Is Saving the Souls of Others Worth it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter LovePatience
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

LovePatience

Guest
My belief on the existence of a soul seems so intellectual. It says that there is an alternate reality that exists with an infinitely existing Heaven, infinitely existing Purgatory, and infinitely existing Hell that we of course can’t see. On one hand, I want to spend my life saving souls. On the other hand, I am afraid that I really don’t understand God well enough to know how he will judge my actions here on Earth. If I give my time up to help others become more moral people and engage in many acts of self-sacrifice, I may die and find out that I regret not pursuing my own pleasure, profit, honor, and glory in this life. I will feel that I never lived up to my potential on Earth because I was too busy sacrificing for others, and Heaven is as boring and unrewarding as celibacy.

Does anyone else struggle with this fear that the sacrifice to evangelize others and help them become more moral or to struggle for morality oneself isn’t worth it in the end? If so, how did you get over it?

Thank you very much!😉
 
Purgatory is not eternal. It has a finite end, after which the soul enters the eternal bliss of heaven.

Secondly - if there is no God then there is no afterlife, since without God we are no more immortal than all the other animals. So there would be no continued existence behind bodily death, so no afterlife in which you could regret anything.

Thirdly - taking for granted there IS a god or gods, consensus among all the religions is none of them care overly much about rewarding you based on how much pleasure or self-satisfaction or honour or profit you achieved while on earth, and all of them agree on the importance of doing good for others, which always requires a degree of self-denial.

Finally - why would heaven be unrewarding in any way? On the contrary, heaven will be more joyous and fulfilling than any amount of all the greatest pleasures, honours and profit on earth combined. This is Christ’s promise - that whatever goods we give up on earth for His sake will be made up to us a hundredfold in heaven, that we will have life to the full, complete joy and great things beyond even our ability to imagine.
 
LilyM said:
Finally - why would heaven be unrewarding in any way? On the contrary, heaven will be more joyous and fulfilling than any amount of all the greatest pleasures, honours and profit on earth combined. This is Christ’s promise - that whatever goods we give up on earth for His sake will be made up to us a hundredfold in heaven, that we will have life to the full, complete joy and great things beyond even our ability to imagine.
Click to expand...
In Mark 10:28-31, then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time–houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions–and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

According to the Dialogues of St. Catherine of Siena who is a doctor of the church, God revealed to her that God does not give one hundredfold in this life for things which are given up.
:
Reference from the Dialogues, Section: A Treatise on Obedience, #7: catholictreasury.info/boo…ogue/index.php
How the truly obedient receive a hundredfold for one, and also eternal lift; and what is meant by this one, and this hundredfold.
Click to expand...
"In them is fulfilled the saying of the sweet and amorous Word, My only-begotten Son, in the gospel when He replied to Peter’s demand, ‘Master, we have left everything for your love’s sake, and have followed You, what will you give us?’ My Truth replied, ‘I will give you a hundredfold for one, and you shall possess eternal life.’ As if My Truth had wished to say, ‘You have done well, Peter, for in no other way could you follow Me. And I, in this life, will give you a hundredfold for one.’ And what is this hundredfold, beloved daughter, besides which the apostle obtained eternal life? To what did My Truth refer? To temporal substance?
Click to expand...
“Properly speaking, no. Do I not, however, often cause one who gives alms to multiply in temporal goods? In return for what do I this? In return for the gift of his own will. This is the one for which I repay him a hundredfold. What is the meaning of the number a hundred? A hundred is a perfect number, and cannot be added to except by recommencing from the first. So charity is the most perfect of all the virtues, so perfect that no higher virtue can be attained except by recommencing at the beginning of self- knowledge, and thus increasing many hundredfold in merit; but you always necessarily arrive at the number one hundred. This is that hundredfold which is given to those who have given Me the unit of their own will, both in general obedience, and in the particular obedience of the religious life. And in addition to this hundred you also possess eternal life, for charity alone enters into eternal life, like a mistress bringing with her the fruit of all the other virtues, while they remain outside, bringing their fruit, I say, into Me, the eternal life, in whom the obedient taste eternal life. It is not by faith that they taste eternal life, for they experience in its essence that which they have believed through faith; nor by hope, for they possess that for which they had hoped, and so with all the other virtues, Queen Charity alone enters and possesses Me, her possessor. See, therefore, that these little ones receive a hundredfold for one, and also eternal life, for here they receive the fire of divine charity figured by the number of a hundred (as has been said). And because they have received this hundredfold from Me, they possess a wonderful and hearty joy, for there is no sadness in charity, but the joy of it makes the heart large and generous, not narrow or double. A soul wounded by this sweet arrow does not appear one thing in face and tongue while her heart is different. She does not serve, or act towards her neighbor with dissembling and ambition, because charity is an open book to be read by all. Wherefore the soul who possesses charity never falls into trouble, or the affliction of sadness, or jars with obedience, remains obedient until death.”
Click to expand...
When I read the bible verse, I thought people would get back what they had given up in this life for the sake of the Gospel. If you think about the saints, this is not true unless you consider having devotees or buildings named after your death to be getting back in this life what you gave up. From one perspective, you are still alive, so I guess that you are getting things back in this time. However, the Dialogues point to a different interpretation. The interpretation of this passage is not obvious w/o reading the Dialogues. So how do we know that there is not also an alternative explanation in Heaven for why some sacrifice doesn’t mean with a reward that we would never have thought about on our own? Even the last sentence doesn’t make sense, Fr. Henri Nouwen often suffered from sadness. Does that mean that his soul did not possess charity?
Matthew 20:11-15. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you.* Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? [Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’
Click to expand...
So perhaps it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we have faith and we shouldn’t worry too much about self-sacrifice? And if Heaven is so great, why are there so many different levels of Heaven? Does it really matter if we make one level of Heaven and not another?
 
