Can someone explain this please? (St B of Sweden)

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berniemcken

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Please explain in light of repentence/confession? This seems more like purgatory to me? Thoughts?
 
The print is WAY too small to be legible.

St Bridget of Sweden received private revelations. We are not required to follow private revelations.

In general it looks like this revelation speaks of the different levels of hell for those with different sins. There are many theologians who have offered this theory, the Church has no official doctrine on it.

You may learn more about her http://catholicsaints.info/saint-bridget-of-sweden/
 
This is a duplicate of your other thread asking about Mortal Sin.
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Mortal Sin, St Bridget of Sweden Spirituality
[image] This quote makes me feel as if one could unintentionally go to hell. Unintentional sins out of weakness maybe? That’s what it implies!!! I thought to be a mortal sin it had to have “sufficient reflection!” This makes me feel totally hopeless. I have a propensity to impatience, anger and irritation, I go to confession weekly over it with complete resolve to never again get angry again. If I die at the wrong time—before I get to confession, I’m going straight to one of these degrees of h…
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Please do not start multiple threads on the same topic. It’s against the TOS.

Flagging this one as duplicate.
 
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No really? It’s a duplicate??! 😅

I reWORDED it because I was shut down when relating the ORIGINAL to my personal life. I still wanted an answer and WHEN I reposted I thought the original post had indeed been “shut down” and not visible. Then someone commented on it.

Please.
 
I’m confused as to what happened exactly. In general we don’t make 2 really similar threads and I don’t see why your original thread would have been shut down, it was fine when I saw it earlier. However, I understand the mods are letting this thread continue in this case in view of the change you made to the question.
 
Perhaps…just perhaps…we are all not pros at Catholic Answers Forums? Maybe I thought the first reply was a PRIVATE MESSAGE that was directly removing by my post bc I received it via email!! Maybe it is still?! I have no idea! I am too busy for this back and forth!
 
Chill out Bernie.
CAF is a self-moderating forum, which means us regular users are tasked with trying to make sure newbies are aware of and follow the terms of the forum. It’s nothing personal against you and your questions, which are quite appropriate for the forum.
No need to discuss any further. Hopefully now some other folks will respond to your original question about St. Bridget.
God bless
 
Because of the word “deliberately.” It’s as if she’s saying that there are some who didn’t sin knowingly/deliberately but are condemned. (Maybe I didn’t word the question correctly.) It seems to me she’s saying that one can sin unintentionally which isn’t something I have ever associated with mortal sin. I have always known that mortal sin is intentional— always deliberate—RIGHT?

The connection to purgatory…I think that’s my own projection on myself. I’ve always seen my bad habit to yell and scream when I’m angry or throw something or to flip someone off as my own complete fault, but there is always a feeling of such passion that is so difficult to control. I’ve always tried to treat these instances like they are mortal for me (confession, abstain from communion), but I have always hoped and prayed for mercy since it is a cross I’ve carried literally since childhood, trying to fight it and become meek and never succeeding. Obviously I am still going wrong and I am working that part out with fear and trembling (perhaps I need more of that). At any rate, I am a woman which makes this problem all the more embarrassing. Maybe a little scrupulosity, I don’t know. I was told to keep my personal business out of it but my personal business does come into it. And I had severe scruples once a few years ago over nonexistent sins and this is not that.

SO, I was hoping someone could sort out the objective unchanging part of my inquiry to help me reason through it, because I’m having trouble in both understanding and application of the quote (and I understand it is private revelation and I do not have to believe it). TIA
 
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My husband just said that the “deliberate” part is referring to hell and the “weakness” and “original sin” part is referring to purgatory… that is where my confusion lies. Is the whole thing about HELL and the condemned, or partly purgatory… those who sin out of weakness or from the effects of original sin will be purified with fitting punishments… SO confused here!(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Here is the image again… click on it
 
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Deliberate seems more like malicious. Ie if a person murders for the fun of it, that’d be deliberate. Compared to out of weakness, it’s the difference between 1st degree murder and manslaughter.
 
berniemcken said:
Please explain in light of repentence/confession? This seems more like purgatory to me? Thoughts?
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If someone repents of their sin and is absolved in the Sacrament of Confession, then their sins are forgiven, so none of this would apply to them. But, the Church doesn’t typically refer to the souls in Purgatory as being “condemned”, so this is not about Purgatory. They are already saved, but still need to be purified of the “dregs of sin” that remain on their souls before they can enter into Heaven. The condemned are in Hell. This revelation from St. Bridget is about the various ways that the souls in Hell might be punished. God’s punishments “fit the crimes”, so to speak. It’s not just a case of “one punishment fits all”. Lesser sinners will not receive as harsh a punishment as hardened sinners will, just like sentences given to criminals in this life typically depend on the crimes they’ve committed.

But, as long as you are aware when you commit a sin (or afterwards) to say a heartfelt Act of Contrition, then remember to confess it at your next Confession, you should be fine. The hardest part is trying to avoid sin, completely. It takes a lot of hard work to get good at that. 😉
 
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berniemcken said:
It seems to me she’s saying that one can sin unintentionally which isn’t something I have ever associated with mortal sin. I have always known that mortal sin is intentional— always deliberate—RIGHT?
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The good news is that Saints’ and their teachings nor their private revelations are binding on the Faithful.

