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Few Are Chosen? Death and Judgment Explained | Fr. Ripperger on the Last Four Things — Transcript

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0:00[music]
0:09[music]
0:09[singing]
0:13[music]
0:19[music]
0:26>> In the name of the Father and of the Son
0:28and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
0:30Direct O Lord all our actions by thy
0:32holy inspirations and carry them on by
0:34thy gracious assistance. So that every
0:36prayer and work of ours may begin from
0:38thee and by thee be happily through
0:39Christ our Lord. Amen.
0:41Mother of divine grace.
0:44In the name of the Father and of the Son
0:46and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
0:49As you probably know the topic for the
0:51mission is actually the last four
0:53things.
0:54I would never presume to be as good as
0:56this as some other preachers or even to
0:59be anywhere close to say someone like
1:01St. Alphonsus Liguori who covers these
1:04specific topics or some of the other
1:06books on like hell and things of that
1:09sort. But there are a few things that I
1:10think today especially as Catholics we
1:13need to pay close attention to because
1:15there's certain errors that are kind of
1:17cropping up but then also just to drive
1:20certain things home to give ourselves
1:21more
1:22a more serious look especially during
1:24Lent
1:25about how we behave in relationship to
1:29our final end. In that sense I mean you
1:32know whether we end up in heaven or in
1:33hell.
1:35Today there is an awful lot so if we
1:37just talk I'm going to do tonight I'm
1:39going to do death and judgment.
1:42And then tomorrow we'll do hell and then
1:43on Sunday during the homilies I'll do
1:45heaven.
1:47But I want to talk about death first.
1:50There is an enormous amount of
1:52presumption
1:53on the side of a lot of Catholics today
1:56that simply presume a few things.
1:59One of them is that God is always going
2:02to give you the grace at the last moment
2:03so that if you just you just don't worry
2:05about it. God's going to give you the
2:06grace and then at that moment you just
2:08seize onto it and then you're going to
2:09skate right into heaven. That is not at
2:11all how this works. The saints are
2:13actually very clear. They talk about how
2:15you live is how you die.
2:18And so if you are in the habit if you
2:19have habitual sin I'm going to talk that
2:21a little bit about that a little bit
2:22later. But if you're in the habit of
2:24doing a habitual kind of a sin that is
2:26going to be plaguing you up until the
2:28hour of your death.
2:30The other part of it is St. Alphonsus
2:32Liguori says that there are certain
2:34times there are certain
2:36people that when they commit enough
2:39mortal sins God says that's enough. Now
2:41we don't know how many that is
2:42particular individual but usually it's a
2:44person who's leading a hardened life of
2:47mortal sin.
2:48That God at that point says that's
2:50enough and he retracts his grace and
2:52basically the person is not going to
2:54make it to heaven.
2:55And the way that you one of the signs
2:57that you can see this and we see this
2:58with certain politicians. I'm not going
2:59to name them. I'm sure you can come up
3:01with a longer list than I probably
3:02could.
3:04Uh is the fact that they tend to do evil
3:08things without any remorse or well
3:10without any contrition or without any
3:13purpose of amendment. We see them doing
3:15certain things even though they claim to
3:17be Catholic and yet at the same time
3:19they're actually doing things that no
3:21good Catholic would ever do and they
3:23keep doing it over and over and over
3:24again and there's no indication that
3:26they're actually receiving the grace of
3:28repentance. This is one of the signs or
3:30indicators of it.
3:32But the other presumption too is is is
3:34that
3:35uh you know in the last hours I
3:37mentioned that everyone is just going to
3:40go to heaven anyway. It's you know
3:42universal salvationism which is actually
3:44a condemned heresy. That there that that
3:47is simply not the case case. In fact we
3:49actually know it is actually directly
3:51from our Lord's mouth when he said, you
3:53know, "Many are called but few are
3:56chosen." Chosen means the elect and the
3:58elect are those who God chooses to come
3:59with him into heaven. And so it's the
4:02the number of people that are actually
4:03saved is relatively few.
4:06Everyone just thinks, "Well, I'm a nice
4:07guy. I you know, I'm I'm a good guy. I'm
4:09I you know, even though he's living with
4:11his girlfriend or whatever the case is,
4:12he just thinks that he's just going to
4:14skate right in.
4:16One of the problems that we actually
4:17have
4:20revolves around a particular aspect of
4:22the natural law. St. Thomas says that we
4:25have a natural inclination to judge
4:27ourselves as good.
4:29Now, this is a necessary thing because
4:31if we didn't have that, we would
4:32actually be doing evil things against
4:35ourselves. Even when people do evil,
4:38it's usually because there's something
4:39that they're going to benefit from.
4:42The problem with that is after original
4:44sin and because of our own actual sin,
4:48now we have the problem of that that
4:50judgment about our self goes to excess.
4:53We think we are better than we actually
4:55are. Most people, if you ask them and
4:57start probing them about, you know,
4:59"Where do you think you're going to
5:00stand at your judgment in relationship
5:02to God?" Most of them think, "Well, I'll
5:03probably do okay." You know, not
5:05realizing that God is an exacting God.
5:09He is going to His justice is infinite
5:12and it's absolute and it's it's the type
5:15of thing that it is so exacting
5:17that it doesn't any defect you have is
5:21going to come to light at that time,
5:23which we'll talk about that later.
5:25But the point I'm drawing out in this is
5:26that if you read the saints especially,
5:29most of them actually consider part of
5:30divine revelation that the number of
5:32people that are saved is relatively few.
5:34In fact, you can read the book by St.
5:36Leonard of Port Maurice who actually
5:38talks about the relatively few that are
5:40saved.
5:41This is not to inspire fear or despair,
5:44but to motivate one to take your
5:47um spiritual life seriously.
5:49Because everybody thinks that oh, I'm a
5:51good person. I'm just going to skate
5:52into heaven. Or they just happen to
5:54believe in universal salvation isn't
5:55that everybody is saved, which is
5:57actually not the case.
5:59Because they believe that they don't
6:01worry about death.
6:04Because at death certain things happen
6:06and they're not really thinking much
6:07about it cuz they think well, I'm just
6:08going to after death I'm just going to
6:10God's going to just usher me right into
6:11heaven.
6:13It's shocking
6:15in a certain sense
6:16of how little attention and importance
6:20people give to their final destination.
6:23It's so they're so wrapped up in this
6:25world and they're so worldly that it
6:27gives you an actual sense that people
6:30have gotten to the point where the full
6:33daughter of lust has now taken a hold of
6:36people generally worldwide.
6:39Saint Thomas says that lust, which is a
6:41capital sin, has eight daughters.
6:44The final daughter is hatred of God,
6:46which we see among some people. But the
6:49one right before that, so as you go down
6:52descend down the daughters of lust, so
6:54it starts with precipitation and
6:55consideration just goes down where the
6:57person's judgment gets affected. It gets
6:59to the point though on the the second of
7:01the last one is love of this life.
7:05Where people are focusing so much on
7:07this life, they're not even thinking
7:08about what am I going to spend the rest
7:10of eternity
7:12doing?
7:14Think about it.
7:16Every single action you perform here
7:21raises or lowers
7:23your virtue
7:26and it raises
7:27or lowers or removes
7:30your It doesn't actually lower, but it
7:31actually can remove the actual grace in
7:34your soul.
7:35Every single thing you do. Now, think
7:38about this.
7:39In heaven, people will actually see your
7:43soul.
7:44In your soul is your state of grace. In
7:47your soul is your virtue for all
7:48eternity. You are fashioning what people
7:51will see about you for the rest of
7:53eternity
7:55when they look at you. That's what
7:56they're going to see.
7:57That's why this world is this this life
7:59is so serious and so important.
8:03In fact, the saints always said that
8:04death is of the utmost importance
8:06because in the end it determines
8:09the eternal destiny of the individual.
8:12After you die, it's over. It's locked
8:15in. You will never change from that
8:17point on. You'll either have
8:19goodwill for the rest of all eternity
8:20and you'll be perfected in purgatory and
8:22have heaven or you'll be in hell for the
8:23rest of eternity. There is no changing.
