It is right to
continually give praise to the Father that He gave us His Son to redeem us from
our prideful natures, the “original wound.” In the end we are not saved by Our
Savior’s dynamic words, but by His passion, death and resurrection. But
Christ’s obedient self-sacrifice must be responded to by repentance and
conversion on our part. As Peter Kreeft has written, this new life in Christ
“comes into us by faith, through us by hope, and out of us by the works of
love…but many Catholics think we’re saved by good intentions, or being nice, …
or doing a sufficient number of good deeds.”
And what does
true discipleship, our new life in Him, save us from? Hell. Unless we are saved
from the kingdom of darkness by faith through grace working in love, this state
of hell will become stronger and in time everlasting: “Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
In our day, when some modern
theologians tell us that people may find their way even if we fail to announce
Jesus as the Way, let us not forget Vatican II’s teaching on the conditions
necessary for our salvation:
Those also can attain
to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ
or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds
to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor
does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who,
without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of
God and with His grace strive to live a good life. Whatever good or truth is
found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the
Gospel. She knows that it is given by Him who enlightens all men so that they
may finally have life. But often men,
deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the
Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are
exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure
the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord,
"Preach the Gospel to every creature", the Church fosters the
missions with care and attention.
Being lukewarm in the preaching of the Gospel is thus forbidden, lest there come
about a time wherein “although they knew God they did not honor him as God or
give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their
senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man….” Our Lord spoke often and
bluntly about Hell, where we all drift unless we put on Christ, let Him dwell
in our hearts, let His thoughts be our thoughts: “The gate is wide that leads
to destruction, and those who enter it are many.” In
my years in Catholic education, I have witnessed close up a veritable silence
on Hell as a reality for those who reject the Good News, rendering the teaching
of Jesus Christ false, and eliminating a powerful motive for evangelization.
Comments
Post a Comment