Q: In the Apostles’ Creed it states that Jesus descended to hell, but in the Baltimore Catechism it states the souls were in Limbo. Can you clarify? My CCD class is very smart and interested and wants to know, “Which is it?” -D.W.
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC
A: It is important to note that limbo is a theory, not a doctrine of the Church. Theologians had theorized about limbo as a place of bliss where, for instance, the souls of unbaptized babies go after death. Since the babies inherited original sin — says the theory — they could not merit the beatific vision (that is, see God in heaven). Yet because they are without personal sin they are not subject to punishment.
The theory of limbo was a way to try to balance the belief in God’s mercy (would he condemn unbaptized babies?) and Jesus’ affirmation that baptism is necessary salvation (see John 3:5). A 2007 documentfrom the International Theological Commission — a document published with Pope Benedict XVI’s approval — noted that the Church at times mentioned limbo in its ordinary teaching up until the Second Vatican Council.
That explains why “limbo” appears in theBaltimore Catechism. The workoriginated at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 when U.S. bishops decided to publish a national catechism. Its question-and-answer format was familiar to generations of American Catholics, well into the 1960s.
No. 86 of the Baltimore Catechism says: “Q. Did Christ’s soul descend into the hell of the damned?A. The hell into which Christ’s soul descended was not the hell of the damned, but a place or state of rest called Limbo, where the souls of the just were waiting for Him.” That mention of limbo echoed a theory widely accepted in its day, though it wasn’t the last word on the subject.
Now, the Apostles’ Creed says that Jesus “descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead.” The Baltimore Catechism notes correctly that the hell into which Jesus’ soul descended was not the hell of the damned. Rather, “hell” here means what Scripture calls the abode of the dead. (In Hebrew the word was Sheol, in Greek Hades.) Dwelling there were the souls of those who were deprived of the vision of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 633, notes: “Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.”
You could tell your CCD class that the Apostles’ Creed and the Baltimore Catechism say basically the same thing. What the creed calls “hell” (properly understood!), the BC calls “limbo,” a shakier term.
True, limbo remains a possible theological opinion. But it is worth noting that the theory of limbo is not even mentioned in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Jesus, the Kingdom Incarnate and the Heart of the Encounter
Uniting ourselves to the whole Church on the synodal journey it has begun, and walking this path together as a global community of Regnum Christi apostles who want to listen and discern where the Lord leads us, we pray that through this novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus we may find renewed enthusiasm to go out to meet people where they are and where they need to meet Christ, and bring them his love in a more fruitful way as missionaries of the Word and apostles of the Kingdom.
We seek to “contemplate God with the eyes of faith through his revealed Word and the life-giving contact of the Sacraments, so that, in daily life, we may see the reality that surrounds us in the light of his providence, judge it according to Jesus Christ, Way, Truth and Life, and act from the Church, Mystical Body of Christ and universal Sacrament of salvation, in the propagation of the kingdom of God, which is sown on this earth and which bears full fruit in Heaven.” (concluding document of the the 5th General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate)
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
“Humility is the only way that leads us to God. At the same time, precisely because it leads us to him, humility leads us also to the essentials of life, to its truest meaning, to the most trustworthy reason for why life is worth living” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 22 December 2021).
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 2: Thursday, June 8
V/ Joy of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Enlarge my heart.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
“Our Christian joy drinks of the wellspring of his brimming heart. He promises his disciples: ‘You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy’ (Jn 16:20). He then goes on to say: ‘But I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you’ (Jn 16:22). The disciples ‘rejoiced’ (Jn 20:20) at the sight of the risen Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles we read that the first Christians ‘ate their food with glad and generous hearts’ (2:46). Wherever the disciples went, ‘there was great joy’ (8:8); even amid persecution they continued to be ‘filled with joy’ (13:52). The newly baptized eunuch ‘went on his way rejoicing’ (8:39), while Paul’s jailer ‘and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God’ (16:34). Why should we not also enter into this great stream of joy?” (Evangelii Gaudium, 5)
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 3: Friday, June 9
V/ Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Inflame my heart.
