Doubt

Doubting God can cause undo suffering.  We must never doubt the love of God.

No one is immune to doubt. It can and does happen to us all. You've just got to know how to handle it when it comes. Even the greatest men and women of God recorded in the Bible had to deal with doubt. Jesus said of John the Baptist,
"Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist" (Matt. 11:11).

That means John was greater in the sight of Jesus than Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, or any Old Testament character you can name. Yet John doubted the most important thing of all by questioning whether Jesus was really the Christ.

John the Baptist had been cast into prison for criticizing Herod about marrying his brother’s wife, an incestuous relationship. He had been there sometime between six months and two years and became so discouraged that he asked two of his disciples to go to Jesus and ask Him if He really was the Christ. It's easy to read that and not think much about it, but the truth is, it was nothing but unbelief on the part of John the Baptist.

Overcome Doubt

Sacrifice of the Mass

Where in the New Testament do we find the "Sacrifice of the Mass"?

Those who witnessed Jesus on Calvary were mostly Jewish people who understood a "sacrifice" as something taking place with a priest at the temple during Passover.  What they saw on Calvary was an execution.

How does a Roman execution therefore, get transformed into a sacrifice?  St. Paul himself gives an early explanation.  Jesus' sacrifice is correlated with the Passover. 

Catholics continue to celebrate the New Passover during Mass as Christ consecrates the bread and wine into His Body and Blood through the person of the ordained priest.

This means Christians offer their suffering with Jesus at Mass who redeems it through His blood.

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Humility

Suffering humbles us while humility strengthens our faith.  Therefore suffering has a purpose in our spiritual life.  Recently the Holy Father said:

The new evangelization calls for new humility. The Gospel cannot thrive in pride. When pride seeps into the heart of the Church, the Gospel proclamation is harmed. The task of new evangelization must begin with a deep sense of awe and reverence for humanity and her culture. Evangelization has been hurt and continues to be impeded by the arrogance of its messengers. The hierarchy must shun arrogance, hypocrisy and bigotry. We must punish the errant among us instead of covering up our own mistakes. We are humans among our human flock. All our beauty and holiness we owe to God. This humility will make us more credible new evangelizers. Our mission is to propose humbly not to impose proudly.

 

When you look to rid your own pride you are free to love because you then can see the layers of imperfection around others as something not to criticize but to pray to cast off (in His Name, cast it out!) so you can love the essence of the person. This is the "true" you: the one who is "prideless."

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The Mass Saves Us

We need to go to Mass to overcome suffering.  Mass is the re-presentation of the Paschal Mystery (Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ).  Therefore, Christians need to be incorporated into this in order to achieve salvation. Recently the Holy Father elaborated on this point. 

The Church, as Christ’s Mystical Body and united with him, offers worship to the Father. By identifying ourselves with Christ in his prayer to the Father, we rediscover our deepest identity as Christians, as children of “Our Father who art in heaven”. The liturgy is also an encounter of the whole Christ, that is, with Christ and his body the Church. Thus, the liturgy is a sharing in the prayer of the living, universal community of believers in Christ. Prayer becomes the habitual realization of the presence of God, as we make the words of the Church our own, and learn to speak in her and through her. The Church is most truly itself in the liturgy, as it is the place where God comes to us and enters our lives. Let us remember that the liturgy is celebrated for God, not for us; it is his work; he is its subject. For our part, in the liturgy we must leave ourselves open to be guided by him and by his Body, the Church.

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How Many will be Saved

Most today simply presume that the vast majority of people on the planet will be saved, ultimately, no matter what. This position is not only only non-biblical, but it also offends against human freedom by rendering our decisions ultimately meaningless, in terms of our destiny. The dismissal of the biblical teaching of judgment and Hell as simply untenable to modern thought. “How could an all-loving God send anyone to Hell?” goes the modern thinking. Never mind that no one spoke of hell more than Jesus Christ, and no one warned of judgement more vividly than He, who is love itself. The fact is, most Catholics feel very comfortable, and very confident, in simply dismissing Hell is a plausible reality for the vast majority of the human family.

The fact is God wants all to go to heaven. Unfortunately not all choose to do so. Jesus warned us about hell out of love. We have free will because God doesn't force. We should ask God for the grace to choose wisely and try to live a Sacramental Life.

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