How do we know we are saved

[0104]

How does the Catholic Church know if a person is truly saved once we die. We as Catholics believe if we die with moral sin on our soul we are cut off from the divine presence of God. Protestant believe in faith alone without works. So if you believe in God as your Lord and Saviour you will go straight to heaven. As Catholics we are fairly certain but not 100% as I have been taught in catechesis.
God bless

 

[po18guy]

We know it when we hear the Father say “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
That is why we must persevere to the end. - Jesus
That is why we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. - Saint Paul
That is why we must run the race so as to win. - Saint Paul
That is why we must remain in God’s kindness and not provoke his severity, lest we be cut off from the vine. - Saint Paul

 

[0104]

I’m talking about love ones you always here they lead a go life always gave of themselves.

A friend of mine told me you will be surprised who you will find in heaven and that’s true. What if Hitler repeated of all the killing he did before he pulled the trigger. Gods’ mercy is greater than sin. So would he have forgiven him I can’t answer that.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

We don’t. That’s why we are called to pray for the souls of the faithful departed. We can also earn Plenary and Partial indulgences for the faithful departed.

Only God knows.

 

[Vico]

How does the Catholic Church know if a person is truly saved once we die. We as Catholics believe if we die with moral sin on our soul we are cut off from the divine presence of God. Protestant believe in faith alone without works. So if you believe in God as your Lord and Saviour you will go straight to heaven. As Catholics we are fairly certain but not 100% as I have been taught in catechesis.
God bless

Council of Trent, On Justification

CANON XVI.-If any one saith, that he will for certain, of an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance unto the end,-unless he have learned this by special revelation; let him be anathema.

 

[porthos11]

We can possess a strong moral certainty of our state of grace, but we do not possess this knowledge with the certainty of faith. Nonetheless, our own moral certainty is nearly infallible, e.g. if I walk out of the Confessional having made a confession and received absolution in good faith, I can be reasonably certain that if I get hit by a bus on the way out, I will end up in heaven. Is my knowledge infallible? No. But my certainty is sufficient that I can be at peace with God.

Now as for the final state of people once they’re dead, if that’s what you’re asking, the Church makes no pronouncements, except in the case of canonized saints, and in the case of canonization, the pronouncement is infallible. The Church defines infallibly that canonized saints are certainly in heaven. Part of the investigation is the requirement proven miracles (one for martyrs, two for everyone else) attributed to the candidate’s intercession.

The Church makes no statement about anyone else.

 

[porthos11]

I’m talking about love ones you always here they lead a go life always gave of themselves.

A friend of mine told me you will be surprised who you will find in heaven and that’s true. What if Hitler repeated of all the killing he did before he pulled the trigger. Gods’ mercy is greater than sin. So would he have forgiven him I can’t answer that.

People tend to speculate about Hitler, but we don’t really know. There is, however, one Nazi we can actually believe is saved. This guy is Rudolf Hoess, the monstrous Commandant of—believe it or not—the Auschwitz death camp. He was responsible for developing the most “efficient” manner of killing his prisoners and disposing of their bodies. He coldly testified as much during the Nuremberg IMT Trial of the Major War Criminals.

Hoess was later tried by the Polish government, convicted, and sentenced to death. In prison awaiting execution, he was treated kindly by his Polish jailers. Eventually, and I can only call it grace, he came to a realization of his evil, and asked for a Catholic priest. The jailers had difficulty finding one but they eventually found Fr. Vladislav Lohn, who spoke German. They spoke and Hoess made his Confession, reconciling with God and the Church. It is reported that when he was absolved, Hoess fell to his knees, sobbing. Fr. Lohn gave Hoess Communion the next day. Five days later, Hoess was hanged, dying, from all evidence, in the state of grace.

Given that hehad nothing to gain by pretense, an honest look must lead us to conclude that the repentance of Rudolf Hoess was genuine and that we will, in all likelihood, see him in heaven at the Final Judgment. In the meantime, Hoess will probably be in for a long stint in Purgatory. He does, after all, have millions of deaths to atone for. But he is proof that God’s mercy is not out of reach even for the “butcher” of Auschwitz.

 

[TK421]

He does, after all, have millions of deaths to atone for.

