Adult Catechism Class HEAVEN, PURGATORY AND HELL

Adult Catechism Class HEAVEN, PURGATORY AND HELL

OUTLINE OF CLASS Review Opening Prayer The Context of Judgement Hell Purgatory Heaven

OPENING PRAYER Parable of: The Rich Man and Laz arus Luke 16: 19 31 "There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Laz'arus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Laz'arus in his bosom. And he called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Laz'arus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.'

OPENING PRAYER But Abraham said, `Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Laz'arus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, `Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, `No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'" The Word of the Lord

THE CONTEXT OF JUDGEMENT In the beginning Created in the image and likeness of God Created good with free will Rebellion chose evil over good The fall CONSEQUENCES of humanity s decision Death entered the world Judgement Outside of the full relationship with God

THE CONTEXT OF JUDGEMENT God intends that all that he has created is restored to right relationship with Him God does not take away free will We will all face bodily death CCC 1021 Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ.

THE CONTEXT OF JUDGEMENT Particular Judgement and the Final Judgement Particular Judgement The Catholic doctrine of the particular judgment is this: that immediately after death the eternal destiny of each separated soul is decided by the just judgment of God. Although there has been no formal definition on this point, the dogma is clearly implied in the Union Decree of Eugene IV (1439), which declares that souls leaving their bodies in a state of grace, but in need of purification are cleansed in Purgatory, whereas souls that are perfectly pure are at once admitted to the beatific vision of the Godhead (ipsum Deum unum et trinum) and those who depart in actual mortal sin, or merely with original sin, are at once consigned to eternal punishment, the quality of which corresponds to their sin (paenis tamen disparibus). http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08550a.htm

THE CONTEXT OF JUDGEMENT Particular Judgement Theologians suppose that the particular judgment will be instantaneous, that in the moment of death the separated soul is internally illuminated as to its own guilt or innocence and of its own initiation takes its course either to hell, or to purgatory, or to heaven (Summa Theologica Supplement 69:2, 88:2(St. Thomas Aquinas) ). http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08550a.htm

THE LAST JUDGEMENT Tryptic from Flemish Master depicting the vision in the book of revelation

THE CONTEXT OF JUDGEMENT Final Judgement Universal Judgement CCC 1038 The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust, (Acts 24:15) will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. (Jn 5:28-29) Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him... Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left... and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Mt 25:31) http://www.vatican.va/archive/eng0015/ P2P.HTM

THE CONTEXT OF JUDGEMENT The central question: How have we lived our life according to the love of God made manifest in Christ? CCC 1039 In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man's relationship with God will be laid bare. (Jn 12:49) The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life http://www.vatican.va/archive/eng0015/ P2P.HTM

THE CONTEXT OF JUDGEMENT We do not know the hour nor the day of the return of Christ in the second coming. (See CCC 1040) Living our lives pointed toward heaven and recognizing the need for integrity (wholeness) in living out what we profess. Living our lives in the process of conversion metanoia - a turning to the love and presence of God. We do know all of history is pointed toward the final restoration and the universal judgement.

HOPE OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH 1042 At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. the universe itself will be renewed: The Church... will receive her perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ. 629 1043 Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, "new heavens and a new earth." 630 It will be the definitive realization of God's plan to bring under a single head "all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth." 631 http://www.vatican.va/archive/eng0015/ P2Q.HTM

HOPE OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH Jesus came to restore all things, in Himself, to the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit it is ALWAYS IN JESUS! See I make all things NEW

HOPE OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH John 3:13-21 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.