8:27There is a heresy called apocatastasis
8:31which holds that in the end all the
8:35people in hell will actually be given a
8:36grace of repentance and so there will be
8:38a restoration of all of God's creation
8:40to the good.
8:42That was formally condemned by the
8:44church. You hear people talking about
8:46this that oh, well, in the end, you
8:48know, the the the the demons and the
8:49people in hell, they're going to they're
8:51going to repent.
8:53Pope Vigilius formally condemned this
8:55proposition.
8:57He said, "If anyone says or holds that
8:59the punishment of the demons and the
9:01impious men is of for a time and their
9:04end sometime in the future is restored
9:06and reintegrated and the demons and
9:07impious men anathema sit."
9:11Death
9:12stops, permanently locks your will in
9:16either the good or the bad.
9:18It see all ability to merit a higher
9:21place in heaven ends with death.
9:24Your ability to determine what virtues
9:27you're going to have for the rest of
9:28eternity, your ability to determine how
9:30much sanctifying grace you're going to
9:31have in your soul comes to an end and is
9:33locked in at that moment at death.
9:38Now, we know that the demons desire our
9:39damnation out of hatred for God.
9:42And they have the they envy are the
9:44possibility that we have of being able
9:47to have a beatific vision.
9:49They hate us for it.
9:51Part of it is is that because it goes to
9:53their principle of anything but God.
9:55Therefore, they will stop at nothing to
9:57prevent us from getting into uh to
9:59getting into heaven, especially, the
10:01saints tell us,
10:02at the hour of our death.
10:05I mentioned it before, how you live is
10:08how you're going to die. I've seen it
10:10over and over again when you anoint
10:12people.
10:14You see it like like just uh this was
10:16about 2 years ago. I was actually in
10:20uh
10:21in um
10:23uh in California, out in the desert. And
10:26I was at this one town, and I'm walking
10:28with a friend of mine, and we're go
10:30we're about to go to get something to
10:31eat, and this woman stops, and she says,
10:34"Father, I can't believe you're here."
10:36Now, she doesn't know who I am, but she
10:38just said, "Father, I can't believe
10:39you're you're here." And so, she
10:41recounts the story about this guy who's
10:43dying, and the all the priests were gone
10:44in a retreat, and so, they had no one to
10:46anoint this guy.
10:49So, I said, "Okay, what's the address?"
10:50And we we met immediately there to
10:52actually do the anointing. When we get
10:54there,
10:55this guy died the way he lived. He was a
10:58very very devout soul
11:01who spent his whole life living his
11:03Catholic faith and adhering to what the
11:05church said.
11:06And as a result,
11:08God made sure on his deathbed he got to
11:12receive the sacraments that he had
11:13continually received over and over again
11:16before uh in his lifetime. How you live
11:19is how you die. Nurses will sometimes
11:22recount how if a guy is known for
11:23vulgarity and profanity, on his deathbed
11:25he's he's using vulgarity and profanity.
11:28The people who are very devout, that's
11:30the way they're actually going to die.
11:33And so, how you live is actually how
11:35you're going to die.
11:37I'll give you another example, my own
11:38grandfather.
11:40When my grandfather died, my mother
11:42or my grandmother called my father and
11:44said, "You better come up here right
11:46right away." Now, if you know anything
11:47about my grandmother, she was a woman of
11:49gravitas. You just If she said
11:51something, you knew you had to be paying
11:53attention to it.
11:55So, he closed up the shop. He go He
11:56drives up there and he comes in the
11:58front door and she's standing there and
11:59she and she says, "What's what's wrong?"
12:01She said,
12:02"Uh Lloyd, that's my grand grandfather.
12:05Um I've got the food made for dinner and
12:07Lloyd doesn't want to come in here."
12:09So, he goes in. Now, you have to
12:11remember, before this, my grandfather
12:15actually had
12:17his whole life had had a strong devotion
12:19to Our Lady. Even when he was older, if
12:21he couldn't actually wear a scapular, he
12:23would pin it to his lapel so that he
12:25would actually have it always on his
12:27body.
12:28When he went to actually my my my father
12:30walked into the bedroom and said, uh you
12:33know, uh mom wants you to come in. He
12:35says, "Yeah, I know, but I I'm just too
12:36tired. I just want to lay down."
12:39So, my dad says, "Well, why don't you
12:40lay down?" He said, "I can't move my
12:41legs."
12:43So, my dad said, "Well, I'll tell you
12:43what.
12:44Now, before we get going a little bit
12:46further,
12:48my grandfather and my father worked
12:50around each other for almost 80 years.
12:54Uh not now, 80. It would have been 70 at
12:56that point. 70 years. They worked around
12:58each other every single day. And my
13:01father was his only son.
13:04When
13:05they went to die, my grandmother or my
13:08grand Sorry, my grandfather, my father
13:10picked up his legs, laid him down,
13:13and
13:14he let out a short breath, and all of a
13:15sudden, he looks up into the corner of
13:18the room and says, "Yes."
13:21Almost like
13:22I'm finally at the end. I can move on.
13:25And he literally dies the next moment.
13:28We're convinced he actually saw Our
13:29Lady. Our grandmother actually had been
13:31given a grace a week before indicating
13:34that he was going to die, which is a
13:35common grace given to people who have
13:38say the rosary every day, which she did
13:39and my grandfather did. How you live
13:41then means is how you're going to die
13:43that Our Lady will give you the grace to
13:44know when your death is approaching so
13:46that you can prepare.
13:49>> [sighs]
13:50>> God then therefore determines the day
13:53and the hour of your death. He has
13:55already determined it.
13:57He already knows how long he's going to
13:59how long he's going to let you be in
14:00this life.
14:02I mentioned before that how long you're
14:04alive actually determines how far of
14:05high of a place in heaven you can get in
14:07the virtues that you can adorn your soul
14:09with so that you appear beautiful to
14:11other people. All of us
14:13have a natural desire to be beautiful in
14:15the eyes of other people.
14:18Even people who are ugly think they're
14:19actually beautiful, which they're not.
14:22The good news is when we get our bodies
14:23back at the resurrection, they actually
14:24will be beautiful.
14:27For some of us that's pretty good news.
14:29Okay.
14:31The point being is is that we have a
14:33natural inclination to be pleasing to
14:34others' sight by being beautiful.
14:38But your soul is going to be the primary
14:40thing through which the refulgence in
14:41the resurrected body, which we'll talk
14:43about on Sunday when we get that back,
14:46the perfections in your soul will shine
14:48through your body. That people will
14:50actually see in the beatific vision all
14:53of that I mentioned, the virtues in your
14:54soul.
14:56And so that means that God God loves
15:00variety. And the reason we know God
15:02loves variety is because of the fact
15:03that all you have to do is look at all
15:05the different kinds of bugs he created.
15:07Like there's just a lot of them.
15:09Okay.
15:10And that means he likes to show his
15:12perfections in a variety of different
15:13way. In heaven, there are only two
15:15people.
15:16Actually, I should be more specific.
15:17There's one person
15:19and one divine person with a human
15:21nature that has the plenitude of all of
15:23the virtues. That's our Lord, Jesus
15:26Christ, and our Lady.
15:28Everyone else in heaven has varying
15:30degrees of virtues and perfections and
15:32degrees of sanctifying grace.
15:34And that means that God wants to have
15:36this when when people see heaven, when
15:39they first enter, they're going to see
15:40this complexion of all this variety that
15:42come goes into it's come almost like
15:45seeing a Gothic cathedral with all the
15:47complexity comes together in a simple
15:49beauty you see in it.
15:53But how long you live in this life
15:55determines how much virtue you can
15:57attain.
15:59If you think about it, the reason our
16:00Lady is the one that has the plenitude
16:02of virtues cuz she never sinned and
16:04every single thing she ever did
16:06voluntarily built virtue. Every single
16:10thing she did built virtue and increased
16:13her sanctifying grace.
