Universalism: "Why bother praying, or going to Church, or paying any attention to God at all? Everyone's going to heaven anyway, right?"

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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"The Hell There Is. An Exploration of an Often Rejected Doctrine of the Church." By Msgr. Charles Pope, TAN Books, Gastonia, North Carolina, 2025. 

PLEASE NOTE: I've added below a summary quote from the author. 

P.P.S. I've made edits and additions following some suggestions.

The Last Judgement, 1865-1866, wood engraving by Gustave Dore

Before launching into this topic, we must acknowledge....

There are huge disparities among human beings in terms of survival. Huge swaths of people suffer the violent excesses of armed groups - military forces of nations, their own nations or aggressor nations, drug cartels, ideological extremists, or simply criminals - while whole populations are dying of famine, absence of clean water, infections or other diseases. Even in nations enjoying development and affluence, there are extremely rich and extremely poor, with few if any connections between them. In many societies, a middle class is often shrinking or may have never existed at all.

That is only on the material or survival plane. On the moral plane, there are people with highly developed consciences; who are well aware of their neighbours and their living conditions, and do all they can to assist anyone in need. This tends to happen more regularly among those who are poor than among those who are wealthy. While the wealthy can reach out to help others, their philanthropy tends to come out of their abundance or excess. The poor on the other hand, will often share what little they have for themselves and their family with others in even more urgent need than themselves.

On yet a third plane, the above conditions may occur independently of whether people have any faith or practice any religion. As Jesus pointed out in a parable, religious authorities can easily pass by a victim of violence; whereas a member of a hated minority may very well display greater humanity and compassion for such a victim. In a more extreme case, a manifestly atheistic person may show greater humanity and compassion than an obviously religous person. Similar paradoxes may be found among rich versus poor people, powerful versus vulnerable persons, developed versus more primitive populations. 

On a fourth plane, there are the "movers and groovers", those who have and enjoy a disproportionate access and level of control over the life, natural resources, and riches of Planet Earth; which, in principle, are there for the use and enjoyment of all. This is called "the universal destination of goods" or also "the common good". One's circumstances of birth, location, social adhesion, and other variables increase or decrease one's access to the wealth of "our common home", a phrase coined by the late Pope Francis in his Encyclical "Laudato Si" published in 2015, These terms hearken to the Roman Catholic Church's "social doctrine" to which our current Pope Leo XIV refers in his recent encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas". 

In this post, we are exploring another variable, a fifth, the afterlife: whether or not human beings are giving any consideration to what will happen to them after they die, that is, at the end of their mortal existence on this Earth. Manifestly, some give great importance to life after death; while others, not at all, with countless variations in between these extremes. Supposing there are consequences after we die; then, those who care nothing about it will still have to endure those consequences. Denying them will not help them at all. Among those who take great stock in the afterlife; what they actually do or don't do may or may not help them either. 

Are all souls going to heaven? Is hell empty... does hell even exist?

Let's be honest here... you have either heard the following or you have thought it, at one time or another, right? "Why bother praying, or going to Church, or paying any attention to God at all? Everyone's going to heaven anyway, right?" True confession: I have leaned strongly in that direction at one time or another, and more than once; especially in adolescence. 

These days, I'm having to face it: for decades I found myself surrounded by this very way of thinking. It became clear that we had, as a society, gone through a gate of some kind, or passed a boundary; when I noticed at funerals how just about everyone was thinking their beloved departed was now in a better place, now in heaven with their parents, siblings, and grandparents, and friends, and, yes, with God. These assumptions are actually presumptions: in effect, such beliefs pass judgement on God - as if He has nothing to say about our eternal destiny, or as if Jesus' warnings don't count - and they appear in poetic form on bookmark memory cards printed by funeral directors on the back of a photo of the dearly departed. 

Is hell eternal torment or eternal annihilation? 

Then, on vacation, a few bricks hit my glass wall. First, last year, I came across the book "Hell A Final Word: The Surprising Truths I Found in the Bible" by Edward William Fudge (2012). Among other questions, he searched the Bible and Protestant Bible commentators to find a consensus on whether after death and judgement unrepentant sinners are annihilated and "destroyed forever", or whether they are punished and "tormented forever". The author had a view, but he honestly admitted that opinions on the issue are apparently divided among interpretations of the Sacred Scriptures by scholars in the Reformed perspective.

What has God said to us about it?

This summer, another book came to my attention, "The Hell There Is: An Exploration of an Often-Rejected Doctrine of the Church" written by Msgr. Charles Pope, published in 2025. Here, this author addresses the world outlook called "universalism", whereby people believe that God is too good to send anyone to hell; such that they believe hell is empty except perhaps for Hitler and a few other megalomaniacal mass murderers. 

