Have you ever been asked if you are saved? Maybe you have even asked this question of others.

The question says a lot about the inquirer – all good. They are a Christian who knows Jesus Christ and accepts Him as their Lord and Savior. They summon the courage to ask this question, one which in today’s world can easily get them labeled as a “religious kook.” They do that because they care about the eternal salvation of others (i.e. love their neighbor) and want to share the Good News of faith with them that they too may be transformed. May God bless them and make the mustard seeds they sow fruitful!

We learn from Holy Scripture and are taught by the Church of the new covenant in Christ, offered through His merits alone: by His passion and death for us on the cross. Only through His most Precious Blood are we redeemed of our sins. All are redeemed but all are not saved (the heresy of universalism). Salvation is gained by uniting ourselves with Christ.

Our evangelizing friend’s beliefs are true in many important ways, but in asking this question we know that they are wrong in at least one very, very important area: the moment of salvation. Those such as our friend believe in a non-biblical doctrine commonly described as “once saved, always saved” (OSAS). They believe that salvation offered by Christ may be accepted and irreversibly gained through a one-time act. This act is accomplished by a sinner’s prayer when the penitent sincerely accepts Jesus Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior. The wording varies, but one example is:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen.

These are wonderful prayers. Praying thus sincerely one-time, with all of your mind, will and heart, does not lock-in salvation – unless perhaps you die immediately afterward. You are on the right track if you live the sinner’s prayer every day.

OSAS is a product of the Protestant revolution, developing well after the initial schisms (1,500 years after Christ). For the most part, it is a modern invention of the last hundred years or so (almost 2,000 years after Christ). It is a dangerous heresy. It takes final judgment away from Christ and makes salvation an act of man (however sincere). Dying in a state of grace (i.e. in friendship with God), of which we know not the hour (Mark 13:32) is no longer imperative. Our on-going conversion to full unity with Christ (working out our salvation with fear and trembling; Philippians 2:12) is no longer a concern.

There is no irreversible moment of salvation until Christ, the most merciful and just judge, meets us upon our death. Then and only then will the wheat be separated from the chaf (Matthew 3:12), with the sheep then set on his right and goats on his left (Matthew 25:31-45; some calling-out “Lord, Lord” – Matthew 7:21-23).

How do we respond as faithful Catholics to this question? In truth… “I am already saved (Romans 8:24, Ephesians 2:5-8), but I’m also being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 2:15, Philippians 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Romans 5:9-10,1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Romans 5:2, 2 Timothy 2:11-13).”

Why are most of us not ready for heaven if we were to die right now? Scripture tells us:

• The treasure and wealth of the nations will be brought there, but nothing unclean will enter it (Revelation 21:26-27a).
• So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
• “Be holy because I [am] holy.” (1 Peter 1:16b)

We are not ready because we are not clean, perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, nor holy as Christ is holy. When we at long last die with the grace of final perseverance, we may leave this world with unabsolved venial sins and a lifetime of temporal damage from past sins. It is through the refiners fire (Malachi 3:2-3) of purgatory that the imperfections on our soul like wood, hay or straw will be removed leaving gold, silver and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:12-15) suitable for heaven.

Part of our problem is attachment to sin. Understanding that as an impediment to heaven is obvious.

There is, I believe, another attachment impediment: addiction to life. We love life – all the joys and hope it offers – and are often more oriented toward it then we are toward its author. Fr. Leo Clifford made this point very well in one of his reflections:

We fall in love with God’s gifts and forget the giver. We give our love to mere creatures and we forget that they are God’s gifts to us. We are so in love with his gift of life, we never want to part with it. We want to stay here instead of going back to the author of life, the God for whom we were made.

Play The Love of God

There has been much speculation on the nature of purgatory. We know it is not Heaven nor Hell. It is not a place in between either, as it is the portico of Heaven. All who enter purgatory ARE saved. For that matter, it is not a place either and “how long” we are there is a complicated concept because it is outside of time. All we know, while we are still in time, is that we must pray for the souls in purgatory (they can pray for us too).

I still like my earlier conception of purgatory as a hospital for the soul. Like any hospital, treatment varies from person to person as does the length of treatment. Treatment is often painful. Unlike earthly hospitals, there is a 100% cure rate.

In the paradigm I am presenting here, “addiction” is a good fit for the primary disease of which we must be cured. Those who are not addicted will not have unabsolved venial sins and have turned completely to God. For them, no treatment is necessary. For most of us (I suspect), some amount of time in purgatory’s 12-step program (as I imagine it) will be necessary. We must let go of our addiction to life and replace it by union with God.

So, what might those 12 steps be? Adapting from Wikipedia’s article for alcoholics, we lifeoholics might need to:

1. Acknowledge our addiction to life and open ourselves to healing power of the Holy Spirit.
2. Abandon our false idols, uniting our will with God alone.
3. Turn ourselves completely over to God.
4. Make a searching and fearless inventory of our addiction to life.
5. Admit to God and to ourselves the nature of our addiction to life. In the Church Militant: also use the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
6. Be entirely ready to have God remove these defects.
7. Humbly ask God to cleanse our shortcomings.
8. Recognize the effects of our life addiction and how it separates us from God.
9. Pray for forgiveness.
10. Continue to take personal inventory and address our shortcomings as we recognize them.
11. Seek through prayer and meditation to complete our unity with God, praying only for knowledge of His will and His power to carry that out.
12. In the Church Militant: help others; In the Church Suffering: enter the Church Triumphant!

The good news is that we can begin our treatment NOW. Progress that we make here on earth will lessen the necessary treatment later.

