(Christopher Wendt)
See you for another broadcast. Good evening, Your Excellency. Good evening. Thank you for coming on. We greet all of you, members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima, and all the guests tonight. The format is a catechism lesson on the twelfth article of the Creed, the life everlasting. And we are really blessed to have a lesson on that from His Excellency, on the Roman Catechism.
Your Excellency, would you please lead us in a prayer in a minute?
(His Excellency)
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
(Christopher Wendt)
If you are in the Philippines and you would like rosaries for your parish, your school, or your religious community, please email us at info@livefatima.io.
We now have a warehouse there, and we have tens of thousands of rosaries that Our Lady wants to give to be held across the Philippines.
In the United States, if you would like to host a consecration later on in the year, please email us. We have a great program. It will be life-changing for you, for your family, and for your traditional Mass community or whatever community you are in. You will never be the same. Just email us at info@livefatima.io.
Also, if you have not bought your copy of His Excellency’s book, The Springtime That Never Came, I highly recommend that book. It is a sequel to Christus Vincit. It has a lot of answers to much of the chaos and confusion that is currently happening in the Church.
Without further ado, I am going to turn it over to His Excellency to give us his catechism lesson.
(His Excellency)
This lesson will be regarded as the last article of the Apostolic Creed: alive, everlasting. “I believe in life everlasting.”
The Holy Apostles thought it fitting to conclude the Creed, which is the summary of our faith, with the article on eternal life. First, because after the resurrection of the body, the only object of the Christian’s hope is the reward of everlasting life. Second, in order that perfect happiness, embracing as it does the fullness of our good, may be ever present to our minds and absorb all our thoughts and affections.
A Catholic faithful should have an ardent desire for the promised rewards of eternal life, so that whatever difficult duties he may encounter as part of the Christian life, he may look upon them as light or even agreeable, and may yield a more willing and cheerful obedience to God.
The words “life everlasting” signify not only the continuance of existence, which even the damned and the wicked possess, but also that perpetuity of happiness which satisfies the desires of the blessed.
This supreme happiness of the blessed is called “life everlasting” principally to exclude the notion that it consists in corporeal and transitory things, which cannot be everlasting.
The word blessedness is insufficient to fully express the idea, particularly as there have not been lacking those who, puffed up by the teachings of vain philosophy, would place the supreme good in sensible things. But these grow old and perish, while supreme happiness is not to be terminated by the lapse of time.
So far from conferring real happiness, the enjoyment of the goods of this life actually removes a person from it. He who is captivated by the love of the world is farthest removed from true happiness. For it is written, “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.” And a little further on we read, “The world passes away, and the concupiscence thereof” (First John 2:15-17).
The Catholic faithful should know that in this world, in which we are not citizens but pilgrims, happiness is not to be found. They should live soberly, justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. As St. Paul says in Titus 2:12-20.
Many, who seemed to themselves wise, not understanding these things and imagining that happiness was to be sought in this life, became fools and the victims of the most deplorable calamities.
True happiness is the accumulation of all good without the admixture of evil. As it fills up the measure of man’s desire, it must be eternal. He who is blessed with happiness must earnestly desire the continued enjoyment of the goods he has obtained. Hence, unless the possession of these goods is both permanent and certain, he is necessarily a prey to the most tormenting apprehension.
The intensity of the happiness which they just enjoy in their celestial country, and its utter incomprehensibility to all but themselves, is sufficiently conveyed by the very words blessed life. For when, in order to express any idea, we make use of a word that is common to many things, it is clear that we do so because we have no exact term to express it fully.
Since, therefore, to express happiness we use words that are no more applicable to the blessed than to all who are to live forever, the true depth and character of this blessed life remain beyond full human expression.
This proves to us that the idea presents to the mind something too great and too exalted to be expressed fully by any proper term. Though the happiness of Heaven is expressed in Scripture by a variety of words such as the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven, Paradise, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, and the Father’s house yet it is clear that none of these appellations is sufficient to convey an adequate idea of its greatness.
Now, it is chiefly by these blessings that we describe the happiness of the just when we say, life everlasting. If, then, there is nothing more left, nothing dearer or sweeter than this short and calamitous life, which is subject to so many and such various miseries that it should rather be called death, then how ought our soul, with what earnestness of purpose, to seek that eternal and everlasting life which, without any evil, offers the pure and unmixed enjoyment of every good?
