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YOUR
ETERNITY

A Heart-to-Heart Chat

with Non-Catholics

REV. F. J. REMLER, C. M.

INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY

405407 BERGEN STREET . . BROOKLYN, N. Y.





Your Eternity

a LL are agreed that it is a grave obligation for a manto give warnings to his fellow men when he knows that
serious dangers threaten their property, health or life. To
neglect to do so would be highly criminal before God and

man. And on the part of those who are thus warned it is

but a dictate of ordinary prudence and common sense that they

take measures to escape these dangers, no matter how un-

pleasant or troublesome it may be to do so.

The wireless operator who informed the ill-fated Titanic

of the danger of collision with icebergs did what he was in

conscience obliged to do. And common sense dictated that the

officers of that ship should have heeded the friendly warning,

even though it meant the loss of the “Blue Ribbon. ” But they

committed the criminal folly of refusing to heed that message

of threatening danger; the result was the most frightful disas-

ter in the history of navigation—sixteen hundred human lives
lost in the icy waters of the Atlantic, together with the costly

ship and its valuable cargo.

We have a parallel in the spiritual world, in the affairs of
the soul. Here we find that God has imposed on the priests

of His Church the solemn obligation of warning people of the

grave and serious dangers that threaten, not their material pos-

sessions and their bodily life, but their spiritual goods and their

immortal souls. They are in duty bound to point out to men

the dangers of eternal perdition, of condemnation to the end-

less torments of hell. Neglect of this duty renders them guilty

of sin.

But if it is a duty for God’s ministers to speak words of

warning, it is only a dictate of prudence and good sense for

people to heed them and take the necessary means of safety.

We greatly pity those who are overtaken by some grave disas-
ter suddenly and unexpectedly, but what room is there for pity

when men, who have been duly warned, come to grief because



2 Y O V R ETERNITY

they recklessly refuse to take measures of protection? What

room is there for pity in the case of persons who are lost

eternally, despite the fact that they had been warned?

We have undertaken to write this “heart-to-heart chat” from
a motive of sincere love and compassion for our non-Catholic

friends. From the Catholic point of view they are living in

the appalling danger of exclusion from the Kingdom of God’s

glory in heaven. It is not always their own fault. Most of

them are persons who have been criminally deprived of their

rightful inheritance—the true faith in Jesus Christ. Some-
where back in the line of their ancestry there has been a defec-

tion, a giving up of the Catholic religion and the adoption of

a false creed. It may have been only in the last generation,

it may have been two or three generations ago, or it may have

been four centuries ago. Go back far enough, and it will be
found that nearly every non-Catholic living today can link up

his lineage with ancestors who were children of the Catholic

Church. Someone was guilty of the grievous sin of defection

from the true faith, and since that day his descendants have

been stripped of God’s greatest gift to man.

Our sympathy goes out to all our non-Catholic brethren.

We know that every one of them possesses an immortal soul
that is as precious in the sight of God as is our own. The

Precious Blood of the God-Man flowed for them on the Cross.

We know that if they are saved, they will exult in the exuber-
ance of heavenly bliss and happiness, in the same way that

we ourselves hope to exult; and we know that if they are lost,

they will feel for the endless ages of eternity the frightful tor-

ments of hell, even as we would feel them, if it should be our

misfortune to be lost. These considerations have prompted us

to compose this little treatise.

Our aim is to impress on the mind of the non-Catholic

reader these three important truths: 1* That the one great

and only important work of life is the procuring of eternal

salvation, or the winning of the glory of heaven; 2. that salva-

tion cannot be attained except by the fulfilling of the condi-

tions laid down by Jesus Christ, and that no man can pre-



YOUR ETERNITY 3

sume to choose or lay down his own conditions; and 3. that

all non-Catholics who know that the Catholic Church is the

only means of salvation appointed by God, but for any reason

whatsoever refuse or neglect to take steps to join her, and all

who at least suspect that the Catholic Church is the only sav-

ing Church, but neglect to investigate,are guilty of a grievous

sin against the Holy Ghost

,

which exposes them to the danger

of eternal punishment just* the same as adultery or murder.

In this way is this “chat” meant to be a voice of friendly

warning to all non-Catholics of good-will. Our endeavor is

to do what we can to save them from the appalling disaster

of losing their immortal souls. Accordingly we have tried to

speak plainly and without “beating around the bush.” Many

of the things we have to say will no doubt sound harsh and

bitter and perhaps cruel
;
but that cannot be helped. Many of

the things which our divine Savior said in His sermons hurt

His hearers, not only the ordinary people, but also His disciples

and apostles. But it was Divine Charity that spoke. He spoke
for the good of their souls.

We assure our kind readers that whatever they may find
hard or painful in these pages was written entirely in the spirit

of earnest solicitude for their eternal welfare. No hurt or
offense is in any way intended. Our one aim is to aid them in
escaping the most appalling disaster of losing heaven and of

being condemned to the endless misery of hell.

May it please God to give His blessing to this little work
that it may be instrumental in guiding very many of our non-
Catholic brethren into the one and only haven of sal.vation

—

the Catholic Church, and through her into the kingdom of

God's glory hereafter.



4 YOUR ETERNITY

PART I.

1. Your Destiny Here and Hereafter.

Let us begin with a few elementary but essential principles.

Have you ever taken sufficient interest in the great subject

of your destiny to ask yourself questions like these: “What is

the real meaning and purpose of my life? What am I really

living for? What is my destiny after death? What will be-

come of me when I die?”

No doubt questions of this nature have often come into your
mind and troubled you, sometimes at the most unexpected

moments. Even against your will they came and clamored for

a hearing and an answer. But you were not in a mood to

occupy yourself with them. They were unwelcome intruders

in your life of business, or money-making, or study, or the

eager pursuit of pleasure and amusement. And so you dis-

regarded them and managed to dismiss them from your mind.

Good common sense, however, demanded that you should

have taken time to study into them and find the correct answer.

The neglect to do so is a sin against right reason. It is the

common source of the loss of heaven. “With desolation is all

the land made desolate because there is no one that considers

in his heart”—that is, because serious reflection on one’s eternal
destiny is neglected.

