I love speaking about God’s love and His mercy but every so often I feel like I have to talk about the other half of the gospel. I’m going to end with mercy but I’m going to focus on the separation that Jesus tells us is coming. Last week we read the parable of the wheat and the weeds.

This week we read the parable of the net thrown into the sea that catches all kinds of fish, the good from the bad. Both parables end with this message:

Thus, it will be at the end of the age. 
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Two weeks, two parables, and there are many more like these. In fact, Scott Hahn, a well-known Scripture scholar, says there is more about hell in the gospels then in the entire rest of the Bible put together. In other words, Jesus himself has warned us about hell a lot. And yet, I think you would all agree with me that we live in a time where the general consensus is that just about everyone is going to heaven.

I would love to know how did we get here? In Lk 13, Jesus is explicitly asked will those to be saved be few, and he answers ‘strive to enter by the narrow door for many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able.’ He doesn’t give a direct answer but He does say many will not be saved. In the parallel verse in Matt 7, He says that many are on the wide and easy road that leads to damnation and few are on the narrow and hard road that leads to life. How did we get from that to thinking that everyone’s in heaven?

Just earlier this week I saw a line from a priest that expresses my heart perfectly on this issue. Fr. James O’Connor wrote a book on eschatology (the study of the end times) and he says this:

“It must be remembered that God’s revelation of the existence of hell is a salvific doctrine. It is intended to warn those who cannot be motivated by love.”

There are some people who are genuinely motivated by love. They truly seek love and when they hear about the love of God, they are drawn to Him and want to follow Him. There are others who genuinely seek truth, and when they find that the Church has the fullness of truth, they are thrilled and they want in. And there are others too who find the pearl or the treasure in Jesus and the Church. Praise God. This is wonderful! This is ideal!

But what about everyone else? For the last 60 years, the message from the Church has been that you should give your life to Jesus and become Catholic because this is the best way to live. This is the way to true happiness. For example, I saw an article on Word on Fire website where the person asked why be Catholic, and he responded:

“Because to be Catholic is to be in full union with the one thing that can make you most sane and most happy.”

And that’s absolutely true and correct; but it’s only half the message. What about the consequences of ignoring God? There are many atheists who are getting along well enough without God. What about them? What about the guy who is raised in the faith but then goes off to college and decides he really doesn’t like going to church; he doesn’t get anything out of Mass, and he hasn’t found God to be really important in his life, and so he leaves? What’s the counter argument in his head that might lead him to stay? There is none! If all he’s heard is that the Catholic faith is the best way to live, we’ve made God optional. I want to look at more of what Jesus actually said.

I already mentioned Lk 13 where Jesus said that many will seek to enter and will not be able (or strong enough). Think of the rich young man who was unable to give up his riches to follow Jesus. Mt 25 and the parable of the wise and foolish maidens. The foolish ones weren’t ready. They weren’t prepared. They come late to the marriage feast and when they got there, they said, “Lord, lord, open to us.” And he responded “I do not know you.” Mt 7: Not everyone who says “Lord, lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my Father. Many will say “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And I will declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from me, you evildoers.” Luke 14: The master has prepared a banquet and those invited begin making excuses for why they couldn’t come. One bought a field and must see to it; another bought oxen and has to examine them; another got married so he can’t come. Then the master sends the servants out to invite the poor, the lame, the crippled; but for those 3; “I tell you, none of these men who were invited shall taste my banquet.” And there’s more, but here’s my point – in all these stories, were any of these people wicked? Did they sound like another Hitler? And notice they weren’t all “out there”; they include people who new Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, I know hell is an unpleasant topic; it’s an unpleasant reality and I am very fearful at the indifference, the many people who just don’t care. The last major study on Americans and church attendance, which was from 2023/2024 showed that for every 100 people who enter the Catholic Church, 840 leave. There’s been a resurgence in the last 2 years so maybe the numbers aren’t quite that terrible now, but still, something has to change. And I think we need to bring back a little fear of hell, not the way it was before Vatican II, but we need to somehow make this truth of our faith more real.

Fear can be a very healthy beginning. St. Catherine of Sienna said that the first stage in the spiritual life is servile fear, that is fear of punishment. She said this leads to love. We fear punishment because we know we’ve sinned; we know we’ve said no. But if we’re coming to Mass, we see what Jesus has done for us, we see him crucified. We see the price he paid so we could be forgiven. From there we can’t help but be grateful and want to find some way to thank Him and love Him.

This is exactly what happened to Scott Vincent Borba who cofounded e.l.f. Cosmetics and became super rich. You’ve probably heard about him. He gave up everything and became a priest. He had a mystical experience where he saw his place in hell and the demons “chomping at the bit” as he said, and that Jesus had come to him to save him and ask him to come back to the vocation he offered when he was a boy. He said once you see where you’re going, and that Jesus has saved you, you have to say yes.  

Okay. What do we do with this? Well, first we need to be sure we’re right with God. Then, with others, especially our loved ones, Our Lady of Fatima said we must pray and sacrifice. I want to highlight that second one a bit. In Lucia’s memoirs, she relates that she was once asked if Our Lady had told them to pray for sinners, and she said no. Later, in private, Francisco challenged her on this and Lucia said – She told us to pray for peace, for the war to end. But for sinners she told us to make sacrifices. I would say let’s do both, Jean Vianney said that the most powerful sacrifices he made were fasting and vigils (giving up sleep for prayer).

I have one more thing in case anyone here has lost someone. There is always hope. A woman had a husband who was not a believer. She prayed every day that he would believe, but he ended up jumping off a bridge and taking his life. She was inconsolable. Luckily for her, her parish priest was Jean Vianney. He said to her, remember that statue of Our Lady that you had in your home, yes; and remember how your husband would put flowers around the statue, yes; in response to that little gift, Our Lady gave him the grace of repentance. He repented on the way down. He’s in purgatory now, so pray for him; but he’s going to be okay.

So, there’s always hope. But, please brothers and sisters, while we’re still able, let us pray and sacrifice for souls, especially our loved ones.

God bless you.