The happiness of eternal life is defined by the Fathers of the Church as an exemption from all evil and the enjoyment of all goods. Concerning the exemption from all evil, the Scriptures bear witness in the most explicit terms. For it is written in the Apocalypse, “They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more, neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat.” And again, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away” (Book of Revelation 21:4).
As for the glory of the blessed, it shall be without measure, and the kinds of their solid joys without number.
Since our minds cannot grasp the greatness of this glory, nor can they possibly enter into our souls, it is necessary for us to enter into it, that is, into the joy of the Lord, so that, immersed therein, we may completely satisfy the longing of our hearts.
Saint Augustine observed that it would seem easier to enumerate the evils from which we shall be exempt than the goods and blessings we shall enjoy. There are two sorts of goods: one kind constitutes happiness itself, and the other follows upon it. The former, for the sake of clarity, theologians have called essential blessings; the latter, accessory blessings.
Let us reflect on the essential happiness, the solid happiness, which we may designate by the common appellation essential. This consists of the vision of God and the enjoyment of His beauty, who is the source and principle of all goodness and perfection. Of this, Christ our Lord says, “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
Saint John seems to interpret this when he says, “Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (First John 3:2).
He shows, then, that beatitude consists of two things: that we shall behold God such as He is in His own nature and substance, and that we ourselves shall become, as it were, gods. For those who enjoy God, while retaining their own nature, assume a certain admirable and almost divine form, so as to seem gods rather than men. Nothing so resembles God as that which, by its likeness, reflects perfect knowledge of Him.
It follows that no creature can behold His divine nature and essence unless that same divine essence has united itself to us. This is what Saint Paul means when he says, “We now see through a glass, in a dark manner, but then face to face” (First Corinthians 13:12).
It is impossible that any image drawn from created things should be equally pure and spiritual. No resemblance from creation can enable us to perfectly comprehend the divine essence. Moreover, all created things are circumscribed within certain limits of perfection, while God is without limits. Therefore, nothing created can reflect His immensity.
The only means of arriving at the knowledge of the divine essence is that God unites Himself in some sort to us and, by an incomprehensible manner, elevates our minds to a higher degree of perfection, thus rendering us capable of contemplating the beauty of His nature.
This delight is the light of His glory, and by His glory He will accomplish this. Illuminated by the splendor of God’s glory, we shall see God, the true light, in His own light. This is the light of glory, lumen gloriae. The blessed always see God present, and by these greatest and most exalted of gifts, being made partakers of the divine nature, they enjoy true and solid happiness.
Our belief in this happiness should be joined with an assured hope that we too shall one day, through divine goodness, attain it.
This is the meaning of the words of the Creed, which says, “I expect the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” These are truths so divine and so vague that they cannot be fully expressed in words or comprehended by us in thought. We may, however, trace some resemblance of this happiness in sensible objects.
Thus, iron, when acted upon by fire, becomes inflamed and, while it is substantially the same, seems changed into fire, a different substance. Similarly, the blessed who are admitted into the glory of heaven and burn with the love of God are so affected that, without ceasing to be what they are, they may be set apart and differ more from those still on earth than red-hot iron differs from itself when cold.
To say all in a few words, supreme and absolute happiness, which we call essential, consists in the possession of God. What can be like to consummate happiness for one who possesses the God of all goodness and all perfection?
If the contemplation of creation is so sweet, says Saint Charles Borromeo, how much sweeter must be the contemplation of the Creator?
Let us now look at accessory happiness in relation to this essential happiness. The secondary or accessory happiness adds certain gifts which are common to all the blessed, and which, because they are more within the reach of human comprehension, are generally more effective in moving and inflaming the heart.
This, the Apostle seems to have in view when, in his epistle to the Romans, he says, “Glory and honor and peace to everyone that works good.”
Whatever is delightful will be there in abundant fullness. If honor is desired, there too will be all honor. Men especially wish to be kings if they are laymen, and to be bishops if they are simple clerics. Both these honors will be theirs, for the Book of Revelation says, “And God has made us a kingdom and priests.”
If knowledge is desired, it will be theirs most perfectly, for in life everlasting we shall possess knowledge of all the natures of things and all truth. Whatever we desire, we shall know.
The blessed shall enjoy glory not only that glory which we have already shown to constitute essential happiness, or to be its inseparable accompaniment, but also that glory which consists in the clear and distinct knowledge that each of the blessed shall have of the singular and exalted dignity of his companions in glory.
And how distinguished must that honor be which is confirmed by God Himself, who no longer calls them servants, but friends, brethren, and sons of God.
Hence, the Redeemer will address His elect with these most loving and honorable words, “Come, you blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you.”