Perhaps you are a member of one of the countless “churches”

4nto which Protestantism has broken up like the stones of a

ruined castle, and which persist in continuing to claim the title

“Church of Christ.” They retain some semblance of religion,

but in reality they are only lifeless phantoms of churches. In

vain do you seek in them fixed and unchanging definite truth

;

they have nothing to offer but the shifting sands of purely

human opinions. True, they still claim to have the Bible as

their guide; but since every non-Catholic is free to interpret

its contents to suit himself, we find that there are as many

varieties of religion as there are readers of the sacred Book.



YOUR ETERNITY 5

Now let me ask: What does your church tell you definitely

about the supremely important question of your eternal des-

tiny? What does it tell you about sin and its endless punish-

ment in hell ? What about the beneficent work of the Redemp-

tion by Jesus Christ? What about the necessity of penance

and atonement? What about the absolute necessity of Gods

special help, known as Grace, and of good works, the coin with

which heaven must be purchased?

Are you really satisfied that your church is for you the

safest means of eternal salvation? Or is it not rather a mere

social institution giving you an outlet for various benevolent

activities but leaving your heart untouched and your soul

empty and hungry? Does it really teach you the true mean-

ing and destiny of your earthly life and offer you the means

and helps necessary for attaining the same? Is it not an insti-

tution that is more social than religious?

Alas, allow me to say it in all charity—your church is a
purely man-made creation, a human institution, and as such

has nothing divine or Godlike in it. It stands to the true

Church of Christ in the very same relation that counterfeit

money occupies in regard to genuine currency. As such it has

no value before God and no power of salvation. All the

founders of our modern churches are counterfeiters in the

realm of religion.

Or you happen to be one of the unfortunate victims of our

modern system of education without God and religion, which

is at the same time penetrated through and through with the

crudist form of materialistic evolution. You have been sol-

emnly assured in the name of “Science” that you have not an

immortal soul, but that you are merely a higher form of ani-

mal, superior, it is true, to the horse and the ape, but after all

nothing more than an animal*; that therefore you have no

higher destiny in life than “to eat and drink and be merry,

and then cease to be forever” when you die, just as happens

to the beasts of the field. You have been told times without

number that it will be “all over with you” when death comes

to claim you. Millions and millions of our people throughout



6 YOUR ETERNITY

the world have been taught and are being taught this rot, and

this they call by the dignified name of Education .

All this you may have been taught and thus you may have

come to accept as your creed a purely materialistic view of

your life and its destiny. But now let me ask you to be honest

and sincere. The final issue is so important that you cannot

afford to be otherwise. Have there not been moments in your

life when you could not be satisfied with the answer which

evolution gives to the great question : “What is my real des-

tiny ?” Your better nature rebelled against it. It recoiled

from it. Destruction and annihilation of your being cannot

be the goal. Evolution’s answer is cruel, degrading and brutal-

izing. You are earnestly seeking for an answer that will fully

satisfy the yearnings and cravings of the human heart. You

want to know the true meaning of your life; you want to be

certain what is to be its fate beyond the portals of death.

Despite the boastful vauntings of godless scientists which

you may have adopted as your creed, you cannot believe in the

utter destruction of your being. It is simply impossible for

you to get away from the vexing and disturbing question:

“What shall become of me when I die?” It follows you

everywhere with the persistency of your shadow, and you can-

not feel satisfied with the brutal answer: “All will be over in

death.” It terrifies you to think of it. You must find an

answer that will satisfy you fully.

2. The True Answer.

Let us then proceed to give you the true answer. We shall
do so by offering you a concise summary of the program of life

that has been drawn up for you, as it has been for every man,

by God, your Creator and heavenly Father.

1. You are not of yourself, nor are you the product of a

blind and purposeless evolution, any more than a watch or

microscope is such
;
but you are a product of God’s omnipotent

creative power. Infinite love prompted Him to give you your



YOUR ETERNITY 7 .

existence, and it is He who is now conserving you every

moment of your earthly life. You depend on Him for even7

breath you draw.

2. Because He is your Creator and you are His creature,

He possesses and retains over your entire being a dominion

and authority which are absolute in every way. He has unlim-

ited rights over you, which you are bound to respect; but you

have no rights of any kind against Him.

3. The marvelous benefits you have received from Him call

for gratitude, love and filial service. You are bound to render

Him such a service as He demands of you, not the kind you

may find it convenient to choose for yourself.

4. But God does not force you in any way. He leaves you

a free agent—that is, He does not in the least interfere with
your free will. You can choose either to do, or not to do. His

will. He uses no force or compulsion of any kind to make you

obey or to keep you from disobeying. But while you are free

either to obey or disobey, you are not free to escape the conse-

quences of your choice. These you must bear in this life and

especially in the next.

5. Strictly speaking, God could have created you with a

destiny that is merely natural, that is, limited to this earthly

life; but He did not do so. He was pleased to assign to you

one that is immeasurably high above a purely natural plane.

It is called 5w/>ernatural—that is, above the natural.
6. The principal features of this supernatural destiny are

an intimate relationship with God by grace and love, and a

predestination to the enjoyment of the endless bliss and happi-

ness of heaven. What our divine Saviour calls the kingdom of
heaven is set aside for you as a real and genuine, but entirely

gratuitous, inheritance of infinite value.

7. But this inheritance, though a perfectly free and gratui-

tous gift of God, cannot be obtained by you unless you faith-

fully fulfill certain well-defined conditions. It partakes of the

nature of a reward which must be earned or merited according

to the stipulations made by the donor. Non-compliance means

total failure to obtain this inheritance.



8 YOUR ETERNITY

8. Your whole earthly life is assigned to you as a period of

trial and probation, as a “working day” in which you must

work out your eternal salvation. There is no other meaning

attached to your life. To win heaven you must “know, love
and serve God.” If you fail in this duty, you are making a

most fatal mistake, the results of which you may have to

deplore bitterly throughout the endless ages of eternity.

9. If you have the good sense to keep the thought of heaven

always in view and fulfill faithfully the conditions set down

for winning it, you can go through life cheered and gladdened

by the sweet assurance that endless bliss will one day be your

reward exceeding great. God who is true and just and good

cannot deceive you.

10. But should you be so foolish as to neglect for any

reason whatsoever to fulfill the conditions of salvation, there

is no other prospect ahead of you except to be condemned in

the next life to be “cast into the hell of fire, into unquenchable

flames,” where the worm of a reproving and accusing con-

science and of bitter remorse shall never die, and where the

fire shall not be extinguished for all eternity.

11. Lastly, at the moment of death, your soul will for a

time quit the body which was its earthly companion, to receive

from the hands of Jesus Christ, its Judge, its proper measure

either of reward or of punishment. This the soul will possess

alone until the da' r of the General Resurrection of the dead.

