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Views from the Choir Loft

Will All Men Be Saved? 1

Fr. David Friel · February 19, 2017

RE WE ALL going to heaven? That’s a bit of a sensitive question. But what’s the answer? Are we all going to heaven? Sometimes it seems like we just assume so. Is seems like, in some people’s minds, the only necessary qualification to be saved is to be “a basically good person.” But, is that what Jesus teaches? Is that what Catholics believe?

I do not think God wants us to live in perpetual fear of whether or not we will be saved. But neither do I think God wants us to live comfortably on the assumption that we are going to heaven no matter what.

In order to explore the question more fully, let us consider a few points from Sacred Scripture and from the sacred liturgy.

What does the Bible have to say about all this? Firstly, it reveals to us God’s will concerning this specific matter. St. Paul writes to Timothy: “God desires all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Thus, God’s will is made clear to us through His Word.

The Book of Daniel also deals a bit with the question of our salvation. Daniel, chapter 12 speaks about the end of the world. There we read, “Some shall live forever; others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace” (Daniel 12:2). That may sound severe, but this, too, is the Word of God.

The Lord, Himself, addresses this question when He tells the memorable parable about the sheep & the goats. This is the story in which Jesus says that, at the end of time, humanity will be split into two groups. The Lord will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. The sheep will be welcomed into the joy of the Father in Heaven, and the goats will be led to “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:31-46). So, is it possible to go to hell? If we look just at Jesus’ own words, we have to admit that at least the possibility exists. There is no automatic guarantee of our salvation.

In still another part of the Scriptures, the Lord says, “Truly, truly, I say to you: unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” The Church has always taught that Baptism is necessary for salvation. By our human birth, we are children of our parents; it’s only by the rebirth of Baptism that we become children of God. God, of course, is not bound by His own rules, but He has given us the Sacrament of Baptism as the gateway to eternal life. It’s that important.

So, again I ask, are we all going to heaven? The prayers of the Mass have something to contribute to the discussion.

In the former Sacramentary, you may recall, the priest used to say the following for the consecration of the Precious Blood: “This is the cup of My Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all, so that sins may be forgiven.” Now, of course, the priest says: “This is the chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many.” The change from “for all” to “for many” is significant. The Latins says pro multis, “for many.”

Does that mean that Jesus didn’t die for all of us? No—the death and Resurrection of Jesus absolutely is meant for us all. What the change does mean is this: although Jesus paid the price for the salvation of all, we are free to reject His gift. It’s the same as if I bought tickets to the latest movie for everyone in my congregation. I could buy a few thousand tickets and hand them out, but no one would be obligated to show up. In a similar way, through His Blood, Jesus has purchased the salvation of every person who ever lived, but we remain free to leave that gift sitting on the shelf unused. Every time we hear those words of consecration, they should be a reminder to us that by our lives—what we say and what we do—we choose for ourselves whether we wish to be among the “many.”

In other parts of the Mass, we very often pray for the dead. If we were perfectly sure of our salvation, though, there would be no reason to bother praying for the dead or for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. But we do. We have funeral Masses; we arrange to have Masses celebrated for deceased loved ones; and, in every Eucharistic Prayer, we pray for the dead. For example, in the Third Eucharistic Prayer, the priest says, “To our departed brothers and sisters, and to all who were pleasing to You at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to Your Kingdom.”

The presence of these prayers for all the faithful departed in the sacred liturgy demonstrates that Catholic belief demands both a lively hope in the salvation of all and a gentle reticence to become too assured of any person’s salvation (especially our own). A good bit of further reading on this topic is the book Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved? by Hans Urs von Balthasar.

OD IS FAR MORE than the “Almighty Ticket-Taker.” He is a loving, merciful, and faithful God. As we read in Psalm 16, He is our “inheritance.” But it is nevertheless very clear from Sacred Scripture and from the prayers we pray at Mass that one’s entrance into heaven depends on having faith and living it out in this life.

So, are we all going to heaven? I certainly hope so. But we should never dare to take our salvation for granted.

He who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Requiem Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

The ratio of voices in modern choirs is usually wrong. Basses should be numerically greatest, then altos, then tenors, then sopranos. One good soprano can carry a high “A” against 30 lower voices.

— Roger Wagner

Recent Posts

  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension

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