16:15So, she's just on a different level than
16:17the rest of us. But that also means that
16:18on our part
16:21God wants certain virtues for us as
16:22individuals. The one thing that you
16:24struggle with the most is most likely
16:26the thing that he wants for you to
16:27perfect.
16:29So, if you're struggling with with with
16:30chastity, he wants you to master
16:32chastity. If you're struggling with
16:33anger, he wants you to become meek.
16:35And he wants you to do these things
16:37because in that process then your soul
16:38becomes adorned with these things, but
16:40you only have a certain amount of time.
16:44And how much time? It's it's very
16:45similar like if you're trying to make
16:47money, you only have a certain amount of
16:48time to make a certain amount of money
16:50and it's the same thing here. You only
16:52have a certain amount of time in this
16:54life to determine what your soul is
16:56going to look like for the rest of
16:58eternity.
17:00Cuz death brings an end to it and he
17:02determines that length of time by what
17:04time you're going to actually die.
17:08God is in control.
17:12And it's true that the demons do he does
17:13allow the demons to tempt us, but he
17:14allows them to tempt some people and not
17:17others even at the moment of death. Even
17:20at the moment of death it can be a
17:21struggle.
17:24According to some authors, the
17:25temptations will come long before their
17:27death and others at the time of their
17:29death.
17:30Those who are lukewarm already have a
17:32psychological compatibility with the
17:33demons so that when it comes time for
17:36them to to
17:37to fight at the end, it's going to be
17:39very difficult because they actually
17:41have been giving in to these guys for a
17:43long period of time. And this is why
17:45some people think, "Oh, well, you know,
17:46I'm not living too good of a life now,
17:48but I'll just pull a mea culpa off at
17:50the end of my life." That's just sheer
17:52unadulterated presumption.
17:54You don't know if God's going to give
17:56you the grace in the end. You don't know
17:57when you're going to come.
18:00And that brings up another thing that's
18:02really important.
18:04In the past, one of the worst things in
18:07the minds of the saints that could ever
18:09happen to anybody
18:11was that they died an unprovided a
18:14sudden and unprovided death.
18:18Sudden in the sense if they didn't have
18:20time to repent or to prepare for their
18:21actual passing.
18:24But the what was worse about it is if it
18:26was unprovided, which means they didn't
18:29get the sacraments when they actually
18:31needed them.
18:33And this is one of the things so if it's
18:34sudden and they don't have a chance to
18:36do it, this could happen to you. God can
18:38choose. We see this all the time. People
18:40dying in automobile accidents or in
18:42variety freak accidents. They had no
18:44idea that that was the day that they
18:45were going to die, but that was it.
18:48And so you have to have your soul
18:50prepared at every moment
18:53to meet God cuz you don't know.
18:575 minutes from now could be your time.
18:59I mean, I've been giving lectures and
19:01seeing people, you know, have heart
19:03attacks, right? Not from what I said, of
19:04course, but they had heart attacks
19:08right during the conference. And so you
19:10just don't know when is your time.
19:14And as a result of that, the state of
19:16grace, if you are not in the state of
19:18sanctifying grace, you will spend,
19:20according to the church,
19:22at the time of your death, this is why
19:24death is such a key moment,
19:26everything else that you do is a lead up
19:28to how you die, whether you're going to
19:30die a holy and a
19:32a holy and uh provided death. Okay. This
19:36is one of the reasons why I tell people
19:37do not marry a non-Catholic. I actually
19:39knew a woman who married a non-Catholic.
19:41She was a very devout Catholic, very
19:43devout woman, uh so holy in my
19:46estimation, but her husband was not. He
19:48was an atheist. And so, when she was
19:50dying, she refused to allow the clergy
19:52to come give her the last sacraments.
19:54Now, I personally think that she
19:55actually died in the state of
19:57sanctifying grace. I'm convinced she's
19:58actually in heaven just by the overall
20:00life that she led cuz there were
20:02indicators that she was obviously
20:03receiving grace.
20:05But, this is why who you marry is even
20:07going to impact time of your death
20:08sometimes.
20:12Death determines therefore our place in
20:14heaven or in hell.
20:16If you're in the state of grace, you're
20:17going to go to heaven. You might have to
20:19spend some time in purgatory,
20:21but you're going to end up in uh but if
20:23you don't have sanctifying grace, you're
20:24going to end up in hell.
20:27Everyone has this idea that God loves
20:29everybody and so he's not going to allow
20:30anybody to be damned.
20:33Well, first of all, there is a
20:36distinction
20:37between loving somebody and being
20:39pleased with them. Anybody who has
20:41teenagers knows that distinction.
20:46I love you, but I'm not very pleased
20:47with you at the moment. Okay, it's the
20:49same thing here. What makes you pleasing
20:52to God is sanctifying grace in your
20:53soul. And why? Does it because
20:55sanctifying grace is the participation
20:57in divine nature. When God looks in your
21:01soul, when you have that the quality of
21:02sanctifying grace in your soul, it's a
21:04reflection of him and he is goodness
21:06itself.
21:08And that's why he's pleased with you.
21:11At the moment of your death, that
21:13becomes
21:14fixed. The state of your soul becomes
21:17fixed
21:18with the exception of if you actually
21:20have to spend time in purgatory, you're
21:22going to get purged of certain
21:24imperfections and venial sins, but you
21:27still uh but this the level of your
21:31virtue as I mentioned and your grace
21:32becomes fixed.
21:36Life is short.
21:38You know, when we think about how long,
21:40you know, people actually poopoo the the
21:42idea that men and women actually live to
21:44be 800 years, but they're actually
21:45finding out that from scientific studies
21:47that no, it's actually possible.
21:50If we didn't age, if the telomeres on
21:52the end of our DNA didn't split, we
21:53would actually probably live that long.
21:57Plus we know that before the flood that
21:59the the people were more robust
22:01genetically and plus the there was the
22:03higher barometric pressures, there was
22:05all that the food was actually better
22:06supplied nutrition-wise, etc. And so
22:08people simply lived longer.
22:11And so it even says, God says, "Man sins
22:14too much, so I'm going to shorten his
22:15life."
22:18Then
22:19so he shortens it to 120 years maximum.
22:24Before then, if you think about it,
22:25people think, you know, that that life
22:27seems to go on, especially when you're
22:28younger, it seems like, man, life is
22:29really long, but it's actually not.
22:31Especially in the light of the what we
22:32used to be like.
22:34So for example, I I often say this, when
22:36women tell me that you know, I just had
22:37my second kid, I don't know if I can
22:39have any more kids.
22:40I just tell them, you do you know how
22:41long women were in childbearing years
22:43before the flood?
22:46450
22:48years.
22:50I don't want to hear it.
22:54Okay. In fact, and God even says to Eve,
22:56"I'm going to multiply your
22:57conceptions." This is why we read in the
22:59Old Testament that there were
23:00patriarchs, which is name for
23:01grandfather of cities.
23:05Not towns, cities.
23:08You literally had thousands of people
23:11who had a common ancestor who was still
23:14alive. Okay.
23:16But then God shortens our life, but he
23:18only gives us a certain amount of time,
23:19and that means that for us to reach the
23:21level that we should be really be
23:23reaching cuz God intends for you to
23:26reach a certain level in heaven.
23:29When he created you, he thought to
23:30himself, "I want this person to be at
23:32this level."
23:33And so your job is to do absolutely
23:35everything you can to reach that. And
23:36each sin you commit, you fall short.
23:40Now, there's certain things that you can
23:41do called supererogatory works, which
23:43can get you back up to that.
23:45But God determines by your death how
23:48much time you have to reach that level.
23:53While death is certain, the hour of
23:55death is not certain to us, but it is
23:57fixed into the divine providential plan.
24:00God knows and has chosen the moment of
24:02your death.
24:04So never presume that God will be there
24:06to save you at the hour of your death
24:07unless you have always done everything
24:09you can to remain united to him.
24:13Demons try to do the following according
24:16to the saints and actually just by
24:17general observation to ensure the
24:20greatest success at the time of death
24:22that that you will fall and that you
24:24will not be prepared to face judgment.