On that day your body will be created anew by the almighty
power of God, joined once more to your soul as in life, and

thenceforth made to share for all eternity the fruits of your

labors on earth—either inconceivable bliss and happiness in
heaven or unspeakable torments and misery in the dismal abode

of hell.

3. The Source of Information.

But you are tempted to ask: “How do you know these
things? What is the source of your information?” To this
we answer: In His boundless love for- man God sent His



YOUR ETERNITY 9

divine Son into the world to be- “the Way, the Truth and the

Life” of men. Accordingly Jesus Christ, the God-man, was

born into this world, lived among us for thirty-three years, and

spent the last few years of His life in teaching us clearly all

the things that are necessary for us to know about our super-

natural destiny and the ways and means of securely obtaining it.

You can rest fully assured that what He taught is absolutely

and infallibly true. His teaching is not like that of men of

earthly science or culture. The truths of arithmetic are not

more unchanging and unchangeable than are the truths of

religion which Jesus Christ taught concerning your soul’s sal-

vation. You cannot go astray when you accept them and shape

your conduct by His precepts.

But bear well in mind: You must hear and receive these

truths with great humility of mind and childlike docility of

heart, not with the arrogance of intellectual pride and conceit.

The truths of God are not to be subjected to critical tests by

human reason as are the teachings of men of science. Christ’s

verdict stands firm: “He that does not receive the kingdom of

heaven as a little child shall not enter into it.”

Endeavor therefore to receive God’s own instructions on the

great subject of your eternal destiny with the necessary dispo-

sitions of gratitude, and of humble and childlike obedience.

Do not imitate the unhappy Jews of old, who enjoyed the
altogether singular privilege of seeing with their eyes, and hear-

ing with their ears the Eternal Son of God-made Man, and

witnessed the countless stupendous miracles He worked to con-
firm His doctrine, but yet remained obstinate in their unbelief.

Their greatest grace served only to increase their sin and inten-

sify their punishment. Take heed lest this happen also in

your case.

All who refuse to accept Him and all that He teaches are
already judged. They are guilty of a grievous sin against the

Holy Ghost, which, unless repented of in good time, leads to

condemnation in hell just as does the grievous sin of blasphemy,

or adultery, or murder. The words of Christ are plain: “He



10 YOUR ETERNITY

that believeth not is already judged. He that believeth not,

shall be condemned/'

Jesus Christ is therefore your infallible source of informa-

tion concerning the great question of your eternal destiny.

4. The Office of the Catholic Church.

We have shown how Jesus Christ brought the knowledge of
eternal salvation into the world. He spent the last three years

of His life in instructing men in the most important work that

is assigned to them—the saving of their immortal souls by
means of the knowledge, love and service of God.

But He was not to remain forever among men. When His
task was finished He returned to heaven, and yet the work

which He began must go on till the end of time. The truths
which He taught must be preserved pure and intact, and must

continue to do their blessed work throughout all the centuries

down to the last day. The peoples of every clime and race

and country are to share in the benefit of His doctrine. All

the nations of the entire globe are to profit by the very same

truths which the Saviour of the world spoke in the hearing of

the Jews only. How shall this be done?

God's infinite Wisdom and Power found an easy means.

Before leaving this earth, Jesus founded and established what

He called His Church. This He organized with a perfection
that is possible to God only, equipped her with all the means

she needs for the work she is to do, and gave her the fullest

assurance that He Himself would always be with her to the
end of time, to guide and direct and fortify her, and give her

strength to withstand successfully the ferocious onslaughts of

the “gates of hell"—that is, of the world and the devil.
The history of the past 1900 years clearly proves that this

Church is the handiwork of God. Diabolical hatred and

human malice have left nothing untried to destroy and anni-

hilate her. Inhuman persecutors, cruel tyrants, wily heretics,

false teachers, men of unholy ambitions, of intellectual pride,



YOUR ETERNITY 11

of false science and frenzied hatred of God, have tried in every

conceivable way, to destroy and root out this Church and her

sacred doctrines, but their efforts have ever been as futile as

those of a madman to change the course of the stars or the

direction of the wind.

And now we come to a supremely important truth. It is

this Church

,

and no other

,

that was established by Jesus Christ

for the purpose of teaching the nations of the world the truths

necessary for salvation and providing them with the graces

which are indispensable to all who desire to reach heaven.

Jesus Christ founded this one Church, and no other. There

was no need for another. No need for a second one, which
would be an improvement on His first attempt. God’s first

and only Church is perfect and complete. She is not like the

works of men. Human institutions, such as societies and gov-
ernments, are necessarily imperfect and therefore subject to

change and improvement, but not so the Catholic Church; she

stands firm and immovable and unchanging as the work of the

Omnipotent God.

But then we hear so much in our day of the churches of the

sects. These are almost countless; so numerous and so split up

are they that an accurate census of them is impossible, and

every one of them pretends and claims to be God's Church .

Alas, they are blind to the sad fact that every last one of them

is a purely man-made creation. God had nothing to do with

their appearance. And can any sincere seeker after the Truth

really believe that men like Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII, John

Knox, or others, could have received from God the commis-

sion either to improve the work of Jesus Christ, or to patch

up weaknesses and deficiencies, or even to substitute other

means of salvation than those established by the Founder of

the Catholic Church?

Lastly, we offer this one thought to our readers for reflec-

tion: The rise and appearance of founders of sects and new

“churches” is only a proof that the Catholic Church is the

Church of Jesus Christ. We see in it only a fulfillment of



12 YOUR ETERNITY

the predictions which her divine Founder made repeatedly and

with which He warned His followers, that His Church would

in the course of time be assailed by many false teachers. “There

shall arise many false Christs and false prophets and they shall

deceive many.”
—
“Many shall go after them.”

—
“Behold, I

have told you all things beforehand; go ye not after them.”

5. Only in This Church is Salvation Found.

God does nothing imperfect, useless Or superfluous. When

therefore Christ established His Church He meant her to be

the one and only ordinary means of salvation for mankind. He

instituted no other Church, and gave no man a commission to

do so. His Church is all sufficient; all men of good will can

find salvation in her, and hence it is that outside the Catholic

Church there is no salvation.

Hence all who know of the existence of this Church and

her place in God’s plan of man’s salvation, but for any reason

whatsoever refuse or neglect to join her, are. a doomed lot.