Pope successfully and eloquently explains that this view denies Jesus' clear and repeated warnings about hell and eternal damnation, and the ways in which people who either rebel blatantly against God, or else, are so attached to favourite sins that they in effect turn away from God. Believing such things about God is in effect creating according to our preferences a "designer god" other than our Creator; as He has made Himself known through the Sacred Scriptures. Such views are in effect idolatry. 

He further explains that God only created hell when Lucifer and his rebel angels turned away from their Creator. They being "pure spirits" and not enfleshed as we are, but rather immortal beings; their choice to turn away from God was immediately final and irrevocable, because they do not change. Since they wanted nothing to do with God and his plan for creation and humanity, and because God still loved them as his creatures; He who created them provided a new "space" for them where - for all eternity - their wish would be honoured and they could be "far away from God". This, by definition, is hell.

Unlike the immortal angels, we can change and repent while alive on Earth 

We human beings, Pope further explains, are enfleshed. While we are an immortal soul, we are also mortal in the flesh. This means that our choices in time are not yet final or irrevocable; we continue to have both the freedom and opportunity to repent. Still, it is risky to wait, because with time and practice, our sinful ways become more entrenched and repentance becomes more difficult; even unlikely. 

In principle, we can choose daily to turn away from anything that would turn us away from God and his heaven and put us in the direction of hell. It is at the death of our mortal body, once our soul loses this "tool" or "arena" for repentance, that our "dying wish" or choice either for God or for our favourite sins will be finalized and become irrevocable. It is like a clay pot taken from the potter's wheel and put in the kiln; where it is baked at high temperature and can no longer be corrected or changed. Unlike Earth, though, in hell there is no hint of enjoyment, however imperfect the pleasure was here.

In between hell and heaven, some may linger in "Purgatory" 

Should we be repentant but still attached to sins, bad habits, or addictions, and struggle with letting them go, and our clear desire is to obey and love God; then our Catholic Tradition teaches that, in his mercy, God will provide us the opportunity to be "purged" or purified of all that cannot be admitted into God's Presence in heaven. That opportunity is called "Purgatory". We will suffer by not yet being able to be with God, but it will be with the hope of being with Him once we have been purged of our mortal attachments. 

However, it could be presumptive on our part to put off our conversion through repentance and place instead too much reliance on Purgatory, which may become an excuse to remain "comfy" in our sinful attachments and put off making the effort to seek and to obey God's will and deliberately seek to become "more perfect" as Jesus commands us to do. The author makes the point that lingering too long in sin, thereby entrenching a strong habit, may make it unlikely for a soul to ever repent, which sets its course on hell rather than heaven. 

Along these same lines, those who until the very end of their life remain selfish, self-obsessed, incapable and unwilling to care for or love others or make room for others or for God's will: Jesus made it clear in a number of parables that God will not oppose or obstruct their life choice. Those who in this life had such disdain for God will in the end have such horror of God that his judgement will corroborate their joining Satan and his demons in hell... as far away from God as they can get. Hell, understandably, is final and without any hope. 

Now, after all these years, I finally understand why in the Western World's more developed and affluent societies, so many people no longer go to worship God in church on Sunday, no longer pray, no longer care about spiritual things, and completely ignore God. They have no use or patience with others who are different or have nothing to offer them; they don't want to be bothered. Since they don't believe hell is real, and are oblivious to their risk of ending up in that solitary misery with demons for eternity; they don't see their need to be saved. They don't see their need for God's mercy and forgiveness; nor their need to change and repent. They want neither to change nor to be told what to do. Tragically, because God loves them and respects their freely made and consistent choice, He will grant their final wish.

God, our loving Father, is willing and ready, even eager to extend his mercy to them and forgive them, restoring his friendship with them. The tragedy is that they don't care, don't want, don't ask. God will leave them here, perhaps undistinguishable among human society, as weeds remained among the wheat until the harvest, in Jesus' parable. Then, God's angels will come and root them out and cast them into the eternal lake of fire with the devil and his demons for all eternity. They didn't want God on Earth; God will not impose Himself on them in eternity, but because He still loves them, He will honour their final wish and choice.

Please feel free to pass this on to family, friends, neighbours, co-workers, fellow students... to all and to anyone... so that the Holy Spirit might use these words to wake up those who are asleep on the assembly line leading to a perilous drop into the abyss of hell.

Lord, have mercy on us and on all of humanity. 

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In chapter 9, the author recalls "Hell Exists Because God Respects Human Freedom"; "Not All Want What God Offers"; "God Is Not Angry"; "Are We Free and Knowledgeable Enough to Choose Hell?" (The author believes "Yes, we are."); "Hell Is for the Unrepentant"; "A Sin Against the Holy Spirit": Despair, Presumption, Impugning the Known Truth; Obstinacy in Sin, and Final Impenitence. As you can see, these are all different ways of trying to control our own destiny instead of making plenty of room for God to manifest his merciful love and power to save.

