all the time. When I first heard him tell that joke, I was hysterically laughing....that’s when I knew I was becoming a “church lady” at the age of 40! Lol! All kidding aside, I think our laughter at his joke also comes from the deep joy we feel because we who believe, are consoled by our Lady’s intercession. Once I learned and started praying the Rosary, the closer I felt to our Blessed Mother and the more I believed in her intercession.
I also remember something that Bishop Sheen said that made my heart swell with love and hope in Heaven and Mary’s intercession! I was trying to find on the internet exactly how he said it but couldn’t; so I will give it a try: Venerable Sheen said that on that day (death) when he meets Jesus, Jesus will say to him, “I know you....my Mother told me all about you”. Sorry if I messed up how he delivered this beautiful hope filled message. I think about this potential encounter all the time. Brings me peace.
St Teresa of Avila's good and Devout father was going on Retreat one time and wrote to his saintly daughter that he intended to take Hell as a subject for his meditation. The saint wrote back and advised him not to. This at is a subject well to be addressed from time to time but maybe not one to be looked at too long and too hard. There as St Paul says a Mystery of Iniquity, something to be aware of but not stared at too very hard because it is well something of a Dark Mystery indeed. The centre being the vexed question, 'Why on Earth do angels and people choose hell in the first place? ' For of course they do actively choose hell, for no one falls into the Eternal Fires by accident. The best thing I have read on the subject comes from the Mystic Blessed Julian of Norwich who had the most interested conversation with God about it. His reply is wonderful. https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/incontext/article/julian Article #31 “All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich by David Holgate (Used by permission) All shall be well Julian of Norwich is an anchoress—a woman who has set herself apart for God and lives isolated in a cell. Like her contemporaries of 1373, she is Roman Catholic and believes that the last rites give special sanctifying grace and strengthen a sick person bodily and spiritually at death. Recognizing her need for a deeper love of Christ, she has appealed to God for three things: • a stronger understanding of Christ’s passion • a sickness unto death while still young, allowing her to experience all that a body and soul experience in death (including attack by devils and administration of the last rites) but without actual death—so that she might learn to live more mindful of God • three “wounds:” absolute contrition, kind compassion, and steadfast longing toward God. It seems her unusual prayer is being answered. Julian has indeed become deathly ill. Everyone around her despairs of her life. She also believes she is dying. The last rites are administered to her. Then a wonderful thing happens: Julian experiences what a future generation might describe as a near-death experience. At the crisis of her sickness, between four and nine one afternoon, she receives fifteen “showings,” or revelations. She reports that heaven opens to her, she beholds Christ in his glory, and she sees the meaning and power of his sufferings. She also sees Christ’s mother, Mary, exalted and beloved. In her thirteenth showing, Julian receives a comforting answer to a question that has long troubled her: “In my folly, before this time I often wondered why, by the great foreseeing wisdom of God, the onset of sin was not prevented: for then, I thought, all should have been well. This impulse [of thought] was much to be avoided, but nevertheless I mourned and sorrowed because of it, without reason and discretion. “But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.' “These words were said most tenderly, showing no manner of blame to me nor to any who shall be saved.” In this she recognizes the compassion she had prayed for. She is impressed with her need to be joyful in all circumstances, however adverse, and for no particular reason, except this: that all things will ultimately be put right by Christ. She comes to such a sense of the awfulness of sin that she reckons the pains of hell are to be chosen in preference to it. Indeed, to one who recognizes the horror of sin, sin itself is hell. “And to me was shown no harder hell than sin. For a kind soul has no hell but sin.” The following night Julian will receive a final, sixteenth showing while she sleeps. In it Satan and his hosts assail her, but God gives her grace, and she fixes her eyes on the crucified Christ and trusts that because of his suffering and victory over sin he can protect her, and he delivers her from the demonic jeers and mutterings. She recovers to live thirty-three years longer. Soon after her recovery, Julian records a short account of her revelations. Twenty years after her visions, having meditated long upon them, she will add additional thoughts as to their meaning. Both the short and the long accounts will be widely disseminated in manuscript form and, after the invention of the printing press, will be published in many editions. Centuries later, Christians will still read her Showings with interest and wonder to what extent Julian of Norwich actually penetrated the mysteries of the unseen world. —Dan Graves Dig a Little Deeper Deen, Edith. Great Women of the Christian Faith. New York: Harper, 1959. Gardner, Edmund G. “Juliana of Norwich.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914. Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. Translated by Clifton Wolters. Penguin, 1966. Julian of Norwich. Showings. New York: Paulist Press, c1978. “Julian, of Norwich.” Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921 – 1996.
I don't think Jesus, Mary or any heavenly body has ever said "most" go to hell. Yes, many saints have speculated that. But they don't really know for sure. What heaven has asked repeatedly is we pray and fast that all souls will be lead to heaven. No one knows the exact effect of grace bought for poor sinners at the time of death. Just like close family who by God's laws are destined for hell, surely our prayers will effect a conversion even at death. Hard to imagine being joyous in heaven with loved ones in hell. Perhaps we can only buy them the grace of the lowest level of purgatory. We are all connected in a special way. Surely many go to hell though.
That is an excellent analogy Padraig. I was contemplating about this subject this morning at Holy Hour that so many souls go to hell, as it was troubling me very much, and a thought suddenly popped into my mind a couple times, ‘keep my commandments’ and it was repeated ‘keep my commandments’. That seldom happens to me, so it really surprised me.
So THAT’S why the devil took the Ten Commandments out of the courthouses, schools, and the public milieu. That was a great grace, Shae.