God’s mercy, infinite though it is, cannot reach them as long

as they persevere in these sentiments. He will not force them

to submit, for that would be doing violence to their will ; and

this God will never do. He leaves every man perfectly free

either to enter His Church or keep out of it; to choose life or

death, salvation or damnation.

It must be self-evident to every thinking man that all who

seek external life must obtain it by fulfilling exactly all the

conditions which God has laid down for this purpose, and not

those which the pride of man may choose to dictate. Now one
great and indispensable condition of salvation is membership in

that Church which Jesus Christ founded for this very purpose.

Men may not like it; their pride may suggest to them all
kinds of evasive excuses and pleas for not submitting their intel-

lect and will to her; but there is no helping it if they want to

save their souls. By refusing to enter her communion they

simply cut themselves off from being sharers in the graces of



YOUR ETERNITY 13

the Redemption. They are hopelessly (as long as they con-

tinue in these dispositions) beyond the chance of salvation.

They are committing spiritual suicide.

And why should it not be so? Did not Jesus Christ pur-

chase the chance of salvation for men at the enormous cost of

His most Precious Blood shed in unspeakable agony on the

Cross? And has He not a perfect right to stipulate precise

conditions to those who desire to avail themselves of this price-

less grace of the Redemption? Heaven is an entirely free and

gratuitous gift. God does not owe it to any man. Man never
possessed a right to it. Should we not, therefore, expect that

God should have set down very definite conditions, on the ful-

fillment of which the possession of heaven is made to depend ?

The one great condition of salvation is membership in the

Catholic Church. There is no other way to heaven but through

her. Only in this Church are found the truth and the graces

necessary for obtaining life eternal. All other churches are

imposters; they are the creations of false Christs and false

prophets.

6. Christ Makes No Concessions.

There is one striking feature in the life of the divine Saviour

that must be noted in connection with our subject. It is His

attitude of unbending severity toward the spreaders of religious

falsehood and His condemnation of those who obstinately re-

fused to accept the truths He taught. He made no concessions
to false teachers. He threatened them with the severest chas-
tisements. The appalling punishment that overwhelmed the

lewd cities of Sodom and Gomorrha is declared by Him to be
mild in comparison with that which will be inflicted on those

who resist His truth. While He showed the most tender com-

passion to other sinners, He was unsparing and merciless in
His strictures on those who were guilty of the spiritual sin of

obstinately resisting His heavenly doctrine. No prospect of
salvation is held out to these. ‘‘You shall die in your sins.”

Hear Him rebuke the unbelieving leaders of the Jewish



14 YOUR ETERNITY

people: “If I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me?

He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you

hear them not, because you are not of God. If you believe not

that I am He [the Christ], you shall die in your sin.”
Again He says: “Woe to you, Corozain; woe to you Beth*

saida; lor if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles

that have been wrought in you, they would long ago have done

penance in sackcloth and ashes. Amen, I say to you, it shall

be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment

than for you.” What a fearful threat is contained in these

words

!

Surely, the honest and sincere seeker of the truth has all the

evidence he needs to convince himself that he must be a member

of the Church of Jesus Christ, of the Catholic Church, if he

is seriously thinking of attaining his eternal destiny. He must
join her, be the cost ever so great. There is no other way in

which he can escape eternal misery and win eternal happiness.

The insincere and thoughtless are hopeless cases. They are

like the unhappy Jews who continued in their unbelief despite

the fact that they saw and heard Eternal Truth Itself.

Are you willing to be like to these?



YOUR ETERNITY 15

PART II.

What Keeps People from Joining the

Catholic Church?

Having seen in the foregoing section (1) that God has

mercifully provided mankind with an effective means of salva-

tion by establishing His (the Catholic) Church; (2) that He

meant this Church and no other—no man-made Churches

—

to be the regular means through which men were to be saved

;

and (3) that Jesus Christ makes no concession to error and

falsehood, so that all who wilfully refuse to be humble, obedi-

ent and faithful members of His Church thereby sign their

own sentence of eternal exclusion from heaven, we must now

proceed to investigate the various reasons why so many persons

hold back and refuse to embrace the Catholic religion, even

when they are convinced that this religion is the only divinely

appointed means of salvation.

1. Early Training and Its Resultant Bias

or Prejudice.

No doubt there are vast numbers who keep aloof even to the
extent of making no inquiries into the claims of the Catholic

Church, simply because their early education was of a nature

to ingrain in their minds a disposition to consider her a thing

that is essentially evil. It is well known how innumerable

calumnies have in the course of time been spread in the world,

and continue to live on without any prospect of their ever

dying out. They live in books of history and in textbooks

used in our schools; they reappear with unfailing regularity

in our current papers and magazines; and they form a large

part of the so-called religious instruction which the children

of non-Catholics receive at school and at home.

Hence it is not surprising that not only thousands but mil-

lions from their earliest infancy carry in their minds the con-



16 YOUR ETERNITY

viction that the Catholic Church is a very evil thing; that .h*

Pope is Anti-Christ; tnat no good can be found where :le

Catholic religion hold sway. Moreover—we cannot ove -
look the painful fact—it often happens that the disedifying
conduct of careless Catholics contributes its share to the

strengthening of this conviction. “These, ” as St. Paul says,

“cause God to be blasphemed.”

But what is the position of non-Catholics, who labor under

this bias or prejudice against the Church? The answer is not

difficult. As long as they are unable to know better and are

convinced that their position is the proper one, we can leav<

them to the infinite mercy of God. If they do not do violence

to their conscience and foster deliberate hatred and ill-will

against the Church but rather are disposed to learn the truth,

we can entertain the hope that sooner or later they will profit

by the grace of enlightenment which God will in some way

offer to them, and that thus they will become members of the

Catholic Church before they die.

But when once this grace has been offered to them and they

refuse to make good use of it, refuse to investigate in order

to learn the truth, they render themselves guilty of sin—a sin
against the Holy Ghost—and thus place themselves in immi-
nent danger of eternal condemnation, just the same as do those

who commit sins of the flesh.

2. Human Respect or the Fear of Men.

The second reason we shall assign is what goes by the name

of Human Respect or Fear of Men. The fear of what people

will think or say has been responsible for countless acts of

omission of good and of countless acts of commission of evil.

