Last week, I got this email, and I was given permission to publish it: What does “judge the living and the dead” really mean? We face particular judgement and that is final (correct?). So what happens to the already dead at the second coming? Especially those in hell? Or, as Tom puts it, Why are You coming to judge the already judged? I feel as though I should know this at my age but alas…drawing a blank. Thank you!!! Here was my response: Yes, so Jesus will judge you at your death as worthy of heaven or hell. But at the end of time, He also comes to judge the [...]

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.—St. John 20:19-20. Notice in the above passage about the Resurrection, Christ is able to walk through walls (hence, the doors being locked and yet He comes to the disciples.)  But the reason we know this is not a ghost passing through the walls is precisely because St. John [...]

p/c: Kevin Key Sister Claire was a German nun who lived in the first half of the 20th century.  But before that, she worked at a business firm with a woman named Annette.  Annette died in a car accident in 1937 in Southern Germany.  Many years later, after the death of Sister Claire, a mysterious account of Annette telling Sister Claire that she had gone to hell was found in the papers of the convent. Before you write this off as loony, know that the diocesan Curia of Trier, Germany authorized its publication before the Council.  Furthermore, this "Letter from Beyond" (as it was originally called in its publication) was [...]

NB Because this article is so long, yet so important for the month of November, it will be my only article this week (except for perhaps another one on the infrequently-viewed Life-Update pull-down.) November is the month where we pray for our faithful departed, for those who repose in the Lord.  Clearly, those in heaven cannot benefit from our prayers.  Similarly, those in hell cannot benefit from our prayers, either.  Thus, our prayers on earth may only benefit those who are currently in Purgatory.  Purgatory is that temporary state of purging fire that heals the deceased who are saved, yet must still answer to God's justice for those sins for [...]

As we will see below, the order of operations is: 1) Accept Christ.  2) Abjure past errors and make a profession of the Catholic Faith.  3) Actual (or conditional baptism.)  4) Lifetime confession.  5) All other sacraments. Recently, God has been using me to bring some older folks into the Catholic Church. One of these was the mother of a friend of mine who had been raised Lutheran. After her daughter and her granddaughter and I visited her in the nursing home, she decided to go from Lutheran to Catholic on her deathbed. At the time she made this decision, she had almost no dementia or senility, so no one [...]

The following is a guest-post from an anonymous priest: I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features save for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones we used to find in libraries listing titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endlessly in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read “People I Have Liked.” I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I [...]

Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.—St. John 5:28-29 In the above passage, Our Lord Jesus Christ describes an important part of the Creed, namely, that on the Day of Judgment (the last day of humans on earth before "the new heavens and the new earth") Christ will return and we will all begin the resurrection of the body. What will happen to everyone? Everyone in Purgatory [...]