Justly then may we exclaim with the psalmist, “The friends of God are made exceedingly honorable.”
Psalm 138 says that they shall also receive the highest praise from Christ the Lord in the presence of His heavenly Father and His angels. If nature has implanted in the heart of every man the common desire to secure the esteem of others, especially those eminent for wisdom, because they are deemed the most reliable judges of merit, what a great expression of glory it is for the blessed to show towards each other the highest veneration.
The happiness of the blessed varies according to their merits. The Lord, in the Gospel of Saint Luke, gave to the servant who had used his ten talents to gain another ten talents the command of ten cities, and to the one who had successfully used his five talents, the command of five cities.
In heaven, some see God more perfectly than others, according to their merits. The Council of Florence teaches that one is the glory of the sun, Christ; another the glory of the moon, Our Lady; and another the glory of the stars, the saints.
Saint Paul says in First Corinthians 15:41 that the knowledge and love of God are greater in one saint and less in another. The same is true of the joy of heaven. Man is intended to take the place of the fallen angels, and these come from all nine choirs of angels.
The degree of glory in heaven depends on the amount of sanctifying grace a man has at his death. In other words, the degree of glory is greater in proportion as a man has more of the love of God in his heart at his death.
The degree of glory the blessed have cannot be increased or diminished throughout eternity.
Yet there are accidental delights, such as when special honor is paid to a saint. Our Lord revealed that there is particular joy in heaven when a sinner is converted (Luke 15:7). So the canonization, beatification, and feast day of a saint on earth, the prayers, the holy sacrifice, and other good works which the faithful perform on earth in honor of a saint are special sources of joy to the saints in heaven.
Also, among the blessings, there is no envy. They are all children of one Father and have received a portion from Him. To use the homely illustration of Saint Francis de Sales, he said two children receive from their father a piece of cloth to make a garment. The smaller child will not envy his brother the bigger garment, but will be quite satisfied with the one that fits him. So it is in heaven.
More than this, each one rejoices over the happiness of the other as though it were, in some measure, his own.
To enumerate all the delights with which the souls of the blessed shall be filled would be an endless task. They cannot even conceive them in thought. The happiness of the saints is full to overflowing of all those pleasures which can be enjoyed or even desired in this life, whether they regard the powers of the mind or the perfection of the body.
All right, these things must be in a manner more exalted than men can express with their limited words. As it is written, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has the heart of man conceived.” Thus, the body, which was before grace material, shall put off in heaven its mortality and, having become refined and spiritualized, will no longer require corporal food. Meanwhile, the soul shall be fully satisfied and fed with supreme delight by that eternal fruit of glory, which the master of that great feast, the Paschal Lamb, will minister to all who desire it.
Rich apparel or royal robes shall have no further use, for all will be clothed with immortality and splendor and adorned with a crown of imperishable glory. They will no longer desire material royal robes or similar things.
If the possession of a spacious and magnificent mansion contributes to human happiness, what more spacious or magnificent can be conceived than heaven itself, which is illuminated throughout with the brightness of God?
Hence, the Prophet, contemplating the beauty of this dwelling place and burning with the desire to reach it, exclaims, “How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.”
My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God (Psalm 83). And in my Father’s house, says the Lord, there are many mansions in which rewards of greater or lesser value shall be distributed according to each one’s merits.
Saint Paul says, “He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows in blessings shall also reap blessings” (Second Corinthians 9:6).
How do we arrive at the enjoyment of this happiness? The sure way of obtaining this happiness is to possess the virtues of faith and charity, to persevere in prayer and the use of the sacraments, and to discharge all duties of kindness towards our neighbor. Thus, through His mercy, God has prepared that blessing of glory for those who love Him.
Heaven is an abode of everlasting joy. Christ gave His apostles on Mount Tabor a foretaste of the joys of heaven. The heavens opened at the baptism of Christ. Stephen saw the heavens open, and Saint Paul was taken up to the third heaven.
For the just, heaven already begins here on earth. While we seek life eternal, we already enjoy it. Saint Augustine says, “The just have true peace; they have the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.”
Hence, they are joyful even when fasting and in the midst of suffering. Christ dwells in the hearts of the just here on earth. They have within them the kingdom of God. “Think of the reward, and thou wilt suffer with joy,” says Saint Augustine.
“The sufferings of this world are not to be compared with the glory which shall be manifested unto us,” says Saint Paul in Romans 8:18.