This one thought “What will people say?” has ever been

the source of immeasurable harm to souls. How many good
deeds have been left undone, how many acts of religion

neglected, how many otherwise well-disposed persons have been

kept from embracing the Catholic religion, simply because the

fear of men’s adverse and unfriendly and hostile criticism



YOUR ETERNITY 17

blocked the way! It is really sad and deplorable to see to

what an abject slavery this fear will reduce those who in other

xespects are men of undaunted and even heroic courage! Many

* ho fearlessly face death in a fire or on the field of battle,

quail like wretched cowards before the opinions and remarks

of the rabble.

This is especially true when there is question of embracing

the Catholic religion. What! enter a Church which is every-

where so much maligned and despised ? A Church that counts
imong her members such vast hordes of the poorest, the low-

liest and most illiterate and ignorant, and of those who have

no standing whatsoever in the world ? A religion that is
sneered at and ridiculed and laughed to scorn by hundreds of

the world’s most learned men of science and culture?

What! shall I embrace a religion which emphasizes the

supreme importance of spiritual values and takes no notice of

material progress, or at least attaches no great importance to

it? A religion that insists on duties that are hard to perform,
on a long list of commandments that are so repugnant to man’s

natural inclinations and desire of amusement and gratification

of sensual pleasure? A religion which insists of humility, obedi-
ence, meekness, chastity and purity?

What would people think of me? What bitter things would

my relatives and friends say of me? What adverse criticism

would reach my ears from my business associates, employees

or employers? What, if the papers got a hold of it and pub-

lished it for the amusement of all who are ill disposed

toward me?

What! become a Catholic in the face of all these difficulties?

Impossible.

But, dear friend, there is nothing else for you to do, if you

are determined to escape hell and win heaven. There is for

you no other door through which to enter into life eternal,

except the Church of Jesus Christ. Human respect or the
fear of what unfavorable things men will say of you must not

keep you back. Of what benefit will it be to you to have pre-

served the good opinion of men by remaining a non-Catholic,



18 YOUR ETERNITY

when in hell you will forever hear the taunts of the demons

reminding you of your consummate folly of having feared men

more than God?

No, if you want to be saved, you must not let the fear of

human criticism stand in the way. Remember the words of

Jesus Christ: “He that shall be ashamed of me and my word

before men, of him I will be ashamed before my Father who

is in heaven: and he that shall deny me before men, him I also

will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” And He indi-

cates that the fear of men is a hindrance to the acceptance of

His faith, when He asks: “How can you believe, you who
receive glory from one another?” Many prefer to forfeit the

saving grace of God rather than lose the good opinion of men.

3. Fear of the Enmity of Relatives and Friends

We have spoken of the fear of men's opinion as an obstacle
to embracing the true faith. Let us now consider a more

intensified form of this fear—the fear of the enmity engen-
dered in those near and dear to you. That this is a most

formidable obstacle is made plain by the repeated utterances of

our divine Saviour on this subject. To face the ill-will, hatred
and sometimes bitter, unrelenting enmity of those joined to you

by the most intimate ties of flesh and blood—father and mother,
son and daughter, brother and sister—often means a greater
hardship and entails more painful suffering than would impris-

onment or torture with the rack.

It will help us much to consider the several passages in which

our Lord speaks of this serious obstacle to the embracing of

ths true religion.

“He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not

worthy of me. And he that loveth son and daughter more than

me, is not worthy of me.” These words are plain and forceful.

He that does anything sinful or offensive to God out of love

or consideration for his parents, will be adjudged guilty of

exclusion from the possession of God. And he who out of love

and affection for his children hinders them from doing God's



YOUR ETERNITY 19

will or induces them to act contrary to their conscience, ren-

ders himself guilty of sin and its punishment. We must never
do what is sinful out of regard for others, not even our nearest

relatives.

Again He says: “If any one come to me and hate not his

father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers and

sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple”

(Luke xiv, 26). What does this mean? Are we really to

commit the sin of hating our nearest kindred? No, never.

What then does it mean? Simply this, that our love of God

must be so great that in comparison with it our love for our

relatives will appear to be hatred, just as in the full light of

the sun the light of a candle will appear to be darkness. And

this proper ordering of love mus'. show itself in this that we at

no time do anything contrary to the holy will of God, even if

by this we incur the displeasure or enmity of father or mother,

or son or daughter.

In another place He says: “Do you think that I came to
bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you; but I came to bring

the sword and separation [that is, estrangement, enmity, per-

secution]. For there shall be from henceforth five divided in

one house; three against two, and two against three. The

father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the

tather, and the mother against the daughter and the daughter

against the mother
;
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-

in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own house-

hold.”

All these declarations of our Lord indicate that the embrac-

ing of His faith very often entails the opposition, ill-will,

hatred, enmity and not rarely bitter, relentless persecution by

those who are nearest and dearest to us by reason of the ties of

flesh and blood.

And yet it becomes necessary to brave all this if a person
wants to save his soul. To refuse to accept God’s grace in His
true Church for fear of being cast out from the circle of one’s

friends and of losing the love and affection of one’s parents or



20 YOUR ETERNITY

children is a grievous sin which entails condemnation to end-

less sufferings.

Dear Reader, are you one of those who is convinced of the

truth of the Catholic Church and of the duty of joining her,

but yet hold back from fear of incurring the ill-will and enmity

of your loved ones at home? You foresee that you will “bring

the sword and separation” into your family; they will be dis-

pleased, grieved, angered
;
they will perhaps disown and dis-

inherit you
;
they will exile you from the dearest spot you have

in this world. What a cruel alternative!

But all things considered, which is the greater evil: to be

rejected by your relatives now or by God hereafter; to be con-

demned to suffer for Christ’s sake in this life or to endure

eternal misery in the next? Take courage—thousands before
you have faced the same difficulty, but they chose wisely. They

gladly incurred the hatred of men in order to secure the love

and friendship of God, and they chose to become disinherited

exiles from their earthly home in order to inherit the fullness

of bliss in their heavenly home beyond the stars.

4. Fear of Other Sufferings.

We have not yet done with the question of “suffering for
justice’ sake.” Besides those sufferings, which converts must

often endure from their relatives and friends, there are those

which are prepared for them, in many ways by the world at

large. We have our divine Lord’s assurance that His faithful
disciples must be prepared to share His own lot in the world.

He makes no attempt at concealing or disguising this hard

truth, that fidelity to Him will invite sufferings for them just

as naturally as the lightning rod attracts the electricity of the

air around it. “If they have persecuted me they will also per-

secute you; if they have called the master of the house Beelze-

bub, how much more them that are of his household?”

