Just Hope

Learning to hope for everyone to be saved

05/06/2022

Acts 9:1-20 Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.

I have a tough question for you to ponder today. It is perhaps the toughest question you will ever be asked. Do you think anyone is going to hell? Let me put it a little more practically. After seeing the unjustified war in Ukraine, and the senseless killing of civilians, do you think the Russian President Vladimir Putin will go to hell? Or, do you think Adolf Hitler, or Joseph Stalin, or mass murders like Jeffrey Dahmer, will go to hell? By the way, there are a good number of Protestants who think Catholics are going to hell, too. So, don’t get too comfortable!

It may surprise you to know that the official teaching of the Catholic Church is that we have never named anyone in hell. The Church as never even said that Judas Iscariot, the apostle that betrayed Jesus, is in hell. It was Dante who said that in his Divine Comedy. The Church has only named people in heaven, and they are the saints. But she has never said anyone by name is in hell.

Someday you should read a fascinating little book by Hans Urs Von Balthasar called “Dare We Hope”. But only read it after you finish reading “Jayber Crow” by Wendell Berry. Cardinal Von Balthasar argued we can hope that no one is in hell. Put positively, we can hope everyone will go to heaven, even President Putin, and even Roman Catholics. Who is going to hell and who is going to heaven are the toughest questions you will ever tackle.

In the first reading today, we hear the great conversion story of Saul the Pharisee who becomes Paul the Apostle. If you were to ask someone in the time of the Acts of the Apostles, “Who is going to hell?” they would have unanimously have answered: “Saul the Pharisee!” Even Ananias tells Jesus: “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” In other words, before there was Putin, and Stalin, and Dahmer, there was Saul. And yet he is not beyond salvation and conversion.

I remember Fr. Benedict Groeschel, a priest working in New York City, saying that if you are going to pray, pray for something big. Then he gave the example of how he prays every day for the singer Madonna to convert back to her Catholic faith and become a cloistered Carmelite nun. Well, that is basically what happened to Saul when he became Paul. That is, we can have hope for all to be saved. We can hope for hell to be empty and for heaven to be full. We do not know that for sure, but we can hope and pray for it.

What is the practical upshot of all this hope? Well, for one thing Christian hope means we cannot give up on other people. We should not even give up on ourselves. Have you ever wanted to say about someone: “He is hopeless!” or “She will never change!” or “I give up on them!”? Perhaps a friend has betrayed you, or someone has spoken ill about you and ruined your reputation, or a family member has really hurt you, and you are tempted to throw in the towel on them.

Perhaps there are a lot of people who feel that way about Vladimir Putin, and that was the way Ananias felt about Saul. But that is not the way Jesus felt about Saul, and that is not the way Fr. Groeschel felt about Madonna. What makes the difference? Hope does. The Christian virtue of hope helps us pray not only for our family and friends (the people we like) but also for our enemies, even those trying to kill us or destroy our good name (people we don't like). In other words, we hope everyone goes to heaven and not to hell.

Incidentally I heard today there will be “tea with mothers” after Mass. And I am happy to see some moms at Mass this morning. I am convinced that mothers are an embodiment of the theological virtue of hope. Why? Well, because moms never stop hoping for the best for their children. No matter how bad we treat our moms – and I am as guilty as the next guy of poor treatment of my mom – our moms still love us and hope for the best for us. No matter how far we wander in life away from all that is true, good, and beautiful and get lost into what is false, evil, and ugly, our moms will never stop hoping for our return. Moms can't help but hope.

If God were a mother – and there is sound Scriptural basis for that comparison – and all the people who ever lived were God’s children, do you think anyone would go to hell? To ask the question is to answer it. Every mother is the theological virtue of hope in a nutshell.

Praised be Jesus Christ!