I.

It’s an exercise that science fiction and fantasy writers love: building a world. From the time I read my first fantasy novel as a child, I’ve tried my hand at it often over the years. All children do this: they imagine and re-imagine, living out many possible realities, effortlessly. We adults in modern times, unfortunately, have a tendency to neglect our imaginations and let them grow lazy and a little stupid, accepting whatever images might float their way, and doing little to actively or meaningfully engage in alternate realities.

As a result of this neglect, our grasp on our own reality has faltered and slipped away. How can you know our reality unless you know what a reality is? And how can you know what anything is unless you grasp what it can and can’t do—unless you grasp its possibilities? A good mechanic builds experimental cars, that he tinkers around with to see what he can make them do. A good imagination, likewise, builds experimental worlds.

Do you think this world is not fair? It is very possible that you do; we even have a popular saying: “Life’s not fair.” It’s the conventional wisdom that justice is not always served, good does not always win.

Now before we get into an argument about whether not fair is an accurate assessment of our reality, why don’t we go through the exercise of building a reality, and of making it as fair as possible.

From a material point of view, socialists and communists have long made this their project: to re-imagine a society that is totally fair, in which everyone gets everything they need and no one is unequally benefited or punished. The U.S. Constitution itself is based on “liberty and justice for all,” on the idea that “all men are created equal.” But even though these ways of thinking have a had a tremendous impact on the world, I want to go further—a lot further. In fact I’m going to argue that we need to go further, or else we will have failed to understand what fairness, justice, or equality even are. Let alone what a reality is. We’re going to need to dig deep—into the metaphysics, the foundational philosophy of the topic, and all its spiritual aspects. But we can start with the material question, which is simpler.

Socialistic fairness is about the most simplistic idea there is. It basically says that everyone gets the same, regardless of what they deserve. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” as Karl Marx put it. You get what you need to live, period. This is the simplest kind of equality, totally flat, regardless of deserts.

But even if such socialism could be perfectly achieved in practice, is it really fair? I think sound reason says no. People should get what they deserve. If you work harder, you deserve more. If you don’t contribute, you deserve nothing. Even children know this – look up the story of the Little Red Hen, and it will tell you everything you need to know on this point. There is no need to go into the subtleties of communist ideology.

With Capitalism you get a little closer to the truth (though not much). Capitalism is based on the idea of the right to property. It basically says: “Everyone deserves whatever people are willing to trade for their services.” This is a good maxim, as far as it goes. But it does not go very far, and it would be a mistake to adopt Capitalism as your social ideology, because in reality “Capitalism” was nothing but a label introduced by Karl Marx in the 1800’s to demonize the status quo—and denigrate the economic habits of the human race back to the dawn of history. The fact is, the right to property (i.e. capital) has a long and venerable history, and no truly wise person thinks it should be abolished.

Owning capital is only part of fairness, and a very tiny part. It’s obvious that there’s more to it, or people would have been satisfied with the right to property alone and laughed off the idea of communism. But nobody rests spiritually satisfied with economics … or at least no one should rest here. To think that property is the end of all existence is superficial—it’s quite literally materialistic.

So let’s get into the next level down of fairness: justice. Sure, there are laws in place to preserve property—but does this assure us that no theft takes place? Even worse, in our reality we have murders, lying, violence, and fraud. No set laws will ever rid us of these things, not completely. Our laws do, it is true, seek to re-establish justice after a crime has been committed. This happens in several ways. Reparations can be made: what is stolen can be given back. Punishments are dealt out: who is guilty is taught a lesson by hardship, and those who would imitate their crimes are given a deterrent in the example that is set. Societies that neglect reparation and punishment quickly fall into chaos, with the strong ruling the weak. These things are indispensable, though carried out imperfectly.