LovePatience said:
Does anyone else struggle with this fear that the sacrifice to evangelize others and help them become more moral or to struggle for morality oneself isn’t worth it in the end?
Click to expand...
No. We (my husband and I) pray daily - “use us to save souls”.

And if we bring one soul to heaven, then this life on earth — not matter what it has been — will be worth it. I can’t possibly think of a better goal to have.

~Liza
 
LovePatience said:
So perhaps it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we have faith and we shouldn’t worry too much about self-sacrifice? And if Heaven is so great, why are there so many different levels of Heaven? Does it really matter if we make one level of Heaven and not another?
Click to expand...
What we do is of immense importance - it speaks to both the quality and quantity of our faith. Our action is the fruit by which the tree of our soul will be judged. This doesn’t mean we need to do huge heroic things - as St Therese of Lisieux shows with her ‘little way’, we can serve God in the mundane and the small things of our lives as well. Nor does it mean we need to always be successful, as Mother Teresa said being faithful (giving the beat effort that we can in all areas of our life) is more important.
 
III. Prayer of Intercession

2634 Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners.112 He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."113 The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."114

2635 Since Abraham, intercession - asking on behalf of another has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God’s mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ’s, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks “not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” even to the point of praying for those who do him harm.115

2636 The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship intensely.116 Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his ministry of preaching the Gospel117 but also intercedes for them.118 The intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: “for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions,” for persecutors, for the salvation of those who reject the Gospel.119

vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P98.HTM

Heaven

scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a12.htm

Joy of Heaven:

catholicmatters.com/heav03.htm

catholictradition.org/Classics/4last-things4b.htm
 
If it were not worth the effort of others to save souls, I’d be in big trouble. So thank you to all who go about saving souls. How ever you do it, I for one appreciate it.
 
Thanks very much everyone!

But another question, how does one start caring that souls will be lost. Its so easy to just think: well, they deserved it anyways!😦
 
LovePatience said:
Thanks very much everyone!

But another question, how does one start caring that souls will be lost. Its so easy to just think: well, they deserved it anyways!😦
Click to expand...
If there had been no resurrection after the cross. If it had all ended on Calvary.
 
LovePatience said:
Does anyone else struggle with this fear that the sacrifice to evangelize others and help them become more moral or to struggle for morality oneself isn’t worth it in the end? If so, how did you get over it?
Click to expand...
I think it is reasonable to ask the question, “Do I really want to spend eternity with God?” I mean, really ask the question. I hope you do side with God, but if you don’t - then that’s a call you need to make. If I tell you that you must choose God, and no other choice is reasonably possible, and if you listen to me, have you really chosen?

I say this because I decided to really push back and ask the question. I mean, there is suffering here on this world - do I think that my God should allow this? Do I want to be around that kind of God?

In the end, I decided that I’m going to side with God - for His willingness to come to this world and live in poor conditions - for His willingness to put up with the worst we have to offer - and for His willingness to forgive despite my terrible deeds. Only after I made that choice have I found that I can fully embrace everything it means to love God. A huge part of that is my sacrifices that are offered with the intention of saving souls.

I find the pleasures “of the world” to be small and petty compared to the tremendous pleasure of getting closer to God, and serving Him, my Lord, my Master.
 
LovePatience said:
But another question, how does one start caring that souls will be lost. Its so easy to just think: well, they deserved it anyways!😦
Click to expand...
The truth is - we all deserve it. Or, to put it a better way, none of us sinners “deserves” to go to Heaven. Only because of His mercy might we go to Heaven. How will He look upon those of us that ask for mercy, but give none to others?
 
**I read ,

James 5:19
My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, 20you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Is it the answer?**
 
LovePatience said:
Does anyone else struggle with this fear that the sacrifice to evangelize others and help them become more moral or to struggle for morality oneself isn’t worth it in the end? If so, how did you get over it?

Thank you very much!😉
Click to expand...
The point of evangelizing is to introduce others to the Good News, Jesus Christ. The morality part would seem to be an effect of getting to know him.

As for our role in evangelizing, we are called to do so by living our own faith fully. That really is the best form of evangelization. When we live our lives in Christ we bear his light and that light draws people to us. They want to know how it is we are at peace in these troubled times, how we are able to accept the loss of loved ones with a hopeful spirit and such. They ask questions and we respond. That’s evangelizing.

A lot like parenting. Kids learn more by what their parents do, how they respond to situations around them, than by what their parents tell them directly.

So is it worth it? If you believe in God, in his plan for humanity, for his plan for you to end up at his table, then live your life in such a way as to ensure you reach that final destination. Doing so will draw others to you and to Jesus. His path is not easy, it can be boring, only you can decide whether or not to take it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top