In his Epilogue, he sums up all that he has found:

"In times like these, when the doctrine of hell is all but excluded from the minds of most, even among many pious Catholics, what are we to do? Strongly connected to the rejection of the biblical teachings on hell is the trivializing and 'taming' of God. He is, for too many, merely kind rather than immensely holy and glorious beyond telling. There is little notion that we must be utterly transformed and perfected to attain the glory that is our future and destiny if we are faithful unto the end. As noted previously, Scripture says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31). And again, it says we must "Strive for the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb 12:14)."

"A proper balance must be restored to us, which trusts God's mercy but acknowledges how very much we need it; a balance which knows and experiences God's love but which also holds Him in awe and deep reverence. This virtuous balance is what Scripture calls "the fear of the Lord." The fear of the Lord holds God in awe and reverently loves Him. It dreads offending Him and anything that might separate us from Him. Ideally, it is rooted in deep gratitude and love, which fears to offend Him because of His goodness to us. In those who are less spiritually mature, it may well include the servile fear of punishment. But at its best, it manifests as an excited and joyful reverence in God's presence, amazed at His glory and humbly aware of our need for His grace and mercy."

"To fear the Lord is also to accept His teaching without reserve, even if it puzzles us or causes alarm. The Lord Jesus loves us more than we can ever know and is rich in mercy, but He expects to be taken seriously. The gift of the fear of the Lord must therefore be sought by us and cherished. Without it we too easily trivialize the Lord and accept him only on our terms. It is true, Jesus is the Lover of our souls, He has borne our sins, and opened to us the ocean of His mercy. But this same Jesus spoke to us very plainly of the reality of Hell. He also teaches us that we are very fickle and perverse of heart. Take Him seriously in these matters! In holy fear and deep revernce listen to what He is saying and be urgent about the salvation of souls, starting with your own. A Day of Judgement is coming for all of us, and the choice is ours: "And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light" (Jn 3:19)."

"Be urgent and choose wisely, fellow sinner. Listen to Jesus and come to the light. Respectful of our freedom, He knocks at our door and waits joyfully and expectantly for us to open. You are free to choose, but you are not free not to choose."

"The Hell There Is. An Exploration of an Often Rejected Doctrine of the Church." By Msgr. Charles Pope, TAN Books, Gastonia, North Carolina, 2025. 

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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2026 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2026 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Humanity is a mess... Part 1 - What exactly has God our Creator been doing about it all these past 14 billion years?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Due to cyber threats from hackers and criminal use of AI, all my voice recordings have been deleted. Phone calls are also a threat: wait for callers to identify themselves... do not let criminals record your voice by speaking first. Contact me.

A thumbnail sketch of what God is doing in our universe, from the clues He has given us in the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Scriptures, called the New Testament. 

From the beginning....

Before the universe existed, from all eternity (which we mortals cannot imagine or understand) God alone existed and lived - the Most Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - in perfect union and harmony of love; complete in themselves. 

At some point beyond our knowing, God created angelic beings, pure spirits, out of his love and generosity; granting them to participate in his work of creation which He was about to do. When He revealed to the angels his plan of Creation, that He would create mortal human beings capable of friendship with Him; some angels rebelled out of pride, not wanting these mortals to rise higher with God than them.

Between 13 and 14 billion years ago, God created the universe. Only this past century, astronomers have discovered that it all began in a powerful point of light called "the big bang" or explosion; from which developed stars, galaxies, planets, and all the other phenomena now obervable in the universe. In the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah, God testifies that God said: "Let there be light!" His all-powerful word brought the universe into being as his Creation.

In time, some 4.543 billion years ago, according to astronomers, our Planet Earth came into existence: with land, oceans, and living things on the earth, in the seas, and in the air. When the time was right, God created human beings with spirits and freedom capable of entering into God's friendship; which was his freely given gift. As we all come to know on approaching adulthood, our freedom needs to be put to the test; so that it may not remain automatic but become truly chosen and authentic.

What exactly happened to the first human beings?

God our Creator therefore allowed the human beings recently created to be put to the test, and He allowed the rebel angel leader to bring the test; which took the form of a temptation. This having happened before recorded history, we don't know exactly what form the test took. 

However, again in the Book of Genesis, God revealed to humanity through the inspired authors that our first ancestors were blessed by God with all things good. God told the man, whom He created first, that he could enjoy all the fruits of the garden except the fruit of a single tree: the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil". In biblical language, knowledge means the full and complete experience of a thing; such as a husband "knowing" his wife, as a result of which she becomes pregnant with a new life. Simply put, God told the man that if he insisted on having experience of anything evil, he would die. Fine; no problem. 

Then, Genesis relates, God created woman because the man felt lonely with no other creature like himself. He was dazzled when God presented the woman to him, and they were happy with each other's company and friendship, and in God's friendship; which was expressed by Genesis in them walking with God in the garden everyday. Then came the test. The rebel angel leader took a deceptive form as a serpent. As a clever generail on the field of battle, he approached this first human couple and brought to bear his attack on their weakest point.

