Pastoral Corner - Christ The King

Dear Parish Family,

We Choose Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory Everyday!

The reality of Purgatory for most faithful is much closer than we may think, if we find ourselves with one foot firmly planted on the things of above, yet maintain the other foot well anchored in the things of the world. The good news though is there is always the remedy before us in Confession, if more of the faithful enjoyed this sacrament, we’d all be much closer on this road to sainthood. The reality is the line to Communion far exceeds the line to Confession. The month of November first as Catholics is a time of great reflection as we have the opportunity to contemplate our mortality. It’s important to gain perspective on just where we are spiritually, and if our soul carries any potentially threatening attribute of sin that would impede us from enjoying the beatific vision of God’s Plan for us to be eternally before Him.

The main difference between souls that go immediately to heaven, versus the rest of us, is the constant struggle of caving in to worldly distractions, that plain and simply move our hearts and minds more and more away from the things of God. The lessons we learn from the saints is that we can never have too much heaven on our minds, because that is what separates the saint from the sinner. A heavenly mindset in all things changes the way that we interact in the world. It just does, and even more so that those that strive for holiness never lose sight of the humility that moves us more toward holiness in the first place. It changes our disposition to be saintly in our response and interactions. The reality is often it’s the Christian that prevents others from being Christian, because they testify to their shortcomings first, rather than putting on the armor of Christ and taking upon themselves the yoke of peace, love, faith, or joy, the true attributes of a life in Christ. It somehow has shifted, the idea of what sainthood looks like, and its authenticity. Holiness is not tied up into empty external acts of piety, but a heart that is full of compassion, patience, zeal, and the way we treat one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and the way we genuinely love God! St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The most public display of our Christian identity is our behavior and the way we treat one another. If we say we are Christian then we must act it. So many Christians struggle here, because our words spoken often do not match our behavior. Pray for the grace to cover our multitude of sins, where grace abides so does the Lord. The saints constantly offered prayers for graces necessary to combat these distractions to our sanctification. Are we impatient at the sound of a child at Mass, do we feel bothered by the older person who forgets to practice library silence in church, do we disrespect our priests, constantly possessing a negative spirit of critique of the mass, our readers, our music, than if so we have definitely entered the realm of distraction toward the world and not toward heaven. Visionary mystics who have encountered souls in Purgatory, have said it’s the sins against charity that often distract us from heaven and put us on a path to Purgatory. Purgatory is a burning purification, unlike the fires of Hell, but the radiant burn of God’s Divine Love. The good news is that we have so many opportunities to live our Purgatory now, by manifesting the joy of a life in Christ even in our adverse experiences, because life is a spiritual exercise of advanced virtues. Prudence, (Discretion) Justice, (Rectitude) Temperance, (Moderation) and Fortitude, (Firmness) are the four Cardinal Virtues that as Catholics we strive to embrace. How can we become more virtuous is a good self- reflection, and almost always it requires we say less and pray more. For so many it is the tongue that is the greatest struggle, and cause of stepping away from heavenly things. The tongue has the power to curse and to bless, and in cursing we condemn ourselves as well. How much better it is to use the tongue to bless and give praise to God. The most significant danger is that we cast judgement upon ourselves when we engage in judgement of others. It is an unfortunate side to human nature, especially as people strive for holiness, but fail to emulate Christ. You know it’s just not necessary to feel your opinion must be shared at every turn. It’s not necessary to police people. I’d imagine many souls will go to Purgatory because they are constantly showing up at the banquet to receive our Lord in the Eucharist for themselves, but yet drive others away because of their criticisms, instead of seeking God’s grace to realign with the mind and heart of Christ. Take care to know which path is in front of us and pray, pray hard that there by God’s grace go I.

Fr. Michael D. Accinni Reinhardt, MA, Mdiv, MS
Parochial Administrator/Pastor