The weather report for the next week is grim: in the 90s every day but feeling over 100. Fourth of July is expected to be a scorcher here in northwestern Virginia especially if the humidity is high. Thank God for it. Miserably hot weather invites us to reflect on the reality of hell. Despite the statement of Cardinal Fernandez that everyone will be saved, they won't. And no, Bishop Barron, we cannot have a reasonable belief that all will be saved. Why would God die on the cross for the salvation of souls if, in the end, He's the Candyman who welcomes everyone at the Pearly Gates with chocolate bars regardless of the way they lived. He didn't ignore the rebellion of the angels; why would He ignore ours?
And another point. Is the Blessed Mother a sadist? Did she terrify the three little shepherd children at Fatima with a vision of an empty hell? Or did they see "poor sinners" falling in "like snowflakes" in a blizzard. Did saints like Frances of Rome hallucinate about the punishments of hell, all appropriate to the sins of the condemned souls? I recommend reading her visions for a reality check.
On a Cursillo weekend years ago I spent several hours sitting in the stairwell with another participant who didn't believe in hell or at least that no one went there. At the end of our discussion she did. Hell is real. Not believing in it doesn't make it disappear; it simply invites souls to be indifferent to the seriousness of their sins. And that, friends, is the primrose path of dalliance that leads straight to the abyss.
It makes no logical sense to think that Jesus experienced an excruciating passion and death for nothing! Sin offends Almighty God. Read Exodus and the story of Aaron making the golden calf which was followed by an orgy, described euphemistically as rising up "to play." God demonstrated for us the power of intercessory prayer by letting Moses cool His wrath against the people:
4And when he had received [the gold jewelry], [Aaron] fashioned them by founders' work, and made of them a molten calf. And they said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. 5And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and made proclamation by a crier's voice, saying: To morrow is the solemnity of the Lord. 6And rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play.
7And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go, get thee down: thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned. 8They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst shew them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. 9And again the Lord said to Moses: See that this people is stiffnecked: 10Let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation.St. Robert Bellarmine, Cardinal Archbishop of Capua in Italy (1542-1621) instructed his clergy to preach on hell once a month. The best way to avoid going there is to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and stregnth. The second best way is fear of divine punishment in the everlasting fire of hell.
11But Moses besought the Lord his God, saying: Why, O Lord, is thy indignation kindled against thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12Let not the Egyptians say, I beseech thee: He craftily brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains, and destroy them from the earth: let thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of thy people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou sworest by thy own self, saying: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven: and this whole land that I have spoken of, I will give to you seed, and you shall possess it for ever. 14And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which he had spoken against his people.
So here is one of the saint's reflections on hell.
It remains for us to consider the justice that God exercises by punishing sinners in the deepest abyss of Hell. If we do this carefully and attentively, we will understand how true are the words of the Apostle: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31) …
Regarding the present life, Isaiah says: “In the acceptable time I have heard you, and the day of salvation I have helped you (Is 49:8). Explaining this in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle says: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2).
As for the future time that will come after this life, Zephaniah exclaims, “That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and anguish, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds, a day of trumpets and alarm” (Zep1:15-16). Not only all sins will be punished, but they will be punished with horrendous and dreadful torments, which will be so massive that now they can hardly be imagined by men.
Just as “no eye has seen, nor ear has heard nor has entered into human heart that what God had prepared for those who love Him” (Is 64:4; 1 Cor 2:9), so also no human eye has seen nor ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man what God had prepared for His enemies.
Indeed, the punishment of sinners in Hell will be many and complete, that is, unmixed with any consolations, and, what infinitely increases their misery, they will be everlasting.
They will be many, I say, because each of the faculties of the soul and each of the five senses of the body will have its torments.
Weigh the words of this sentence of the Supreme Judge that is found in the Gospel, “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire” (Mt 25:41). “Depart from Me,” he says, that is, move away from the fellowship of the blessed, remain deprived forever of the vision of God, which is the highest and essential happiness and ultimate end for which you were created.
“Accursed ones,” that is, cherish no further hope for any kind of blessing; you are deprived of any life of grace, any hope of salvation; the water of wisdom will no more rain upon you, nor the dew of good inspirations. No longer will the ray of celestial light enlighten you, nor will the grace of repentance sprout in you, nor the flower of charity nor the fruit of good works. He who comes from on High (Lk 1:78) will never again visit you from that moment on; you will lack, not only spiritual goods but also material ones, not only eternal benefits but also temporal ones. For you there will be no riches, no pleasures, no consolation, but you will be like the fig tree that I cursed, which immediately dried up, roots and all (Mt 21:19).