The tempter did not consider the woman the weakest point because she was woman; we all know that women have strength that men don't have. No, she was the weakest point because the man had heard directly from God the warning not to experience anything evil; that is, not to eat the fruit of the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil"; or they would die. The man told the woman about this; so, she knew, but only indirectly from the man, not from God Himself. 

First round - the tempter: “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”We don't know what "evil thing" the tempter proposed to the woman, but we do know she put up a valiant defense: "God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” Round one goes to the woman. Second round: “You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,[a] knowing good and evil.” Thinking it a good thing to become wise, she went for it and experienced that evil thing; whatever it was. Round two went to the devil who overcame the woman.

Round three: Wanting to share her discovery with the man, the woman brought to him this "evil experience or knowledge"; whatever it was. This was the man's test. Did he act to protect and defend her and remind her of what God had said? No, he did not; he simply went along with that evil experience; whatever it was. Round three went to the devil who overcame the man. Round four: As a result of their first experience of something evil; the man and woman suddenly found themselves ashamed of their nakedness. This had never been a problem for them before. When it was time for their daily walk in the garden with God; they hid themselves. They could have gone running to God and confessed their error and asked his forgiveness, but they did not; they tried to hide it instead. Round four went to the devil as they both failed.

Round five: Of course, God noticed their concealment and questioned them, beginning with the man, then the woman, and finally, the devil in the form of the serpent. Sadly, the man didn't stand and take responsibility for his behaviour - for going along with the temptation and for failing to defend and protect the woman - instead, he merely passed the buck and blamed her. In her turn, being "thrown under the truck by the man", she too passed the buck and blamed the devil / serpent. We can imagine the devil being quite pleased with his performance and showing no regret or remorse; fallen angels seem to be incapable or unwilling to regret or repent, which puts them well beyond the possibility of being saved.

There are always consequences....

There stood the man and the woman, unrepentant, before God our Creator. There was norhing for it but for God to explain what consequences would result for them; which they would not be able to avoid. Since they had broken trust with God, in effect believing the lie of the tempter that God could not be trusted; the man and woman were out of sync not only with the Creator, but also with his Creation, and with each other. We all suffer these consequences throughout our lives, but in Genesis God told the consequences in a symbolic form for each.

The man, being particularly robust and equipped to cultivate the earth, with a propensity to make plans for the cultivation of the garden entrusted to him by God our Creator; now found himself out of sync with the creation, with nature. This natural world would resist his efforts to cultivate it. He would earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, and instead of producing lovely fruit, the earth would put forth thorns and thistles. The man would ever be frustrated in his work and be insecure with respect to the world, work, and his ambitious plans.

The woman, being more alert and designed to cultivate relationships, to give and nurture life; now found herself out of sync with her partner, with the other being like herself. As a result, she would have doubts about herself and about her relations, and in her insecurity, she would grasp or cling to the man; but being insecure himself, he would react badly and quell her outreach or even dominate her. The woman would be ever insecure within herself, with respect to her relationships, and her ability to give and nurture life.

God's problem and challenge....

As a result of the test put to human freedom, God our Creator had lost the humans' trust, and they / we had lost their / our willingness to trust in God. How could God our Creator possibly win back the humans' trust? All of human history, and God's sacred history with his People as shown in the Jewish Scriptures, makes it clear that the only strategy that actually works is: "one person at a time". No grand schemes to win back our trust have ever worked.

1st Covenant - the Garden: with a human couple - Adam and Eve - that didn't go well... their son Cain murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy because he seemed closer to God.

2nd Covenant - the Rainbow: with a family - Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives. It went well enough with this first generation, but the successive generations did not know God personally, or were not interested; so this didn't go very far either. Their descendants built the Tower of Babel in their proud ambition to reach heaven without God and instead rival God, compete with God, by their own efforts. This turned out badly.  

3rd Covenant - Circumcision: with a tribe - Abraham and Sarah, their son, grandsons, and great grandsons and all their wives and children. God always keeps his promises: from Ishmael came the Arabic peoples, and from Isaac came the Hebrew people of the Covenant. This Covenant went pretty well until after a few centuries in Egypt; when their prosperity turned into slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, who became afraid of the Hebrews. 

4th Covenant - the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments: with a nation: Israel. By now, Abraham's tribe through his son Isaac had become a nation, and it was time for God to make a new covenant with this nation, which had in prosperity lost its way, lost its relationship with God. They had even lost a sense of right and wrong in their struggle for survival under the bitter yoke of slavery. For more than a millennium after Moses, the people of Israel went on a roller coaster ride - from generation to generation - with one generation knowing God personally and loving Him and walking in his ways, but the next generation not knowing God personally and getting lost amid the other nations and cultures in the world around them. 

