Hell not a last thing?

[Diotima]

Loyola University in Chicago

Fellow Rambler! ::waves::

It’s a good thing you’re well-versed in Church teaching and can filter out some of the, ah, unusual messages you get there . . .

 

[JReducation]

Brother JR, I might be one of those people who is a bit freaked out by some theological issues related to salvation and hell. Instead of starting a whole new thread, I will ask my question here if you don’t mind.

When Our Lady appeared to the children of Fatima, she told them that many people go to hell because there’s nobody to pray for them. I know this is just a private revelation, but educated priests wrote books about Fatima, and nobody objected to this alleged statement of Our Lady as being theologically incorrect. But I mightily struggle with the principle, that someone’s salvation or lack of salvation is directly related to my prayers or lack of prayers for them. Yet, I pray for all my family members and friends, and also for my enemies, and I hope that God will help them, especially those who don’t believe or don’t obey God - I don’t want any of them lost, not even my enemies. It’s hard to comprehend that the prayers of a finite and sinful creature like me, L piperatus, could somehow contribute to another person’s eternal salvation, yet I know that this is what the Catholic Church teaches, and I gratefully use this “tool” God gave me, I pray and I hope for the salvation of others (in addition to praying for myself).

I’m not even sure what my question is - perhaps I would appreciate some reassurance from a theological standpoint, is it true that I can make a difference in someone else’s eternal salvation or eternal damnation? Am I doing the right thing by praying for people, will my prayers make a difference towards them finding God and his Church, finding the same inner peace that belief in God and obedience to his commandments gave me, am I not only wasting my time by praying for people?

It’s called The Communion of Saints. We are one body. Whatever we do, affects the whole body. Like any body (not anyone), if one organ is in poor health, the other organs try to compensate. It is the same with the spiritual life and salvation. We compensate for each other by praying for each other, especially for the dead, because they cannot pray for themselves. Just as one lung will compensate when the other is not working, we compensate for our brothers and sisters who cannot or will not pray for themselves.

Actually I had a history class where we still used those little blue books
You are very correct when it comes to theology. The professor who happens to be a brilliant Jesuit priest told us that we need to abandond our previous knowledge while in his class. He stated that theology ask tough questions, and so we look to the bible, the fathers, and saints and see why they wrote what they wrote. We also must look at the other side and try to also understand why they had contrary beliefs and where did it come from, and why the Church never accepted them. The class I am in is theology of Christ. At this moment we are dealing with the relation between original sin, and the redemption of humanity. the class is tough, I’ve read more scripture than I ever had before.

This is important. Theology is a discipline. It’s purpose is to make us scholars, not to make us saints. The latter is achieved through prayer, sacraments, and the practice of virtue. You don’t need theology to get to heaven. You need theology to understand heaven.

Understanding is achieved through: memory, analysis, synthesis, application, evaluation, interrogation, and repetition.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[L_piperatus]

It’s called The Communion of Saints. We are one body. Whatever we do, affects the whole body. Like any body (not anyone), if one organ is in poor health, the other organs try to compensate. It is the same with the spiritual life and salvation. We compensate for each other by praying for each other, especially for the dead, because they cannot pray for themselves. Just as one lung will compensate when the other is not working, we compensate for our brothers and sisters who cannot or will not pray for themselves.

Thank you, Brother JR.