In a perfect world, people like to say, crimes would never occur. And this is true. Only imperfect people do bad things. If everyone were perfect, no one would make another person suffer for their own benefit. And that is all that crime is—the trampling on the rights of others. Socialists like to say that if everyone had enough to eat there would be no crime. But it is the rare exception of the man that steals or lies or kills simply for something to eat. Look at real crime and real criminals and you will see that it is far more common for people to kill or steal to “get ahead.” Students don’t cheat because they’re starving. Wall Street pyramid schemes are not built by street rats. Again, communism and socialism are not founded in reality—they are merely seductions to revolution. They lack a clear view of where the source of the imperfections of our world lies.

What is the source of human imperfection? It is certainly not hunger, as the socialists claim. “Getting ahead,” is more the truth, and I can’t think of a single crime that doesn’t somehow involve this. And what is the desire to get ahead but pride? Our crimes are based on pride, and I challenge anyone to find me a counterexample to this. In fact, all imperfections whatsoever, however slight, come down to this. You might argue that being bad at math is a kind of imperfection that doesn’t always reduce to pride. But my answer to this is that a perfect world would not require everyone to be good at math, only to never cheat at it. Perfection does not consist in cleverness but in kindness. If everyone were kind and generous, you would have a perfect world. But everyone being clever still leaves open the door for cunning and strife.

The fact remains that we live in a world with proud and unkind people. Socialism does not offer a solution to this problem, nor does Capitalism. It’s a question of the heart. The world is not fair, that is, because fairness does not reign in all hearts.

Imagine that some day the world is made fair. Everyone who has ever unfairly taken advantage of anyone is punished, exactly as they deserve. Anyone who ever was unfairly treated, or sacrificed their own well-being for another is rewarded, just as they deserve. Many people have died over the course of human history and never received justice. So let’s bring them all to life, too, and give them their fair punishments and rewards. This is beyond what our technology can do, but let’s imagine that it can be done. This, then, would make the world fair.

There being such a thing as a judgment day, when all is made fair, is exactly what Catholics believe. Though it is beyond our technology, it not beyond what God can do, who created everything and who we know to be all-powerful. Since He is all good, we know that He will not fail to make all things fair. A belief in Judgment Day, therefore, is a logical belief. It is hard to imagine a good God creating our world and not wanting a day of accounting.

Many these days challenge the idea of judgment, claiming that it is not fair to punish people for what they do, since our actions are so based on circumstances. Surely there are people who would have committed murder but didn’t, because they (fortunately) didn’t have a chance to. Other people who would normally have resisted a temptation were caught off guard, in bad company, and later deeply regretted their crime. Maybe there are people who would not have done the bad things they did if they had been living in a perfect world.

But this just shows again that it’s about the heart. Shouldn’t it be the heart that is judged, rather than simply the fairness of the actions? Isn’t it good will and kindness that make someone worthy, and bad will and selfishness that are the real evils? Absolutely. It is purity of heart that suits one for Heaven. It wasn’t Mary’s deeds that made her Queen, but her Immaculate Heart. St. Paul wrote that all the good deeds in the world are useless without love. If a child helps out with a bad attitude, only because they have to, or says sorry without really meaning it, isn’t this a problem? And if a child tries to help but makes a mistake, or means to say sorry but doesn’t know how, isn’t this still good? Christ said that much will expected of those who are given much, and less will be expected of those who are given less.

And this principle of God’s judgment, we believe, goes very deep, even into the deepest depths of the heart. Such are the riches of the Heart of Jesus. For instance, criminals usually come from the rougher parts of town. They are less educated in morality, have perhaps been loved less by parents, or have been thrown into violent circumstances. Many were raised knowing nothing of God or religion or morality. Of such people, a fair judgment would look more at how they have tried to help themselves and those around them to love more and more. Perhaps, by the standards of better-raised people they were not very kind or loving. But maybe for their circumstances they strove heroically for what is good and true and beautiful, diamonds in the rough, Robin Hoods among thieves. Traditional Catholicism teaches “baptism by desire,” where those who heroically strive for Truth may attain to salvation, even if they are completely ignorant of the true Church. What will save us is our heart of hearts, an essential good will that desires truth, everything better and higher, and the good of our neighbor. Such a heart, always striving for perfection whatever comes, even when plagued with ignorance, imperfections, and sin, will not fail to win the compassion of God. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Such is the plea of the compassionate heart of Christ.