During this millennium - from sometime between the 15th and 13th century BCE until the coming of Jesus of Nazareth - the People of Israel experienced different stages: (1) Period of the Judges: The people followed the leader chosen by God: Moses and then Joshua, and a series of Judges; (2) Period of the monarchy - The First Temple: This was when the people demanded a king like the other nations around them; (3) A kingdom divided: God warned the people that demanding a king was a rejection of God, a refusal to trust and obey Him. As a result, bad kings caused the kingdom to divide in two: Judah in the south and Israel / Samaria in the north. (4) Period of the prophets: God sent his people prophets to guide them, but the people resisted, the kings refused to follow the prophets' advice. The two kingdoms were conquered by nations from what is now Syria, Iraq, and Turkey, and the upper class were taken into exile as slaves. (5) Period of the Exile and the return - The Second Temple: God raised up a pagan king / emperor who released the Hebrews, the People of Judah and Israel, from their slavery and allowed them to return to their land and rebuild their Temple. (6) The Greek and Roman Empires - a period producing more wisdom literature and the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek: The Jewish People now had two cultural centers: Hebrew in Palestine and Greek in Egypt. (7) Persecution and messianic hopes arising, beginning with the Macchabees: A nunber of devotional movements arose, all looking forward to the coming of the Messiah to be sent by God to save his people. 

God's long-term plan....

At this point, it's good to remember that from the beginning, all that God our Creator ever wanted, was to extend to human beings his friendship; having created us capable of friendship with Him and endowed with the authentic freedom which, alone, renders true friendship possible. As God went through the various Covenants: a couple, a family, a tribe, and a nation, God's aim was always to reach all of humanity. He wanted his Chosen People to be a Light to the Nations. Here is a passage from the Prophet Isaiah 42:5-9.

5 "Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other,

    nor my praise to idols. 9 See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them."

In some ways, they were and are a light to the nations - like the unique gift of the Ten Commandments, but in other ways, not so much. After all, we are only human and mortal. 

Then came Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth....

5th Covenant - the Cross and Jesus the Risen Lord: with all of humanity: Matthew in his Gospel records the following words of Jesus of Nazareth: Mt 5:17 

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." At the age of 30, Jesus launched into preaching in public, and by the grace of God, accompanying his preaching with signs and wonders, miracles of healing and even raising the dead. In short, Jesus claimed to be God's own Son. At C.S. Lewis, the English author put it: Jesus was either crazy, or a liar, or he was exactly who he claimed to be." Those are the only logical possibilities of interpretation of his claims. So, God is still wanting those who know and love Him to bring his divine light to the nations, to all of humanity.

It is possible for all human beings to be attentive to the Spirit of the living God whispering within their own spirit and guiding them, and to obey this guidance and live as authentic human beings: caring for the Garden of Nature, our common home, being kind and generous to others, caring for the poor, the sick, the injured, and the exploited. Some people, who claim to be atheists or agnostics, do in fact rise to this level of philanthropy. 

The reason we baptized even infants is in obedience to Jesus' call to make disciples for Him who will come to know God personally, love and serve Him, and become beacons of God's divine Light to the nations. We join their parents, godparents, and their whole blended family in praying to God for the new disciples; that they may grow in the knowledge and love of God as they grow and develop in humanity and become a fully human person in all that they will say and do. 

Matthew 28:18-20    18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In what ways may God our Creator shine his divine Light in us?

to be continued soon....

 

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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2025 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2025 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Tips on how to "navigate" our interior life among all the "voices" competing with each other in our spirit

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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This reflection is in response to my observations of parents with young children as well as adolescnets - in addition to the normal challenges of their daily routine - who are faced with our common challenges but also at times unexpected or disturbing troubles, including forms of evil.

Life is beautiful but complex, and we human beings are complex living beings with many dimensions: body, mind, heart / psyche, and soul / spirit, with physical senses - exterior and interior - varied intellectual and psychological faculties such as perception, conceptualization, cognition, memory, imagination, and so on. We also have "spiritual senses and faculties" such as conscience, the ability to say no, the ability to reason and distinguish between good and evil, and a capacity for relationship with our Creator God.

 Please feel free to come back in comments with any thoughts or questions you may have. Please also feel free to share this with close family and friends, such as with you spouse if you are married. Companions on the journey of life help us to understand ourselves as they take interest in listening to us give expression to our thoughts, feelings, experiences, questions, doubts, fears, anxieties, and deep desires.

WHAT ABOUT GOD?

Our God will always be mysterious... 3 divine Persons so close in communion that they are as one, one God, one divine being, which is an intimate communion of divine persons. This means that our relations with them, with God, will probably always also be mysterious.

That being said, there are many ways to pray, to "be with God", in the course of our busy lives, and each form of prayer offers us a different and complementary experience, a different way of "being with God, visiting with God" who is ALWAYS PRESENT. The sacraments are particularly powerful ways to "be with God" and to receive all that God wants to give us.

