Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 62 -
DISCUSSION BETWEEN A JESUIT AND BISHOP MARTIN. -ADVICE TO A SISTER OF CHARITY WHO IS AFRAID OF HELL.
1
(A Jesuit steps forward and says): "Noble friend, you do not appear to think much of arts and sciences, considering your dislike of the worthy Ladies of the Sacred Heart. They are the only female order that indulges in sciences and arts from early morning till late at night, and, consequently, they come closest to our order of the Society of Jesus. Dear brother and friend, you should really treat these ladies with more respect and love."
2
(Bishop Martin): "Why should I treat those silly, conceited females with more respect? I have shown them too much respect already! Actually, they should be sent packing for another million years until they forget their foreign languages, which might do them a lot of good.
3
As I look at them now, I see rage and arrogance in their eyes. They would very much like to dissemble, but that is impossible in the spirit world, and especially such loose spirits are soon seen through and recognized for what they really are. Because I do see through them and find their great folly sickening, I sent them to that distant corner to get rid of their annoying sight.
4
You yourself, and all the others of your silly order, should not take pride in your most unsuitable name. Think it over and tell me what gives you the right to call yourselves Jesuits? Who has given you permission to desecrate that divine name? You will then perhaps understand how shamefully you all have misused this holiest of names and in what way you could atone for this sacrilege.
5
Can any one of you say, 'Jesus, the Lord has appointed us like He did Paul and Peter'? Has any one of you ever seen Jesus or talked to Him, or have you, during your life on earth, thought more highly of the Gospel than of Ignatius of Loyola? You were, in fact, most determined adversaries of Jesus Christ, but still you call yourselves 'Jesu-its'!"
6
(The Jesuit): "Dearest friend, you obviously know little or nothing about this matter. Don't you know what Omnia ad majorem dei gloriam (Everything for the greater glory of God) means? On this our name is founded. It is not as if the Lord Jesus Himself appointed us, but we chose this name for His greater glory. I am quite aware that the means as such is not commendable, but that does not matter as long as the end justifies the means."
7
(Bishop Martin): "You also speak like a fool and judge divine things like a blind man might judge colors. Do you think the Great God, Who is forever glorified by countless myriads of unheard-of wonders through the whole of infinity - wonders so sublime and incomprehensible in their divine beauty that their sight would kill you - might gain anything at all in His glory if you call yourself improperly 'Jesuit' for His sake, or if you endeavored to achieve seemingly good ends through a thousand different, sometimes most disgraceful, means?
8
Do you believe that Jesus through some monk instituted the shameful Inquisition for His greater glory? Or do you think that Jesus looks favorably upon autodafes and other abominations of yours, performed for His greater glory, with quite another, secret, disgraceful end in mind?
9
Or do you think that the Lord Jesus looked favorably on your actions when you made a girl pregnant and then, ad majorem dei gloriam had her immured alive in a crypt? Or if, for the greater glory of God, by the foulest of means, you took possession of the property of a thousand widows and orphans, and afterwards showed no pity when you saw them languish in great misery?
10
Do you seriously believe this could be for the greater glory of God, and that the Lord Jesus would look favorably on such a way of glorifying His name? If you really believe this, you are the most pitiful creature in the whole of God's infinity!
11
What would you say if Jesus, the sole eternal Lord and God of heaven and the endless myriads of worlds, would stand here before you and ask how you and all your followers have handled His Word? And who has entitled you to desecrate His most holy name so abominably? What would you, all of you, reply to the almighty, eternal God?"
12
They are all obviously seized with terror, resulting in a benumbed apathy. No one dares say a word to Bishop Martin, for they now take him for an Angel of Judgment.
13
(Only one, a Sister of Charity, approaches Bishop Martin fearfully, and says): "O angel, judging us in the name of God, do not condemn us to hell, but we are quite willing in the name of God to be sent to purgatory. Oh, oh, what a terribly severe judge you are! Do have some pity with us poor sinners!"
14
(Bishop Martin): "Compose yourself, you foolish Sister of Charity! I am no judge, only a poor sinner myself, hoping for the Lord's mercy. However, God be thanked, I now see my great folly and want to show you yours, to help rid yourselves of it and become what the eternal order of the Lord wants you to be. Otherwise, instead of proceeding toward ever-increasing bliss, your misery will keep growing worse all the time.
15
My willingness not to send you away but instead take you all in and keep you here if you want to stay, proves that I am not judging you. But if you do stay, you must not hold on to your follies, but accept advice from one who has been here much longer and who has surely more experience than you newcomers to this world. Now, calm yourselves and ponder on my words!"