From the time of our Lord until the end of the world it

remains an unchanging truth that Christ’s disciples will be



YOUR ETERNITY 21

subjected to painful sufferings for His sake. His words are

plain and admit of only one meaning: “You shall be hated by

all men for my name’s sake.” There were times in the history

of the Church when the embracing of the true faith was equiva-

lent to signing one’s own death sentence. Thousands, nay

millions, have endured the most unheard of and inhuman tor-

tures, and sacrificed their very lives, for no other reason than

that they accepted the teachings of Jesus Christ. They are the

Martyrs of the Church.

Can you explain this strange state of affairs: Men may join
any form of Church they fancy; they may become Anglicans,

Lutherans, Calvinists, Unitarians, Mormons, Mohammedans,

Buddhists, Christian Scientists, and no one will bother his head

about them, but let them become Catholic arid the whole world

seems to be leagued against them to make them suffer for their

taking this step. Does not this very fact serve as a proof that

the Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, in as much

as the predictions of persecution for His sake are fulfilled only

in the case of Catholics?

It will pay us to quote a few more of the declarations of our

Lord on this point. This is only in keeping with what He

Himself prophesied in regard to His apostles and disciples.

He made it plain to them that to belong to Him was to be the
signal for enmity and persecution: Thus He told them:

“If the world hate you, know that it hath hated me before

you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its

own; because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you

out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember

my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than
his Master. If they have persecuted me, they will also perse-

cute you.” And they persecuted Him unto the agonizing death
on the Cross.

These words are continually being fulfilled. The enmity

first directed against Christ in His sacred person continues to

be directed against the members of His Mystical Body. Catho-

lics are ridiculed, maligned, calumniated; all kinds of possible

and impossible falsehoods are circulated about them and per-



22 YOUR ETERNITY

petuated in textbooks and works of history and fiction; they

are often boycotted in business, in society, in civil and political

life; often they are denied a chance to make a living; and every

now and then some form of violent persecution by mobs or

governments is let loose against them. All this is but what

we must expect, since our Lord has foretold it: “You shall

be hated by all men for my name’s sake. The hour cometh,

when whoever killeth you will think that he doth a service

to God.”

Are you then to face all this danger of persecution? Are

you to embrace a faith which the world detests and hates with

an undying hatred? Are you to do the foolish thing of expos-

ing yourself, your good name, your reputation, your business,

your livelihood, nay, your very life to the danger of ruin and

loss?

Yes, if you want to escape the danger of worse sufferings in

the next life. “He that shall save his life, shall lose it; but

he that shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel—shall
save it.” If the fear of persecution and suffering tends to

frighten you, then reflect on these words of your future Judge:

“Fear ye not them that can kill the body and are not able to

kill the soul; but rather fear Him, who, after He hath killed,

hath power to destroy both soul and body into hell.”

5. Fear of the Moral Law.

Fear of the moral law deters many from joining the Church.

Most people have more difficulty with the Ten Command-

ments, especially that of Purity (sixth Commandment) and

that of Justice (seventh Commandment) than with the entire

collection of the Church’s doctrines. Often the objection that

this or that truth is hard or impossible to accept, merely

amounts to casting dust into the eyes of people. The real

objection is that certain commandments are hard to observe

and there is an unwillingness to live according to the rule of

the Gospel.

A missionary had finished explaining the Catholic religion



YOUR ETERNITY 23

to a group of learned men in India. When he was through

they made to him this candid statement: “Father, your religion

is very beautiful indeed ; we admire it very much. But your

morality is too severe; we cannot live up to your command-

ments.” Many objectors to the Christian faith, if they were

perfectly honest would not allege difficulty of belief, but diffi-

culty of moral living as the real reason why they refuse to

embrace the Catholic religion. It is also the real reason why

many Catholics give up their faith.

There is no denying it, it is hard to live a genuinely Chris-

tian life. It is no easy task to trample under foot the maxims

of the world, and to square one’s conduct with the Ten Com-

mandments, the precepts of the Gospel and the maxims of

Jesus Christ in one’s private, family, social, business, civil and

political life. Man’s natural inclinations are vitiated by origi-

nal sin and are strongly inclined toward the sensual pleasures

offered by sinful indulgence. The three great lusts—of wealth,
of impurity, and of pride—are strong in every man and clamor
loudly for gratification. Unless resisted at every point, they

become the sources of sins innumerable.

What, for example, is more difficult than to strive to be

lowly and humble, and not to foster ambition? What more

painful than to resist day in, day out, the strong cravings of

one’s lower nature for the pleasures of the flesh furnished by

violations of the sixth and the ninth commandments? What
seems more impossible than ,the exact fulfillment of the wide

commandment of love of neighbor in all its branches, especially

that of complete forgiveness of all injuries and that of actual

love of enemies! And does not the law of justice in one’s

dealings with the neighbor often entail many grave hardships,

which frighten people from following the dictates of their

conscience in the matter of becoming Catholic?

As a matter of common experience very many non-Catholics

imitate the Roman Governor Felix in whose custody St. Paul

happened to be. It is related that Felix often sent for Paul

and gladly heard him as he explained the doctrine of Jesus

Christ. But when Paul spoke of these three subjects: Justice ,



24 YOUR ETERNITY

Chastity, and the Future Judgment

,

Felix being terrified,

answered: “For this time go thy way; but when I have a

convenient time, I will send for thee.” As a matter of fact

he took good care that this convenient time never came.

This scene is re-enacted times without number. There are

many who admire the Catholic faith, are well disposed toward

it, know a good deal about it, and are, as a misleading phrase

puts it. “Catholics at heart.” They know indeed that it is the

only faith that can save them, but they find it inconvenient to

embrace it, because it would necessitate a change of life and

the adoption of maxims of conduct diametrically opposed to

what they have hitherto been accustomed to put into practice.

They are not prepared to make this great sacrifice—it costs
too much—the surrendering of ill-gotten goods, the forgiving
of injuries, the adoption of Christian ideals in marriage, the

removal or abandonment of occasions of sin, a life of self-denial

and heavenly-mindedness. Rather than submit to the incon-

veniences and hardships of the Catholic Moral Law they prefer

to expose themselves to condemnation to eternal torments

hereafter.

Are you, dear Reader, one of them? Then ponder these

words of Jesus Christ: “You will not come to me that you

may have life: If you believe not you shall die in your sin. He

that believeth not, is already condemned.”

