Condemned to Hell for missing Mass?

[aprilfloyd]

Missing Mass on Sunday or a Holy Day is NOT a mortal sin (necessarily). It is, however, grave matter. It’s not about just “missing” Mass. It is the injustice that is condoned by not honoring God as he deserves. Still, full knowledge of the action and complicity of the will must be attached to the sin in order for it to be considered mortal.

No human can or should attempt to determine how a soul will ultimately be judged. That is reserved for God, alone. Committing actions that are defined as grave matter, however, does put the soul at risk and therefore should be avoided.

Why does your god need honouring and when we die - which god judges us and what if they disagree with each other.

 

[R_C]

My sister died of cancer after a painful time - catholics in the family said she was in hell as she did not go to mass and was not a practising catholic. I find this side of the church abhorrent and cruel. No one is going to hell. There is no hell.

That is heresy, and belief that there is no hell is a sign that one is headed towards perdition. I am sorry to say this, and I believe we are all called to heaven, but to say there is no hell is to be headed there.

Nobody in this life can tell whether or not someone is in Hell. This is up to God. And up to your sister, because ultimately it all boils down to whether or not she truly willfully and deliberately rejected God. As for you, your duty is to pray for her and to not make the same mistakes she may have made. You do not want your wife or kids tomorrow to be afraid that you are in hell, or to despise the Church and be lost themselves because of this.

Illness is a profound mystery that configures a person with Christ to extents that nobody can know in this life. This is especially true for an illness like cancer. I know it because it affects one of my loved ones.

St. John Chrysostom, Father of the Church, used to say that the Lord preached more often on the Catholic Dogma of Hell than any other subject. In fact, the Lord speaks of hell much more than he speaks of heaven. Meditation on damnation and hell produces many fruits of conversion and stirs our love for God and for devotion. When we meditate on Hell we become holy.

The plot of Satan, the most cunning adversary, a true genius in fact, is to hide his existence and to deceive even us, Christians, to believe that there is no divine justice, no eternal punishment for those who reject God, and thus to reject the very idea of hell…along with concern for sin! Because if there is no Hell, then there is no need to be concerned with sin, or rather, of repentance from sins, and of doing God’s will.

A great mystic, Sr. Josefa Menendez wrote in her “Way of Divine Love” a vision of hell she had. She saw a soul who had just arrived, cursing those who had not taught her to fear God nor that there was a Hell. The great Doctor of the Church s. Teresa of Avila, after a vision of hell, said: “This also makes me wish that, in a matter which concerns us so much, we did not rest satisfied with doing less than we can do on our part – that we left nothing undone.”.

It is good, in fact our duty, to pray for our loved ones and to not judge them the way the world judges - oh, x never went to Mass, what a sinner, he’s probably in hell. That in fact can bring judgment upon ourselves, for “by the judgment with which we judge, we shall be judged.” No, a person who lacks full knowledge or deliberate consent about the obligation of Sunday Mass is not guilty of mortal sin at all - and even if he were, repentance on deathbed is more than sufficient to obtain full remission of all mortal sin and ensure salvation. God is good, and no unfairness is found in him.

 

[Spudbynight]

My sister died of cancer after a painful time - catholics in the family said she was in hell as she did not go to mass and was not a practising catholic. I find this side of the church abhorrent and cruel. No one is going to hell. There is no hell.

There is a Hell but possibly not as you understand it. Hell is a state of being cut off from God.

We condemn ourselves by rejecting God.

Why does your god need honouring and when we die - which god judges us and what if they disagree with each other.

There is only one God and he is universal.

 

[R_C]

Why does your god need honouring and when we die - which god judges us and what if they disagree with each other.

No God judges us. The only God there is actually made sure to not only let us know through the prophets, but to come down, speak to us face to face, and tell us:

**I do not judge anyone.

I did not come to condemn the world, but so that the world may be saved through me.

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.**

It is us who judge ourselves. It is us who chose whether or not to reject God. When you speak of “our God”, you clearly show signs of despising him, even hating him. This is the kind of behavior that leads to rejection of God and possibly to final impenitence. Before God we can only kneel, bow our heads, and implore for mercy.