If we think of the joys of heaven, the things of this world will appear worthless, says Saint Gregory the Great. “He who stands on a hilltop,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “either does not see objects in the valley or they appear to him very small.”
Heaven is both a place and a state. Many theologians teach that heaven is somewhere beyond the stars, though this view is not to be believed as a matter of faith. It is the meaning of theologians. Yet it has some foundation, for Christ came down from heaven and ascended into heaven.
Heaven is also a state of the soul. It consists of the vision of the Godhead and the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the angels and saints do not leave heaven when they come to our assistance.
Christ, the King of Heaven, called Himself King before Pilate, though He maintained that His kingdom was not of this world. He was acknowledged as King by the penitent thief, who said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” In heaven, the angels worship Christ.
Heaven is our true home. On this earth, we are but strangers. Saint Thomas Aquinas said the perfect will enjoy all happiness in life everlasting and much more that surpasses description. But the wicked, on the other hand, will be in eternal death, suffering, pain, and punishment.
As great as will be the happiness and glory of the good, the punishment of the damned will be increased. First, by their separation from God and from all good. This is the pain of loss, which corresponds to aversion and is a greater punishment than that of sense. “And cast the unprofitable servant into exterior darkness,” we read in the Gospel of Matthew 25:30. The wicked in this life have interior darkness, namely sin, but then they shall also have exterior darkness.
Second, the damned shall suffer from remorse of conscience. Nevertheless, their repentance and groaning will be of no avail because it arises not from hatred of evil, but from fear of the enormity of their punishments.
Certainly, there is the great pain of sense. It is the fire of hell, which tortures both soul and body, and this, as the saints tell us, is the sharpest of all punishments. They shall be ever dying, and yet never die. Hence, it is called eternal death, for its dying is the bitterest of pains. Such will be the lot of those in hell.
It is said in the Psalms, “They are laid in hell like sheep; death shall feed upon them” (Psalm 48).
Fourthly, there is the despair of their salvation. If some hope of deliverance from the punishments were given to them, their punishment would be somewhat lessened. But since all hope is taken away from them, their sufferings are made most intense. As the prophet Isaiah says, “Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched.”
We thus see the difference between doing good and doing evil: good works lead to life, while evil works drag us to death. For this reason, men ought frequently to recall these things to mind, since they will incite one to do good and withdraw one from evil.
Therefore, very significantly, at the end of the Apostles’ Creed are placed the words life everlasting, so that this may be more and more deeply impressed on the memory.
May the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed God forever, bring us there. Amen.
(Christopher Wendt)
Thank you, Your Excellency, for those wonderful words on life everlasting. I was really struck by your discussion about how we think of big houses, especially here in America, with three thousand or five thousand square feet houses, and how much we like them. You used that as an analogy, and it was very helpful to imagine how much bigger the mansions in the house of the Lord must be. Thank you for that.
Would you lead us in the prayer to hasten the triumph of America?
(His Excellency)
Yes.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Holy Mother of God, and our tender mother, look upon the distress in which all mankind is living due to the spread of materialism, godlessness, and the persecution of the Catholic faith in our own day. The Mystical Body of Christ is bleeding from so many wounds caused within the Church by the unpunished spread of heresies, the justification of sins against the sixth commandment, the seeking of the kingdom of Earth rather than that of Heaven, the horrendous sacrileges against the Most Holy Eucharist especially through the practice of Communion in the hand and the Protestant shaping of the celebration of the Holy Mass.
Make these trials appear light by the consecration of Russia to Your Immaculate Heart by the Pope, in union with the world’s bishops, as requested at Fatima. Grant the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays of the month. Inspire the Divine Son to grant a special grace to the Pope, that he might approve the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.
May Almighty God hasten the time when Russia will convert to Catholic unity, mankind will be given a time of peace, and the Church will be granted an authentic renewal in the purity of the Catholic faith, the sacredness of divine worship, and the holiness of Christian life.
O Mediatrix of all graces, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, our sweet mother, turn Your eyes of mercy towards us, and graciously hear these, Your trusting prayers.
Amen.
Dominus vobiscum.
Spiritus sanctus cum sit.
Benedictus Deus qui non avertit orationem meam, nec deserit meam petitionem.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Now and forever.
(Christopher Wendt)
Thank you, Your Excellency, for taking the time to be with us. We are always encouraged by your faith and by your teaching of the true faith. We keep you in our prayers for all your future travels.
Thank you all for coming tonight. Our next broadcast will be on September 13th. There will be another question-and-answer session. We will take your questions, and His Excellency will answer as many as he can.
I wish you all a good night.