6. Fear of the Confessional.

Another formidable stumbling block in the way of non-

Catholics who may have a desire to join the true Church is the

painful ordeal of confessing one’s sins to the priests of the

Church for the purpose of obtaining their forgiveness and

pardon.

What a presumption! What a preposterous demand! Men
and women to kneel down before a mortal man like themselves

and declare against themselves the most secret sins of their

hearts! and this, too, as an indispensable condition of pardon



YOUR ETERNITY 25

from God ! This is downright tyranny of conscience. It is a

degrading of the dignity of man. Since sin was committed in

the sight of God, often unobserved by human witness, why

should it not suffice for pardon to confess it in the secrecy of

the heart, to God directly and alone?

We admit confession is not an easy ordeal. It costs human
nature very much. And it would be ever so much easier to

confess to God alone than to one of His human ministers. But

this does not change matters. It might indeed be otherwise, if

offending man possessed the right to dictate to his offended God

the terms of pardon; but as long as an offended God has the

full right to dictate terms of pardon to the offending sinner the

above argument loses all semblance of force. It vanishes like

the morning mist before the rising sun.

We cannot enter upon a lengthy discussion of the subject of
confession. We can only remind the reader, that Our Lord
gave the fulness of His own power of forgiving sins to His

apostles and their successors, with instructions that they were

to use this power for the salvation of those who seriously desire

to be saved. There is no question of forcing sinners to repent.

Salvation is a matter of the sinner
r

s own will. But whoever

wants to be saved, must, in case he has coihmitted grievous sin,

obtain forgiveness on the terms set dowrn by Him who alone
can grant pardon.

We can easily picture howT God could have placed much
harder conditions of pardon. He might, for example, have
obliged the sinner to make a public acknowledgment of his sins,

even the most secret and most shameful ones, just as is the case

now in auricular confession. In that case there would be no

other choice except to undergo this extremely painful and

humiliating ordeal, or go into eternity unpardoned and con-

demned to the endless torments of hell.

How easy in comparison with this is the acknowledgment of
one’s sins in the secrecy of the confessional to a priest who may

be a total stranger to you and you to him; one who is bound
by the strictest laws of God and the Church to complete
secrecy, and who usually forgets in the course of a few hours



26 YOUR ETERNITY

the stories of human sin that have been poured into his ears by

penitent souls.

And if it still remains a painful task to confess one’s sins to

a priest, we must not forget, that this very fact is meant to be

a part of that penance and atonement which God exacts for our

evil deeds. Confession would not be a penance if it were not

attended with pain and humiliation.

Persons who have a right understanding of religious things

recognize in the Sacrament of Penance one of the most convinc-

ing proofs of God’s love and mercy toward sinful man. He

exacts the very least that still satisfies the claims of His infinite

justice when He could have exacted the most rigorous condi-

tions; and He gives to the truly penitent sinner the very same
assurance of full and final pardon and reinstatement into His

grace and love that our divine Lord gave to the penitent Mag-

dalen in the banquet hall and to the penitent thief on the Cross.

Some say confession is a human institution. We reply, that
if Christ had not ordained it, no Pope and no council could

have introduced it. When in 1215 the law was made that
every Catholic confess at least once a year it was not that con-

fession was then first introduced, but it was merely defined how

often a man must cpnfess if he desires to retain membership in

the Church; just as was done in the matter of receiving Holy

Communion.

We do not hesitate to say that if confession had not been or-
dered by Christ but by some Pope, the promulgation of such a

decree would have estranged more persons from the Church

than all the persecutions that have ever been waged in her long

history.

Confession is a divine institution, and the divinely appointed

means of forgiveness of sin.

7. The Example of Bad Catholics.

Finally there are those who make the bad example set by

certain Catholics a pretext for not embracing what they know

in their hearts to be the only true and saving faith. This is a



YOUR ETERNITY 27

very poor excuse, and one that is entirely unworthy of a person

of thought and reflection.

Suppose Catholics around you are bad, or even that they

were ten times worse than they actually are, would that con-

stitute a good reason why you should rush headlong into eter-

nal perdition? Who is so foolish in times of epidemic conta-
gions to disregard safe rules of health simply because he sees

around him persons who pay no attention to them? When

men are placed in serious danger of death by some dread dis-

ease, like yellow fever or the bubonic plague, they can think of

nothing else than how to escape this danger irrespective of what

may become of others. They will not hesitate to use heroic

means, if necessary. What others choose to do does not bother

them. They are concerned about their own personal safety.

Why should you think of acting differently when there is
question of escaping, not a dread disease or a painful death of

the body, but the endless torments of the flames of hell?

Should you not, out of purely personal motives, employ every

means of safety at your disposal, no matter what course others

may pursue? Your fate is not in the hands of bad Catholics,

nor is theirs in yours. If Catholics lead bad lives and are lost,

it is they who will suffer, not you

;

if you are lost, it is you who

will bear the penalty of your folly, not they .

No, the salvation of your soul is a purely personal affair for

you, just as is the maintaining of your health and the saving of

your life. And it is only you, and you alone, who can success-
fully manage this affair. Whether Catholics around are good

or bad, does not affect the question of your salvation. If you

are saved, it is you who will for all eternity rejoice in glory and

bless God for His goodness; if you are lost, it is you who will
for all eternity howl in misery, and curse your inexcusable folly

in having made the example of bad Catholics a pretext for your

resisting the grace of God.



28 YOUR ETERNITY

A FINAL PLEA

Permit me, dear non-Catholic reader, in the spirit of earnest

solicitude for your eternal welfare to make a final appeal to you

to look well into the question of religion.

As the case stands, you who read these pages, are in one of

these three classes of persons
:

( 1 )
Those who are convinced

of the truth of the Catholic Church and know that only in and

through her is salvation possible; (2) those who have serious

doubt about the truth of their particular church and suspect at

least that after all the Catholic Church is the only divinely

appointed means of salvatjon
;
or (3) those who are so indiffer-

ent about the affairs of their soul that they pay no attention to

them and put aside all thoughts and questions of a religious

nature.

