Mathew 5 | Sin and Hell

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We continue to reflect on the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5: 29 Jesus says: If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell.

Here, Jesus affirms the reality of hell and the possibility of going there by one’s own choice. The CCC (1036) says the teaching of Jesus on the on the subject of hell is a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. It is at the same time an urgent call to conversion: A little later on in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus will say: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

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God sends no one to hell. Those in Hell turned away from God by their own free choice and persisted in that choice until the end.

Sin is to turn away from God. When we make sin a habit, it results in an aversion for God and the things of God.  If we have an aversion to God, then we won’t desire God or choose Him. We won’t want to spend time in prayer, or go to Mass or Confession, or learn our faith or live according to the moral teachings of Jesus. Sin and the habit of sin, turn people away from God. This is why sins leads people to pray less, go to Mass less, take care of the poor and defenseless less. Why? Because when we make a habit of turning away from God in sin, it creates an aversion to God and all the things of God. This is so dangerous because if we live and die with an aversion to God then we will reject Him when we see him after death. I mean, hey, if you had an aversion to prayer and doing God’s will on earth and that becomes second nature to you – then that’s who you become. God sends no one to hell. People choose it because they have an aversion to God and the things of God. So the more we choose sin, the more our aversion grows which if unchecked is deadly. That is why Jesus says: If your eye or hand cause you to sin, cut it off, because sin will kill you.

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Testimony of St. Faustina (Diary 741)

“Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is!”

Then she describes the suffering of Hell that last forever. Afterward she writes: “I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like. I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing….But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell.”

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April 25th 1983 it is reported that Our Lady gave this message at Medjugorje

Be converted! It will be too late when the sign comes. Beforehand, several warnings will be given to the world. Have people hurry to be converted. I need your prayers and your penance. My heart is burning with love for you. It suffices for you to be converted. To ask questions is unimportant. Be converted. Hurry to proclaim it. Tell everyone that it is my wish, and that I do not cease repeating it. Be converted, be converted…I beg you to be converted. I will pray to my Son to spare you the punishment. Be converted without delay.

I had the privilege of studying under Fr. Rene Laurentin, the most important investigator of Medjugorje. Concerning the ten secrete of Medjugorje and the need for conversion he wrote this: “The first three secrets are of warnings, in order to invite conversion, before it is too late. They are undoubtedly, in part dramatic, in part positive. The first two warnings could be catastrophes…which would make one reflect…but this is also positive because they will encourage people to believe. The third is a sign of hope…it will be on the hill of the apparition, visible to everyone. It will be given to unbelievers as a last chance for conversion. Believers do not need it. The seers say they know the date.” 

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The message from Jesus and the reported message of Our Lady at Medjugorje is simple but clear: Be Converted and do not delay. But why would we want to delay? It is easy to see that the sin of other people destroys our happiness. Well, our own sin also destroys our happiness. Pride, vain ambition, envy, sloth, anger, greed, gluttony, lust, dishonesty, gossip, etc. is destructive of the good we need to be happy. Sin destroys happiness and once we make sin into a habit, now we have a vice that makes a vicious. Virtues are the good actions that get us the good things we need to make us happy. It’s simple – vice destroys happiness. Virtue make one happy.

Now is the time of conversion. God is pouring out all the grace necessary. There is more than enough grace available. Pray for the grace – “Come Holy Spirit, reveal to us the sins and vices that keep us from happiness and convert us because we are too weak and too attached to our sins to convert ourselves.”

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you your vices and sins, make an honest and fearless examination of conscience, and go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation where Jesus will give you the grace and healing for conversion.