Sunday, January 19, 2014

Mortal Sin is Serious and Can Still Land You in Hell


Shortly after I decided to return to God, and to the practice of the Catholic faith, I remembered what the sisters in elementary school had taught us. That we need to die in a State of Grace to get to Heaven. The other option is remaining in mortal sin and spending an eternity in hell.

This was a big wake up call as I stumbled out of my sinful state and realized that hell was a real possibility, unless I got my sorry self to confession and received absolution for my mortal sins. There were many, as I had chosen to stray far from God. He never abandoned me though, thankfully.

Around this time, when I was looking over my life, and realizing how badly I had offended God, I also remembered, once again, that our earthly sojourn is just a test. What we do, and how we treat others, will determine where we spend eternity. When you are deep in sin, you forget about that.

Shortly after this revelation, I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a car. It said, "Eternity: Smoking or Non-Smoking."

That about sums it up. I don't mean to scare you. Instead, I'll just talk about God's love and mercy. He is waiting for us to return. All we have to do is visit the Sacrament of Confession and reestablish our friendship with Christ.

Flickr photo by susivihh