“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
“This may seem like heresy, but it is the greatest truth! More difficult than loving God is letting oneself be loved by Him! The way to return so much love is to open your heart and let yourself be loved. Let Him come to us and feel Him by our side. Let Him become tender with us, caress us. This is the most difficult thing: letting ourselves be loved by Him. This is what we must ask today at Mass: ‘Lord, I want to love You, teach me the difficult science, the difficult habit of letting myself be loved by You, of feeling you close to me and tender.’ May the Lord give us this grace!” (Pope Francis, Mass at Santa Marta, 7 June 2013).
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 4: Saturday, June 10
V/ Light of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Illuminate my heart.
“Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
“If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: ‘Give them something to eat’” (Mark 6:37) (Evangelii Gaudium, 49).
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 5: Sunday, June 11
V/ Silence of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Speak to my heart.
“But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you” (Matthew 6:6).
“Silence, then, is the door to prayer, and prayer is the door to love. Praying is not boring! We are the ones who make it boring. Prayer is an encounter with the Lord, an encounter that is beautiful. So, when you pray, don’t be afraid to bring to Jesus everything that is going on in your life: your emotions and fears, your problems and expectations, your memories and hopes, everything, including your sins. Jesus understands it all” (Pope Francis, Address to young people in Hungary, April 29, 2023).
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 6: Monday, June 12
V/ Fortitude of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Hold my heart.
He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground. When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test” (Luke 22:44-46).
“However, through the gift of fortitude, the Holy Spirit liberates the soil of our heart, he frees it from sluggishness, from uncertainty and from all the fears that can hinder it, so that Lord’s Word may be put into practice authentically and with joy. The gift of fortitude is a true help, it gives us strength, and it also frees us from so many obstacles. We need not think that the gift of fortitude is necessary only on some occasions or in particular situations. This gift must constitute the tenor of our Christian life, in the ordinary daily routine. As I said, we need to be strong every day of our lives, to carry forward our life, our family, our faith” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 14 May 2014).
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 7: Tuesday, June 13
V/ Patience of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Support my heart.
He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn”’” (Matthew 13:24-26).
“Jesus shows us the patience of God, the merciful Father who calls us even at the last hour, who does not demand perfection but heartfelt enthusiasm, who wants to open a breach in our hardened hearts” (Pope Francis, @Pontifex, August 18, 2022).
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 8: Wednesday, June 14
V/ Zeal of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Embrace my heart.
“Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:35-36).
“Evangelical zeal is the support on which proclamation is based, and heralds are somewhat like the feet of the body of Christ that is the Church. There is no proclamation without movement, without ‘going out’, without initiative. This means there is no Christian if not on the move; no Christian if the Christian does not go out of him- or herself in order to set out on the journey and bear the proclamation. There is no proclamation without movement, without walking. One does not proclaim the Gospel by standing still, locked in an office, at one’s desk or at one’s computer, arguing like ‘keyboard warriors’ and replacing the creativity of proclamation with copy-and-paste ideas taken from here and there. The Gospel is proclaimed by moving, by walking, by going” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 12 April 2023).
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
Day 9: Thursday, June 15
V/ Kingdom of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
R/ Establish yourself in my heart.
He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
“Let us believe the Gospel when it tells us that the kingdom of God is already present in this world and is growing, here and there, and in different ways: like the small seed which grows into a great tree (cf. Mt 13:31-32), like the measure of leaven that makes the dough rise (cf. Mt 13:33) and like the good seed that grows amid the weeds (cf. Mt 13, 24-30) and can always pleasantly surprise us. The kingdom is here, it returns, it struggles to flourish anew. Christ’s resurrection everywhere calls forth seeds of that new world; even if they are cut back, they grow again, for the resurrection is already secretly woven into the fabric of this history, for Jesus did not rise in vain. May we never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope” (Evangelii Gaudium, 278)!
