Question from GR on 1/15/2008:
What is the best advice you can give, or what might be the best thing to read etc., for someone like me who just can't seem to 100% believe that I'll ever "make it" to heaven?
It's hard to explain... I don't feel despair. I confess regularly. I believe in God's mercy and love. I just find it very difficult to completely believe that I'll ever be good enough to spend eternity with such a holy and glorious God.
I know that I can't think about God in any other way than my limited humanity can think, but I so want to be pleasing to God, and certainly could not enter heaven if I was not, yet how can someone ever be pleasing to God if, when He looks at you, He sees all the sins you've committed? Even if He's forgiven them, He still knows them all. How can I come to believe that He would want me in heaven with Him?
Answer by Fr. Jay Toborowsky on 2/2/2008:
First, let me say that you're undoubtedly not alone. Many of us have a hard time believing that God could be so forgiving. But if you think about it, the problem there is not in believing in God's mercy, it's doubting God's love. I think, if you're looking for great works on this struggle, you'd do well to read ope Benedict's two encyclicals, Deus Caritas Est (on love), and Spe Salvi (on hope).
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