It’s pretty strong words that Jesus spoke in the Gospel today isn’t it? Jesus mentioned Hell three times in today’s Gospel, however Jesus actually spoke about hell more than he did about heaven during his life. If anyone would know what hell is really like Christ would. Part of our Creed affirms this when we say “he descended into hell”. Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to “save us from the fires of hell” too. That was his entire reason for coming to earth and dying for the forgiveness of our sins, in order to prevent us from going to hell.
In today’s gospel, Christ doesn’t sugar coat the reality of hell, but spells it out in very clear terms that hell is to be avoided at all costs. But, many Catholics do not really believe that hell exists. They think if God is a loving God, then why would he send anyone to hell? But, God does not send people to hell, they send themselves there by their own choices and actions. We make these small choices and decisions every day and should never be confident that we will never fall. It happens to the best of us if we are not diligent in fighting the sinful tendencies that we all have inside of us.
There is also another way of looking at things, to illustrate that God does not send people to hell, they choose hell for themselves. If you think about it, Hitler would not be comfortable spending eternity with Mother Teresa and Mother Teresa wouldn’t feel comfortable being with Hitler forever either. This is similar to the concept that “birds of a feather flock together” and that people naturally gravitate toward like minded people in our own world and there is no reason to think that death would change that. Drug addicts hang out with drug addicts, people in the mafia form their own “family”, musicians hang out with other musicians, monks spend their lives with other monks and nuns live in a cloister together too. Their common choices determine where and how they spend their lives here on earth and maybe in eternity as well.
The first reading today gives us a clear warning to wake up and pay attention to how we are living our lives, because death can come upon us without warning. “Do not delay to turn back to the Lord, and do not postpone it from day to day; for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come upon you and at the time of punishment you will perish.” If you were to die today, what is the state of your soul? What is the state of your life? Are you satisfied with it? Unexpected death always seems to happen to other people, in plane crashes, tornadoes, heart attacks, car accidents and the list goes on. But, the reality is that these people that died unexpectedly, probably thought it could only happen to other people too. When we die, life simply stops right where we are, dirty laundry and all.We are lucky today, that we even have time to think about this.
People get so caught up in the daily grind sometimes they can’t see the big picture of what they are doing. The young people that go on killing sprees in schools, movie theaters, marathons, etc. did not just become mass murderers overnight. One little sin led to another bigger sin and it may have been a slow process that formed them into killers. In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” The violence portrayed in video games, at the movie theaters, on television and in the music the youth listen to, greatly contribute to the development of these young people who become killers. We are guilty of perpetrating this if we buy the violent video games for our children, or allow our children to watch violent movies in our presence, or listen to violent music. When we ourselves go to the movies and pay to watch a violent movie, it also supports this destructive force monetarily.
Today, maybe we should look at the things we are doing in our lives that we haven’t really given much thought to. That is the whole point of both of the readings for mass today.
Adoration of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament or in the tabernacles of our church is a really good place to start, with prayer and reflection on our lives. It might be a good thing to think about going to confession pretty soon too. Like, maybe this weekend?