 

[aprilfloyd]

That is heresy, and belief that there is no hell is a sign that one is headed towards perdition. I am sorry to say this, and I believe we are all called to heaven, but to say there is no hell is to be headed there.

Nobody in this life can tell whether or not someone is in Hell. This is up to God. And up to your sister, because ultimately it all boils down to whether or not she truly willfully and deliberately rejected God. As for you, your duty is to pray for her and to not make the same mistakes she may have made. You do not want your wife or kids tomorrow to be afraid that you are in hell, or to despise the Church and be lost themselves because of this.

Illness is a profound mystery that configures a person with Christ to extents that nobody can know in this life. This is especially true for an illness like cancer. I know it because it affects one of my loved ones.

St. John Chrysostom, Father of the Church, used to say that the Lord preached more often on the Catholic Dogma of Hell than any other subject. In fact, the Lord speaks of hell much more than he speaks of heaven. Meditation on damnation and hell produces many fruits of conversion and stirs our love for God and for devotion. When we meditate on Hell we become holy.

The plot of Satan, the most cunning adversary, a true genius in fact, is to hide his existence and to deceive even us, Christians, to believe that there is no divine justice, no eternal punishment for those who reject God, and thus to reject the very idea of hell…along with concern for sin! Because if there is no Hell, then there is no need to be concerned with sin, or rather, of repentance from sins, and of doing God’s will.

A great mystic, Sr. Josefa Menendez wrote in her “Way of Divine Love” a vision of hell she had. She saw a soul who had just arrived, cursing those who had not taught her to fear God nor that there was a Hell. The great Doctor of the Church s. Teresa of Avila, after a vision of hell, said: “This also makes me wish that, in a matter which concerns us so much, we did not rest satisfied with doing less than we can do on our part – that we left nothing undone.”.

It is good, in fact our duty, to pray for our loved ones and to not judge them the way the world judges - oh, x never went to Mass, what a sinner, he’s probably in hell. That in fact can bring judgment upon ourselves, for “by the judgment with which we judge, we shall be judged.” No, a person who lacks full knowledge or deliberate consent about the obligation of Sunday Mass is not guilty of mortal sin at all - and even if he were, repentance on deathbed is more than sufficient to obtain full remission of all mortal sin and ensure salvation. God is good, and no unfairness is found in him.

You would get on well with my father - If your God exists and is omnipotent, then he created this Hell - where is the love? He sounds malevolent.

With all due respect we do not need Hell or God to be good - be good because it is in your heart not because you fear retribution.

And if your God created me and is omnipotent, then he knows every act I make and controls it. So He knows where I am going and I have no choice. If I have free will and your God exists then I can defy Him, not go to heaven or hell, but then if I defy him, then he is not omnipotent and therefore not a god

 

[Genesis315]

If you’d choose laziness or some worldly pursuit over worshipping God for one hour and refuse to repent of it and confess it, then yes, you should go to Hell since you obviously do not love God. On the other hand, you could commit genocide and if you confess it with a contrite heart, you’ll be saved.

Remember, it is not just mortal sin that damns, it’s mortal sin plus obstinate and lasting refusal to turn to God with repentence. Getting to Heaven is not hard for sinners who turn to God. It is hard for those who have such hard hearts that they refuse to confess even one mortal sin.

Also, God is not trying to catch us between committing a sin and getting to confession. He desires sinners to be saved and will provide the means of salvation to one who seeks it–He’ll make sure you have the opportunity to be absolved if you contritely desire it (if we ask anything from Him, He will give it to us if it is necessary for our salvation).

 

[aprilfloyd]

No God judges us. The only God there is actually made sure to not only let us know through the prophets, but to come down, speak to us face to face, and tell us:

**I do not judge anyone.

I did not come to condemn the world, but so that the world may be saved through me.

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.**

It is us who judge ourselves. It is us who chose whether or not to reject God. When you speak of “our God”, you clearly show signs of despising him, even hating him. This is the kind of behavior that leads to rejection of God and possibly to final impenitence. Before God we can only kneel, bow our heads, and implore for mercy.

