I was walking past an old cemetery a couple of years ago and in my spirit could see emaciated women in rags with some of them holding small children in their arms coming towards me from the graves with their hands outstretched towards me for prayer. I prayed for them at that time and often passed the cemetery since but never had any recurring experience. I did however discover there was a workhouse in the nearby town, which was built to aid people suffering through the famine years.
The Irish Famine is a great, great mystery to me. Centuries of suffering for the Faith and then this.
But God does not ask to understand , only to accept. I could never understand the sacrifice of Isaac.
I have a friend who some years ago was driving on the border of Clare & Galway. She got out to admire the view and immediately had a vision of a multitude of women and children in rags. They were crying from hunger. She said she was very deeply disturbed and it took a long time for her to get over it. A lot of family tree healing is needed in Ireland.
Saint Therese of Lisieux says in History of a Soul that there are pagans who are flowers in God's garden, following only the natural law. I'm not sure if this applies to the most varied religions, but it is a possibility within God's immense mercy.
From The Autobiography of Saint Therese Translated by John Beevers CHAPTER ONE (...)"I had wondered for a long time why God had preferences and why all souls did not receive an equal amount of grace. I was astonished to see how He showered extraordinary favours on saints who had sinned against Him, saints such as St. Paul and St. Augustine. He forced them, as it were, to accept His graces. I was just as astonished when I read the lives of saints to see that Our Lord cherished certain favoured souls from the cradle to the grave and never allowed any kind of obstacle to check their flight towards Him. He bestowed such favours on them that they were unable to tarnish the spotless splendour of their baptismal robe. I also wondered why such vast numbers of poor savages died before they had even heard the name of God. Jesus saw fit to enlighten me about this mystery. He set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers He has created are lovely. The splendour of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realised that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay. It is just the same in the world of souls--which is the garden of Jesus. He has created the great saints who are like the lilies and the roses, but He has also created much lesser saints and they must be content to be the daisies or the violets which rejoice His eyes whenever He glances down. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being that which He wants us to be. I also understood that God's love shows itself just as well in the simplest soul which puts up no resistance to His grace as it does in the loftiest soul. Indeed, as it is love's nature to humble itself, if all souls were like those of the holy doctors who have illumined the Church with the light of their doctrine, it seems that God would not have stooped low enough by entering their hearts. But God has created the baby who knows nothing and can utter only feeble cries. He has created the poor savage with no guide but natural law, and it is to their hearts that He deigns to stoop. They are His wild flowers whose homeliness delights Him. By stooping down to them, He manifests His infinite grandeur. The sun shines equally both on cedars and on every tiny flower. In just the same way God looks after every soul as if it had no equal. All is planned for the good of every soul, exactly as the seasons are so arranged that the humblest daisy blossoms at the appointed time."(...) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/b...nslated-by-john-beevers/9780385029032/excerpt
The older I get, the more I say to myself that I cannot even approximate the judgement of God who knows all. He knows our sins but also our psychology and experiences that have shaped our responses. More and more I realize His great 'parental' love, infinitely greater than the love we, ourselves, have for our own children, Matt 20, to me, tells of the generosity of God - all the workers are paid equally. Let's face it, no one can EARN heaven - it is the generosity of God that has opened heaven to us, despite our sin [and His Mercy that provides our purification if we do not acieve sainthood here] Yes, it would seem 'unfair' if Hitler gets to heaven, but this is human thinking. God loves each of His creatures infinitely and has created them for Eternity with Him. It seems we all get a final choice, a last chance to 'change our minds.'. Of course, as much as our sin demands proportionate atonement, our happiness in heaven, as St Therese tells us, is proportionate to our 'good deeds'. All are totally as happy as they can be. Valentina saw the atheist Stephen Hawkins in (deep) purgatory [28 oct 2018]. He will end up in heaven. This tells me many prayed for him. Never stop praying for all, even our greatest 'enemy' or worst percieved sinner.
To some extent as regards God's Justice and Mercy there must be a certain standnoffishness a certain who knows? I dislike people who nail down things too much
I like a certain humility , a certain who knows as regards the Judgement of God. Who knows really? We do our best to follow. But we really need the very greatest humility as regards His judgement of others. Even more so His Judgement of ourselves. The very,very,very,greatest humility.