HELL John Paul II states in address in 1999: 1. God is the infinitely good and merciful Father. But man, called to respond to him freely, can unfortunately choose to reject his love and forgiveness once and for all, thus separating himself for ever from joyful communion with him. It is precisely this tragic situation that Christian doctrine explains when it speaks of eternal damnation or hell. It is not a punishment imposed externally by God but a development of premises already set by people in this life. The very dimension of unhappiness which this obscure condition brings can in a certain way be sensed in the light of some of the terrible experiences we have suffered which, as is commonly said, make life "hell". http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm

HELL John Paul II continues: In a theological sense however, hell is something else: it is the ultimate consequence of sin itself, which turns against the person who committed it. It is the state of those who definitively reject the Father's mercy, even at the last moment of their life. http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm

IMAGES OF HELL Hell is a state of Eternal Damnation The New Testament: presents the place destined for evildoers as a fiery furnace, where people will "weep and gnash their teeth" (Mt 13:42; cf. 25:30, 41), or like Gehenna with its "unquenchable fire" (Mk 9:43). All this is narrated in the parable of the rich man, which explains that hell is a place of eternal suffering, with no possibility of return, nor of the alleviation of pain (cf. Lk. 16:19-3 1). http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm

IMAGES OF HELL 3. The images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather* than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy. This is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the truths of faith on this subject: "To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called 'hell'" (n. 1033). http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm

PURGATORY Purgation 1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. 1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

PURGATORY It is a last mercy of God the Father It is scripturally based The assurances of heaven are given to the soul The Catechism states:

PURGATORY 1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." 607 From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. 608 The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead: Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them. 609

PURGATORY John Paul II continues: In following the Gospel exhortation to be perfect like the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5: 48) during our earthly life, we are called to grow in love, to be sound and flawless before God the Father "at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints" (1 Thes 3: 12f.). Moreover, we are invited to "cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit" (2 Cor 7: 1; cf. 1 Jn 3: 3), because the encounter with God requires absolute purity. http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm

PURGATORY AND COMMUNIO 6. One last important aspect which the Church's tradition has always pointed out should be reproposed today: the dimension of "communio". Those, in fact, who find themselves in the state of purification are united both with the blessed who already enjoy the fullness of eternal life, and with us on this earth on our way towards the Father's house (cf. CCC, n. 1032). Just as in their earthly life believers are united in the one Mystical Body, so after death those who live in a state of purification experience the same ecclesial solidarity which works through prayer, prayers for suffrage and love for their other brothers and sisters in the faith. Purification is lived in the essential bond created between those who live in this world and those who enjoy eternal beatitude. http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm

HEAVEN

HEAVEN We have arrived!!!! 1023 Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they "see him as he is," face to face: 596 1024 This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called "heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness. 1025 To live in heaven is "to be with Christ." the elect live "in Christ," 598 but they retain, or rather find, their true identity, their own name. 599 For life is to be with Christ; where Christ is, there is life, there is the kingdom. 600

HEAVEN 1026 By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has "opened" heaven to us. the life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ. It is THROUGH JESUS that we enter into heaven. It is where we are made most complete We will know one another and will be in communion with one another redeemed by Jesus

HEAVEN Asking the intercession of the saints (those who are in Heaven) Like asking a friend to pray for you We are in communion with the saints The Kingdom of God! John Paul II on heaven: 4. After the course of our earthly life, participation in complete intimacy with the Father thus comes through our insertion into Christ's paschal mystery. St Paul emphasizes our meeting with Christ in heaven at the end of time with a vivid spatial image: "Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thes 4:17-18). http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm

HEAVEN John Paul II continues: 5. This final state, however, can be anticipated in some way today in sacramental life, whose centre is the Eucharist, and in the gift of self through fraternal charity. If we are able to enjoy properly the good things that the Lord showers upon us every day, we will already have begun to experience that joy and peace which one day will be completely ours. We know that on this earth everything is subject to limits, but the thought of the "ultimate" realities helps us to live better the "penultimate" realities. We know that as we pass through this world we are called to seek "the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Col 3:1), in order to be with him in the eschatological fulfilment, when the Spirit will fully reconcile with the Father "all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (Col 1:20).

POINTS TO CONSIDER Created in relationship for relationship Through Christ humanity is saved Heaven, Hell and Purgatory Could be less considered a place as we know it but a state of being Images are given to us to help us begin to comprehend the reality which is a mystery The Kingdom of God is Jesus We begin our heaven or our hell HERE!

NEXT CLASS MARCH 20 (not the 14 th ) Social Justice (CCC # 1928-1986) The social teachings of the Church Closing prayer Our Father Blessing