WHERE IS GOD AMID OUR INTERIOR "VOICES"?

In our days and nights, as we pay attention to ourselves and agree to explore our "inner world" in our mind, heart, body, and soul, we discover three kinds of "voices".

THE PRIMARY "VOICE" WITHIN US IS GOD OUR CREATOR

The primary "voice" within us often goes unnoticed simply because it is the united Voice of God embedded within us, in the centre of our soul, rooted with us from the very first moment of our conception, in our immortal soul. In our deep center, in our soul, we are forever young, because our soul is immortal. Someday, in the resurrection, God will transform our bodies - wherever they are - and make them immortal like our soul, as Jesus was after his Resurrection, and as Mary is since her Assumption into Heaven. This voice of God within us is like the instinct that guides migratory birds to their destination. 

Our spirit is naturally oriented towards God our Creator to guide us to Him. However, our human condition now, since the original sin, is like a fog making it a little more difficult to notice, to recognize, to discern God's voice within us. Not to worry, the Most Holy Trinity watches over us like good parents watch over their children and pour into us life, vitality, their love, and spiritual helps we call graces to lift us up, enlighten us, form us, and guide us along the way; always respecting our free will.

The Presence of God within us is, since our Baptism, the natural environment of our interior life. Our basic inner voice emerges from God into our own self, our own person, in the living "being" that we are with its different "components": our mind, heart, body, and soul. This voice of our individual and unique "self" sometimes echoes the truth, but often enough, it may be mistaken. That is why we live "in the school of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph", the Holy Family. We are constantly being "formed" and "guided", and the choice is always ours to make. The Word of God in the Bible is our basic diet and spiritual nourishment... we need at least a little from the Word of God every day.

THE SECOND VOICE WE NOTICE IS OUR OWN

Our first "voice" is therefore our own. As we take in the Word of God, and "offer hospitality" to the Father, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit; they form and develop who we are, and they give us divine light, they correct misconceptions and misunderstandings, and they guide our inner voice to keep us on the right path.

THE FIRST VOICE WE NOTICE AS INFANTS IS THAT OF OUR PARENTS... THEN, THERE ARE OTHER VOICES OUTSIDE OF US TOO

There is a second "voice"... that of others around us and in the bigger world. We at times hear echoes within us of the voice of our parents, grandparents, and other significant people; who have contributed to our formation. Their voices become part of us and part of our own inner voice.

WE NEED TO KNOW THERE IS A THIRD VOICE... THAT OF THE ENEMY OF MANKIND

There is a third "voice"... that of the "enemy of mankind" which tries to turn us away from God and lead us astray. Originally, as in Genesis, the first book in the Bible, this enemy was the demon, the devil, the rebellious angel, who is jealous of us, wants to obstruct our relationship with our Creator, and ultimately to destroy us. God permits this enemy to tempt us so that we may learn to recognize the lies and reject them, and fight against the darkness and choose to walk in the light. Parents are reflections of God the perfect Parent as they love their children and let them go out to play and to school and face the dangers in the world, because life is worth living, and they form and guide their children to recognize and choose the good and to discern and reject the bad.

BEWARE OF "DARK THOUGHTS" WHICH ARE LIES COMING FROM THE ENEMY

So, whenever you may be assailed by "dark thoughts": such as "I'm no good. I'm a failure. I'm terrified, I can't do this; so, why even bother trying." and so on, we need to recognize them for the lies that they are and to reject them. God offers us all the grace we need to do this, but it always remains up to us to use our brains, think things out, seek guidance and support, and in the end, choose the good and reject the bad.

WE HAVE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

We have freedom to choose the attitude with which we will face any situation. When we become aware of anxiety, fear, and any trouble, challenge, or temptation, the trick is not to panic. Rather, we take notice of what is happening, admit that to ourselves: "O yes, I recognize that; or, yep, that's me all right; or hey, wait a minute, that's not true." Then, we turn our attention away from it and turn our attention instead to God who loves us. "Daddy God, look at what the sneak is trying to do to me. I reject it. Be with me. Lift me up. Show me the way." and so on....

It's like driving at night. We must never focus our attention on the headlights coming from the other direction, because we tend to go where we look, and we don't want a head-on collision. So we notice the opposing traffic lights with our peripheral vision but keep our central vision and attention focused on the road ahead. Well, it is like that as we live our interior world. We notice the bad things, the distractions, the temptations, the dangers, but we deliberately turn our central focus and attention to the Most Holy Trinity dwelling within us. We make little conversations with God and live in anticipation of the light, the guidance, the warmth, the peace, the love that they want to give us.

PRACTICE BRINGS FAMILIARITY AND GREATER EASE

The more we try to practice these things, the more familiar with God and his ways we become, and the more God reveals us to ourselves and we get to understand ourselves more and more. We become more and more grateful for the gift of our life, and we become more and more open and kind to others.... We will still have anxieties, but we bring them to God and He changes them into peaceful action. We still have fears, but God changes them into knowing that He loves us....

