Wider Hope: Catholic & Orthodox Faith Resources

Clear, trustworthy religious information to deepen faith, prayer, and understanding.

Notable Quotes

"Hell exists as a final possibility, but several of the Fathers have none the less believed that in the end all will be reconciled to God. It is heretical to say that all must be saved, for this is to deny free will; but it is legitimate to hope that all may be saved."
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (Greek Orthodox Church)

"When the Church says that hell exists, it means that the definitive rejection of God’s love is a real possibility. 'Hell' or 'Gehenna' are spatial metaphors for the lonely and sad condition of having definitively refused the offer of the divine life. Human free will necessitates the existence of hell inasmuch as any one human being may freely choose to definitively and irrevocably reject God."
Bishop Robert Barron (Roman Catholic Church)

Daily Meditations

Catholic Daily Meditations

May Catholics Endorse Universalism?

Article by Justin Shaun Coyle (Associate Professor of Theology and Associate Dean at Mount Angel Seminary.)

The Orthodox Universalist

Orthodox Wider Hope

Patristic and Biblical Universalism

Apokatastasis, Universal Salvation, Universal Restoration, Universalism, Patristic

Universalim and Hell

Hope of Salvation

Universalism, Balthasar, the Massa Damnata, and the Question of Evangelization

The Role of Reception in Identifying Infallible Decrees

Reception as the only true evidence a Papal or Conciliar Decree is Infallible

Jacques Maritain's Theoritical Eschatology

Prayers

Roman Catholic Prayers

Vision of aborted children growing in afterlife

An abortionists encounter with the children he killed, and a saint he never heard of

Hope for infants who die without baptism

Statement issued by The Church in 2007

Pope Francis on the meaning of Romans 8:21-22

How the deposit of faith contains hope for all creation

St. Pope Paul VI’s exhortation on Reconciliation in the Church

Since reconciliation means the restoration of peace both between God and man and between men themselves, it is the first fruit of redemption. Like redemption, it is universal in scope and efficacy. It reaches out to the whole of creation “until the time of universal restoration” (Acts 3, 21), when all created things are again unified in Christ, Who is the firstborn of the risen dead (cf. Col 1, 18)

Lumen Gentium

Document from The Second Vatican Council

Theology

Assorted YouTube Videos on a veriety of Theological subjects

Judeo/Christian Apologetics and Scientific Topics

Evidence supporting the Judeo/Christian Faith, and Scientific Topics that Could Be Relevant.

Self Defense?

Saint Thomas Aquinas said that Christians were not forbidden the use of violence (under any and all circumstances) in the defense of themselves and others. And as we live in a time of violence, here are some videos that demonstrate practical self-defense techniques (and discuss the ethical considerations incumbent on Christians.) With some remarks about Christian pacifism, personal self-defense, and Catholic Just War Theory by Bishop Baron.

Holy Land Artists

Christian Art from Holy Land

Inspirational Music

Christian Songs and prayers set to Music

Eclectic Orthodoxy

Orthodox Universalist Website

What does Matthew 24:34 mean?

It's seldom noticed that the Greek text of Matthew 24:34 uses a grammatical form called the ingressive aorist. Taken literally, this means Jesus DID NOT SAY the generation He was speaking to would live to see all that He said come true. But that they (or the Jewish nation) would not pass away until everything He said started to come true. When understood this way, His words were fulfilled to the letter, because the first thing He spoke of was the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple. Whether He was speaking of the generation then living, or of the Jewish people, His words were true, because that destruction began in that generation. In fact, in the parallel passage in Luke 21, He speaks of the Jewish people being again taken into captivity, and being scattered among the nations, while Jerusalem is being "trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." And this would seem to imply a long time. Furthermore, the following quote suggests this is how the church understood Christ's words in the earliest centuries of the Christian era.
"...prophesying concerning the temple, He said: 'See ye these buildings? Verily I say to you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be taken away; and this generation shall not pass until the destruction begin."

(Clementine Homilies, Homily III, Chapter XV.)

Note: The Wailing Wall (which was part of the Jewish Temple in Christ's day, remains to this day, and may be part of a future 3rd Temple) stands as a witness that the judgement Christ spoke of was only begun (not finished) in the first century.

Can we pray for those long dead?

...God is the Lord of time. Therefore, he can allow the later intercession of the Church to be co-present at the hour of death of a man who died long ago. The decisive moment is not closed to him…This does not mean that such prayer guarantees salvation…But it does mean that the prayer is not meaningless, because for God the past is not absolutely past.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Dare We Hope That All Men Might Be Saved? 2nd ed. (2014) Ignatius Press. pp.242-244.

Doesn’t the vision of hell given at Fatima prove that it's crowded, and full of suffering souls?

Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron was asked that question. He said that the vision of hell shown the children at Fatima was
a warning—not a window into an unavoidable future. And as proof he pointed out that in the same Fatima appearance, the Blessed Virgin gave us this prayer “Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven. Especially those most in need of thy mercy.” In Bishop Barron's words "Our Lady would never ask us to pray for something that’s impossible, so there must be at least a basic hope for the possibility that all souls can be led to heaven."

Questions?

I'm just a Catholic laymen, but if you email me any questions, I'll try to answer them (or find someone who can.)

michaelburke1801@gmail.com

Wider Hope: Catholic & Orthodox Faith Resources

Clear, trustworthy religious information to deepen faith, prayer, and understanding.

Articles

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Q&A

What does Matthew 24:34 mean?

Can we pray for those long dead?

Doesn’t the vision of hell given at Fatima prove that it's crowded, and full of suffering souls?

Questions?

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