I’ve digressed into theology, but it is impossible to speak of these things from any other point of view. Philosophers get as far as personal virtue, but only true Christians have delved into the nature of the human heart. So this hasn’t been a digression at all, but merely coming to the point. In an ideal world, people will be judged on their heart of hearts. Because those who truly desire goodness are well-suited for a perfect world. Those who merely desire self-importance are not well-suited for perfect world. So in our design of an ideal world, we must include a Judgment that welcomes the pure of heart and excludes the selfish. In designing an ideal world, we are led to something that looks just like the Kingdom of Heaven. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” This was the essential teaching of Christ.

Some people doubt that there is such a thing as free will. They argue that our minds operate by blind laws of physics, and that there is no supernatural spark that allows us to transcend these laws that govern the motions of the atoms in our brains. This denial of free will is mistaken, first because minds cannot (nor can any composites of form and matter) be reduced to merely material constituents, regardless of the truth of the laws of physics; and second because the supernatural is in fact real, as has been proven exhaustively in human history, by philosophy, by science, and by revelation. But it is not my purpose to dwell on the proofs of the reality of free will, but rather on the justice of the reality of free will. What do I mean by this? The question is: How can anything be fair or made fair without free will? Without free will, there could be no justice, because there would be no responsibility. Without free will, no decision can belong to you. And if you don’t own your decisions, there is no such thing as morality, and no good or evil—nor can there be a perfect world or a heaven. But in reality everyone desires freedom, fairness, and goodness. And this desire is itself proof of the reality of these things. Because even if evolution were true and these desires were merely adaptations, they would have to be desires for real things or else they would be maladaptations. No organism could evolve to desire food in a reality where food doesn’t exist. No organism could evolve to use locomotion in a reality where motion is impossible. (Nor a desire for the supernatural where it is not real, by the way.) Likewise, no humans could evolve to use free will to obtain goodness if neither free will nor goodness were real. But this is all to speak foolishness, because the idea of evolution (that what is perfect and complete can proceed from what is imperfect and incomplete) is at best a misunderstanding of how things were actually created. Either way, the fact remains that there is a moral reality and that this cannot be reasonably doubted under any practical world-view.

So it’s good that there is free will, good that there is responsibility, and good that there is fairness and justice. In Scripture, justice and judgment are seen as something to celebrate: “He hath revealed His justice … Sing joyfully unto God, all the earth; sing, rejoice, and give praise … for He cometh to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the peoples with equity.” (Psalm XCVII)

All desire freedom. All desire fairness and justice. Therefore God, being a good God, has given us free will. It is our free will that allows us to make choices that ennoble us, that allow us to pursue fairness and justice.

II.

“I was exalted like a palm-tree in Cades, and as a rose-plant in Jericho: As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane-tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted. I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatic balm: I yielded a sweet odor like the choicest myrrh.” —Ecclesiasticus, Chapter 24 (Wisdom speaks of herself)

We’ve spoken of justice, but what of mercy? Wouldn’t a good God be merciful as well as just? Or are the two not compatible? We naturally expect God to be as understanding as possible. This is why, I think, so many see him as lenient. While it’s mistaken to call Him lenient, I agree that an infinitely wise Father would give each person as many chances as they need. This, in fact, is the Catholic doctrine. The worst sinners, even repeat offenders, who go to Our Lady (one of our affectionate terms for the Blessed Virgin Mary) having true sorrow for their sins, will be helped and—if sincere—will undoubtedly make it to Heaven. True forgiveness, of course, is only possible with true sorrow. So forgiveness is never gotten for free. You can’t forgive a murderer who wants to murder again. Such “forgiveness” would sin against justice, even if it sounds merciful. If this was how God did things, Heaven would be full of unjust and selfish people with no remorse for their wrongdoing. No, remorse must be genuine.

