Chapter 6: Questions #11-13

1/31/2013

Please answer these questions using the Comment section:
11. There is a lot that is covered in the last part of this chapter under COMMUNION OF SAINTS and the AFTER LIFE. What questions does it raise for you? (It must, because it is far too simplistic to seem like our entire earthly life is headed toward this).

12. Under SO WHAT? What do you make of the notion that “Eternal life or salvation is not an individual goal but is a social reality.” How does that change how you live with other people and in the world? How does it change how you relate to those who have gone before you?

13. Under the LAST JUDMENT sidebar there is talk about individual and general judgment. First, does this raise any questions for you? Second, keep this image in mind when we talk about Sacraments. For now, I have talked about individual/face to face confession and Parish Reconciliation Services.

For those who are already baptized and have experienced the sacrament of reconciliation, can you relate the sidebar descriptions to that sacrament?

10 Comments

Lora link

2/3/2013 05:00:17 am

I feel blessed that others pray for me and that I have the opportunity to pray for others. I use to think of Purgatory as a place of punishment. I now believe it is another gift from God that allows us to be cleansed of our sins and leads us to heaven. What a gift of mercy this is from our Father.
12. If we truly believe in what Jesus teaches us, we glady hope that all souls will go to heaven. Our readings this pass week emphasize that the greatest of all is love and what greater love to have for one another is to pray for the salvation of someone's soul.
13. Reconciliation makes me strive to live a more moral life. When I know I must go to confession and tell a priest my sins, it makes me think twice before sinning. In confession, no matter how unworthy I am, God forgives me my sins and gives me hope. To me, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is truly a gift.

Jay

2/4/2013 01:31:59 am

I enjoyed reading these responses from you and felt we shared the most in common-talk here.

Carla

2/4/2013 12:57:57 am

11) The main question it raises in me is: Who goes to Purgatory?

12) The notion that "Eternal life or salvation is not an individual goal but is a social reality." does not make sense to me. It doesn't change how I live with other people and in the world because I always try to treat others the way I'd like to be treated. It won't change how I relate to those who've gone before me because I've always believed that their soul lives on.

13) The talk about individual and general judgment makes me wonder why there has to be a general judgment. How many times does Christ have to return in glory?

2/4/2013 01:35:38 am

#11, simply put those not ready to meet God face to face immediately upon death would be in Purgatory, minus whoever might be immediately in hell. #12 and #13 go together and that's why it's important to understand how the individual and the communal go together in Catholicism. Remember, all liturgical celebrations are communal--we celebrate what is true for all of us at the same time our souls and conscience are unique to each individual. Again, NOT like a gym. You don't go to a gym for the health of the person next to you. But you DO go to church/join Christ's Body for the good of all.

Ray

2/4/2013 09:55:24 am

11. What will heaven be like and will I do enough to make it there? Will I go to heaven or will I have to go to Purgatory first. Knowing that Hell is not imposed upon me by God but it is a choice I made by rejecting God’s love is a lot of pressure especially with all that goes on in the world. Will I be tempted and will I reject it and stay faithful to my love for him!!

12. This still has me reading it over and over pondering the “so what” , so I guess excepting salvation and eternal live by learning from God’s greatest gift his Son and all that Jesus has done for us is the lesson of fellowship as sharing the love God has for us. The example of all the good things that someone has done for us and others serve as a positive reinforcement and example how I can be better person and understand the love they shared with me and pass it on.
13. When I think about the evolution of man/human from being in your mother womb to birth to being and all the stages in between and making into old age and dying and the generation to generations of those who have passed before me it is some sense the same with the process of our eternal live. God creates us in his image which shows his love for us by our life on earth to spread his love in hopes that we share it with all he has created and to enjoy all his gifts he has provided for us.
On judgment day by excepting and returning his love despite all of our shortcomings and all the experience, and pain and suffering we may have encountered on earth will be wiped away for acknowledging a deeper closer relationship with him the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit!!

Sorry if I ramble to much could help myself!!

2/5/2013 03:18:24 am

Not rambling. It's good to hear you open up. Would it help to think of salvation, indeed God's love as entirely unmerited? Yes, we do things that displease God and others, but the very fact of your existence at all is an expression of God's love for what he intended in the universe to be and not (at that primary level) a matter of your choice. We exist (and our personal choices and freedom) within a world that is entirely eclipsed by God's love. It is hard to stay on the path of the straight and narrow, but God's love truly surrounds us.

Patti

2/6/2013 02:31:41 am

One of my thoughts is about pergatory. I guess I didn't realize the significance of it and that most people do go there first? To me it sounds scarey, but I enjoyed reading Lora's comment and will try to start thinking of it like that. I always thought that God would know if you are a good person worthy of eternal life even before you die or right when you die and that he forgives our sins while we are still alive. Another question I have is when/if we make it to heaven do we meet God, all the Saints, in the sense of actually seeing them and being able to talk to them. Do we all look the same as we did here? Or is it something different?
12.Before learning about catholicism. I just assumed all good people went directly to heaven. I didn't know much about pergatory or that my words and actions can help aid others to heaven. Makes me want to be better towards other, love more, and pray more for those who have passed.
13. No questions at this time.

2/6/2013 04:03:20 am

Remember that from God's point of view, time is not experienced in the same way as it is for us. We think of the time between purgatory and heaven as a gap between finally making it (or being saved). But for God, whose unconditional love is always present and offered to us, we are always in God's love.
Regarding what will we be like in reference to our bodies, we don't quite know. We know, from our experience with the Risen Christ, that we do have bodies (we are not just ghostly spirits). We know that they are both recognizable (they knew it was the Lord), but different (able to enter into a room even though the doors were closed, disappeared from sight, etc.) So the simplest thing we know is that we will have a "glorified body" through which and by which we will see one another (including God) face to face.

jeff

2/6/2013 06:59:29 am

11.) So...if your not baptized or believe in a god, does this mean you will go to hell or purgatory?..

12.) I don't think it changes the way i live with people. I just try to do whats right, everybody is different and will choose what they want to do.

13.) ????..

2/6/2013 07:26:16 am

#11, no that isn't the conclusion I would draw. Purgatory is for those not ready to immediately see God face to face. Hell is the possibility of being in the absence of God for eternity because of our free will to do so. (Notice it's a possibility,though the church has never said definitively that people are there).
#12 Everyone in the group seems to have difficulty with this statement about social reality and not individual event. If you are only paying attention to religion as a concept in your head then you don't really get the experience of God in your life and how being a catholic matters to the other people in the world. #13 Don't worry about this right now except to note the distinction between general and individual. Perhaps that will help you understand the difference between individual goal and social reality as well, or the difference between a club/gym for individual health and the church concerned for the well-being of all humanity.

Chapter 6: Questions #11-13

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