24:28And so you could say this is how demons
24:29prepare us for death. So I mentioned how
24:31you live is how you're going to die.
24:34The first thing they're going to do is
24:35try to get you to lead a life of
24:36habitual mortal sin.
24:38That you are that you're just constantly
24:40falling into mortal sin. You might be
24:41getting into confession, but you're
24:42falling right back into sin. Because if
24:43you're doing that, then they know that
24:45they they started to build in you a
24:47compatibility where they can easily take
24:49you down.
24:51They're going to delude you into
24:52thinking that your sins are not that bad
24:55or sins at all.
24:58Demons work on the objective. They don't
25:00care subjectively how you feel.
25:03They know that
25:05ultimately, if you can keep committing
25:07these sins, you might think that you're
25:09not that bad because each time we sin,
25:10we choose something under the aspect of
25:12the good. So, it doesn't seem as bad to
25:14us, but in point of fact, it is
25:16seriously disordered in some cases.
25:19And so, as a result of that
25:21we often think we're not as as bad as we
25:24like to think that we that we actually
25:26are.
25:27They will spend an enormous amount of
25:29time picking and working on you and
25:30putting the things in your head in order
25:32to engender bad habits
25:34which will then make you weak
25:36especially at the time of your death.
25:39This is why you have to do everything
25:40you can to possibly eradicate every
25:42imperfection you have now.
25:46And as if you are weak, it means it's
25:48going to be harder to fight them.
25:50They're going to spend a lot of time
25:52engendering attachments to the things of
25:54this world so that they can more easily
25:56tempt you in the end.
25:59St. Alphonsus Liguori says that there
26:02are three kinds of people that die. The
26:04holy people, they don't care at all
26:06about anything in this life. They're
26:07just They're just focusing and having
26:09this devotion to God and the fact that
26:11they're actually dying.
26:14S-
26:15Then there's evil people. And evil
26:18people are panicking. Their life is
26:19coming to an end. They may or may not
26:21even believe in God, but they just
26:22actually realize that they are not ready
26:25to die.
26:26And then he says there's the mediocre,
26:29the lukewarm. And he says those are the
26:32types of people that spend all the time
26:33before they're dying making sure that
26:34all of their
26:36that their own things that they own go
26:38to certain people and not to others.
26:40They're spending all the time arranging
26:43their exterior goods rather than
26:45worrying about their interior lives.
26:47So, you have to ask yourself, you know,
26:50if you were to die tomorrow, what would
26:51you spend the most amount of time doing?
26:53Making sure that your house goes to your
26:55kids, or would you be actually be
26:56focusing more on
26:58making sure that you're you're you're
27:00going to stand before God.
27:04They want to get us lukewarm about our
27:06spiritual life and sloppy about the
27:08reception of the sacraments.
27:10So that we are less likely to receive
27:12the last rites.
27:15They dilute those around us about how
27:17good we are.
27:18I cannot stand this
27:21eulogizing people from the pulpit once
27:23they're dead.
27:24Cuz I can guarantee you if these people
27:26managed to make it to purgatory, they're
27:27just screaming, "I don't need lords.
27:31I need prayers, right?"
27:38They also try to get us to be wounded or
27:40weak.
27:41So that we are prone to anger and
27:43unforgiveness when we die.
27:47They try to get us to think that God
27:49does not love us.
27:53That we are unsaveable, unredeemable.
27:56We are bad and there's nothing that we
27:58can do. They want they drive
28:00self-condemnation. This is a common
28:02problem among Catholics.
28:04They try to drive despair at least a
28:06weakening hope in him so that we will
28:08not turn to him in our hour of need.
28:11There is a certain sense in which we
28:13just have to let God love us.
28:16And by that I mean in the sense that we
28:19have to let him who wills our good.
28:21That's the definition of love is willing
28:22the good of another.
28:24To will our good so that we are pleasing
28:28to him and as a result of that then we
28:31can be in his sight in peace.
28:36They will block our devotion to the
28:38Blessed Virgin Mary, to St. Michael, our
28:39guardian angel, and the saints precisely
28:41because they don't want us calling upon
28:43them in the last hour.
28:47Then of course they'll get people to
28:49think, "Well, God is all merciful."
28:51Yeah, he is.
28:53In fact, he's infinitely merciful.
28:56But that's because he's infinitely just.
28:59In fact, mercy and justice are identical
29:01in God. Actually, everything's identical
29:03in God cuz he's simple.
29:06But it basically means that God is
29:08merciful to us because he set up the
29:10conditions for mercy in the Old and the
29:12New Testament, which basically means
29:14what? That the people that God has mercy
29:16for as we see in the Old and New
29:18Testament is for the contrite, the
29:21people who are sorry. And why does he
29:22have Why does he have mercy for the
29:24sorrowful? It's because when they see
29:27and when they when they see how evil
29:30when the action was first proposed
29:32before they chose to commit the sin, if
29:35they would have just accepted the fact
29:37that it was evil and saw that it was
29:38evil, they would not have committed the
29:40sin and they would have been just in
29:41God's eyes. But then because they chose
29:44to look at it from a false point of view
29:46and lied to themselves about that this
29:47is okay, and then they ended up
29:49committing the sin,
29:51now the contrition is the inversion of
29:53that. Now they recognize this was bad.
29:56And so as a result of that, God can
29:59mete out the the mercy as a result of
30:02it. So mercy's for the contrite.
30:04And the other group is the stupid.
30:07The fact of the matter is is the reason
30:09why mercy extends to men and not demons
30:11or angels is because of the fact that
30:13they that the angels and demons knew
30:16absolutely everything that they were
30:18doing. They fully comprehended exactly
30:21what they're doing, whereas human beings
30:23are dumb as a bag of hammers.
30:27In fact, it's right in the fall.
30:30See, God asks Eve, "Why did you do
30:32this?" "He deceived me."
30:34Which means
30:36we're not that bright,
30:37right? And so we and that's why God cuts
30:39us slack.
30:41But at a certain point, ignorance is no
30:43excuse.
30:45At a certain point, we're still going to
30:46have to stand before God, and if we
30:48didn't take reasonable means to overcome
30:49our ignorance, then we're going to have
30:51to pay the price for that. We should
30:52have known better.
30:55So, at the hour of our death,
31:00God chooses
31:02not just the hour and the time.
31:04He chooses the manner of your death.
31:08This is ultimately one of the reasons
31:10why suicide is so disordered, because
31:13it's not our place to determine how we
31:15die. It's God's place to determine how
31:17we die.
31:18But historically,
31:21the church always encouraged two things.
31:25One is for us to pray and ask our Lord
31:28for the grace of final penitence
31:32and final perseverance.
31:34Because we we have to have grace to do
31:37that. We cannot persevere to the end,
31:40especially if demons are attacking us or
31:42we're just with our bodily infirmity. We
31:43cannot preserve the end without his
31:46divine aid.
31:48So, we want to have final penitence. I'm
31:50going to give you an example of one of
31:51those that I saw.
31:54One of my best friends in life, when his
31:55wife was dying from cancer,
31:58she was very close to death.
32:01And the priest She'd been anointed, and
32:04the priest um
32:06because it'd been a little while,
32:08the priest asked her. He said, "Penny,
32:11are you sorry for all the sins of your
32:13past life?" At this point, she can't
32:15even open up her eyes. She's just She
32:17can hear, and she can respond.
32:20And she said,
32:21"Absolutely."
32:23And then she died, literally within a
32:25minute or two of that.
32:27And so, her husband
32:30says to me, he says, "Do you think she
32:31was saved?" I'm like,
32:33>> [laughter]
32:33>> that is as good as it gets, right? She
32:36had final penitence and final
32:39perseverance at the moment of her death.
32:41It is what all of us should want for
32:44ourselves.
32:46But that's a really important point
32:47because of the fact that we have to be
32:49sorry in the end. Not because it makes
32:52us look bad, not because we're bad, and
32:54etc., but because we have a offended an
32:57infinitely good God who loves us, and we
32:59are just we offended him by our sins.
33:02Should be final penitence.