Those who forgive are forgiven. Christ told a parable about a man who refused to forgive his debtor his debt, and took everything he had. But later, this man found himself in the same situation, and begged the judge for mercy. But the judge knew what he had done to the other man and simply threw him in prison. In the Our Father prayer, given to us by Jesus and prayed by many Protestants too, you pray, “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Christ also said, “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

But if you are truly sorry for your sins, and merciful to others, Christ taught, God will have mercy on you despite your own shortcomings. Even to the last moment of your life. This is where the expression “at the eleventh hour” comes from. The “eleventh hour” was by ancient Judaean convention the last hour of the workday. In another parable Jesus tells of a man who struggled to find laborers for his vineyard. He was so grateful to those who showed up he payed those who worked for only the last hour of the day the same as those who worked for the entire day. This parable teaches many lessons, but one is to expect repentant sinners—even those who repent on their deathbed—to receive rewards in Heaven comparable to the life-long faithful.

In an ideal world, you would know exactly when to let a criminal out of prison, because you could see his heart and know when he was truly reformed. God’s mercy is like this. It sees into our hearts. Prior to death, no heart is beyond hope, because it can still make the free decision to repent.

I have heard it argued that not even death can close off the possibility of mercy and forgiveness. But this belief comes from a misunderstanding of death.

We do not know death in our society. We have forgotten the meanings of the deepest words and concepts. If death is death, then it is the end—it is Judgment Day for the individual soul. And there must be a Judgment Day for life to be fair or just, or for God to be merciful of forgiving. Without death and judgment, nothing that we’ve been discussing would be real. All meaning is premised on there being a final reckoning.

We moderns live under a tyranny not of slaughter, but of hatred of the truth, and fear of it. If teachers could never mark an answer wrong or criticize an essay, if parents could never punish their children or at least lecture them on their mistakes, if no judgment were possible whereby truth is separated from falsehood, then truth is destroyed. The tyranny of modernism would kill our spirits. It would damn our souls and have us live in ignorance total.

Our modernist jailer has thrown away the key; he’s convinced us that life in prison is easier. And it is easier, in a way: it’s not as demanding. You don’t have to find a job. There’s no real responsibility. But the price of this is losing freedom—losing the truth that will set you free. As a believer in Judgment Day, you now realize your responsibility to live with virtue. You become a master of your own fate, and not simply a slave to your own whims.

How can I convince you that the people of the Middle Ages, living their lives under the belief in Judgment, were real people? They were utterly opposite of the idiots portrayed in Monty Python. They were more real than we are. They lived true lives, and not shadow lives, as we do. We blindly stumble from one passion to the next. (Passion used to be recognized as the enemy.) Our prayer needs to be: “Lord, that I may see …” (Luke 18:41).

Have mercy on us, O God, and give us light. We stumble and stumble … in confusion and night …

Have mercy … be a mother to us, and take us in your arms and teach us.

Let us all pray every day for the mercy of truth, of coming home to Wisdom, our true Mother. On that day we will repent of having loved the world, and having repented, we will be forgiven.

III.

“Our help is in the name of the Lord: Who hath made heaven and earth.” —Psalm 123

People apply these things to almost every situation, but rarely to the question of the meaning of life:

• faith
• obedience
• virtue
• hope
• love
• prudence

We try to have faith in each other and in ourselves, and neglect faith in God. We aim to follow the science, and forget all about tradition. We want to be “good” people, but almost never saints. We place our hopes in progress, not in the afterlife. We try to save the planet, but rarely our souls. We love by giving bread, rather than wisdom. We are prudent to save for retirement, but forget to save up treasures in heaven. We pay for life insurance, but skimp on life-after-death insurance.

And what is the safest insurance policy against Judgment Day? For there is no greater disaster than losing one’s soul for all eternity.