Holy Mother Church is very clear about mortal sin, it must be serious matter done with knowledge and intent. No “accidental” mortal sins.
 
My advice? Stop reading private revelations. It seems that they are causing you more confusing than edification.
 
Hell, like Heaven, is a spetrum of experience. Just as those in Heaven with greater merit and charity are glorified more, so do those in Hell with sins in greater number or gravity suffer more–since it is our sins that are the cause of our punishment. This is why in Scripture Jesus speaks of some receiving “greater condemnation.”

It is Catholic dogma that those who in Hell suffer differently:

Council of Florence
But the souls of those who depart this life in actual mortal sin, or in original sin alone, go down straightaway to hell to be punished, but with unequal pains.
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It is the common opinion, also held by St. Bridget, that the punishment for dying in original sin only is loss of the beatific vision, but not actual torments. Actual torments come from actual sin and it is generally understood that, as a result, the punishments differ proprotionally.
 
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This seems to allude to those who died before baptism, but died too young to understand sin. They are “technically” in hell, but it has no punishment besides the lack of the beatific vision. Hell has many layers. Purgatory is also apart of hell.
 
Have you read The Revelations, to see the whole thing in context?
The Mother speaks to the bride, saying: ”Daughter, do you love me?” She answers: ”My Lady, teach me to love, for my soul is defiled with false love, seduced by a deadly poison, and cannot understand true love.” The Mother says: ”I will teach you. There are four cities where there are four kinds of love, that is, if we are to call each of them love, given that no love can properly be found except where God and the soul are united in the true union of the virtues. The first city is the city of trial. This is the world.

A man is placed there to be tested as to whether he loves God or not.

This is in order that he may come to know his own weakness and acquire the virtues by which he may return to glory, so that, having been cleansed on earth, he may receive a glorious crown in heaven. One finds disordered love in this city, because the body is loved more than the soul, because there is a more fervent desire for temporal than spiritual good, because vice is honored and virtue despised, because travels abroad are more appreciated than one’s home country, because a little mortal being gets more respect and honor than God whose reign is everlasting.

The second city is the city of cleansing where the dirt of the soul is washed away. God has willed to set up places where a person who has become proud in the negligent use of his freedom yet without losing his fear of God may be cleansed before receiving his crown. One finds imperfect love in this city, inasmuch as God is loved because of a person’s hope of being released from captivity but not out of an ardent affection. This is due to weariness and bitterness in atoning one’s guilt.

The third city is the city of sorrow. This is hell. Here one finds a love for every kind of evil and impurity, a love for every kind of envy and obstinacy. God governs this city as well. This he does by means of balanced justice, the due moderation of punishments, the restraint of evil, and the fairness of the sentences that takes each sinner’s merits into account.
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Some of the condemned are greater sinners, others lesser. The conditions for their punishment and retribution are set up accordingly. Although all the condemned are enclosed in darkness, not all of them experience it in one and the same way. Darkness differs from darkness, horror from horror, hell-fire from hell-fire. God’s rule is one of justice and mercy everywhere, even in hell. Thus, those who have sinned deliberately have their particular punishment, those who have sinned out of weakness have a different one, those who are being held only because of the damage done by original sin have a different one again. While the torment of these latter consists in the lack of the beatific vision and of the light of the elect, still they come close to mercy and joy in the sense that they do not experience horrible punishments, since they bear no effects of any evil deeds of their own doing. Otherwise, if God did not ordain the number and limit of the punishments, the devil would never show any limits in tormenting them.

The fourth city is the city of glory. Here one finds perfect love and the ordered charity that desires nothing but God or but for the sake of God. Hence, if you would reach the perfection of this city, your love needs four qualities: it must be ordered, pure, true, and perfect. Your love is ordered when you love the body only for the sake of sustaining yourself, when you love the world without superfluities, your neighbor for God’s sake, your friend for the sake of purity of life, and your enemy for the sake of the reward. Love is pure when sin is not loved alongside virtue, when bad habits are scorned, when sin is not taken lightly.

Love is true when you love God with all your heart and affections, when you take the glory and fear of God into prior consideration in all your actions, when you commit not the least little sin while trusting to your good deeds, when you practice temperance prudently without growing weak from too much fervor, when you do not have an inclination to sin out of cowardice or ignorance of temptations. Love is perfect when nothing is as enjoyable to a person as God. This kind of love begins in the present but is consummated in heaven. Love, then, this perfect and true kind of love! Everyone who does not have it shall be cleansed, no matter whether he is faithful or fervent or a child or baptized. Otherwise he will go to the city of horror.

Just as God is one, so too there is one faith, one baptism, one perfection of glory and reward in the church of Peter. Accordingly, anyone who longs to reach the one God must have one and the same love and will as the one God. Miserable are those who say: ‘It is enough for me to be the least in heaven. I do not want to be perfect.’ What a senseless thought! How can someone who is imperfect be there where everyone is perfect either through innocence of life or the innocence of childhood or by cleansing or by faith and goodwill?”
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