Eucharistic Revival - Unrequited Love
Some Catholic theologians, clergy and writers teach that we should have a reasonable hope all men and women will be saved.
We should reject this erroneous prediction of our eternal residency. Even a simple man like I can understand that this claim of universal salvation doesn't really pass the smell test.
How could it when Jesus Himself told us: "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:14)?
Less we would forget this essential Truth, from time to time our Lord has used others as His messengers. Here are just a few examples:
St Bernard "said with tears that there were hardly one ship out of ten lost on the sea, but on the ocean of life there is hardly one soul saved out of ten."
St Teresa of Avila saw souls "falling like snowflakes into hell."
Even the Blessed Mother at Fatima told the children: “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.”
Mind you all these messages were delivered at times when sin, Satan and hell were frequent topics of discussion and when few questioned their existence.
Fast forward to our present day where Satan has been spectacularly successful in convincing countless souls that he, sin and hell do not exist - with nary a word of correction from the pulpit.
If so many have refused to hear Jesus, St. Bernard, Saint Teresa of Avila, our Blessed Mother and a host of His other messengers, how many are likely to have any greater openness to heeding the following words of Dr. Paul Thigpen,excerpted from his book Spiritual Warfare Manual?
“No matter who you are - whether or not you know it - you have a mortal enemy who wants to destroy you not just in this life but in the next, It's a spiritual war with crucial consequences in your everyday life and the outcome of that war will determine your eternal destiny.”
I don't know how many will hear what the good Doctor is trying to tell them. But I pray everyone will!
We have no choice but to speak this Truth and trust God will open otherwise deaf ears.
We must never stop fighting to save our own souls and the souls of everyone we meet, even when others ridicule and reject our effort and concern.
This is war! Put on you helmet and flak jacket! We must fight till the end.