At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus. G.S.
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People invoke karma to suggest consequences and endless possibilities: where every decision, word, and act has consequences and what is in the past has consequences for us now. There is a false dichotomy due to popular misunderstanding of Christianity as impoverished in its view of the afterlife. Ironically, in the Bible God addressed his people and addresses us about the importance and value of what we think, say, and do, both for ourselves and for others. We are responsible, and when we say and do good we bless others, give glory to God, and enhance our own selves. When we neglect good or think, say, or do evil, we harm others, dishonour God, and degrade ourselves.
The Old Testament, the Jewish Scriptures, witnesses God forgiving his people, while reminding them He must nevertheless punish them. God's forgiveness, like our own, restores the relationship between the offender and the offended, but consequences remain. Punishment or restitution must repair the destructive or harmful consequences of the offense in both the offended and the offender.
We are all connected to each other, those alive now on Earth, those who went before us, and those who have yet to come; this is the communion of saints. All the good, wise, and holy people who died have a beneficial effect on us, as we have now and will have on others; just as we suffer the harmful effects of the evil done in the past and others suffer the harmful effects of our sin now.
God's plan, revealed in the O.T. and in Jesus, is that we are all in this together; that we be uplifted and inspired by this awesome truth, and grateful to our God for the gift of our life – however short or long – and for the greater gift of eternal life awaiting us. In contrast, the whole environment of evil surrounding us and preceding us is in fact overwhelming and more than anyone can fix or undo. Moreover, the evil has affected our very nature, and we are often unable to lift ourselves up, to do good, or avoid doing evil. We are in need of being saved, rescued, forgiven, restored, and given growth by our Creator. He is doing this in Jesus, who came into solidarity with us in our trouble so that we might enter into solidarity with Him in the blessedness of God that is in the Holy Trinity.
The Judeo-Christian faith in the Creator God, a Holy Trinity of divine Persons for Christians, differs from Eastern religions for whom humans are caught up in a chain of successive incarnations, which in the end is a philosophical hypothesis to explain the consequences of human lives and actions.
The truth revealed to us by God is that, however unfair it looks to us in this life – from infants killed in the womb to people appearing to linger far too long in old age, and all variations in between – our Creator creates in us a human soul or spirit at the moment we are conceived by our parents. From that moment on, we have an eternal destiny. Once we die, we shall never return to this mortal existence on Earth but are caught up into the eternal reality awaiting us. In his mercy and abundant generosity, God will provide each soul time to be finally freed of all mortal attachments and to be purified of all evil in accord with its own will. All that was unfinished at the moment of physical death will have eternal opportunities for fulfillment and happiness with God and all the saints.
Then
at the moment God has planned and decided, He will grant the resurrection of
all the human bodies that have returned to dust or disappeared in the sea,
clothing all the human souls anew in the physical flesh in which they were
known, but with a wondrous difference. Our flesh will no longer be mortal but
immortal, acquiring the properties of our immortal soul and in perfect harmony
with it and with the Triune God. We will enjoy the company of God and all the
saints in a perfect and eternal union of our soul and risen body, like Jesus
after his resurrection and Mary after her assumption; as she appeared at
Lourdes, Fatima, in the Philippines, and in many other places. She who lived to
be old is now forever young. So will it be for all.
At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus. G.S.
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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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