It's Hot as....

When we visited Texas a few weeks ago it was over 100 degrees almost every day. I never appreciated air conditioning so much in my life! It's hot in Woodstock this week too. Yesterday it got up to 98 and the next few days offer more of the same. Hot weather invariably gets me thinking about another very hot place -- much hotter temps than even Texas can boast. If you haven't guessed, I'm talking about hell. St. Robert Bellarmine, who wrote a treatise on the subject, thought priests should preach about hell at least once a month. When was the last time you heard the warning trumpet blaring from the pulpit? You can't remember ever hearing about it? Me neither.

I received a letter from an old friend today saying she had passed around the article on hell I did in the Spring issue of the Les Femmes newsletter. She wrote about the reaction from her family and friends:

I sent copies to my nephew, a priest in the Dominican Republic, my three children so my ten grandchildren would read it. (I sent a checkoff list so they could sign off.), a graduate student at G.W. University from China, a liberal lawyer (was Jewish now Buddhist - she was most impressed!).

The five grandchildren at my oldest daughter's and all the boys' friends wanted to read it also. These were boys who had just graduated from high school and were off to college. One is in graduate school. They were so impressed. Ten young men signed off on your article!... What a powerful message - "snowflakes into hell."

I want to get Sr. Faustina's Diary now myself.

I'm not the one who impressed these folks, but the message of truth which comes from the Lord. Hell is real. We all know it instinctively no matter how much we try to delude ourselves with drugs, sex, false message of universal salvation, happy talk, etc. The human heart was made for God and he draws it like a magnet. When we defy the natural law embedded in our souls, deep down we realize there are consequences. Somebone needs to prick their consciences and offer prayers and sacrifices for their salvation. Will you be that someone today?