33:05The other part of it is the church
33:06always used to encourage a devotion to
33:09the manner of death.
33:11Why would should we have a devotion to
33:13the way in which we die? And it's pretty
33:15straightforward.
33:17It's because of the fact that God
33:19chooses the manner of our death
33:23in order to
33:25uh help us to perfect our last moments
33:29in the process of dying.
33:31He chooses the manner of death in order
33:33for us to gain an greater even higher
33:36perfection, a greater glory.
33:39And so that is why we should have a a
33:41the devotion to because it's ultimately
33:43the way we die God chose for our
33:46spiritual well-being in that moment.
33:50And so we should ask him, "Give me that
33:52devotion
33:53to the manner in which you have chosen
33:55for me to die."
33:58So what should we do at the hour of our
33:59death?
34:01Well, first of all, we have to be
34:03careful because the demons are going to
34:04try and get us to focus in our own
34:05bodily infirmities, going to get us to
34:07try and focus on our misery.
34:09And that we're suffering um or there's
34:11going to be a loss of life, and so they
34:13try to get our focus off of God. It's
34:14going to be very easy to do that, but
34:16then the inversion is actually the case.
34:18That means that we actually want to
34:19focus on God at that moment. He has to
34:21become
34:23the focus.
34:27We also have to
34:29do everything we can
34:32to make sure that we've prepared
34:34ourselves for death when it comes.
34:37As I mentioned, lead a habitual life of
34:39grace, never commit any mortal sin,
34:41and obtain perfection in grace.
34:45And by that I mean that you have a lot
34:46of sanctifying grace in your soul.
34:51God is like a banker. If he puts an
34:53investment in something, he's going to
34:55make sure that that is protected. And
34:58the holier you are, the more grace he's
35:00going to give you. It doesn't mean that
35:01your that your last temptations aren't
35:03going to be strong, but he's going to be
35:05there to make sure that you have the
35:06grace that is necessary, that if you're
35:08faithful to him, you will be saved.
35:11You need to have a healthy sense of
35:13God's justice in relationship to your
35:15sins.
35:16Today, people have a fundamental
35:19misunderstanding about how confession
35:21works.
35:22People have this idea that once they go
35:24to confession and then their sins are
35:26absolved from the will, they just walk
35:28out of there, "Okay, I'm good. Now I can
35:30go straight to heaven." That is not at
35:32all how this works.
35:36When you commit a sin, the sin is in the
35:38will, and that is what is absolved in
35:40absolution.
35:42But the effects of the sin, when you
35:44chose your sin, you cause all sorts of
35:46disorders in yourself, in reality, or
35:48maybe in your family, etc. And you stole
35:50from God his glory. You have to pay that
35:53back. That's what's the temporal
35:55punishment due to sin is, you have to
35:56pay back. But you also have these
35:58disordered faculties now.
36:01That's why you have to work on all the
36:02virtues to make sure that you're
36:03prepared when you die that this is that
36:05you have none of that.
36:09But you have to be careful and to
36:11remember
36:13that
36:14every single sin you commit is going to
36:17require a justice in its reparation.
36:21It's not just enough to go to
36:22confession.
36:24You should, of course,
36:26but in point of fact, you have to make
36:27sure that you're doing everything you
36:28can to atone
36:30for the disorders and for the evil that
36:32you did.
36:34You have to overcome bad habits, vices,
36:35and defects, and then gender virtue.
36:38This will strengthen you to make it
36:39easier to fight off any temptations at
36:41the hour of your death.
36:44And also, it will make you in a position
36:47where that interior discipline that
36:49you've gained through growing in virtue,
36:51the demons will not want to attack you.
36:55I always tell people, you know, look it,
36:56if you had to if you had to go to war
36:59with
37:00a military
37:02uh the other side the the the enemy, you
37:05looked over at your enemy and you saw
37:06one of two kinds of enemies.
37:08You saw one that was chiseled, hardened,
37:11extremely disciplined, very practiced,
37:14made sure that they repeated over and
37:16over again and mastered all of the
37:18aspects of the arts in relationship to
37:19warfare, and they maintained them day in
37:22and day out. They had discipline.
37:26Or
37:27you had to go to war with
37:30a woke military that's talking about
37:32chan- transgenders and it has become a
37:34social experiment. Well, obviously,
37:36you're going to go with the woke group.
37:38It's the same thing with us
37:41in relationship. Demons don't want to
37:43attack the person who is hardened and
37:45chiseled in the discipline in their
37:46interior life.
37:48Any area of your spiritual life that is
37:51not disciplined, that is that there's
37:53not virtue, is an area that is you're
37:56vulnerable when the time comes for
37:58attack.
38:00You have to work on perfect detachment
38:02and perfect charity. You have to get to
38:03the point where you love God and your
38:04neigh- love of neighbor for the sake of
38:07God.
38:08And you have to have perfect detachment.
38:10You've heard me say this here before.
38:11I've said this before but since I when I
38:12was here, you have to have detachment
38:14from your wife, your home, your your all
38:17your money, all your possessions. You
38:19have to have and your children, you have
38:20to have absolute perfect detachment from
38:23them because God is a jealous God. He is
38:26not interested in sharing your love with
38:29anyone, not even your family.
38:33Instead, what he gives to us and once we
38:34have perfect love of him is that the
38:36charity then we love our neighbor for
38:38the sake of God. As a result, then your
38:42love of your wife or your children
38:43becomes perfected. It's actually more
38:46It's actually more affectionate
38:49consistently.
38:50This is why St. Paul says, he doesn't
38:52say love is charity, love is kind.
38:54That's a mistranslation. He says charity
38:56is patient, charity is kind. And when
38:58you have that perfection in charity,
39:00then the actual common life in the
39:02family becomes much more peaceful,
39:05joyful.
39:07You have to maintain that. So that when
39:09you die, the only thing that your will
39:11and your faculties are fixed on is God.
39:15You have to have then you need also need
39:17to get into the habitual, frequent, and
39:19devotional reception of the sacraments,
39:21going to confession on a regular basis.
39:23You If there's any area of your
39:25spiritual life or psychological life,
39:26you have to ask God for healing and
39:28forgiveness in relationship to anything
39:30that you might have done. And forgive
39:32those who have might have caused it.
39:34You obviously have to have a daily
39:37habit of meditation.
39:39You know, the saints would pray
39:40regardless of whether they were tired or
39:41not. There was all stories about Padre
39:43Pio who he would Some of his office
39:45wasn't done and he'd been exhausted.
39:46He'd listen to listen to like 16 hours
39:48of confession in one day. Now, if you
39:50have if you know anything about hearing
39:51confessions, which the priests here do,
39:54it's taxing. Actually having to listen
39:57over and over again to the same stuff
40:00from the same group of people after a
40:01while gets pretty boring.
40:04But you have to do it, right? And you
40:06because there's there's a specific
40:08reason. Sometimes they may confess
40:09something that that needs addressed,
40:11etc. But you actually have to pay
40:12attention. And if you if you any of you
40:14know, if you had to go to your work job
40:16and you had to go for 16 straight hours
40:18without taking your mind off of your
40:19job, you'd be creamed at the end of it.
40:22And yet he still made sure
40:24that his office got in.
40:26And why do you do that? It's because
40:29even if you're exhausted and you're
40:30still in the habit of making sure that
40:32you're giving God his due to your
40:33prayers, when you go to die and you're
40:35not physically you're suffering the
40:36exhaustion of death and you're feeling
40:38like you're going to die, you're still
40:39going to be in the habit of doing that
40:41and still going to maintain your prayer.
40:45You have to maintain devotion to the
40:46Blessed Virgin Mary.
40:49Because ultimately, she's the mediatrix
40:52of all grace.
40:53And the graces at your death are going
40:55to come from her hands.
40:58You should have a devotion to St.
40:59Michael. Actually, St. Michael is the is
41:01the
41:02patron saint
41:04of the elect.
