Hell Is Real - Part Two

It is an alarming reality how quickly our world is sinking deeper and deeper into sin. Everyday there is some new and horrible proof that the devil is working overtime toward the fall of humanity. You might be saying to yourself, “So? Who cares about any of that because I’m certainly not going to hell. That’s only for Hitler and serial killers, right?” Hmm.

It’s interesting that this complacent mantra of the world today is completely at odds with what Jesus taught. He said, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). I didn’t hear him say, “Just make sure you’re better than the guy next to you, and that’ll be good enough.” In fact, Jesus warned over and over about the realities of hell and the amount of people falling into it. “…for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many” (Matthew 7:13).

This is most certainly one of the devil’s great deceptions, because who really wants to think on such disturbing things? It’s so much nicer to skip along in the mindset of a loving God Who wouldn’t dream of sending me to hell. After all, I’m good. I love people, right? I don’t kill anyone; I pay my taxes. Besides, the devil’s not that bad. He looks like the attractive guy on the TV programs with the black, three-piece suit and dashing English accent. Why should he care so vehemently about the destruction of mere humans? The truth is, the devil hates man. He hates anything that God loves. Satan is the accuser, the adversary; his goal is to scatter the flock. Jesus said: “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

This is the second installment of three on the subject of hell. I have been feeling very motivated in our unbelievably troubled world to offer the grim reminder that hell is real. It is a horrific place of torture and despair, and it is forever.

So what exactly do we mean by “horrific torture”? You can get bits and pieces of it from Jesus as he calls it a place “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28). Again, it’s difficult for us to comprehend what that level of punishment would be like. For me, I can best think of the fire and brimstone of hell whenever I am sitting beside a roaring campfire and gaze into the very heart of the glowing embers.

I can feel the heat of it radiating on my face, and I imagine what that would feel like to step into the center of that blaze. It wouldn’t be enjoyable, that’s for sure. But the fire we have on earth is completely different than the fire of hell. Our fire was made as a help for man, but those created for hell are far different. They are black, and choking, and all-consuming without consuming.

Many of the saints and holy people through the years have reflected on the pains and tortures of hell. From the reflections of Sister Lucia, one of the children from Fatima, she describes the vision the three were shown by Our holy mother:

…we saw as if into a sea of fire, and immersed in that fire were devils and souls with human form, as if they were transparent black or bronze embers floating in the fire and swayed by the flames that issued from them along with clouds of smoke, falling upon every side just like the falling of sparks in great fires, without weight or equilibrium, amidst wailing and cries of pain and despair that horrified and shook us with terror. We could tell the devils by their horrible and nauseous figures of baleful and unknown animals, but transparent as the black coals in a fire.

Also, from his writings: The Pains of Hell, St. Anthony Mary Claret describes this place of torture. Although a little lengthy, I find it to be very thought-provoking and sobering. I’m sure you would agree:

First, the fire is all-extensive and tortures the whole body and the whole soul. A damned person lies in hell forever in the same spot which he was assigned by divine justice, without being able to move, as a prisoner in stocks. The fire in which he is totally enveloped, as a fish in water, burns around him, on his left, his right, above and below. His head, his breast, his shoulders, his arms, his hands, and his feet are all penetrated with fire, so that he completely resembles a glowing hot piece of iron which has just been withdrawn from an oven. The roof beneath which the damned person dwells is fire; the food he takes is fire; the drink he tastes is fire; the air he breathes is fire; whatever he sees and touches is all fire… But this fire is not merely outside him; it also passes within the condemned person. It penetrates his brain, his teeth, his tongue, his throat, his liver, his lungs, his bowels, his belly, his heart, his veins, his nerves, his bones, even to the marrow, and even his blood…

…Secondly, this fire is far more dreadful than man can imagine. The natural fire that we see during this life has great power to burn and torment. Yet this is not even a shadow of the fire of hell. There are two reasons why the fire of hell is more dreadful beyond all comparison than the fire of this life. The first reason is the justice of God, which the fire serves as an instrument in order to punish the infinite wrong done to his supreme majesty, which has been despised by a creature. Therefore, justice supplies this element with a burning power which almost reaches the infinite… The second reason is the malice of sin. As God knows that the fire of this world is not enough to punish sin as it deserves, He has given the fire of hell a power so strong that it can never be comprehended by any human mind.

Let these reflections be for all of us not a reason to despair, but instead a call to pray and fast. Say a rosary! Get on our knees and beg God: Though we don’t deserve it, show us mercy anyway, Lord! When I pause and think for a while on hell, it motivates me to pray and offer up more readily the little crosses of life. I pray for the conversion of poor sinners. I pray for mercy.