Does God allow us to run out of time?

[elgom]

I believe we all run out of time, but God is infinitely wise. When I was reading the about the life of a Saint (Oh, I can’t remember his name). The Saint of St. Joseph’s Oratory in Canada. He was a door keeper. Someone came up to him and asked him to pray for his three sons because they were very bad. Later the man came back and complained that two of them had been hung as horse thiefs. I think it was Brother Andre (please correct me if I am wrong). He told the father that God in his mercy had taken their lives. He said God knew their hearts would not change and that if he let them live longer they would have commit worse crimes. He also went on to say that his other son would go on to be a Bishop and he did.

When we read the lives of the Saints and many of their encounters with those who had died and gone to purgatory we see great mercy by God. Both in the timing, etc. of each person’s life. Wouldn’t you rather have a child of yours die at a young age rather than that they live, commit mortal sin and be condemned to mortal death.

All of us who have received this great gift of conversion and repentance for our sins, and even are now given great gifts of knowledge and understanding, we should now pray without ceasing that we will not squander this gift. Our knowledge now makes us more culpable than ever. We will all be held to a higher account. A good examination of conscience each evening and regular even weekly confession can be a great help.

God Bless.

 

[martino]

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I like to think of it the way Thamas a Kempis put it in the Imitation of Christ:

VERY soon your life here will end; consider, then, what may be in store for you elsewhere. Today we live; tomorrow we die and are quickly forgotten. Oh, the dullness and hardness of a heart which looks only to the present instead of preparing for that which is to come!

Therefore, in every deed and every thought, act as though you were to die this very day. If you had a good conscience you would not fear death very much. It is better to avoid sin than to fear death. If you are not prepared today, how will you be prepared tomorrow? Tomorrow is an uncertain day; how do you know you will have a tomorrow?

What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt. Would that in this world we had lived well throughout one single day. Many count up the years they have spent in religion but find their lives made little holier. If it is so terrifying to die, it is nevertheless possible that to live longer is more dangerous. Blessed is he who keeps the moment of death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day.

 

[Trinitatem]

I believe in each one of us God knows what we are capable of, He knows our hearts, our souls. We cannot see the fate of any soul, nor judge it, for we only have human minds, capable of only human thoughts.For those gone before their time, and before a deepening of faith, what then? What if they were in the throes of sin? For those with more has been given, more will be expected. Our reponsibility deepens with our knowledge.

Personally, I believe few go straight to heaven. But this is a human thought with my human mind, and I am nothing compared to God. I am, in fact, all my life, a miserable sinner.

But now, I am on the path. And the path requires me to offer more to God, as my knowledge increases. God is truly love, I believe it as I have read it, but I also believe it because I received a grace once as a gift and I understood it. SO, for things I may do as minor, will probably be major, due to what I have been given. And for those who falter unaware, or even aware, but unknowledgable, then may they go before me.

 

[maggiec]

Mijoy2:

I’m curious as to how many others have contimplated this thought.
?

My understand is that at the last second of life if a person asks for forgiveness it will be granted. There will be alot of time in purgatory, but forgiveness will still be given. If there is not a last second conversion that person would be lost. I don’t think that there are many, even who call themselves athiests, that won’t come to Jesus in the last second.
At least that is the way I choose to believe.
maggiec