FLL
Home Page 主頁
生命恩泉
Personal Site
個人綱頁
on Twitter...
FOLLOW
Facebook Profile
Father Anthony's Linked in profile About Fr. Anthony Ho
何庭耀神父簡介
Contact
Fr. Anthony Ho
聯絡何庭耀神父
Fr Anthony Ho's Corner
Home Page
The Latest Series of Articles
最新文章系列
The Latest Article
最新文章
Weekly Article
每週專欄文章
Audio Talks
錄音
Photos
相片

20120123 We will pass from time to eternity 步入永恆

The last article of faith in the Apostles’ Creed is “[I believe] in life everlasting.” Both heaven and hell are eternal.

Joyful vision

Father John Hardon, SJ, in his book The Question and Answer Catholic Catechism, wrote, “Heaven is the place and condition of perfect supernatural happiness. This happiness consists mainly in the beatific vision of God, and secondly, in the knowledge, love, and enjoyment of creatures.”

The blessed in heaven see God face to face, and seeing Him, they love Him. Therefore, the union between the blessed and God is perfect, and they possess God forever. The vision and possession of God cause the blessed to rejoice in God with unspeakable joy. Hence the vision of God in heaven is called the beatific vision.

Angels and saints in heaven enjoy one another’s company. Father Hardon wrote, “the angels and saints communicate with one another in heaven. Ties of blood and friendship begun on earth will somehow continue into eternity. We shall enjoy the company of Christ in His humanity, the blessed Virgin, and angels and saints in glory.”

Vision lost

Hell is a place of eternal punishment to which the wicked are condemned forever with the evil spirits.

Father John Hardon wrote, “The two kinds of pain threatened to the wicked are the loss of the beatific vision and the experience of pain from creatures.” Traditionally they are called the pain of loss and the pain of sense.

The pain of loss is the everlasting deprivation of the vision of God. One author wrote, “After death, the soul of the sinner tends to God with a mighty and irresistible impulse; but seeing itself forever rejected by Him and banished from His presence, it experiences horrible suffering. This is the worm that dies not, the never-ending despair that preys upon the soul.”

The pain of sense consists principally in punishment by fire. There are also other pains arising from the society with the devils and the damned, and from the punishments corresponding to the different kinds of sin.

Inspiring testimony

Gloria Polo, a lady from Colombia, and her nephew were struck by lightning May 5, 1995. Her nephew died on the spot. Polo herself experienced a near-death experience.

She seemed to be at the gate of heaven, then at the gate of hell. Then she experienced particular judgment. She was judged according to the Ten Commandments.

One author wrote: “The near-death experience of Gloria Polo and her trip to the gates of hell should be memorized, printed, and spread throughout the entire world, because all the reasons she was about to go to hell were told to her.

“Right up to her death she had felt confident that she was a good Catholic, a good mother, and a good doctor, and she felt no fear of death.

“After Christ showed her the many reasons she would have ended up in hell, He allowed her to come back because of the prayers of someone she did not even know. She is now going around speaking about this.”

Before 1995, Polo had broken the commandments through her inordinate love for money, neglecting her children, encouraging others to have abortions, using contraception, harming people’s reputations, immodesty, superstition, and not receiving the sacraments properly.

The Lord gave Polo a second chance, and she miraculously recovered from her injuries. With the approval of her bishop she has been sharing her near-death experience with people all over the world.

More information can be found by searching her name on the Internet or at the site www.gloriapolo.in.

「宗徒信經」最後聲明,「我信常生」 —— 天堂和地獄,均屬永恆。

喜樂的直觀

耶穌會會士若望.赫頓神父在他的「天主教要理問答」寫道:「天堂內有完美的超性福樂,主要是得享見天主無限的美善,其次是在認識及愛中,享受受造物。」

完全淨化蒙福的靈魂,在天堂與天主共聚,瞻仰天主、愛慕天主,因而與天主全然互融合一,永遠擁有天主;此等景象和擁有,讓蒙福者感到莫言的喜悅,我們稱這圓滿的境界為「榮福直觀」。

赫頓神父續寫道:「天使及諸聖在天堂歡樂結伴交流,人類在世的血緣或友誼,在永生中以另一種方式延續,我們更可以和基督結伴,與榮福童貞、天使和諸聖,共享天主的光榮。」

直觀的失落

在地獄中,惡人同魔鬼一起遭受永遠的遣責和懲罰。

赫頓神父寫道:「地獄有兩大苦痛,一是永遠不能享見天主無限的美善,另一是感到其它各種痛苦。」傳統上,我們稱前者為「失苦」,後者為「覺苦」。

「失苦」是未能享見天主。有一學者寫道:「死後的靈魂,熱渴瞻仰美善的天主,但惡人的靈魂,永遠沒有這個福份;故此,他門承受着極大失落之苦,而這失苦,是永遠無止境的痛苦。」

「覺苦」被形容為被火炙燒的痛苦,亦有其它因罪惡被懲罰的各種痛苦,在魔鬼與惡人群聚中相互引發,擾怨不息。

啓發的經歷

高麗雅.蒲樂(Gloria Polo) 是一位哥倫比亞女士。一九九五年五月五日,她和她的侄兒被雷電擊中,侄兒即場死亡,高麗雅則受重傷,在死亡邊緣掙扎中,她途經天堂與地獄的入口,天主以「十誡」審判了她。

有認為,高麗雅死亡邊緣的經歷,應被廣泛流傳和銘記。之前,高麗雅還認為自己是一位好教友、好母親、好醫生,並不憂慮進入死亡。但基督卻顯示她曾過於追求金錢,忽略孩子,鼓勵墮胎和人工節育,損害別人名聲,自負、迷信,褻凟聖事等,並告訴她,在天主完美公義下,應受地獄的永罰,幸因別人的代禱,她得以自新的機會。

天主准許高麗雅奇躓地康復。高麗雅在當地主教批准下,到處向不少人分享這獨特的死亡邊緣經歷,包括上載到她的網址www.gloriapolo.in