V/ Let us pray: Sacred Heart of Jesus, you love us deeply and know every corner of our identity. Transform our hearts to have the same feelings as yours, the same way of listening, seeing, and speaking as you do. Purify us in in the living flames of your Love so that we can make you present here and now through our lives.
R/ Amen.
V/ Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R/ Make my heart like yours.
Click the image below to view the video from Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC.
On this last day, Thursday, June 15, 2023, of the Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, please join the Legionaries of Christ on their Facebook Page as they livestream a Day of Reparation Masses to the Sacred Heart. There will be livestreamed masses and rosaries for healing and reparation for victims of abuse by members of the Legionaries of Christ and for the ongoing purification of the whole Church.
Q: I am 52, and over the last months, even though I have been a Catholic all my life, I can’t find a relationship with Jesus. I have checked so many websites to help me focus on Jesus during the day, but I am totally empty. I don’t know how to find a way to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I have been a totally dry Catholic from when I first learned about faith. – Siobhan
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC
A: It’s good that you at least sense that your faith is about a relationship with Jesus.
Now, relationships are unique. Your relationship with Jesus will be different from your neighbor’s.
Without knowing more about your situation, I’ll limit myself to general observations.
First, a sense of dryness is not in itself a sign of a bad relationship with Jesus.
Sometimes there will be feelings of consolation, even great consolation, in prayer. Those are to be welcome with humility. But those feelings aren’t the most important thing.
What is more important is that we take time to pray each day, whether we feel like it or not, and that we try to live in accord with God’s will.
In fact, prayer without consolation can be a better type of prayer, because it is costlier for us. We pray, not because we get warm, fuzzy feelings, but because we want to spend time with Our Lord. Prayer that is dry can be a more purified kind of prayer.
Second, try taking advantage of the full range of ways of encountering Jesus. This includes frequent recourse to the sacraments (especially confession and Communion), a bit of Scripture reading daily (especially the Gospels), and Eucharistic adoration if possible.
Also, we encounter Christ in other people. Try to get involved in some kind of Church-related work, such as with parish projects. Helping out at soup kitchens or visiting shut-ins is a great way to live your faith if done in a spirit of service to Christ himself.
You might also consider spiritual reading that is centered on Jesus and prayer. A few suggestions: The Life of Christ, by Fulton Sheen; The Better Part, by John Bartunek; and Time for God, by Jacques Philippe.
I hope that some of this helps. Count on my prayers.
Alex Kucera has lived in Atlanta, GA, for the last 46 years. He is one of 9 children, married to his wife Karmen, and has 3 girls, one grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. Alex joined Regnum Christi in 2007. Out of the gate, he joined the Helping Hands Medical Missions apostolate and is still participating today with the Ghana Friendship Mission.
In 2009, Alex was asked to be the Atlanta RC Renewal Coordinator for the Atlanta Locality to help the RC members with the RC renewal process. Alex became a Group Leader in 2012 for four of the Atlanta Men’s Section Teams and continues today. Running in parallel, in 2013, Alex became a Team Leader and shepherded a large team of good men.
Alex was honored to be the Atlanta Mission Coordinator between 2010 to 2022 (12 years), coordinating 5-8 Holy Week Mission teams across Georgia. He also created and coordinated missions at a parish in Athens, GA, for 9 years. Alex continues to coordinate Holy Week Missions, Advent Missions, and Monthly missions at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Cumming, GA.
From 2016 to 2022, Alex also served as the Men’s Section Assistant in Atlanta. He loved working with the Men’s Section Director, the Legionaries, Consecrated, and Women’s Section leadership teams.
Alex is exceptionally grateful to the Legionaries, Consecrated, and many RC members who he’s journeyed shoulder to shoulder, growing his relationship with Christ and others along the way. He knows that there is only one way, that’s Christ’s Way, with others!
