catholics please answer?

Question

on june 20th it will be the anniversary of my uncles suicide he was catholic after all of these years do you think he moved on to heaven yet or is he in hell,also do you think i should go to church and light a candle for him and pray for his soul,or will that be hippocritical of me as i am not catholic but i was raised catholic i feel i should do something because it is weighing heavily on my heart lately what should i do,please no rude responses thank you

just to clarify my relationship with my uncle wasnt distant at all,he was really cool he bought me my first cabbage patch doll and all of his nieces and nephews loved him immensley so i know all my cousins are probably feeling badly as well and i hope that they are okay since the whole family fell apart after hid death

Answer 1

Honey if you want to know the truth, you have to know God to know that suicide is murder, and murder is a sin, no one dies and then go to purgatory (that doesn't exist at all) . Your fate is decided by you before you die. Either you follow Jesus (and not a church or man made religion) which will send you directly to heaven upon your death (natural or accidental but not voluntary death) or if you have not comitted to Jesus (and Jesus alone for He is the only way to Heaven. and the only intercessor between God and man) and read your bible and lived your life in a God fearing manner, or you go to hell!

IM, telling you this because I comited suicide myself, it wasn't my time and was seeking God but in my pain thought I could go to him by dying....Boy was I wrong, I was sent back with God telling me it wasn't my time, and had I not come back from this I would have went straight to hell. He showed me.
Now why did I come back and many others don't?

Simply because I was seeking Him with all my heart.
This is my testimony: (in detail)
http://www.geocities.com/monfille/Testimony.htm

After all this, I had to repent to God for having had the thought and the action of comiting murder on myself. To murder is to take a human life (that includes our own in God's eyes)

Answer 2

Firstly your uncle is not in hell, although we were brought up to believe this, it was just an old belief made up many years ago, but Catholics have moved on from alot of the old teachings. If you feel the need to light a candle by all means do it, this could be something that brings you healing no matter what you believe, when you light it you can pray or just contemplate your own life and realise how precious it is and how theres no need to fuss over trivial things, if you knew your uncle well it would be a good time to remember his life and celebrate his life rather than thinking negeative things about it

Answer 3

Dear Friend

be careful of dogmatic theories and false ideas. there is nowhere written that your uncle will go to hell. Plus i personally believe that the sins of mankind have already been forgiven. Dont swallow the thoughts of rigid moralist catholics and christians who project their own shadows onto others. All human are imperfect and everyone has a dark side as well as a positive one. We can all potentially sin an we all do at some point in our lives....even saints. always if there is after all such thing as sin...maybe nowadays sin is misunderstood

I think your uncle will be happy with whatever you do. Even the fact you thought about him has probably already been appreciated by him. your consideration is already so nice.

Do what you feel will make your distant relationship with your uncle meaningful. anything that works for you. you can pray, go to church, write him a letter and burn it, throw the ashes in the wind, or anything that comes to your mind.

I bet You are a considerate and sensitive person. stay away from people who tell you that ppl who suicide go to hell. God is Love, and love knows no ends to forgiveness, empathy and compassion. I dont know what your uncle went through. Who am i to judge? Only god knows...and he doesn't judge either....

(please note : i am not valuing suicide. suicide happens when people experience emotional, psychological and spiritual emptiness. they need help, suicide should never be considered an option)

Merlin of Malta :)

Answer 4

I am currently taking a course for catechists, and we have recently touched upon the concepts of hell, purgatory and Heaven. Purgatory is where people who still have sins weighing on them go to cleanse so that they can enter Heaven. The reason that a basically good person who still has sins weighing upon him or her cannot enter Heaven straight away is that in Heaven, everything is pure. Hell is reserved only for those who are absolutely horrible and who have chosen to turn their backs on God.

I am sure your uncle must have been feeling desperate to commit suicide, and the rest of the family was likely devastated.

Prayer to God and the saints and in particular to God the Son who, after all, died for our sins, would be good because prayer is one of the ways to help the souls in purgatory move on to Heaven.

If you were raised Catholic, you likely know how to pray and the importance of praying for the souls of our beloved departed. Prayer for another is one of the best things we can do. Light a candle for him. It would not be hypocritical. God will hear you and loves you and your uncle, as He loves all His creatures.

May God bless you and yours.

Answer 5

From a theological point of view - a person who is out of his mind cannot be held responsiblie for what he does. To commit a serious sin you have to know what you are doing and want to do it - a person who is mentally impaired cannot fill both those requirements. Someone who commits suicide is impaired - and therefore is not held responsible for his action. His final state (heaven or hell) will depend on how he lived his life, not the single act that ended it.

Of course you can go and light a candle and say a prayer. It is an expression of your love and care for your uncle and that has nothing to do with whether you are currently going to church. You are always welcome and your prayer is a good thing.

I will say a prayer for him myself

Answer 6

We have no way of knowing if your uncle is in heaven or not. I can tell you that when a person commits suicide because of some emotional anguish or despair that is caused by an emotional disability (like depression), he is not responsible for his actions and will not be held accountable for that sin.

I think it is completely appropriate to light a candle and pray for his soul. The holy Spirit is compelling you to do this, so you should do it.

Please contact me by e-mail or instant messenger.

Answer 7

In all concerns, God the daddy is the main suitable Authority. We have faith that God's be conscious is composed in the two the Written be conscious as properly with the aid of fact the Sacred custom of the Church. That the Bible is the main suitable be conscious in all concerns is itself un-Biblical. Paul writes that the Church is the pillar of actuality, and Paul is going directly to exhort believers to proceed to be steadfast interior the traditions that have been taught to them with the aid of letter or with the aid of be conscious. John writes the Gospels do not contain all that Jesus taught and did. the 1st Gospel replaced into not written till a minimum of twenty years after the Resurrection. So, what did the Early Church do for those first twenty years? not something? look ahead to the Gospel to be written? No, the respond lies interior the Oral custom. You communicate as though the Bible itself is God, which of path that is not. The Pope has authority, given with the aid of Jesus, to teach infallibly in concerns of religion and morals. The coaching Authority of the Church could in no way contradict the Bible with the aid of fact Sacred Tradtion and the Bible are mirror photos of the different.

Answer 8

I am catholic. But personally if you don't feel like lighting a candle, then don't. It defeats the purpose if you don't believe in the significance of it.. Just pray for his soul the way you feel comfortable doing. Pray straight to God, He listens, whatever way you do it...

Answer 9

There's is nothing wrong with praying for a person's soul. If it is weighing that heavily on your soul, perhaps the Holy Spirit is urging you to do so.

Only God knows the state of a person's soul - it is not an automatic that a suicide goes to hell. God's mercy is so abundant that we humans cannot say who went where..only He know.

Answer 10

No one but God knew the state of your Uncles mind at the time of his suicide so no one can judge him for this except God, and remember God is infinitely merciful.
One Priest remarked that he would much rather be judged by God than by his own Mother and I concur with this as God is ultimately fair, your Uncle however may well be in Purgatory and so you should always pray for him.
The greatest prayer and sacrifice you could make on his behalf is that of the Mass it`self and so perhaps you could consider renewing your lapsed faith and come back to the church that never left you but waits to welcome you back again, think about it.