The Four Last Things - The Most Charitable Duty of the Priest
Introduction: The Mission of a Priest
I was speaking with my son about the Traditional Latin Mass [TLM) and his one critique was “they always seem to say I might be going to go to Hell.” I reminded him that “Well, your priest is entrusted with the gravest of responsibilities: the salvation of souls. So, you should THANK him for his charity and concern!” Christ Himself established the priesthood for the purpose of sanctifying the faithful and guiding them toward eternal life. The priest is a shepherd, tasked with protecting his flock from spiritual danger, and a physician, called to diagnose and treat the wounds of sin.
Yet in modern times, many priests shy away from speaking about The Four Last Things—Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell—choosing instead to preach only about God’s love, mercy, and charity. In fact, in preparation for authoring this article, I attempted to create an AI generated image depicting the Four Last Things and multiple image generators refused. Why? Because, apparently, the concept of Judgment and Hell “might be distressing.”
Yeah—no kidding!
While love and mercy are central to the Gospel, they cannot be rightly understood without the full truth of God’s justice. A priest who speaks only of love, while neglecting the reality of sin and eternal judgment, is not being truly charitable. True charity comes by by warning souls of their eternal destiny.
This failure is not limited to individual priests—it has become a widespread phenomenon in contemporary evangelization efforts. A striking example is the "He Gets Us" campaign, addressed in a previous article which promotes a soft, modernized version of Christ that emphasizes only love and acceptance while neglecting essential truths about sin, repentance, and judgment. While such efforts may appear charitable, they ultimately fail in true proselytizing because they obscure the full message of the Gospel, leading souls into complacency rather than conversion.
We’ll examine how true charity demands the full proclamation of the truth, including the realities of Hell and divine justice. And, reader, you’re asked to not only INVITE your Priest to speak on the Four Last Things, but to heed his words on them and thank him for his charity.
1. The Priest as a Watchman: Charity Requires Warning
Sacred Scripture repeatedly emphasizes the priest’s duty to warn souls of the consequences of sin. In the Book of Ezekiel, God gives this grave charge:
“If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand” (Ezekiel 3:18).
A priest who refuses to warn his flock about Hell and judgment is not acting in charity but in negligence. Just as a doctor who refuses to diagnose a fatal disease is guilty of malpractice, so too is a priest guilty of spiritual malpractice when he ignores the eternal consequences of sin.
Aquinas: Charity is Willing the Ultimate Good
St. Thomas Aquinas defines charity as willing the ultimate good for another (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 23, a. 1). The greatest good for every soul is eternal salvation. He further states:
“It is the duty of the preacher to instruct the people in matters necessary for salvation” (ST III, q. 64, a. 10).
A priest who speaks only of God’s love without warning of Hell is not truly loving his flock—he is leading them to complacency. True love tells the full truth, even when it is uncomfortable.
2. Pope St. Pius X: Silence on Hell is a Mark of Modernism
In Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Pope St. Pius X warns of Modernist errors that emphasize a soft, sentimental religion devoid of divine justice. He condemns those who distort the faith by removing its warnings about judgment:
“There is little concern today for eternal punishment; the sense of sin is lost, and with it the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.”
Modernist clergy speak only of God’s mercy while ignoring divine justice, but this is a deception. Pius X makes it clear:
A partial Gospel is a false Gospel.
Mercy only makes sense in light of justice.
Hell is real, and to neglect preaching about it is to leave souls unprepared.
A priest who preaches only about love and mercy, while omitting Hell and judgment, is not drawing people to God but is instead confirming them in their sins.
3. St. John Chrysostom: The Silent Priest is the Condemned Priest
St. John Chrysostom, one of the greatest Doctors of the Church, gives a terrifying warning to priests who refuse to preach the full truth:
“The road to Hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts.”
He warns that a priest will be judged for every soul he leads astray through silence. If a priest preaches only about God’s love but never about sin and judgment, then:
He encourages lukewarmness—people believe they can sin without consequences.