O Lord, who art ever merciful and bounteous with Thy gifts, look down upon the suffering souls in purgatory. Remember not their offenses and negligences, but be mindful of Thy loving mercy, which is from all eternity. Cleanse them of their sins and fulfill their ardent desires that they may be made worthy to behold Thee face to face in Thy glory. May they soon be united with Thee and hear those blessed words which will call them to their heavenly home: “Come, blessed of My Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Fr. John P. O’Connell

Through the valid celebration of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we receive the blessed sacrament — the Eucharist. Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9)!

Holy Mother Church teaches us that:

• The Eucharist is literally Jesus Christ: body and blood, soul and divinity.
• The substance of ordinary wheat bread and grape wine (transubstantiate to) become our Lord. Only the appearance (accidents) remain of bread and wine.
• Each of the holy species, body and blood, are all of Jesus. When we receive either, we receive all of Him.
• When the change (transubstantiation) occurs, it is instantaneous. There is no time when the host is “half” Jesus.
• The presence of Christ endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist.

What is less clear, and as near as I can tell not universally, definitively defined, is the exact moment that transubstantiation occurs. There are opinions offered varying by liturgy, often with compelling reasoning…   but authoritative references in support of those positions are lacking.

In the OF Latin rite, it would seem fairly clear that transubstantiation does not occur before the first epiclesis (sometimes called the pre-consecration epiclesis). This is at the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer where the Holy Spirit is invoked (e.g. EP II: “Make holy therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body + and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”)

Likewise, it is fairly clear that transubstantiation has occurred after the Eucharistic Prayer when the priest genuflects, elevates the Eucharist and says “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”

A strong case can be made for consecration occurring at the words of institution (“Take this, all of you, and eat of it. For this is my body which will be given up for you.”) The rubrics call for the priest to genuflect at that point, which may arguably be idolatrous otherwise. This appears to be the most common opinion, including mine, of the moment of consecration.

The second most common opinion for the moment of consecration is at the (first) epiclesis itself. It should be noted that the sanctus bells may be rung then as well as at the words of institution.

Here is where it starts to get interesting. While most of us are Latin rite Catholics, we are not the whole of the Catholic Church. 23 churches are in communion with Rome and the liturgies are not the same. They all follow the same pattern: the liturgy of the word, the liturgy of the Eucharist, the sending. This was seen on the road to Emmaus and was practiced in the early, 1st century Church. However, Eastern rite Catholics have not always had, in all cases, the words of institution and some still do not (or are even removing them to restore earlier practice). This may also be true in some non-Catholic cases where Apostolic succession has been maintained and a valid Eucharist is recognized.

One interesting discussion is in the document Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist Between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East on the Vatican website. Begin reading at section #3 (The Anaphora of Addai and Mari).

Unlike in the Latin rite, even when the words of institution are spoken, Easter rite Catholics and the Orthodox point to the epiclesis if they have to pick a point where consecration occurs. There is value in NOT trying to pinpoint a specific instant but rather recognizing the whole of the Mass (or Divine Liturgy) as the action by which consecration occurs. Zenit says this well:

Concentration on the moment of consecration tends to privilege above all the aspect of the Real Presence, while taking the entire Eucharistic Prayer into account brings out more fully other aspects such as the Eucharist as memorial of Christ’s sacrifice, his resurrection and ascension, the role of the Holy Spirit, the aspect of mediation, its role in building up the Church, etc. In many ways this is the procedure used by the Holy Father in his recent encyclical “Ecclesia de Eucharistia.”

Note too that it is gravely sinful (Can. 927) for a priest to attempt consecration outside of a Mass, for example through the words of institution alone. Similarly, a priest is not permitted to consecrate additional hosts in the same Mass by repeating a portion of it (which would be a non-Mass within the Mass). The Mass and consecration are an integral whole. Attempts to do otherwise are seriously illicit and possibly invalid.

For most of us, this whole topic is simply one of intellectual curiosity. For clergy, extraordinary ministers and sacristans it may have practical implications. Unusual circumstances (e.g. this) may require a proper understanding of the state of consecration. There are many possible extraordinary circumstances. Conservative assumptions in those cases would be most prudent.

How often do we hear that people are just more highly evolved animals? This is often presented as an indisputable fact in support of other false claims. As animals, our embryos are nothing special. Our rights must also be balanced against those of other animals.

If we were animals, that would make some sense. We are not! While we share some physical characteristics, there remains an immense and uncrossable chasm between us and animals so claims built on our alleged “animal nature” are in fact completely false.

God, the creator of everything, has endowed all living things with a soul. Angels, people, animals and plants. These things all have a nature as God created them and that nature is distinct and never changes. The souls of angels and people are immortal. Those of animals and plants are not. Mortal death does not end the existence of a person’s soul as it does for an animal.

People, not animals, possess reason and self-control. People, not animals, are endowed with an intellectual, rational soul. People are beings who are ends in themselves while animals are beings for the perfection of other beings. People have moral and legal authority of possession and corresponding related duties (i.e. rights). Animals may be possessed by people whereas animals may not possess people nor may people possess people. In possessing animals, we have a moral duty of humane treatment but may otherwise use them for service and food.

Holy Scripture begins by explaining this relationship between people and animals. On the sixth day, God created the animals:

Then God said: Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and every kind of wild animal. And so it happened: God made every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, and every kind of thing that crawls on the ground. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:24-25

Then, separate from creating the animals, He create man:

Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.

God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth. God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all the green plants for food. And so it happened.

Genesis 1:26-30

Notice the difference between people and animals: people are (1) created in God’s image and likeness and (2) given dominion over all animals.

The second creation narrative similarly shows people and animals made separately:

then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

and

So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name.

Genesis 2:19

Notice that both people and animals were formed out of the ground, but for people alone God “blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Notice too that in naming the animals, we are given dominion over them.

Secularists are correct in one ironic sense. When we do not recognize human dignity, we can indeed act like animals!