I speak of ‘our god’ as I mean the catholic faith’s god - there are other readers on here from other religions who will follow other gods. I have never met or seen any evidence for any god. What I do see and hear, He (The Catholic One) is not very pleasant - who would invent Hell. My own children, when they heard of this stuff from my father were scared and could not sleep, after he tried to convince them Hell exists - I told them Hell does not exist and is just what people say to get kids to behave. My own feeling is that my Father has taken on religion too literally and it has and is ruining his life.

 

[Genesis315]

You would get on well with my father - If your God exists and is omnipotent, then he created this Hell - where is the love? He sounds malevolent.

With all due respect we do not need Hell or God to be good - be good because it is in your heart not because you fear retribution.

The fact that a soul has the potential to be damned, does not mean that God is malevolent–it means He is all good. To cling to one’s sins rather than turn toward all good will of course be tormenting, since we were designed for good and created in His image. We have been given a great dignity to love God and receive His love freely.

God knows human nature better than us. People are fallen; some need extra motivation to start being good–look around, human experience, psychology, etc. show this to be true. As such, He has revealed to us the consequences of turning from all good and becoming corrupted. A parent is not malevolent for telling their child that touching the hot stove will burn.

That being said, even the Catholic Church acknowledges that being good out of servile fear alone, and not for love, misses the mark. Such fear can be the impetus for a good start, but not an end in itself.

 

[StudentMI]

Fr. Vincent Serpa recently answered a question in the Ask an Apologist section about mortal sin. I recommend reading it.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=752177

 

[R_C]

You would get on well with my father - If your God exists and is omnipotent, then he created this Hell - where is the love? He sounds malevolent.

With all due respect we do not need Hell or God to be good - be good because it is in your heart not because you fear retribution.

And if your God created me and is omnipotent, then he knows every act I make and controls it. So He knows where I am going and I have no choice. If I have free will and your God exists then I can defy Him, not go to heaven or hell, but then if I defy him, then he is not omnipotent and therefore not a god

You have a lot of misunderstandings That is very common.

1 - God’s existence and omnipotence does not imply that he created Hell. If I cut my skin, I created the wound, not God. So is with the spiritual state of Hell: the souls have rejected God, but God is in fact omnipresent and the fact that they cannot escape His presence and the fact that in their permanent rejection they profoundly hate Him and cannot conceive that He still loves them unconditionally is the source of the deepest pain. Also the damned souls realize perfectly what they did wrong, and how idiotic it was to do (or not do) those things. That also hurts them. But it’s a self-imposed pain. In a private revelation, Mary said that if the damned souls would repent, they would be immediately forgiven, but that it is their choice, a choice made while alive, and thus in time, and confirmed forever in eternity, that is outside of time. As for God, His love created us with an immortal soul, and His mercy made sure that we would receive all graces needed to live this life (that was meant to be heavenly and ruined due to pride) and make it to heaven.

2 - hell is simply an incidental effect of justice. We do not need prisons to obey the law, but justice requires that there be prisons. To be good out of fear of hell is imperfect, to be good out of love for goodness is perfect. But to know that if I do evil and do not repent and repair means I will end up in prison is very good for me. Now assume that X person, who was very powerful, injured and killed many innocents, including some whom I loved much, and finally died amidst great opulence and pleasures. If there is no hell, then I will cease to believe that there is such thing as true justice. But knowledge of hell is what tells me that evildoers will pay for their evildoing.

3 - Omniscience means that God indeed knows every act you do and will ever do. But not that He controls them. St. Thomas Aquinas among others shows from reason alone that omniscience goes hand in hand with our free will. He knows where you are going, but it is still your choice. It does not deprive him of His omnipotence. This the author also shows. And by the way, either you accept God or reject God. Not believing in God is rejecting God to some degree. So it’s a two-way path, and God calls us to walk on the one that leads to Him and eventually to heaven. Man, in pride, always defies God and many end in hell for this reason alone. God teaches us to be humble by being humble himself.

 

[Thomas_Casey]

This is moral theology, not Catholic tradition or custom.