a "serious mutilation" of the gospel
"They will wail and grind their teeth." —Matthew 13:42
Jesus states that, at the end of the world, "the angels will hurl" apostates and evildoers "into the fiery furnace where they will wail and grind their teeth" (Mt 13:42). Jesus also refers to the wailing and the grinding of teeth in Matthew 8:12; 13:50; 22:13; and 25:30. Jesus repeatedly speaks of what we call "hell."
Jesus often refers to what has traditionally been called "the four last things," that is, death, judgment, hell, and heaven. In modern times, it is not popular to speak as Jesus spoke about the "last things." However, Pope John Paul II has taught: "Nor can the Church omit, without serious mutilation of her essential message, a constant catechesis on what the traditional Christian language calls the four last things" (Reconciliation and Penance, 26).
Therefore, let us speak of and teach on death, judgment, hell, and heaven. Then we will see the whole gospel in an integrated rather than mutilated way.
Prayer: Father, may I speak and do the truth in love (Eph 4:15). Give me the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).
Promise: "The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing His kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless..." —Ex 34:6-7
Praise: St. Ignatius gave up secular warfare for spiritual warfare.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, January 4, 2001
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 24, 2001