The safest haven is the only truth that dares to call itself Truth, and that is the underground Traditional Catholic* faith. No other faith believes in Judgment**. So if Judgment Day is real, no other faith can help you.

(*We’re called “sedevacantists” in the underground Church because we believe the chair [Latin: “sede”] of the Pope to “vacant.” So if you want to do an Internet search, use the term “sedevacantism.” It’s not a religion in itself, just a position on the current state of the Catholic Church.)

(**It might be claimed that Islam is another faith that claims the title of Truth. But you can find several passages in the Koran saying that Christians and Jews are also saved.)

There are those “Traditional Catholics” who “recognize” that man in the Vatican, Francis, to be Pope. This cannot be the true faith, because Francis is an apostate, an Antipope. And even if they are right to follow him (they claim he is just a bad Pope), then they are bound to admit that all “Catholics” who follow Francis faithfully will be saved. But Francis says that even Protestants and Muslims and atheists who do not recognize him as pope can be saved. Therefore, if anyone who follows Francis is saved, then so is anyone in the underground Traditional Catholic Church. But if the underground Church is right, then many of those who follow Francis will be damned, because they are following an apostate. So the underground Church is safer.

It’s actually safer under almost any assumption. According to Protestants you only have to accept Jesus as your savior, and you are saved. So Catholics would be saved even if Protestants are right. And according to the major Eastern Religions, New Agers, and Atheists, it doesn’t really matter what you believe, so there is no loss if they are true. If you look at the diagram below, you will see how this plays out. Other religions might harm your soul, but not ours, because we are the only one that holds to there being one absolute truth. You may be shocked to see so many marked as “damned” under the Traditional view, but keep in mind that this judgment is ultimately reserved to God. No one is damned for not having a chance to learn the truth. You can only go to hell if you were offered a chance to learn to the truth, but rejected it. To reject truth is to reject God, because as it says in Scripture, He is the Truth. So we must all be diligent in finding the way to Heaven. I believe the below chart is helpful, because it shows the first place we need to be looking for truth. And that’s the Catholic Church, because it has the strongest claim on logical consistency, holding fast to its dogmas, and not caught in cycle of relativism and thinking that “anything goes.” Notice that everyone can be saved without even seeking the truth under the mainstream “Catholic” view. But in this case, how can we say that this religion has anything to teach us that we need to know?

WHO IS SAVED? (among those who strove for saintly perfection)	(Was it possible for you to search for and find the One Truth?)	Traditional Catholicism (sede-vacantist) says you’re:	“Traditional Catholicism” (recognizing Francis) says you’re:	Mainstream “Catholicism” says you’re:	Mainline Protestant Beliefs say you’re:	Buddhism/Hinduism/ New Age/ Atheism say you’re:
Traditional Catholics (sede-vacantist):	Yes	Saved	“Doubtful”	“Saved”	“Saved”	“No Worse”
	“No“	–	“Saved”	“Saved”	“Saved”	“No Worse”
“Traditional Catholics” (recognizing Francis):	Yes	Doubtful	“Saved”	“Saved”	“Saved”	“No Worse”
	No	Saved	–	“Saved”	“Saved”	“No Worse”
Mainstream “Catholics”:	Yes	Damned	“Saved”	“Saved”	“Saved”	“No Worse”
	No	Saved	“Saved”	–	“Saved”	“No Worse”
Protestants:	Yes	Damned	“Damned”	“Saved”	“Saved”	“No Worse”
	No	Saved	“Saved”	“Saved”	–	“No Worse”
Eastern Religions/New Age/Atheist:	Yes	Damned	“Damned”	“Saved”	“Damned”	N/A
	No	Saved	“Saved”	“Saved”	“Damned”	N/A

* Muslims, Jews, and non-Mainline Protestants are not included because they do not have definitive teachings on whether those of other religions are saved.

