How many will be saved?

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I come across an interesting sermon given by St. Leonard of Port Maurice on the question of how many are to be saved. He reaches some terrifying conclusions – the number is very, very, very small. This is the consensus of many of the Church fathers and is supported by the testimony of Our Lord.

According to one miraculous vision, 5 out of 33,000; to another, 3 out of 60,000; and these were in times far holier than the present age!

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
 
Well… Looking where we are heading probably not that many…
 
We don’t know, but let’s look at what St. Alphonsus Liguori said: ‘The saved are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are: yet amongst those few I wish to be!’ (taken from this website)

I also bear in mind what Our Lady of Fatima promised to those who fulfill the First Five Saturdays, and it gives me great hope.
 
“Lord, if I’m ever to see Thee in Heaven, this at least, grant me that I may never curse nor blaspheme Thy Holy Name. If I may not love Thee in the other world, for in Hell, none praise Thee, let me at least, every instance of my brief existence here, love Thee as much as I can.” – St Francis de Sales
 
sw85 said:
I come across an interesting sermon given by St. Leonard of Port Maurice on the question of how many are to be saved. He reaches some terrifying conclusions – the number is very, very, very small. This is the consensus of many of the Church fathers and is supported by the testimony of Our Lord.

According to one miraculous vision, 5 out of 33,000; to another, 3 out of 60,000; and these were in times far holier than the present age!

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
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Those who are arrogant and self-righteous enough to think they are worthy of salvation may not be saved, while those who walk humbly with G-d and focus more on helping others than their own salvation, may be. Ultimately, however, only G-d in His great mercy can know, and we would do better, I think, to refrain from too much speculation.
 
Even among those claiming to be Catholic, 75% don’t even attend Mass on Sunday’s and Holy Day’s. And a greater percentage supposedly reject the Church’s teaching against artificial birth control, which in effect makes them heretics, and, therefore excommunicated, latae sententiae (automatically). What does that leave? Maybe 10% or less who even have a shot?!

Several centuries ago, a young monk sought out advice from an old hermit monk who was greatly respected. He asked the old monk, “Father, in future ages, will men be able to pray and fast for days like we do?” The old monk looked at him and shook his head sadly, saying, “No. In future ages, men will scarcely be able to pray for one hour or fast for one day. But, they will be greater than we, because we fight Satan chained. They, will fight Satan unchained.”

I am also reminded that Jesus wondered if there would be any faith left on the earth when He returned.
 
sw85 said:
I come across an interesting sermon given by St. Leonard of Port Maurice on the question of how many are to be saved. He reaches some terrifying conclusions – the number is very, very, very small. This is the consensus of many of the Church fathers and is supported by the testimony of Our Lord.

According to one miraculous vision, 5 out of 33,000; to another, 3 out of 60,000; and these were in times far holier than the present age!

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
Click to expand...
As many that are truly faithful to Christ and His Church.
 
We’ll all find out eventually. Pray that it’s a lot. Pray that you will be among them (and pray that I will be too while you’re at it :D). Pray, pray, pray.

Have you prayed for anyone today?
 
Scary prospect at first but toward the end the Saint concludes…
**
…“Whether there are many or few that are saved, I say that whoever wants to be saved, will be saved; and that no one can be damned if he does not want to be…”**.

And that’s what St Thomas Aquinas essentially tells his sister too. If the one true God forgave David why wouldn’t he forgive the faithful who also regretfully sin but go out of their way to confess and take advantage of the sacraments?

I’ve been jumping threw hoops and over hurdles as a member of the Church for a very long time. It hasn’t been easy or fun. It’s been mostly far from fun. The last thing I want to hear is only 3 Catholics out of 100,000 are good enough for Purgatory…that’s bogus!
 
Carolus_Martell said:
Scary prospect at first but toward the end the Saint concludes…
**
…“Whether there are many or few that are saved, I say that whoever wants to be saved, will be saved; and that no one can be damned if he does not want to be…”**.

And that’s what St Thomas Aquinas essentially tells his sister too. If the one true God forgave David why wouldn’t he forgive the faithful who also regretfully sin but go out of their way to confess and take advantage of the sacraments?

I’ve been jumping threw hoops and over hurdles as a member of the Church for a very long time. It hasn’t been easy or fun. It’s been mostly far from fun. The last thing I want to hear is only 3 Catholics out of 100,000 are good enough for Purgatory…that’s bogus!
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If I really bellieved that last statement, I would give up. But I don’t believe that at all.
 
144,000.

And they’ll all be JWs.

And it will happen in 1914.

Oh wait, that’s all nonsense, it didn’t happen.😃
 
sw85 said:
I come across an interesting sermon given by St. Leonard of Port Maurice on the question of how many are to be saved. He reaches some terrifying conclusions – the number is very, very, very small. This is the consensus of many of the Church fathers and is supported by the testimony of Our Lord.

According to one miraculous vision, 5 out of 33,000; to another, 3 out of 60,000; and these were in times far holier than the present age!

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
Click to expand...
The economy of salvation does not require us to know the numbers of the people that will be saved. It has not been revealed to us and it has been made it obvious that it should be unimportant to us.

When you hear the proclamation of many and few you must understand that those are relative terms and so they could also be used in apparent contradiction. You can see one example where it says that few are saved and another that says that many will be saved (Bible vs. Council of Trent/fruits of the sacrifice/consecration prayer/pro multis). Thus take things with a grain of salt and do works so that many as possible might accept the gift of salvation.
 
“Eternal damnation remains a possibility, but we are not granted, without special divine revelation, the knowledge of whether or which human beings are effectively involved in it.” Pope John Paul II (General Audience — July 28, 1999)

“Christ, Redeemer of man, now for ever “clad in a robe dipped in blood” (Apoc, 19,13), the everlasting, invincible guarantee of universal salvation.” (Message Of John Paul II To The Abbess General Of The Order Of The Most Holy Saviour Of St Bridget)

Father Robert Barron - … in Christ, we may reasonably hope that all people will be saved.
 
Cristiano said:
The economy of salvation does not require us to know the numbers of the people that will be saved. It has not been revealed to us and it has been made it obvious that it should be unimportant to us.

When you hear the proclamation of many and few you must understand that those are relative terms and so they could also be used in apparent contradiction. You can see one example where it says that few are saved and another that says that many will be saved (Bible vs. Council of Trent/fruits of the sacrifice/consecration prayer/pro multis). Thus take things with a grain of salt and do works so that many as possible might accept the gift of salvation.
Click to expand...
Excellent point. It’s very paradoxical language. Many could mean even a handful of people, since God loves each of us infinitely and desires every single person to join Him in heaven. One soul lost is too many in that sense. I try not to think about it too much as it’s tempting to start guessing who is saved vs damned, which is a big no-no.

The good news is there’s no fire marshall in heaven and therefore no “occupancy limits”. If you want to be there, you will be. Just make it your top priority and you’ll automatically find yourself going to Mass more, actually utilizing the sacrament of Confession (gasp!!), and praying all the time. 🙂 Once you’re on that track the odds go way up!
 
Seven billion people on planet earth.

If 1 out of 10 saved = 700 million.

1 out of 100 saved = 70 million.

1 out of 1000 saved = 7 million.

So see 1 out of 1000 would be OVER 7 million in heaven because people have lived and died since now and will be born in the future.

FEW would be saved and there would still be more than 7 million people in heaven.

Make it to heaven and there will be people to talk to and STILL there will be billions in Hell!
 
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