Merit is given according to one’s love for God and sin is according to the degree of one’s absence of love. The greatness of the deeds - good or evil - don’t matter. Being responsible [in a broad sense] for the deaths of millions doesn’t necessarily make him a worse sinner than a person with a similar level of depravity and yet - because of circumstances - is unable to oversee the same mass murder. Any person who would have done the same thing if they were able is the same as the person who actually does it.

There are plenty of people in the past and now who express similar sentiments to Hitler, and might be willing to do the same thing. The difference between them and Hitler is that they don’t have a powerful army at their command to do their will. But within their heart, they might be the same as Hitler.

Not that I’m arguing against a Nazi being in Purgatory for a long time, because that could easily be the case, but it is entirely within the realm of possibility for a so-called “ordinary” sinner to spend just as long or longer than somebody who committed infamous crimes before repenting.

edit: Sorry it occurs to me this is going off-topic

 

[0104]

Thanks for that story.

 

[0104]

Gods’Mercy in one drop would destroy all the sin in the world. Even if the Nazi couldn’t get a priest confession by desire would have taken place. He would have been forgiven all his sins.

 

[porthos11]

There is no such thing as “confession by desire”. There is what’s called an Act of Perfect Contrition, but bad terms notwithstanding, God in his mercy can see the soul and the degree of his repentance, even without a priest available.

But the fact is, Hoess DID see a (Polish!) priest, who absolved him, AND gave him Communion. That tells us that in the priest’s judgment, Hoess’ contrition was sincere, and if his contrition was merely imperfect, the absolution took care of the rest. So we have a very visible sign of what is in all likelihood, a mass murderer being snatched from the jaws of hell to gain the eternal reward of heaven, not out of anything he did, but only out of God’s mercy.

Anyway, the reason I mention Hoess is because in discussions sin and God’s mercy, Hitler’s name is often brought up. Hitler showed no sign of repentance so anything involving him is mere speculation. But in terms of evil we DO have an example of an evil Nazi visibly saved, and in my opinion, Hoess’ story is more edifying (for those who aren’t too blinded by anger) than useless speculation about Hitler. Hoess’ story is the example of how a “monster” can still be saved in the end.

 

[0104]

That’s what I mean by the Church teaching wrong terminology. There are several priest I have heard use that term.

If a person is in a plane and it’s about to crash if a person has a change of the heart and repents from any sin including mortal he will go to purgatory. God’s mercy is greater than sin.

 

[Vico]

There is no such thing as “confession by desire”. There is what’s called an Act of Perfect Contrition, but bad terms notwithstanding, God in his mercy can see the soul and the degree of his repentance, even without a priest available.

But the fact is, Hoess DID see a (Polish!) priest, who absolved him, AND gave him Communion. That tells us that in the priest’s judgment, Hoess’ contrition was sincere, and if his contrition was merely imperfect, the absolution took care of the rest. So we have a very visible sign of what is in all likelihood, a mass murderer being snatched from the jaws of hell to gain the eternal reward of heaven, not out of anything he did, but only out of God’s mercy.

Anyway, the reason I mention Hoess is because in discussions sin and God’s mercy, Hitler’s name is often brought up. Hitler showed no sign of repentance so anything involving him is mere speculation. But in terms of evil we DO have an example of an evil Nazi visibly saved, and in my opinion, Hoess’ story is more edifying (for those who aren’t too blinded by anger) than useless speculation about Hitler. Hoess’ story is the example of how a “monster” can still be saved in the end.

There is something that the penitent with attrition does with the sacrament of confession.

Catholic Encylopedia:

That attrition may make for justification, it must be interior, supernatural, universal, and sovereign (See Conditions in article CONTRITION.)

• Interior, for the Council of Trent requires that it should exclude the will to sin.
• Supernatural, for Innocent XI condemned the proposition, “Probabile est sufficere attritionem naturalem modo honestam”.
• Universal, for the motives of attrition (fear of hell, loss of heaven, etc) are of such a nature as to embrace all sins.
• Sovereign, for here again the ordinary motives of attrition (fear of hell, etc.) make one hate sin above all other evil.

Hanna, E. (1907). Attrition. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02065a.htm