Death and Judgment

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Christ told us several things about how we should live in order to be saved.

Jesus said…

 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. 6 If any one abide not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also have kept my Father’s commandments, and do abide in his love.” (Matthew 15:4-10)

“But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17)

“For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 21 You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. 22 But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:20-22)

“But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.” (Matthew 6:15)

“And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven.” (Luke 12-10)

God through St. Paul taught…

“As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.” (Galatians 1:9)

“Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 10 Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God.” (I Corinthians 6:9-10)

“Take heed to thyself and to doctrine: be earnest in them. For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.” (I Timothy 4:16)

How many of us are not living right? How many of us are holding grudges against others? How many of us are fornicating with our boy and girl friends, being impure with ones self, or merely lusting after others? How many of us are getting drunk all the time, cheating others out of their money, or coveting our neighbor’s spouses or goods? How many of us are following false doctrines that are against the historic Christian Faith out of convenience?

Heaven has no place for us that live in any one of these sinful ways.

Today, our priest Fr. Oswalt posted the following writing of St. Alphonsus Liquori on preparation for death in our church bulletin. 

Preparation for Death

(St. Alphonsus M. Liguori) 1700’s 

Sixth Consideration, Death of the Sinner:  Third Point: God unceasingly threatens sinners with an unhappy death. “Then they shall call upon me, and I will not hear.”— Prov. i. 28. “Will God hear his cry when distress shall come upon him? ” — Job xxvii. 9. “I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock.” — Prov. i. 26. According to St. Gregory, God laughs when he is unwilling to show mercy, ”Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time.” — Deut. xxxii. 35. The Lord pronounces the same threats in so many other places; and sinners live in peace as securely as if God had certainly promised to give them, at death, pardon and paradise. It is true that at whatsoever hour the sinner is converted, God promises to pardon him. But he has not promised that sinners shall be converted at death; on the contrary, he has often protested that “they who live in sin shall die in sin” — John viii. 21. “You shall die in your sins.” — Ibid. 24. He has declared that they who shall seek him at death, shall not find him. “You shall seek me, and shall not find me.” — John vii. 34. We must, therefore, seek God while he may be found. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.” — Isa. Iv. 6. A time shall come when it will not be in our power to find him. Poor blind sinners! they put off their conversion till death, when there shall be no more time for repentance. “The wicked,” says Oleaster, “have never learned to do good unless when the time for doing good is no more.” God wills the salvation of all; but he takes vengeance on obstinate sinners.

Should any man in the state of sin be seized with apoplexy and be deprived of his senses, what sentiments of compassion would be excited in all who should see him die without the sacraments and without signs of repentance! And how great should be their delight, if he recovered the use of his senses, asked for absolution, and made acts of sorrow for his sins! But is not he a fool, who has time to repent, and prefers to continue in sin? or who returns to sin, and exposes himself to the danger of being cut off by death without the sacraments, and without repentance? A sudden death excites terror in all; and still how many expose themselves to the danger of dying suddenly, and of dying in sin?

“Weight and balance are the judgments of the Lord.” — Prov. xvi. 11. We keep no account of the graces which God bestows upon us; but he keeps an account of them, he measures them; and when he sees them despised to a certain degree, he then abandons the sinner in his sin, and takes him out of life in that unhappy state. Miserable the man who defers his conversion till death. “The repentance which is sought from a sick man is infirm.” St. Jerome teaches, that of a hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin till death, scarcely one shall be saved. St. Vincent Ferrer writes, that it is a greater miracle to bring such sinners to salvation, than to raise the dead to life. What sorrow, what repentance can be expected at death from the man who has loved sin till that moment? Bellarmine relates that when he exhorted to contrition a certain person whom he assisted at death, the dying man said that he did not know what was meant by contrition. The holy bishop endeavored to explain it to him; but he said, “Father, I do not understand you; these things are too high for me.” He died in that state, leaving, as the venerable cardinal has written, sufficiently evident signs of his damnation. St. Augustine says, that, by a just chastisement, the sinner who has forgotten God during life, shall forget himself at death.

“Be not deceived,” says the apostle, “God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall he reap corruption.” — Gal. vi. 7. It would be a mockery of God to live in contempt of his laws, and afterwards to reap remuneration and eternal glory. But God is not mocked. What we sow in this life we reap in the next. For him who sows the forbidden pleasures of the flesh, nothing remains but corruption, misery, and eternal death.

Beloved Christian, what is said for others is also applicable to you. Tell me; if you were at the point of death, given over by the physicians, deprived of your senses, and in your last agony, with what fervor would you ask of God another month or week, to settle the accounts of your conscience! God at present gives you this time; thank him for it, and apply an immediate remedy to the evil you have done; adopt all the means of finding yourself in the grace of God when death shall come; for then there shall be no more time to acquire his friendship.