41:06This is actually what his primary
41:08function is not battle. His primary
41:10function is to protect the elect. This
41:13is why the task was given to him. The
41:16first thing that we know that he did,
41:18other than choose to serve God, is that
41:21it was his job to cast the demons out of
41:23heaven. By heaven, we're not talking
41:25about the beatific vision, but in the
41:26presence of those who had been faithful
41:29to God and were the elect.
41:31So, his first job was to do that. Then
41:34he became the uh the guardian angel of
41:37the Israelites because they were they
41:39were, they're not now, they were the
41:41chosen people.
41:43But after as the as the
41:46uh earth father or the church fathers
41:48say, after they apostatized from Christ,
41:51then that
41:53uh his guardianship passed from the Jews
41:57to the members of the Catholic Church.
42:00And that's why they actually have
42:02reference in old manuals and actually in
42:05apparitions of St. Michael leading the
42:08elect person after their judgment who's
42:10been judged worthy of heaven, leading
42:12them into heaven.
42:16And our guardian, we should have a
42:17strong devotion to our guardian angel
42:19and to the saints.
42:21God desires for us to be under his
42:23mercy.
42:25So, don't be stupid.
42:27Make sure you're contrite and be in the
42:28habit of being sorrowful for your sins
42:30so that you have final penitence.
42:34Have perfect confidence in our Lord and
42:35our Lady to provide for you and to
42:37protect you for you at your death.
42:39Depend on them. Do not presume you are
42:42just going to skate in and that you're
42:44okay. You have to get to the point where
42:46you have confidence in them. Our help is
42:48in them, not us.
42:53You can also do the nine first Fridays.
42:55This is something I've recommended over
42:57and over again.
43:00Three people in my family that have
43:02passed because my mom, God bless her,
43:05she's a holy woman, actually,
43:07drugged us to the nine first Friday
43:10devotions. And we did them several times
43:12as we were growing up. And my father
43:14always participated cuz my father was a
43:16very devout Catholic well, so he would
43:17go along with us.
43:19And we did the nine first Fridays. Well,
43:20one of the promises of the nine first
43:22Fridays is not to provide not to die an
43:24unprovided death.
43:26My brother, my first brother that
43:28passed, when he died, five five priests
43:32were on his deathbed.
43:34When my second brother died, he got all
43:37of the sacraments including the
43:39apostolic pardon 15 minutes before he
43:42died.
43:43My father received the last rites the
43:46day he died.
43:48This devotion is real. I knew a man who
43:52actually had a devotion to the Sacred
43:54Heart under that aspect when he was
43:56young and then he kind of fell away from
43:57the faith.
43:59God actually provided a priest at before
44:02he died to be able to go to finally go
44:04to confession.
44:06And so, this devotion works.
44:10And so, I really recommend that you do
44:11it cuz he will make sure you do not
44:13provide die an unprovided death. And an
44:16unprovided death is one when you're in
44:17the state of mortal sin and there's no
44:19means to get it back in.
44:23They used to say that Catholicism is the
44:24hardest to live. And it actually well,
44:26it's gotten pretty soft lately.
44:29But,
44:30I mean, if you look at the if you look
44:32at the fasting rules, just look at the
44:33fasting rules. It's just almost at the
44:35level of the silly. It's not even really
44:37hard.
44:38But, if you looked at the way it used to
44:40be that we used to have a half a lot of
44:41discipline just to be a good Catholic.
44:43But, so they used to say that
44:45uh Catholicism was the easiest to live,
44:47but the or sorry, the easiest wish it
44:50was easiest. It's the hardest to die. I
44:53don't know why I can't talk all of a
44:54sudden.
44:57Catholicism is the hardest to live,
45:00which is true because of the moral code
45:02the church and the church does not
45:04compromise.
45:06But, it's also though the easiest to die
45:09because it prepares you for that moment.
45:13And then when you die, your state
45:15becomes
45:16fixed.
45:17For all eternity, that is what you're
45:19going to be for all eternity.
45:22And that means at that moment when you
45:25die,
45:26what is death?
45:27Death is the actual separation of the
45:30body the soul from the body.
45:34The church has formally defined that the
45:36soul is the substantial form of the
45:39body. What does that mean?
45:41It's your soul that actually makes your
45:43body a human body and not a dog body or
45:46a cat body, despite how some people like
45:49to dress up these days.
45:53It is what makes you be a human being.
45:57When your soul is removed from it, the
45:59substantial form that the thing that
46:01makes this matter be a human body is now
46:04retracted and then as a result of that
46:06now you just have a conglomeration of
46:07chemicals which then dissolve and
46:08dissipate.
46:10Unless you happen to be one of those
46:11people that are incorrupt because of the
46:12whole your holiness of life.
46:16But my point being is is that it's that
46:18that death is when your your soul is
46:20separated from your body. Now, let's be
46:22very clear about something. I just
46:24mentioned that your state of grace is a
46:25quality in your soul. You take that with
46:27you.
46:28Your virtues and your vices are
46:29qualities in the faculties in your soul.
46:32You take those with you.
46:34So, what you take and then of course
46:36your will, which is a purely immaterial
46:38faculty, it doesn't operate through a
46:39bodily organ.
46:41Uh and your part and part of your
46:42intellect, not all of it, part of your
46:44intellect, you actually take that with
46:46you. And how do we know that? Because if
46:47you didn't have if your intellect was
46:48purely physical, when you stood before
46:50God you wouldn't even know what your
46:51judgment is, but we know that's not the
46:52case.
46:54And so you stand before God, you're
46:56brought before God. So, the first thing
46:57is it's it's made clear to you that
46:59you're dying you're dying you're dead
47:00and then you then you stand before him.
47:04Now, you have to understand what this
47:06actually means.
47:09There are three kinds of truth.
47:12There's truth in God, truth in things,
47:14and truth in the created intellect. What
47:16is truth in God? Saint Aug- Saint
47:18Augustine is the one who parsed it out
47:20the most, but it's based on a reflection
47:22on the Gospel of Saint John, the first
47:25the first few chapters which we read in
47:27the old right every single
47:29after every single mass.
47:32And basically what it is is that God the
47:34Father in thinking about himself
47:39perfectly conceives himself.
47:42So, when he thinks about himself, he has
47:43this perfect self-conception.
47:47That perfect self-conception is the
47:50second person of the Blessed Trinity, is
47:51Jesus Christ.
47:53In his divinity.
47:56And then of course the the the Holy
47:59Ghost is then the those that God the
48:01Father and then God the Son in their
48:03mutual love for each other spirates the
48:05Holy Ghost. Okay.
48:08The definition of truth is the
48:10adequation of intellect and thing.
48:13That's his general definition.
48:16The adequation of
48:19intellect and thing. What does that
48:20mean? It means that what's for us what's
48:22in my what's in my mind is the same
48:25thing that's in that's in reality.
48:28So I know the truth. In fact, this is
48:30why I laughed when a particular
48:31politician said, "Well, we might you
48:32might you might have the facts, but we
48:34have the truth." Dude, there's not
48:36separation here.
48:38All right.
48:40And
48:41so
48:42for example
48:43you actually know when I'm looking at
48:45this communion rail, if I say the
48:47communion rail is brown, it's made out
48:49of wood, when you look at it, then if
48:51your mind is in congruity with reality,
48:53then you know I know the truth because
48:55I'm actually telling you what the
48:56reality of the thing is. And so there's
48:58this equality between the the thing in
49:01reality and my mind.
49:03What's in my mind is the same thing
49:05that's in reality, essentially speaking.
49:09That means that in relationship to God
49:12God the Father and God the Son are
49:14absolutely perfect mirror images of God
49:17and that God the Father when he thinks
49:19about
49:19himself and in conceiving himself, that
49:23conception of him
49:25perfectly congruous or is the same as
49:27God the Father
49:29in their natures.
49:31That's what that means. That's why
49:33Christ said, "I am the truth
49:36the way, the truth and the life."
49:39He is literally truth itself because
49:43truth itself is this adequation
49:44intellect and thing and he is the
49:45adequation to God the Father. Okay.
49:50Christ
49:51before he ascends said, "All power on
49:53heaven and earth has been given to me.