If you belong to the class of those who know and are con-

vinced that outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation

;

or if you belong to the class who feel insecure in their faith

and suspect that after all the Catholic faith is the true one

—

then I must boldly and fearlessly, but in all charity, tell you a

truth that will sound bitter and hard, but which is as unchange-

able as are the laws of mathematics. It is this:

All those who have received from God the grace to know

that the Catholic Church is the one divinely appointed means

of salvation but for any reason whatsoever refuse or neglect

to join her, and all those who have come to doubt the safety of

their position and suspect that the Catholic Church is true but

refuse or neglect to investigate her claims—are living in the en-
during and continuous sin of resisting the Holy Ghost, which

is just as criminal in the sight of God—even if not considered
so by men—as is the enduring and continuous sin of adultery
in a man who lives with another man’s lawful wife.

This statement, we well know, sounds bold and harsh. But

when carefully examined it will be found to contain nothipg

exaggerated but merely the naked truth. That this is so, can

easily be gathered from the conduct which our divine Lord

manifested toward different kinds of sinners. As we have



YOUR ETERNITY 29

already seen He was tenderly compassionate toward all classes

of sinners except those who resisted His doctrine. He scourged

their obstinacy with holy indignation and told them that they

could expect no mercy at the hand of God unless they humbled

their proud minds and received His doctrine with the humble

docility of children.

From this it is plainly seen that sins against the Holy Ghost,

such as is that of not receiving the known truth, are greater in

the sight of God than are sins of the flesh, and entail more se-

vere punishment.

It is only charity to preach this fearlessly to our non-Catho-

lic brethren; those who are well disposed will receive it grate-

fully, those who are ill-disposed will have no excuse to offer in

the judgment. Whether they like it or not, it is our duty to

remind them of the true state of their spiritual condition, and

to warn them of the danger of eternal perdition to which they

are exposing themselves. We consider it a bounden duty to
warn our fellowmen when serious dangers to health and life

threaten them
;

is it not a much more serious duty to warn

them of the dangers of exclusion from heaven and condemna-

tion to eternal misery?

As to those who are too indifferent about their eternal destiny

to give it serious thought, we can only commend them in charity

to the mercy of God by earnest prayer for their timely

conversion.

A Word of Encouragement.

When our divine Saviour conversed with His disciples for
the last time before His death, He told them emphatically that

the world would bitterly hate and persecute them for the one

reason that they were His followers. But He also encouraged

them to perseverance by reminding them of the reward He had

in store for them in His heavenly kingdom. “I will see you

again; and your joy shall be full; and no man shall take it

from you.”

Already in the beginning of His public ministry, in the Ser-



30 YOUR ETERNITY

mon on the Mount, He had spoken of this subject, and en-

larged on the blessedness of suffering for the sake of justice

aiid virtue and religion. “Blessed are they who suffer persecu-

tion for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you,

and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake.

Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven ."

These consoling words are spoken to all who are in any man-

ner subjected to sufferings at the hands of their fellowmen for

the sake of Christ and His faith.

Moreover, all who are afflicted and persecuted by reason of

their religion are especially dear to God. God watches over

them with a very special providence and assists and sustains

them in their trials. He gives them special graces. People some-

times wonder why God does not interfere and remove the suf-

ferings of converts; why He seemingly abandons them and

leaves them to the mercy of their enemies; why He allows the

powers of evil to harass them and make their life a veritable

martyrdom : but they forget that suffering is the price that peo-

ple must pay for the precious grace of the true faith
;
and suffer-

ing is the tool God employs for preparing souls for occupancy

of the higher places of glory in heaven. The saints of God

have ever looked upon suffering as an unmistakable token and

proof of God’s special love for them. As it was with Christ

Himself, so it must be with His disciples. “Ought not Christ

to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?”

Let us conclude with the argument of St. Peter: “This is

thanksworthy, if for conscience toward God a man endure sor-

rows, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if commit-

ting sin, and being chastized for it, you endure suffering? But

if doing good you suffer patiently, this is thanksworthy before

God. For unto this are you called
;
because Christ also suffered

for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His

steps.”

Dear reader, our task is done. We plead with you to act
wisely and see to the secure attainment of your soul’s salva-

tion. God has lovingly placed heaven before you as a destiny,



YOUR ETERNITY 31

but it must be won by you on the condition of belonging to that

one Church which Jesus Christ founded for that very purpose.

You cannot look for salvation in churches which are the handi-

work of men—of men who for the most were anything but
models of virtue and holiness of life. Man-made churches are

as powerless to save souls as an artificial acorn is to produce

an oak. True, they are more convenient, and appeal more to

our sin-tainted nature, because they do not insist on penance

and self-denial and confession and other painful practices of

religion; they do not call for humility of mind and obedience

of will; but for that very reason they have not in them the

power to confer the supernatural graces which are essentially

necessary for those who are taking the matter of salvation

seriously.

An eternity—and endless eternity—of weal or woe, of happi-
ness or misery is at stake. Will you not take the safest means

to avoid the one and secure the other?

Rest assured, if you accept the grace which God so graciously

offers you, and disregard the opinions and persecutions of men,

the day of eternity will more than a millionfold repay you for

the sacrifices you made to abandon falsehood and accept the

saving truth of the one and only Church of Jesus Christ.

* * * *

PRAYER

Since the acceptance of the true faith is ordinarily beset with

a great many trials and sufferings, special helps are needed by

those who desire to obey the call of grace. These helps will be

furnished by the goodness of God in answer to fervent and

persevering prayer. Hence those who are seriously thinking of
entering the Catholic Church should adopt the practice of ear-

nest prayer for light and strength. For light, that they may

come to have a good understanding of the doctrines of Faith,

and for strength, that they may be able to brave the difficulties

which they must of necessity encounter. With prayer all graces

can be obtained
;
without prayer salvation is impossible even for

the Catholic.



An Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one
God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son and
Holy Ghost

;
I believe that Thy Divine Son

became man and died for our sins, and that He
will come to judge the living and the dead. I

believe in these and all the truths which the

Holy Catholic Church believes and teaches

because Thou hast revealed them, who canst

neither deceive nor be deceived.

An Act of Hope

O my God, relying on Thy infinite goodness
and promises I hope to obtain pardon for my sins,

the assistance of Thy grace and life everlasting,

through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and

Saviour.

An Act of Love

O my God, I love Thee above all things with
my whole heart and soul because Thou art all

good and deserving of all my love. I love my

neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I

forgive all who have injured me and ask pardon

of all whom I have injured.

An Act of Contrition

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having
offended Thee, and I detest all of my sins because

I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell,

but most of all because they offend Thee, O
my God, who art so good and deserving of all

love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy

grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to

amend my life. Amen.





38$

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