A Catholic priest, Pope Benedict II, reaches out to one of the world’s richest and most powerful men, Fidel Castro, encouraging him to love God and his neighbors. We hope Fidel used his remaining time to make a Good Confession!
(Facial expressions: Pope Benedict; “You can get into Heaven!” Fidel’s hopeless look; “God cannot forgive what I have done to The Catholic Church, priests, religious, and people.” Security guard; heartless stare into the camera.)
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Question 1: “Does Today’s Catholic Reading tell us who will get into Heaven?”
Answer: “Jesus is very clear in Mt 5:1-12! ‘He began to teach them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is The Kingdom of Heaven.’”
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Question 2: “Can rich, powerful people get into Heaven?”
Answer: “If they are ‘mournful’, ‘meek’, ‘thirsting for righteousness’, ‘clean of heart’, ‘peacemakers’, ‘persecuted for righteousness’, and ‘insulted, persecuted, and slandered’ because of ‘their belief in Me’, and seek forgiveness, even rich and powerful people can get into Heaven.'”
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Question 3: “Does St. Faustina, whom God called to warn the world before the ‘end’, tell us what happens to the souls of those who ‘sought the world’s applause’?”
Answer: “‘The Diary of St. Faustina’, Post 425 (there is a free link below this post so no one has an excuse to not read it!), tells what God let her see when a rich, powerful person died:
‘souls emerged from some kind of muddy abyss, resembling the most terrible monsters and decaying corpses. But, the souls were living and gave loud testimony against the dying soul. And the soul I saw dying was full of the world’s applause and honors.'”
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Question 4: “How can we keep our soul from the awful pain of purgatory and hell?”
Answer: “Catholics do not let hopelessness sink our souls farther into punishment’s pain. We who live in The Only Church Spoken Into Being by This Word of Jesus find peace on earth: ‘And I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.’”
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Question 5: “What lets Catholics escape punishment for our sins?”
Answer: “We recognize that Jesus gave His Catholic priests This Power in John 20:23: ‘Those whose sins you forgive on earth are forgiven in Heaven.’ We Confess our sins and receive Absolution from the only people on earth with The Specific, God-given Power to provide it.”
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