Please keep in mind that the only vertical column that is actually true is the Traditional Catholicism column, in italics. The other columns are included for rhetorical purposes only, to show the safety of the Traditional view. The best thing you can do, no matter what your current faith, is to (1) pray for saintly perfection, (2) diligently seek and pray for the true religion, and (3) ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins so that you will be safe from Hell when you die. Only if you are diligent in all three of these will you be safe, no matter where you stand in relation to the truth.

It is tempting for some people to look at the New Age or Mainstream “Catholic” religion and point out that they are very “compassionate” religions, allowing everyone to be saved. But my point is that such a religion is worthless to join because it can’t increase your chance of being saved. Only religions that teach real consequences in the afterlife can actually make a difference to your salvation.

You will also notice that the rows for “Traditional Catholics” who still recognize a Pope look just as good as the rows for real Traditional Catholics. But this does not mean that the “Traditional” Church is just as good. This table can only show the self-contradiction of those beliefs that are indifferent towards contrary beliefs. As for churches that claim to be the One True Church and are not, they have to be examined according to their specific doctrines. The contradiction in “Traditional Catholicism” is the impossibility of “recognizing” Francis as Pope while also “resisting” his teachings. Thus the underground Church stands alone as the only self-consistent set of beliefs, aside from being plentifully confirmed by the many Saints and miracles it has produced.

IV.

“But such as turn aside into deceits, the Lord shall number with the workers of iniquity.” –Psalm 124

On Judgment Day, the Non-Catholic might have a conversation with Christ that goes something like this:

CHRIST: What do you think that you deserve? Heaven or Hell?

NON-CATHOLIC: Well, I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to be judged according to Catholic beliefs, so Judgment is coming as something of a surprise. But I’ve heard that you are merciful and I think I was a pretty good person, so maybe that can be good enough?

CHRIST: Here in the Book of Life it says you cheated on your spouse.

NON-CATHOLIC: Again, I didn’t know that the Bible was true. I was doing the best I could.

CHRIST: Was that really your best? Look at how many lives you ruined by your infidelity. You split up the family, and your children got into drugs and were in and out of rehabilitation centers. Your spouse lost hope and threw himself into work and never thought about God again. Didn’t you think your choices might affect your neighbor?

NON-CATHOLIC: I wasn’t happy in my marriage. It wasn’t fair. My parents pressured me into it. And my spouse was always lazy around the house and never wanted to find a higher paying job or ask for a raise. We weren’t in love anymore.

CHRIST: You made a promise to stay together forever by your own free will. But then you broke that promise for all selfish reasons, and you ruined many lives. Never in your life did you truly ask God for forgiveness. You were even happy to learn that your “ex” was struggling. In your heart you were no good. You did not love your neighbor, as I commanded.

NON-CATHOLIC: Can’t I have a second chance?

CHRIST: Did you give your spouse a second chance?

NON-CATHOLIC: This isn’t fair! I didn’t know that you were real!

CHRIST: You didn’t care. You had several friends talk to you about Me, but you never really weighed the evidence. You said, “Jesus is so basic. I’m beyond all of that.” You were too proud to think that you could be wrong about anything.

NON-CATHOLIC: I had some bad experiences in religion growing up. I did accept you into my heart when I was young, and I did try to be good for many years. But then I realized that the religious people I knew were too strict and didn’t respect my dreams and aspirations. They were stuck in superstition and overly concerned with following rigid rules that bring down your freedom and self-esteem. That’s why I rejected traditional Catholicism.

CHRIST: You felt a secret thrill in going your own way. But in all this chasing after thrills, you were deeply hurting your kids and husband. You were selling them out for a bit of excitement.

NON-CATHOLIC: You want everyone to just live a boring life, where everything is by the book? Sorry, that just isn’t for me. This is so not fair. I can’t take all this guilt, and I never could. Everyone needs to be free to choose their own meaning in life.

CHRIST: Not when that meaning tramples on the lives of others. Guilt can be a good thing. You always preferred feeling good over doing the right thing.