49:56That means now it's his place after the
49:59after Christ
50:01hung upon the cross according to the
50:03teaching of the church, he descended
50:05into the hell, which is what they call
50:06the part of limbos. And the part of
50:08limbos is basically where all the people
50:10who died before Christ went and stayed
50:12and waited until Christ actually was
50:15there to pass judgement on them.
50:19So that once he passed the judgement and
50:22this because why? Because
50:25when we judge something or judge someone
50:29our judge is only just if it congrues
50:33with the reality of the situation in
50:35that person. Saint Thomas says that in
50:37judgement we don't judge someone greater
50:40than they are or less than they are but
50:41as they are.
50:43And so Christ who's truth itself we are
50:45literally standing before truth itself
50:48when we die.
50:50That means there's no arguing, there's
50:52no lying, you can't deceive him, there's
50:54no trying to get around it, there's no
50:55making excuses, nothing.
50:58He get He is standing before truth
51:00itself.
51:02Then there's truth in things.
51:05God is omnipotent.
51:07Saint Thomas has this fantastic line
51:09where he says that all God has to do is
51:13think
51:14that a thing exists and boom, it exists.
51:17That's all he has to do, he just has to
51:18think it.
51:20And so what that means is is that things
51:23perfectly congrued with the mind of God
51:26because God's omnipotent. He makes them
51:28exactly as they He intends them to be in
51:31His mind.
51:32And so there's a perfect congruity
51:35the thing itself congrues with what's in
51:38the mind of God.
51:40That means what your soul is, the state
51:44of your soul is the way it is because
51:47God is causing the existence of that.
51:50And therefore, he knows the exact state
51:53of your soul.
51:56Second, third I should say,
51:59is truth in the uncreated mind.
52:01So, as I mentioned, I have to you know,
52:03I have to look at the communion rail and
52:05then from that I see it's made out of
52:07wood and that it's brown and then from
52:09that then I know that my mind is true
52:11because it conforms to reality, not
52:15reality to it. When people start
52:17breaking down become very sinful, they
52:19actually start expecting reality to
52:21conform to them when it's the other way
52:22around.
52:24So, [snorts]
52:25when you stand before God, so if you
52:27think about that, truth itself causes
52:29you to be the way that you actually are
52:30and so he's going to communicate to you
52:32what that is. That's why St. Paul says,
52:35I will be seen as I am seen.
52:40And so, this is something in which we
52:42know that when we stand before God, he
52:44is going to reveal the exact state of
52:47your soul.
52:49Both its state
52:51plus also all the merit and all the
52:54blame that you have that's coming to
52:56your will.
52:57What you did in this life.
53:00Hence,
53:02there's no ability on the side of the
53:03soul to deny the truth that God reveals
53:05about him nor his eternal judgment.
53:09So, let's back up.
53:11That means that God's justice is
53:14absolute in that moment. Once you die,
53:16there is no more mercy.
53:19You're either not going to need it
53:20because you're going to go to heaven, go
53:21to purgatory, get purified and go to
53:23heaven or you're not going to get it cuz
53:25you're going to go to hell as a result
53:26of it.
53:30And he's going to reveal to you the
53:31exact state of your soul.
53:35There is a priest that actually died and
53:38I think it's it's an authentic case of
53:39somebody who actually died and went to
53:40the judgment seat of God. And he's he
53:42said as he as God is telling him about
53:44himself, he says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah,
53:46yeah, there's no denying it."
53:49And there's no pleading your case. It's
53:51over. The time of mercy is over.
53:54That's what death brought.
53:58And this
53:59God reveals the state of your soul. But
54:03then, he also then assigns, as a result
54:06of that,
54:07justice is that you either go to heaven
54:09or hell. If you're in the state of
54:11grace,
54:12that means that as a matter of justice,
54:15not in the strict sense, but they call
54:16it a kind of an in sense of a congruity,
54:19God will actually then says, as a result
54:21of that, you deserve the reward of
54:23coming to heaven.
54:26If you're not in the state of grace,
54:29then he's going to reveal to you the sin
54:31for which you are damned,
54:34or sins,
54:36and there's no denying it.
54:38According to the dreams of St. John
54:40Bosco,
54:41he would see the souls of the damned
54:44running headlong into the fires of hell,
54:47running
54:48into the fires of hell.
54:50And the reason they would run is they
54:51said, uh what one actual soul said
54:55in relationship to
54:57uh that had was in purgatory and
54:59appeared to a saint. And the saint said,
55:03"Wouldn't you rather be in heaven?"
55:05And the soul said, "I would rather spend
55:07an eternity
55:09in purgatory or in hell than a single
55:13instance in the sight of God with the
55:15slightest
55:17blemish on our soul. Why? Because that
55:20slight blemish, if you have a if you had
55:24a
55:25big pimple on your nose, it's
55:28embarrassing.
55:31Everyone's seeing the state of your
55:32soul, so this the slightest blemish
55:34would cause tremendous shame.
55:37And so, they literally are running away
55:39from it. Shame is defined as fear of
55:40being perceived as lowly. They're
55:42literally running to get away from God
55:43because and we've I've even seen this in
55:45session in relationships with demons,
55:47just the idea that God sees them in
55:49their loneliness is
55:51brutally crushing.
55:56And as a result, their eternal judgment
55:57is given and the person recognizes this
55:59is absolutely just. I deserve this.
56:03There's no, I got put in hell and I
56:04didn't deserve this. Now, sometimes they
56:06they you know, I'm sure that people try
56:07and act like they do, but no.
56:09God is absolutely just.
56:14This is your particular judgment.
56:18Then of course, you go to purgatory,
56:19which most people are going to go to
56:20purgatory and then you go if you get to
56:21go to heaven or you're going to end up
56:22in hell.
56:24Your judgment isn't over yet.
56:27Then there is the general judgment at
56:29the end of time. Now, we know
56:32that the general judgment is everybody
56:34who was living
56:36uh or and at the time and anybody who's
56:38dead will resurrect.
56:41And they uh and everybody in hell will
56:43come out of hell, even the demons will
56:44come out of hell and assemble in the
56:46assemble in the uh Valley of
56:48Jehoshaphat. That's where we know it's
56:49going to happen.
56:52And in that valley,
56:54because you committed a sin or people
56:57committed sins, you too,
56:59against the the public authority of the
57:03universe, God,
57:05you will offended the one who created
57:07the totality of the universe and as a
57:10public authority, because you offended
57:12him, he has a right to public
57:15vindication.
57:18Therefore, every single person,
57:20individually, will stand before Christ
57:24while everyone else is there and all his
57:27merits and sins will be announced to
57:29everyone else.
57:31Those who have the beatific vision,
57:34the veil will finally be lifted and they
57:36will actually see in your soul
57:39what is there.
57:41And if you're on the side of the angels,
57:44even the sin that you might have
57:45committed in this life will be a matter
57:47of joy. Not because of the sin, but
57:49because you will see how good God was in
57:52the mercy to you. So, it'll be
57:54even for the again those are on the side
57:56of the angels, even their own judgment,
57:58even though everything's going to be
57:59revealed, there will actually be delight
58:02in the revelation.
58:05But for those who are not,
58:07it's just brutal shame. Sin after sin
58:11after sin being announced.
58:14And this doesn't pertain just to the
58:15human beings, even the demons' sins are
58:17going to be revealed. You're going to
58:18see the guys, you know, all the sin that
58:21they committed in getting you to fall
58:23if you ended up in hell.
58:26But part of this is also the fact that
58:28got they those who are saints have a
58:30right to public vindication of their
58:31name.
58:33And a public vindication to any
58:34injustice that they suffered.
58:37No sin is private. Every sin is before
58:40the public authority of God and it's
58:42going to be made revealed.
58:44People say, "Well, I I thought God
58:45forgave and forget." He can't.
58:48God cannot change. He's eternal. He's
58:52outside time.
58:54He's infinite and the infinite does not
58:56change. It's eternal.
58:58And that means
59:00that for all eternity
59:03he has [snorts] to look at the sin you
59:05committed in this life.
