19th Sunday after Pentecost 3 Oct 2021 Sermon

 19^th Sunday after Pentecost 3 October 2021 Heaven or Hell

Can we be certain of being saved? We can make it certain, but we are warned against being complacent.

Many today think that it is impossible to go to Hell, and that leaves Heaven as the only option, which by default becomes certain!

The last part of today’s parable indicates that salvation is not so easy as it may look. (The man without the wedding garment is expelled Mt 22,11-13)

Salvation is easy from one angle, insofar as it is not hard at least to initiate unity with Almighty God. A simple act of repentance can be enough.

That gets us started, but we then have to maintain the new state of affairs and live with it.

First we accept God’s invitation to the banquet (initial repentance, salvation); then we conform with whatever that acceptance requires (ongoing interaction).

We must not, like the unfortunate servant, bury our talent. (Mt 25,25) Once called to work in the vineyard we must work till the end of the day. Or, having put our hand to the plough, we must not look back (Lk 9,62).

If salvation is easy to begin, it is also easy to lose (cf the seed that did not make it to the harvest (Mt 13,1-7).

We are aware of the possibility of being lost, but this is not meant to cripple us with fear; only to ensure that we keep a respect for the wiles of the enemy and the lure of the world.

Those who think Heaven is automatic are at great risk of not paying sufficient attention to the dangers surrounding them.

Any sense that we have already ‘arrived’; that we are already ‘good enough’, must be guarded against.

We race to the finish (2 Tm 4,7) as St Paul puts it. Even he thought he could still be lost (1 Cor 9,27).

We are not meant to be quaking with fear that we might go to Hell, but just keeping a healthy caution.

There is a danger of being lost even if one has been on the right track for most of one’s life (Ez 18,24)

This is the reverse of the idea that one can be saved even after living an evil life (Ez 18,21).

It is what we have become that determines how we are judged.

The best idea is to live a good life and have a good death!

We cannot assess our exact status before God because there may be aspects to our lives that we have not given much attention towards.

There are always certain things we can do which will improve our position even if we don’t precisely know what that position is.

For example, we can always make acts of contrition and confess our sins. We can always pray, do good works. God will know if we are sincere, and He can even help us to be sincere if we were not before.

It would be comforting to believe everyone went to heaven, but this belief is just not tenable.

There is a great deal of Scripture and Tradition that tells us otherwise. eg today: Many are called, few are chosen (Mt 22,14).

Nor is it logical, when we consider that God does not force salvation on anyone. We are invited to the banquet, not forced.

So we keep operating at our fullest capacity, to make more likely our own salvation and - understanding the communal nature of the Church - to help others find their way to salvation as well.

We have to work overtime at present, because relatively few see it in this light.

There is not much prayer for the dead at present. The dead need our prayers more than our praise! Prayers such as: forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who most need Thy mercy.