NON-CATHOLIC: My feelings tell me what’s right and wrong.

CHRIST: That’s why you’re about to finally learn the truth in the only way your soul knows how—by finally feeling the guilt you’ve been avoiding.

NON-CATHOLIC: But forever is such a long time! Can’t I just have another chance? Wouldn’t a good God send me back?

CHRIST: I gave you many chances and you threw them all away. Every time you felt guilty—which was a doorway to Me—you ran blindly with another passion instead facing your own sin. In this way you avoided the Truth, and if I gave you another life you would only continue to avoid the Truth this way, forever. That wouldn’t be fair or just if I allowed you the satisfaction of living forever according to your own whims, trampling on others to feel better about yourself. Instead of this, the only just outcome is for you to feel your guilt as deeply as you need to for all time, because then your cruel heart will get exactly what it wants to give to others, and you will always glorify God by knowing the Truth and experiencing it in the only way you accept—by feelings. These feelings will not be pleasant, but they are exactly what is just. In my mercy you will suffer no more pain than you deserve for what you are, and no less. This is the Judgment of God.

NON-CATHOLIC: I don’t want anything to do with God! I never want to see you again!

CHRIST: And that is why you are exiled from His Kingdom. You never will know the bliss of loving God in His presence, of loving Me face-to-face. And this will be a deeper pain than any flames, no matter how hot. Those who love their neighbor and love the truth will always find their way to Me, and if they are willing to suffer to overcome their imperfections, they will be admitted into the bliss of My presence forever, to rejoice for all time in the heroic love they showed for God and man.

***

On the other hand, a sorrowful soul might have a conversation like this:

CHRIST: What do you think that you deserve? Heaven or Hell?

SORROWFUL SOUL: Surely I deserve Hell. I was raised in a bad neighborhood, by bad parents, and I took to a life of crime. I was not well educated, and for years I was addicted to drugs and ran with a bad crowd, and committed many crimes. It was not until the later years of my life that I began to look for You. I went to a few churches, but … but … I couldn’t seem to find the right one …

CHRIST: There is no need to cry, my son, I am here to set everything right. Don’t worry, your sorrow justifies you, along with your love of the Truth. If you had lived a little longer, you would have found my church.

SORROWFUL SOUL: So why did I die so soon?

CHRIST: Because your heart, by its intense longing for goodness and perfection, actually reached it. There was no need for you to remain any longer on earth. You were made ready for Heaven by your sorrow.

SORROWFUL SOUL: But so many people that did more good deeds than I did have gone to Hell. They gave millions to charity, they ran soup kitchens, they educated poor people in the slums. I didn’t do anything like this. How is it possible that I am saved and they were not?

CHRIST: I told you that “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” I also said, “Blessed are those who mourn.” Many people who do great things do them out of pride, to exalt themselves, and not out of love. In their hearts they do not really care to help others, only themselves. On your part your heart desired greatly to serve me and to help others, and that is what matters most. Remember when your friends were beating up that poor young man, and almost killed him?

SORROWFUL SOUL: I do, but I wasn’t even able to help! I rushed in screaming but I was clobbered with a baseball bat and lost consciousness before I could do any good!

CHRIST: But that showed your great love for your neighbor, that you would gladly charge into a dozen angry men with clubs to save him, even though there was little chance of success! “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me.” This act of love for you friend was an act of love for God. How beautiful a Saint you will make in Heaven! How many people on Earth you will be given the power to save! How lovingly you and God will gaze at each other forever! You will have your every desire in Heaven. Nothing ever fails with God at your side, and nothing ever comes to nothing. All of your desires for justice, love, and joy will be fulfilled. These tears you are weeping now—shall be your last.

SORROWFUL SOUL: It is all so hard to believe. But I do believe! I think I have always—deep in my heart—believed.

CHRIST: And that is why I tell you now: come! Come enjoy your newfound life, your life eternal and ever-blessed!