Demons and Gods

one

In the end there are two destinies for the human person: heaven in which we will be like God – so says 1 John 3:2; or hell in which the soul will be like a demon.

With God’s grace the Virtues make us more excellent as a human person and more like God. If left unchecked, the Vices will make us less human, more like beasts and in the end, a demon in hell. Like Fatima, four of the visionaries of Medjugorje were given an experience of hell. One of them, Vicka, relates: “In the center of this place is a great fire, like an ocean of raging flames. We could see people before they went into the fire, and then we could see them coming out of the fire. Before they go into the fire, they look like normal people. The more they are against God’s will, the deeper they enter into the fire, and the deeper they go, the more they rage against Him. When they come out of the fire, they don’t have human shape anymore; they are more like grotesque animals, but unlike anything on earth. It’s as if they were never human beings before…They were horrible. Ugly. Angry. And each was different; no two looked alike…When they came out, they were raging and smashing everything around and hissing and gnashing and screeching.

This transformation does not begin in hell. It begins on earth and is completed in hell.

two

Those sharing in God’s divine life by grace who practice and become virtuous become more excellent as a human and then more and more like God as they grow in union with God.  This is why Saint Maximillian Kolbe was able to be arrested by the Nazi’s, be stripped of every earthly thing that was good, taken to Auschwitz where he did not despair or grow in hate but grew in hope and love to the point where he could do what Jesus did, give his life as a ransom for another man. Maximilian Kolbe told his fellow prisoners he was offering his prayer, his suffering and even his death for the conversion of those who rejected God, especially for Rudolph Hoess.

 At one point the Jesuit priests from Krakow were arrested and brought to Auschwitz, but one of their fellow priests was sick and in the hospital so he escaped the arrest. This Jesuit priest, Fr. Lohn, felt so guilty that his brother priests had been taken and he had escaped, that he went to Auschwitz and presented himself to the Commandant Rudolph Hoess, requesting to be imprisoned with his friends. Completely uncharacteristic to the hardened Hoess, he told the young priest to get out of there as quickly as he could. That he would not let him enter Auschwitz. Baffled, Fr. Lohn left and went back to Krakow.

After WWII, Hoess was captured and sentenced to death by hanging. While awaiting his death he was placed in solitary confinement for an extended period time. There he reflected upon his life; he reflected on the way the Polish prison guards, some who had even been prisoners in Auschwitz, how they treated Hoess not with hatred or like and animal, but how they treated him with as a fellow human being and with love; and he reflected on his monstrous crimes.

Finally, on April 12 Rudolph Hoess wrote a formal declaration admitting his crimes and begging God for forgiveness.

Hoess then begged the prison guards to find him a priest who would hear is confession. But no priest wanted to meet with the monster who murdered their family and friends. Finally Hoess remembered the name of the Jesuit priest who he would not let enter Auschwitz, Fr. Lohn. This priest was found in Krakow and brought to the prison. Hoess made a very, very, very long confession, and received the Eucharist on his knees with tears streaming down his face. Shortly after he was taken to Auschwitz and hanged next to the spot where the cremation ovens stood.

At some point, God only knows when, he will be reunited with Kolbe. I am sure they will embrace and Hoess will thank Kolbe for his prayer and sacrifice that brought the grace to Hoess’ frozen soul to bring about his conversion, repentance and restoration to friendship with God.

three

It takes three things to gain virtue: Grace, practice and Perseverance. First – it will take grace. Grace is to share in God’s divine life. God offers his life continually to us through Baptism, the Eucharist and Reconciliation. We open up and receive grace, the life of God through prayer. There are three main types of prayer: vocal prayer, talking to God through prayers like the Our Father and Hail Mary, or talking to God from the simplicity of the heart. Then we listen to God through meditation – by reading Scripture and thinking about it; by the Rosary or just by being with God in silence and listening. Finally there is contemplation – just being with God. The point is this – It takes God’s grace to live virtuously and become like him. We open up and receive his grace by prayer. Daily meditation is the primary way we drink in God’s grace. If we are not practicing daily meditation then we are not drinking in the grace and we will not be able to grow in virtue. Are you meditating every day? If not, why not?

four

Virtue Takes Practice 

We get better at virtue in the same way that we get better at any skill – by practice and perseverance.

Michael Jordan

·       Got cut from his high-school team because he was weak in shooting and defense

·       So he and his coach worked and practiced until he acquired those skills

·       By the end of his career he could shoot and defend very, very well.

·       In fact, the last play of his last game of the repeat three-peat, he stole the ball, went the length of the court, and made a long jump shot to win the championship.

·       By practice and perseverance he turned his weaknesses into strengths.  He gained the skill

By the end of his life St Francis De Sales was considered by all a man of complete self-control. But as a younger man he was a slave to his anger. In fact, after his death when they were removing his furniture and they tipped over his desk to carry it out they found nail marks on the wood for he would claw the bottom of the desk to keep from blowing his lid in anger. How did he change. Commitment to daily meditative prayer, frequent reception of the sacraments, he had a good coach – a spiritual director and he practiced constantly the virtues of humility and meekness which harness and direct the power of anger.

five

Virtue takes Perseverance.

Elite athletes go to failure to reach new heights. If they always stop short, they do not grow. They do not beat themselves up when the reach failure, they accept where they are, get up and hit it again. They persevere. God through the circumstances of life is training you to be excellent. In this process he will allow you to be pushed beyond your limit and fail, so that you will grow. That is the whole point – growth. Do not beat yourself up when you fail in virtue. Acknowledge, take responsibility, ask forgiveness, get up and move on. You did not fail. You are learning and growing. Perfection is not measure by never falling. Perfection is measure by how quickly you get up once you fall. The more quickly you get up the more perfect you become. Persevere.