He removes fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
He allows souls to die in sin, never having repented.
4. Why Speaking Only of Love is Actually Unloving
A priest who only preaches love and charity might seem kind, but in reality, he can be doing great harm. How? Consider:
a. He Encourages a False Sense of Security
If a priest never warns about Hell, people assume that it is not real or that few go there. This leads them into a false sense of security, which is spiritual danger.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, in Preparation for Death, states:
“Many Christians believe everything except the one truth they should never forget—that they will die and be judged.”
A priest who never reminds his flock of this truth is not protecting them but leaving them exposed.
b. He Neglects the Example of Christ
Christ Himself spoke more about Hell than Heaven. He warned:
“Fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
“Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
If Christ constantly warned about Judgment, Hell, and the fewness of the saved, how can any priest claim to follow Christ while refusing to preach the same?
c. He Fails in True Charity
True charity does not flatter—it warns. A father who truly loves his child does not only say “I love you.” He also warns:
“Do not play in the road, or you will be hit by a car.”
“Do not touch fire, or you will be burned.”
A priest who preaches only love and not Hell is like a father who never warns his child of danger. This is not love but neglect.
5. The Example of the Saints
The greatest saints constantly preached on the Four Last Things:
St. John Vianney: “A priest goes to Heaven or a priest goes to Hell with a great multitude following him.”
St. Padre Pio: “The greatest act of charity a priest can perform is to pull souls out of mortal sin.”
St. Teresa of Avila: Had a vision of Hell and warned, “I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes.”
A priest who refuses to preach about Hell ignores the example of the saints and fails in his primary mission.
6. The Failure of "He Gets Us" and Similar Evangelization Approaches
The "He Gets Us" campaign, a multimillion-dollar advertising initiative, seeks to rebrand Jesus as a figure of total acceptance and emotional understanding, while deliberately avoiding discussion of sin, repentance, or divine judgment.
Why This Approach Fails in True Charity
It Reduces Christ to a Mere Moral Example
"He Gets Us" presents Jesus as someone who merely understands human struggles, rather than as the Son of God who commands repentance and conversion.
This approach robs the Gospel of its transformative power, making Christ no different than any other inspiring historical figure.
It Omits Sin and Judgment
The campaign speaks of Jesus’ radical inclusivity but avoids talking about sin, repentance, or Hell.
True conversion requires an understanding of what one is being saved from—namely, eternal damnation.
Christ Himself warned, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).
It Reassures Without Calling to Action
Modernized evangelization efforts often seek to make people feel loved without making them feel convicted.
This is a false charity because real love calls for repentance and transformation.
Pope St. Pius X warned against this approach in Pascendi Dominici Gregis, condemning efforts to reshape Christ into a figure that merely comforts rather than commands.
A priest who follows the "He Gets Us" model of preaching, focusing only on acceptance without moral demands, is not leading souls to salvation—he is merely making them comfortable on the road to perdition.
The Full Truth is the Highest Charity
Your priest’s mission is not to make people feel comfortable but to lead them to Heaven. Invite your Priest to speak on The Four Last Things for these reasons:
True charity wills the highest good—eternal salvation.
Silence on Hell is a sign of Modernism, as Pius X warned.
A priest will be judged for the souls he fails to warn, as Chrysostom stated.
A one-sided Gospel deceives souls, leading them into spiritual complacency.
Christ Himself constantly warned of Hell—how can a priest do less?
This failure extends beyond the pulpit to modern evangelization campaigns like "He Gets Us," which attempts to make Christ palatable to modern secular audiences. By presenting Christ as merely an understanding friend rather than the divine Judge and Redeemer, such campaigns strip Christianity of its moral demands, failing in both charity and truth.
Thus, the most charitable priest is the one who preaches the full Gospel, including the Four Last Things. It is better to offend now than to let souls perish eternally. So, when your Priest gives warnings on the Four Last Things and looks right at you during his homily, thank him for his charity.