He says, “Into the fire,” that is, into the furnace of blazing and inextinguishable fire which will take hold not of one member, but of all your members at the same time and burn them with the sharpest pain.
“Everlasting,” that is, into the fire which does not need to be fed with wood to keep burning forever, but is whipped up by the breath of Almighty God so that as your guilt will never be destroyed, so there will never be an end to your punishment.
Rightly then does the prophet Isaiah exclaim, “Which of you can dwell inside a devouring fire? Which of you can dwell amidst the eternal flames?” (Is 33:14) By this he says that absolutely no one can support that fire patiently, but the damned will be forced against their will to bear it in impatience, anger and despair.
He adds: “Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched” (Is 66:24). These words are repeated more than once by Our Lord in St. Mark’s Gospel (Mk 9:43, 45, 47). Their remorse of the conscience will increase with the memory of the times when the sinners, had they wanted, could have escaped those punishments with a little effort and enjoyed the everlasting joys of Paradise.
No one should think that the damned ones can find a little relief by walking about and changing their places. Hear what the Lord Himself says: “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him forth into the darkness outside where there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Mt 22:13).
Therefore, those wretches, bound hand and foot by eternal chains, will lie forever in the same place, deprived of the light of the sun, moon and stars, scorched by burning fire, weeping and lamenting and gnashing their teeth in their fury and despair.
Those who will be thrust down into that place full of horror will suffer not only the most terrible pain in the eternal fire, but also the absolute privation of all things, as well as shame and disgrace full of acute embarrassment and confusion. Indeed, in a flash they will lose their palaces, fields, vineyards, flocks, oxen, clothing, as well as their gold, silver and precious gems, and will be reduced to such destitution that the rich banqueter will desire and beg for a drop of cold water, but will not be heard (Lk 16:24-26). …
If what we have said about the loss of all goods, both heavenly and earthly, and about the bitter pains, ignominy and shame, were to have an end or at least were mixed with some sort of consolation or relief, as it happens with all the miseries of this life, then they might be considered tolerable in some way. However, it is absolutely certain and beyond any doubt that, just as the happiness of the blessed will be perpetual and without any afflictions, so the unhappiness of the damned will last forever without any relief.
Those who do not make every effort to attain to the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal happiness, regardless of any trials and dangers and shame and death, which the Apostle calls light and passing (2 Cor 4”17), must indeed be blind men and fools.
God gives us so much: every breath we take, every joy, the beauty of the earth, the glory of the Milky Way. Even our trials and sufferings are a gift if we look at them as opportunities to be united with Christ in suffering for the salvation of souls.
I don't want anyone to go to hell. Can I possibly think God does? Of course not, but God is a gentleman Who will never force His will on others. He desires our love, freely given, as a return for His love. But He won't drag us kicking and screaming into heaven. He was rejected by men on earth, those for whom He suffered and died. Some converted, but not all. As we hear the priest at the consecration of the Mass:
"Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is **my Body,** which will be given up for you. Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins."
"Pro multis," for many. We can take consolation from the fact that many will be saved. Let us, like little Jacinta of Fatima, dedicate ourselves to praying for those who will go to hell without our prayers. The Blessed Mother told the children in sorrow that souls go to hell because they have no one to pray for them. Let us never abandon souls we can help to find eternal salvation even if we never meet them. Every time I put on my scapular I pray:
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee and those who don't have recourse to thee especially Freemasons and those who've been commended to thy care.
Let us today and every day commend all in danger of hell to the gentle care of our heavenly mother.
St. Robert Bellarmine, pray for us.
Thank you for this important post. I have spent the last 10 plus years trying to understand the reality of hell. I believe the teachings... it is just so disorienting that no one talks about this or believes that they could end up there. I start to think maybe I am making a bigger deal out of it than I should. It is hard to know how to warn people without seeming crazy! As sobering as this is to meditate on, I do appreciate that fact that you are reminding us of it! Thank you and God Bless.
ReplyDeleteA good article, Mary Ann. Sadly, the Church today downplays the reality of Hell. As a father, I have to teach and warn my children, or it will be held against me on my judgment. How much more for priests and their flock, who do not warn them on the mortal danger of sin.
ReplyDeleteHell is real and I knew it as an agnostic. I was so afraid of death, because I knew where I was going. And this is why our culture hides death as well. It good to think regularly upon on our own death and judgement as it helps us to keep grounded in the Lord. Memento Mori.