Question re Death and Purgatory

[MichelleLil]

My health is not good. I’m struggling with the question of whether anything we do can be enough to be saved and go to heaven. If we look at things like Fatima, it seems that unless we are suffering everyday and praying all the time, we have no hope of being in heaven. I am not even close to being as good a person as the children of Fatima. Will we all go to purgatory? I have done many things wrong when I was younger, but have gone to Confession and have asked forgiveness and tried to be better. Even though Jesus died for our sins, Fatima says that many souls go to hell because no one prays for them. I am wondering if God loves us and will take us to heaven or if we are going to purgatory to suffer when we die because we aren’t even close to being good enough for heaven. Thoughts anyone?

 

[Weave]

I am sorry to hear you are in poor health. While many souls do end up in Hell and the possibility of Hell is terrifying, you shouldn’t live in constant fear of it if you are frequenting the sacraments and are truly repentant of your sins. It’s in cases where I know I still have attachments to sin that I’m grateful that purgatory exists and that I’ll still have a chance to break free of my attachment to venial sin through the cleansing of Purgatory.

It seems the message of Fatima is bothering you. As much as I love the Apparition at Fatima if it is causing you to despair I would suggest spending more time with the Gospels and reading the words of Christ. Have hope. Heaven is a reality for you. Continue to confess your sins and do penance. Not all of us are called to extreme penance. If you are suffering in health offer it up to Our Lord as respiration for tour sins.

I’ll be praying for you.

 

[Viki63]

I’m struggling with the question of whether anything we do can be enough to be saved and go to heaven.

Nothing we do can be enough to get us to heaven. We can only trust in the mercy of Christ, who loves us enough to die for us. He can get us to heaven. We are to trust in him like little children trust in their father.

 

[po18guy]

Sorry to hear this. Please remember that Fatima and all private revelations are just that. They were intended specifically for those who directly received them.

The pertinent questions are:

1. Do you love God?
2. Are you up on the Sacraments?
3. Are you praying as you are able?
4. Are you giving alms as you are able (remember the widow’s mite)?
5. Are you offering your suffering to God the Father, in union with His Son, for a worthy intention?

What else can you do? Not even the greatest Saint thought themselves worthy of heaven - that is the mark of a Saint. Yet, they knew, somewhere inside, that the loving Father would shepherd them from death to life.

We are filled with doubts at times, but God desires strongly that you spend eternity with Him. He will grant the grace to “bridge the gap” if indeed any exists at the moment He calls you.

Do not focus on hell but on heaven. Place hell behind you and heaven before you. Trust the Sacraments, as they were instituted for your salvation, not your damnation.

Knowing what we know, approaching death should be a freeing, even joyful experience - the letting go of imperfection and he embrace of perfection. We answer for and are rewarded for our love. God has not carried us this far only to abandon us.

Saint John Paul II’s last words were “Let me go to the house of the Father” and he uttered them with immense hope and anticipation. He set the example for each of us.

My time is coming, and probably sooner rather than later. God’s mercy and love are consistently on my mind, as I have received them time and again.

Let not your heart be troubled.

 

[SunSeeker]

I know sometime Fatima is a tough one for folks.
Try not to study more into it than there was.
Remember that her words were often in response to the children’s questions, If I recall, so it could be that we’ve taken things slightly out of context over the years.

Focus more on the gospel. Remember that Jesus loves you.

Maybe Jesus wants you to grow closer with Him in your last days.
Still don’t over-stress about it, but you may be called to deepen your prayer.
Remember the man who repented on the cross next to Jesus.
Jesus offered him Heaven though he only believed for a few minutes before death.

 

[Shasta-Rose]

We are saved by faith and God’s grace.

You can’t good works your way into heaven. As the song says:

Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law’s demands;
Could my tears forever flow,
could my zeal no respite know,
all for sin could not atone;

I would just keep doing what you’re doing.

 

[po18guy]

When overwhelmed with grief or guilt, it is good to remember that the apocalyptic private revelation of Fatima did not announce universal condemnation. It was and is a dire warning for those whose hearts are hardened and will not repent. Setting Fatima aside for a moment, here is what Saint Faustina Kowalska received and wrote:

THE PROMISE OF THE GRACE OF MERCY FOR THE DYING

“It pleases Me to grant everything souls ask of Me by saying the chaplet. When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one. Write this for the benefit of distressed souls; when a soul sees and realizes the gravity of its sins, when the whole abyss of the misery into which it immersed itself is displayed before its eyes, let it not despair, but with trust let it throw itself into the arms of My mercy, as a child into the arms of its beloved mother (…). Tell them no soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul that has placed its trust in My goodness. Write that when they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the merciful Savior”
(Diary, 1541).

“At the hour of their death, I defend every soul that will say this chaplet as I do My own glory (…). When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated and his unfathomable mercy envelops the soul” (Diary, 811).

And let us not forget the closing prayer of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy (bolding mine):

"Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.

 

[peter26]

I would suggest reading 1 Corinthians 15 versus 50 to 57. This passage is quite comforting on the subject of death.