59:07This is actually why it says in the
59:09Psalms, "His mercy endures forever."
59:14Because for all eternity, his mercy's
59:17going to be extended to you because he's
59:19still seeing it.
59:21He sees you in heaven at this moment as
59:24he sees you in this life at this moment.
59:26And when you're committing a sin, he
59:28sees them all at the same time. It
59:30doesn't change.
59:32God cannot forget.
59:36There's another side to it, too, is is
59:37that by the natural law, we have a
59:38natural law inclination, even as kids. I
59:42remember going to my parents when you
59:43did something wrong, you'd kind of go
59:44fess up, right? And you And the reason
59:47you did this is cuz you knew that I you
59:48know, I got to pay a price for this. I
59:49just My conscience is bothering me. I
59:51got to get this off my I got to get this
59:52off my chest, right?
59:56But it's also the same thing in the
59:57sense that we have a natural inclination
59:59to want justice in relationship to
1:00:01ourselves.
1:00:02And so, when people stand in before God
1:00:05at the final judgment, and everything is
1:00:07revealed,
1:00:09they want it all to be revealed. They
1:00:12want everybody to see the glory of God's
1:00:14mercy and the good that he worked in
1:00:16your life when you were standing before
1:00:18him in the state of grace
1:00:20with a resurrected body.
1:00:22They want They want him to everyone to
1:00:25see this.
1:00:26Because
1:00:28for the people on the side of the
1:00:29damned, this is just brutal to have to
1:00:32sit and watch this. Which by the way, if
1:00:33you think about it, every person has to
1:00:34get up there and every sin has to be
1:00:35It's going to be take some time here.
1:00:38Right?
1:00:39That's why a friend of mine and actually
1:00:41we're trying to figure out how to
1:00:42monetize the final judgment, you know.
1:00:45We're going to sell hamburgers and hot
1:00:47dogs at the final judgment. Although we
1:00:49What would you sell? I mean, what are
1:00:50you going to get for it? You can't get
1:00:51anything.
1:00:52Cuz money's useless at that point.
1:00:55But the point being is is that every
1:00:57single infraction is going to be made
1:00:59known.
1:01:01We know that the particular judgment
1:01:02occurs immediate after death, and
1:01:03everyone undergoes it. There's no
1:01:05escaping it.
1:01:07Saint Augustine says he will come in
1:01:09love to the good and in terror to the
1:01:11bad.
1:01:13At the general judgment,
1:01:16the outcome is not any different than
1:01:17your particular judgment. So, if you've
1:01:18been judged to be worthy to go to
1:01:20heaven, it's not like you're going to
1:01:20get to
1:01:21the
1:01:22the general judgment and then he's going
1:01:24to say, "Oh, well, you don't get to come
1:01:25to heaven."
1:01:26That's not going to be the case.
1:01:28But, everything is revealed. It's even
1:01:31in scripture, you know, St. Paul says
1:01:34it, everything will
1:01:35we see this and Christ our Lord even
1:01:37said it that they will be shouting these
1:01:39things from the rooftops. Nothing will
1:01:41be revealed. Why is that the case?
1:01:45It has to do with the fact that God
1:01:48wants no delight denied of the just in
1:01:52heaven. What does that mean?
1:01:56Have you ever
1:01:57been looking at your desk and you're
1:01:59looking for your keys
1:02:01and they're right in front of your face.
1:02:04You're actually looking right at them,
1:02:07but you don't recognize them.
1:02:10Everybody in heaven God is absolutely
1:02:12simple. So, whenever anyone sees God,
1:02:17they're seeing the totality of God and
1:02:20therefore they're seeing the totality of
1:02:22everything he caused.
1:02:25We'll actually get to know who killed
1:02:26JFK.
1:02:28Okay.
1:02:29We'll know if they actually did release
1:02:31all the documents on JFK. Okay.
1:02:36The point being is is that
1:02:39the
1:02:41uh
1:02:43we in heaven right now certain matters
1:02:46of your interior life are actually
1:02:48shrouded from the people in heaven. They
1:02:50see it materially. They're looking right
1:02:51at it when they're looking at God, but
1:02:53on the side of the person they don't
1:02:55recognize it. They can't see it in that
1:02:58sense.
1:02:59And so, everybody in heaven
1:03:02is being shielded from seeing all the
1:03:04perfections that other people have
1:03:05interiorly
1:03:07and they're seeing all the good there
1:03:09and then as a result of that they don't
1:03:10get to see the totality of the good that
1:03:11God has has caused in people's lives.
1:03:15So, in heaven
1:03:17God lifts the veil and you get to see
1:03:19your keys on your desk.
1:03:20You get to see everything in everyone's
1:03:23interior life and in that you'll see the
1:03:25magnificence and glory of God in
1:03:27everybody.
1:03:29If any of that was withheld from it,
1:03:31there would always be some good that
1:03:33we'd want to see because we want to know
1:03:35God in heaven.
1:03:37Which we'll talk about that later.
1:03:39And so everything is revealed.
1:03:42For those who are good, as I mentioned,
1:03:43it's joy in God's mercy.
1:03:46But for the damned, it's absolutely
1:03:48brutal.
1:03:50So, to end this
1:03:52keep in mind
1:03:54death fixes your state. From that point
1:03:57on for all eternity, it will not change.
1:04:01And so how you prepare yourself for that
1:04:04is going to determine what, as I
1:04:06mentioned, everyone's going to see you
1:04:07for the rest of eternity.
1:04:10It's whether people are going to see
1:04:11your soul is beautiful or how it's even
1:04:13how it's even beautiful.
1:04:15We even have this, you know, certain
1:04:16people you see that, you know, for
1:04:18example, with women they'll very often
1:04:20if they're if there's a particular
1:04:21bodily feature like their hair or
1:04:22something, they accentuate it because
1:04:24they want people to see it. It's the
1:04:25same thing here. Peop- you will want
1:04:27people to see that perfection interiorly
1:04:29in you.
1:04:31And that's what you're going to That's
1:04:32what people are going to see for all
1:04:33eternity.
1:04:34And plus, of course, God's going to
1:04:36appraise you for what you have done.
1:04:39But then if you're in hell, it's another
1:04:41matter. It's going to be fixed. It's
1:04:42going to be brutal. In hell, they're
1:04:44going to see your depravity.
1:04:49And then you stand judgment. There's no
1:04:51getting around it.
1:04:53It is absolutely just. It's exacting.
1:04:58Every single nook and cranny of your
1:05:02interior life is going to be made known
1:05:04to you. And God's going to show you
1:05:06whether it's good or bad.
1:05:08And that's why when the person sees it,
1:05:11if there's if they die in the state of
1:05:13grace and there's something there they
1:05:14realize I have to go to purgatory. This
1:05:16has to be removed from me
1:05:18if I'm ever going to be able to stand in
1:05:19the sight of God who sees all things and
1:05:23not be ashamed of myself in his sight.
1:05:26So, you're going to go to purgatory.
1:05:29Or are you going to end up realizing
1:05:30that for all eternity when God looks at
1:05:32you, he's going to be disappointed and
1:05:34and you're going to have shame?
1:05:36That's at your judgment. You're going to
1:05:38be make it known.
1:05:39So, be prepared. Don't let yourself be
1:05:41caught with an unprovided death.
1:05:44Make sure you're doing what you need to
1:05:45in order to set yourself up so at the
1:05:47time of your death it's not unprovided.
1:05:49Like I said, do the devotions of the
1:05:50nine first Friday. Make sure you're
1:05:52working out um you're getting rid of all
1:05:54your defects and everything and you're
1:05:55actually trying to grow in holiness and
1:05:57grace and you're pleading for God for
1:05:58the grace of final penitence
1:06:00and final perseverance.
1:06:02Okay.
1:06:03If you'll kneel, I'll give you a
1:06:04blessing.
1:06:08Benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris et
1:06:11Filii et Spiritus Sancti super vos
1:06:13descendat et maneat semper.
1:06:15Amen.
1:06:30Join the faithful and download the
1:06:32Census Fidelium app today.
1:06:36>> [singing]

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