The parable of the Pharisee and the publican seems to be the core of the path of salvation in the Holy Scriptures: the primacy of grace that operates in a contrite and humiliated heart.
I think if God does not at least occasionally surprise and shock us , well then we're doing something wrong.
Just as God is infinite, we can say that salvation is not a process with a beginning, middle, and end here on earth. It is not a race in which we are declared the winners while we are still alive. I think before we step foot in the first church in our lives and before we had the resources to practice charity, the primordial event of faith and salvation was when Christ died on the cross for sinners, the sacraments being the means of continuous sanctification that operate the effects of redemption in our lives.
Yes. With God we are in the presence of Mystery. We must remove our shoes. We must be always speechless and ready to say... ' I simply don't know'.
In a way it is similar to the story of Adam and Eve, instead of being humble and asking for forgiveness from God, Adam blamed Eve for his sin. Surely God will forgive Adam but what can God do if Adam doesn't even ask for forgiveness? You have this recurring theme again with Cain and Abel, God asks where is Abel, and Cain replies like a philosopher "Am I my brother's keeper?", and he runs away from God. Merciful God can't forgive if the prideful person does not ask for forgiveness...
Life reminds me of driving down a Free Way at speed. If a driver has been driving at high speed his whole life in one direction (ie towards hell) it is very,very difficult for him at the last moment to put the brakes on , reverse and travel in opposite direction . However while for men this might seem impossible for God all things are possible. My very favourite prayer is to prayer for great sinners, for those in danger of hell. I have spent most of my life doing so. It was what Our Lady particularly requested at Fatima. Such prayers are never wasted and are very, very pleasing to God and His blessed Mother. Remember Our Lady of Fatima's warning to the three shepherd children on Aug. 19, 1917. She said, "Pray, pray a great deal, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because they have no one to sacrifice and pray for them." Also to pray for the souls deepest in Purgatory. https://peterdarcywriting.com/does-god-allow-souls-in-purgatory-to-visit-the-living/ 'Several years ago, my nephew attended a boarding school where one of the teachers died of a heart attack during the summer break. My nephew respected the teacher who had been kind to him in significant ways. One night in his dorm room, while all the other students were asleep, he heard footsteps and sensed the “presence” of someone in the room with him. It was definitely a man, and my nephew was a little frightened because no adults should have been there at that time of night.' With a sense of alarm, he pulled his covers over his head as the presence came closer to the bed and said something to him that only the deceased teacher would have said. He even recognized the voice. No other student heard it or woke up. The presence made no physical contact, said nothing else, and then just left. When my nephew uncovered his head, he saw what looked like the back of someone who resembled the deceased teacher walking out of the room. He breathed a sigh of relief and went back to bed, but he was deeply affected by the experience and later asked me what it meant.
This story makes me teary-eyed for it upholds the beautiful promise of Jesus and the Scriptures. Let us recall the Good Thief on Golgotha. Let us never cease to pray for those in our lives who are hardened-of-heart. And always remember that we who have been blessed by faithful parents, the example of holy priests, the stories of God's merciful interventions mentioned here on MOG, and the availability of frequent reception of the sacraments, are held more accountable than others. Each of us is a servant of the living God. Where do I fit in the parable below? Luke 12: 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. 48 But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
This is why many theologians believe that the cures for lepers carried out in the gospel by Our Lord have, in addition to the literal meaning, a symbolic meaning, as the disease of leprosy causes the loss of sensitivity in the body's organs. Just as the loss of the sense of sin leads us to lose sensitivity about other sins such as pride and self-determination.
Yes! Dickens uses this analogy in his novel A Take of Two Cities speaking of the elites of that time. He described it as " the leprosy of unreality"---a perfectdescription..
This is a striking thing to read, BC. I once had a dream of a poor city, with narrow roads, all the colour of a reddish brown. It seemed to be a little like Nepal. I saw many women, holding small children in their arms. I later understood that it was Purgatory, one aspect of it. I wonder who are these women with children in their arms? I've had dreams of Purgatory before and even after this particular one but never saw children there. Any thoughts on this?
Our Lady of Fatima described a girl from the village as being in Purgatory, 'until the end of time' . I see no reason why children who reach the age of reason going deep into Purgatory, or hell . I believe that there is such a thing as wicked children.
