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| Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (center) |
THE SLIPPERY SLOPE
“His soul, unfortunately, is eternally condemned.”
—Following Padre Pio, “Padre Pio Trembles With Fear - Sees Soul In Hell,” YouTube video, 4:59 minutes, March 5, 2022
Hell is eternal.
In order to be saved, all that is necessary is to repent.
However, at the end of our life we may have rendered ourselves incapable of repentance. Over time if our will becomes habituated to turning away from God, at the final instant of life it may find itself unable to turn toward God even if God extends the grace of repentance.
“Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:31) One of the sins (“blasphemy”) against the Holy Spirit is final impenitence.
“As
we live, so we die.” Eternal damnation is a slippery slope.
Photo, cropped, courtesy of Muschio Di Quercia
ReplyDeletePhoto link:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padre_Pio_da_Pietrelcina.jpg
Gonzalinho
Hell is a slippery slope. The soul that resists God’s grace throughout life is more likely to reject the grace of final repentance and the salvation offered by God at the point of death.
ReplyDeleteSalvation begins now and takes place daily.
Hell is eternal. We should fear it with our entire being.
Gonzalinho
I will continue to repeat until I am dead. Hell is forever. Fear God who casts deserving souls into hell forever. Forever. In hell the soul is never getting out—never ever never. The time of mercy is now. There is only one particular judgment when the soul separates from the body at death.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
There are two types of conversion—initial and ongoing.
ReplyDelete“In initial conversion, we come to know Jesus and begin to experience the blessings of being members of his body, the church.”
“Ongoing conversion is the process of pursuing habits that lead to holiness and rooting out those habits that separate us from Jesus.”
—“Going Further with God,” The Word Among Us, Volume 23, Number 10 (October 2004), pages 16-17
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/05/placeholder-4-of-4.html
Ongoing conversion is a daily obligation.
Gonzalinho
I have watched easily over one hundred videos about Padre Pio. His life is really worth reflecting on. Recently, I was trying to recall some incident wherein we would have to express some reservations about his conduct or grant him some leeway for a mistake or fault. No one is perfect, but so far I have always found him exemplary. He was chosen by the Lord from a very early age.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest criticism that has been levied against him was that he was sometimes harsh, brusque, and rough in the confessional. He would now and again shut the confessional window in the face of the penitent. If you read the background of some of the penitents, his approach was understandable. He wanted to shock them into genuine conversion.
Gonzalinho
THE SIN OF PRESUMPTION
ReplyDeleteSee 0:00-1:44:
Most Catholics think that they’re going to have a lot of time at the end of their life to get right with God. Like there’s probably going to be a moment where everything slows down and maybe they realize what matters and then they turn back and somehow it all gets handled right before they die.
But what stood out to me when I was listening to Father Chad Ripperger’s sermon is that he goes straight after that idea and he calls it presumption. He says that there’s an enormous amount of presumption right now where people assume that God is just going to give us grace at the last moment and that we will grab onto it and be fine. And he says very clearly that this isn’t how that works. And that he ties it to something that the saints have repeated over and over again. He keeps coming back to this line the whole time. How you live is how you die. And he is not saying that as a nice catchy quote, although it’s probably what the title of this video will be. Father Chad Ripperger is saying that very literally.
He starts talking about habitual sin and how if someone is living in a pattern of sin, that doesn’t just disappear at the end of their life. It follows them all the way to the hour of their death. And he even brings up something that a lot of us don’t talk about anymore, which is that there are cases where someone hardens themselves so much in mortal sin that they stop responding to grace altogether. He says that you can actually see signs of that when someone continues doing serious evil over and over again without any remorse and no contrition, no desire to change. They’re just continuing in it like nothing is wrong. …He’s…saying it to show that grace isn’t something that you could just assume will always be there in the way that you want it to be.
See 2:14-3:09:
He says that most people naturally assume that they’re good. They look at their life and think that they’ll probably be fine. They compare themselves to other people. They don’t examine anything deeply. And he says that’s part of the problem because after sin that self-judgment gets distorted and people think they’re better than they actually are. And all of this builds into the same exact point, which is that people are not taking their final end seriously. They’re focused on this life, what’s happening right now, what they want, what they’re doing, and they’re not really thinking about where all of this is going. And he says that’s actually one of the deeper issues. People have become so wrapped up in this life that they’re not even asking the question of what happens after it. And if you sit with that for a second, it explains a lot, because if you’re not thinking about your death, then of course you’re not preparing for it. And if you’re not preparing for it, then your whole life starts to drift in whatever direction feels easiest in that moment.
See 3:15-3:33:
…why this matters so much. And it comes down to what actually happens at death. He says death is the moment that fixes your state forever. Once it happens, that’s it. There’s no changing after that. There is no growing. There is no choosing differently later on. Your will is set in whatever direction it’s been moving in. And he connects that back to how you’re living now.
See 4:01-4:05:
…what your soul is at the moment of death is what it remains for all eternity.
https://youtu.be/SRBGqJkZ3D0?si=YGm5EWmlAKU8WxTg
—AfterMass with Ana Munley, “Death And Judgement According To Fr. Chad Ripperger,” YouTube video, 17:40 minutes, April 14, 2026
The heart that is hardened through habitual sin becomes unable to respond to the grace of salvation that is offered by God at the end of their life. God’s mercy is infinite, yes, but the heart of the sinner must also be disposed to receive it.
Gonzalinho