Yoked to Jesus

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“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” †  Mathew 11: 28-30  What is the labour and burden that Jesus is asking me to deal with? Perhaps I have to let go of the compulsive burden (or is it a sort of entitlement?) that my spouse and children should choose a spiritual path that I know to be right. Jesus accompanied Judas Iscariot to the very end but never deprived him of his freedom to choose his own destiny. Jesus on the other hand, uninterrupted by Judas's choice to reject him, continues to accomplish his mission. He does become a victim of Judas's betrayal but he seldom takes on the victim's identity. In divine wisdom, Jesus chooses to die in our place (and that of Judas) in a redeeming act of love. Rather than being compelled to fix those whom God has entrusted to my headship by m

Salvation and Purgatory




Can an unbaptised remain in his religion and still enter heaven when he dies if he lives well and does good to the best of his abilities?

Who could fathom the mind of God? Yet when we think about it, we know what baptism does to a person and how it helps us grow in love and makes us capable of doing good in the divine sense. Left to himself man of concupiscence is limited and his best is not best enough. He reaches his true potential only in relationship with God. We need divine grace for supernatural love, courage and goodness.

Baptism begets us the merits of Jesus's passion, death and resurrection. We are purchased for a ransom (God's own life - substitution) and freed from the dominion of sin and death. Jesus reminds us that unless the Son of man sets you free you are not free.

Salvation is not merely saving us from falling into hell but healing us from the tyranny of sin (from a state of eternal separation to eternal union with God) so that we become truly free and live life to its fullness here on earth and in a more glorious way after death.

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If purgatory assures the transform of a person into Christ-likeness, why not replicate and apply the same dynamics on people down here on earth and achieve the same result.

In purgatory a person is pure spirit and has no body. But on earth, we have spiritualised bodies corrupted by concupiscence. So the self mastery and holiness achieved here is of a higher value.

In purgatory man has no other preoccupations except longing for God, the fulfilment of all his desires but here own earth we have many preoccupations and challenges.

Upon entering purgatory it becomes crystal clear to the person the truth about God and divine life and how inescapable and desirable it is. Here on earth we need faith (in the divine revelation) and the will to submit ourself to self-mastery with a single mind and focus despite pressing challenges

What is that we have on earth that we don't have in purgatory other than the support of our near and dear ones and sacraments, which makes it worthwhile to suffer here on earth rather than suffer in purgatory?

Do we have the divine virtue of 'hope' in purgatory? I assume yes! It is in heaven that Hope and faith becomes irrelevant and we have only "love".

In purgatory, we burn with an undying desire and yearning to unite with God because our eyes have seen his love, power and glory upon our death but it is not ours yet. The primary pain endured by those in purgatory is the loss of the sight of God. They suffer from “a spiritual fever.” As that fever rages, it separates the soul from sin, a process almost equally painful.

“To the extent we’re attached to our sin, becoming detached from it hurts,” “Seeing it in all its horror — how it wounded us and wounded others, how it led us away from God’s perfect plan — no physical flames could be as painful as that.”

Can we have this experience on earth?

In purgatory we are purified by fire. The fire is the love of God. Then here on earth can we not be purified by the fire. Yes! The fire is the love of God. We have to see with the eyes of our heart and through the eyes of faith, God's immeasurable love, power and glory allowing it to purify us.

Can the person entered heaven through purgatory be as good in every sense as the person who entered heaven directly? Does God give the "same" reward to all? Or while reward being the same will people have different experience of the intimacy with God according to their measure of their love. Will the person wilfully subjected himself to purification while on earth has more "love" than the one purged in purgatory? Search continues...

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