                                                   Pax + Caritas,       Fr. Gilles

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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2024 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2024 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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What is a woman to do when her man "treats her like dirt"? What does a man do when his woman "treats him like dirt"? When one "gets religion" and makes life hell for the other?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Hello Dear Suffering Soul, 

I thank the suffering soul who trusted me with remarks along those lines, and for putting trust in me. I will be as candid as I can be also with you who read me here.

First of all, I have deep respect for women, because of the great dignity which God our Creator has given you, and because of your deep capacity - when this feminine human nature is embraced and accepted by each woman - to give life and nurture life in others.

I also have deep respect for men, because of the great dignity which God our Creator has given you, us because I myself am a man, and because of man's deep capacity to engage the world, struggle with it to cultivate it, and eke out an existence from it for himself and his family.

Of course, men are also capable of giving life and nurturing, but it seems evident that God has specifically designed woman with this capacity. Similarly, women are also capable of engaging the world, struggling with it and cultivating it - in fact, in many cultures women do most of the tilling of the soil - but again, it seems evident that God has specifically designed man with this capacity.

Unfortunately, that same capacity in woman to be inclusive of others and to care for them, can also become a weak point that can be exploited by people who are either unscrupulous or who simply have not sufficiently matured so as to be sensitive to the dignity of others and still too selfish to become aware of others as living persons and to respect them. It's normal for a baby at the breast to be selfish because that is the first stage of life and the other stages have not yet developed. However, it is sad, even tragic, and downright dangerous when a full grown human being is still selfish and entirely preoccupied only with their own self; oblivious to others as living persons.

Man's capacity can also become a weak point exploited by others, which we can readily observe in the "new slavery" evident all over the planet; whereby men are drawn into "voluntary slavery" by being seduced by the "carrot" promising them rewards and advancement, but with the "stick" close behind, threatening to punish them or fire them if they don't comply. The fear, even terror, engendered by this new slavery explains why men surrender to long hours away from their wife, children, and home.

From this point on, I will write only from the woman's point of view, the female soul who wrote to me. Men have only to reverse the values for the text to equally apply to them in their situations of abuse or neglect by their woman.

This seems to be what you reported to me as happening to you by what you sense is a lack of respect, of caring, of responsibility, of friendship, of cooperation, and of love - authentic caring - on the part of your male partner.

If I understand correctly, you and he lived in intimacy for most of the past several years, but then when he suddenly took more interest in religion, he laid down "the law" to you; stating that you could no longer have intimacy unless you got married in the Church.

There is a difference between religion and faith, between rituals and spirituality. People can see themselves as "religious" because they are trying to follow what they perceive as "the rules", but this can turn into rigid and uncaring behaviour. The entire focus is on the rules, following them, being seen as following them, and wanting to escape punishment for not following them.

That was precisely the attitude and behaviour of most of the religious leaders who turned on Jesus and had Him killed. Jesus was the son of Mary but also the Son of God, and He still is, now that in his human body He rose from the dead, left the tomb, walked about meeting his disciples for 40 days, and then ascended to the Father's right hand in Heaven. People who rigidly try to follow religious rules do that because they have not yet actually met the living God in Person. God isn't real to them yet, not in a personal way, but only as a "big threatening figure in the sky" whom they believe to be ready to punish them as soon as they step out of line, or else be ready to throw them down into hell for all eternity at their moment of death. In effect, they understand nothing of who God is nor of the ways of the Lord.

Jesus seriously said that whatever we do to others - all the other people we meet on Earth, and especially the people in our own lives - we do those very same things to Jesus Himself. In other words, Jesus - along with his Father and the Holy Spirit - because they are so united together, we call them the Most Holy Trinity - because they love us without any conditions, they care for us, for each and every one of us so much, that they take personally whatever we do to one another, even to strangers.

That is why Jesus kept repeating: "Repent, and believe the good news."

What I just said about God's unconditional love is the good news. The bad news is that we are badly out of sync with God and his design for us, and we need to stop, turn around, repent, change our attitude and behaviours, and accept to live a new life in communion with God and at peace with our neighbour, and even with enemies.

What you need to hear, my daughter, is that God loves you; you are his daughter, and the dignity that He built into you from the moment of your conception is God's gift to you, the value of who you are for yourself as well as for others, and no one can take your dignity away from you.

You may at times be badly treated by others, but they only betray themselves, making visible the evil within them, or the limits of their goodness, their lack of maturity and responsibility, their lack of sensitivity and caring. Jesus proclaimed us blessed when we suffer in these ways, because we are being treated in the same way that He was treated. Even though Jesus is Love in Person; He was rejected, falsely accused, unfairly condemned, tortured, and cruelly executed. He accepted to suffer in this way because the Father sent Him into the world to demonstrate to humanity for all time what God is really like, and what authentic love looks like in a human being.

