If a person is at the moment of death possessed of a vicious habit, his soul will descend into hell; if, on the other hand, the soul is in a perfect condition, it will forthwith take its flight to heaven. If it falls to our lot to have to go purgatory, we will surely find the path some day. All this depends on the life which we have led. It is certain that our death will correspond with our life. If we have lived as good Christians and in fear of the Lord, we shall die as good Christians and live with the Lord for all eternity. But if, on the contrary, we have lived for our passions, our pleasures, and excesses, then we shall without fail die in sin. [5]
Yes, my friends, as the life, so the death. Do not hope for a miracle, which God vouchsafes but seldom. If you live in sin you will die in sin. [6]The sermon talked about a habit that is vicious, such as living for our passions, our pleasures and excesses. While such a habit may not be pure Evil on its face, it is pure Evil considering the elements underlying it, among them, the absence of God, the abuse of the mind (e.g., engaging in intellectual dishonesty) and body (e.g. indulging in drugs, sex and alcohol) and the presence of greed with all of its variations such as having different kinds of insatiable desires and obsessions. These are palpable life situations and the sermon inspired me to dwell on them. I was more abstract when I spoke of an evil energy that is incompatible with Divine Energy. I believe that the energy of a being is also the energy of the soul. When the being dies, the soul inherits the energy of the being. The energy is not transformed. During life, if the being's energy is an angry, bitter and vengeful energy, it will remain as such in the afterlife--negative. That negative energy is sourced in Evil and it is destined for the receptacle of all sinister energies, Hell. Negative energy repels Divine Energy and is repelled by Divine Energy. Negative energy and Divine Energy are polar opposites, and unlike magnets, these polar opposites do not attract. Therefore, a soul consumed by negative energy will only have access to Hell and nowhere else. However, if a being with negative energy has retained a certain uneasiness about the negativity, this compunction then ought to allow the willing soul admittance to Purgatory and unity with Divine Energy some time later.
[1] http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2013/11/serve-with-love.html
[2] Ven. Curé of Ars (Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney), Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Minnesota: The Neumann Press, 1984).
[3] I have said it before: nothing I write about in this blog is new. That is a good thing because that means my experiences are normal and my thoughts are not all that farfetched. I write because sometimes I enjoy it, and sometimes I feel compelled to do so. I write what comes to my mind that I think is worth sharing, however strange, however theoretically abstruse, even though it may lack originality. I thank Google's blogger.com for giving me this platform and I thank everyone who has visited my blog.
[4] The book has a note that is bothersome. It is on page iv, quoted below:
Note.--In order to present a complete set of sermons for the ecclesiastical year, a few sermons for Sundays and feasts, not found among those of the Curé of Ars, have been added to this volume by other authors.Which "few sermons" that were added by other authors were not identified. I would rather have a few less sermons but all of which are the work of Sainte Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney. So frustrating.
[5] Ven. Curé of Ars (Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney), Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Minnesota: The Neumann Press, 1984), 25-36.
[6] Ibid., 31.
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