Egoism, Scandal, Perdition.

There are three kinds of egoism. The first is personal, which is condemned; the second is familial, which is justified; and the third is national, which is celebrated. Among the apostles, egoism was between the family, (collective and national/. Envy is the daughter of egoism and the mother of superiority.

Love of God and neighbor is the pinnacle of perfection, the foundation of all virtues. It is therefore easy to say that the opposite, love of self, is the source of all evil. So at least the French authors of the 17th and 18th centuries, including Bossuet, were fond of saying. La Rochefoucauld argues that all virtues dissolve in self-love like salt in water. Love is only true if it is selfless. And yet Aristotle already points out that reality never corresponds to the lofty talk of disinterested love. Would that be correct? What’s wrong with having to love ourselves? After all, we wouldn’t live any other way! What use would others benefit if we meant ourselves ill? The great philosopher of antiquity even dared to say that there is no but that we love ourselves. A mother loves her children because she considers them part of her person. We love a friend because he is our “second self.” This doctrine, to be sure, seems a little noble. Life does is not corrected by denying reality for the sake of some ideal motives. Aristotle’s doctrine needs to be supplemented, namely not by preaching and false encouragement, but by pointing out new facts, and new realities. The only way out of egoism, Aristotle, sees in true friendship. With a friend, we share interests, ideas, and a part of life. Those who do not have a friend are ultimately harming themselves. Christianity this fellowship between people has been strengthened in a strange supernatural way. In Christ, we are all one, as limbs of one body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12 .). To love our neighbor. Him, then, means to love oneself. On the contrary, even true love for oneself is for the benefit of others. The Gospel does not say that we are to love our neighbor and not ourselves. We are to love him as ourselves (cf. Mt 19:19).

Why, then, is selfishness the source of evil? “Selfishness” we usually refer to a love of self that is disordered, unreasonable, that does not reckon with the fact that neighbors belong to us. According to St. Paul’s simile, this is probably the case, as if the eye said to the hand, “I don’t need that one! Or as if the head said to the feet: I don’t need it. you!” (1 Cor. 12:21).
Egoism, then, harms itself. It thinks it likes itself, and yet it destroys itself. It deprives itself of everything that makes it beautiful, great, and strong: the union of grace with all men and with God. In that sense, of course, he is right St. Maximilian the Confessor, declared that the source of all virtues is the love of God, while the source of all vices is “self-love.” The egoist artificially isolates himself. Hell is then eternal loneliness.

Who belongs to the Church? Those who have been baptized. Many of them have left the Church, but they have no part in the life of the Church, but they belong to it. Children, always remain daughters or sons of their parents, even if they quarrel with them or leave home. However, those who have not been baptized but live according to conscience, doing good, also belong to the Church. Jesus said by their fruits, you will know them. Of course, by lasting fruit.

What does scandal mean? Becoming a stumbling block to someone’s faith, a stumbling block. Someone is following Christ, and we stumble at his feet. Either by bad example or bad counsel. We stop him in his tracks. Something may be a stumbling block to someone that is not a stumbling block to another. How do we find that measure of when something is an offense? When the apostles were asked. Does the master not pay your taxes? Jesus said to Peter. Go catch a fish, take the money out of it, and pay for yourself and for me so that, we are not a stumbling block to them. The principle applies here. Be careful.  Even if something doesn’t offend me, the other person is sensitive so I’d rather not say something, even though there may be nothing wrong with it. But some people want to be offended by everything. They see offense in everything, We are not to blame for such offense.
Who and when can be damned? The state of hell. The Bible has 6 or 7 different degrees. St. Thomas Aquinas takes them up. They are different states and not cauldron, fire devils. Jesus was talking about Gehenna. Gehenna was specifically a place outside the walls of Jerusalem, in the valley of the brook Gijón, where there was a so-called dung gate where garbage was taken out of the city as well as sacrificed animals, and it all burned there. We can imagine what the smell was like. Figuratively, it brings out the state of the soul. This image of fire is used by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 64. Those. who oppose God will be burned with unquenchable fire.