You options are, among the following, to accept what you suffer out of love for God, and offer your suffering as a pleasing sacrifice to God; as Jesus did on the Cross. No one can coerce us to do this; it is something that can only happen when we find within us the love to do it willingly and even gladly. That is why every day we need to be filled with God's love for us; filled with the Holy Spirit, because only God living within us and loving us can enable us to love with this same divine love.

Second, you can decide to withdraw from your man and, with God's help, find a better man more qualified and willing to be a true husband. God has filled you with dignity and his gifts and He wants to give you more... his truth, his goodness, and his beauty... and you don't need to feel obliged to "waste" your gifts on someone who is unwilling or unable to appreciate them or you, or who is incapable or unwilling to truly love you. Jesus warned us not to put our pearls (our dignity) before pigs, because they will turn around and maul us.

Third, you can try to have a mature and peaceful conversation with your man, expecting him to behave and chat like a responsible and mature adult. In such a conversation, there are no accusations. No one points a finger and cries out: "You...." Rather, each one calmly relates what it is like being who they are, what it is like to suffer as a result of attitudes shown, words said, actions done, and actions failed to be done. For example: "Yesterday, I heard the following words... these words stabbed me like a knife, and I cried for hours." When I honestly open my mind and heart to someone, their only options are to be silent, to believe me, or not believe me, or they can go on the defensive and try to justify themselves, or they can turn on me with an offensive barrage of accusations.... It can get ugly when one or both are not willing to be honest and humble, willing to believe and trust the other, willing to take responsibility for themselves and to acknowledge the unique life and person of the other.

No one can "put some sense into" another person's head. Each human person must accept to face life's challenges, to take responsibility for their own attitudes, thoughts, words, actions, and failures to act. This is what it means for a boy to become a man and for a girl to become a woman, for a child to become an adult. Each person must decide to stop blaming everyone else for what they suffer and for their disappointments. Life often sucks, and we all have to just get over it. We are called by God our Creator to learn that life is a gift, that other people are persons just like me, that they have dignity given them by God, that they have the right to exist, to breathe, and to live their life fully, and we need to be willing to be grateful, to cultivate an attitude of gratitude for life, for other people and what they contribute to our life, and ultimately, we are for a while on Earth to learn to be grateful to God and offer Him the worship that is due to Him.

When people enter into marriage with a 50 / 50 attitude, it is doomed to failure. God has designed us men and women to become a couple, and most of us try to do it. A few are called to live a solitary life, like priests and religious, and some professionals who dedicate their lives in service to humanity. In this enterprise of becoming a couple and entering into marriage, the man and the woman need to be mature and responsible, and they understand that the other is so precious that the other deserves that I give nothing less than 100% of everything that I am and have all of the time. Naturally, because of the original sin when human beings broke their trust in God and in each other, because of our mortal condition; we never measure up to this ideal of 100% of me and all that I am and have all of the time. That is why we need to practice showing each other kindness and understanding, mercy and forgiveness. This is especially true because we grow and develop at a different pace, in different seasons of life, and go through different stages at different times from each other.

Feel free, my daughter, to reply with further thoughts or questions.

At some point, it would make sense for these exchanges to be between the priest and the couple. If a couple are not capable or willing to open up to a priest with complete and mutual trust; then it would appear that the man and woman are not really a couple. They may be living under the same roof, they may be sharing the same bed, they may even have sexual intimacy, but it is unlikely that it is anything like what God our Creator designed us to be capable of, nor what He intended for us in order to experience life and his blessing in abundance. God's design for the intimate union of a man and a woman is that He designed us for much more than simply copulating as animals do. God designed us to be capable of a union of minds, hearts, and souls, as well as of bodies.

It makes no sense for one to treat the other like dirt all week and then suddenly expect to get intimate. The true and authentic intimacy can only be honest, pure, and true when it has something to express and celebrate... the countless acts of selfless service and authentic caring and tenderness one for the other all through the week, day and night, attentive to each other, striving to fulfill the other's needs, appreciative of the other's caring service and attention to their children. Then it becomes much more than a brief physical climax, but a profound and lingering union of souls melting into one another. Then, after that intimacy, the husband and wife lie next to each other in silence, in rapt contemplation of the profound mystery into which they have been drawn, into a truly "Holy Communion" of persons, as holy as the Holy Communion with Jesus in his Body and Blood. That wife is touched by Jesus when her husband chastely embraces her without thought of grabbing pleasure for himself but entirely preoccupied with blessing her. That husband is touched by Jesus when his wife lovingly accepts his chaste embraces and he understands that Jesus is loving him through her warm presence and affectionate attachment to him....

                                                   Pax + Caritas,       Fr. Gilles

See below my previous post: How can we help our parents, especially when they grow old, as they suffer - and we suffer - because of their faults?

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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2024 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2024 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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