Hell
ONE
Testimony of St. Faustina (Diary 741)
Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is!
Then she describes the suffering of Hell that last forever. I’ll let you read those on your own. Afterward she writes: I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like. I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing….But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell.
TWO
The CCC (1034) reminds us that Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna,” the Hebrew word for Hell and
· of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who
· to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted,
· where both soul and body can be lost
Mark 9:42-49 Jesus said: And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire.
What are the sins that I have grown so accustomed to in my life that I don’t even recognize as sins? What do I need to cut off and pluck out?
THREE
Vicka, one of the visionaries from Medjugorje, gave this testimony: “We saw many people in hell. Many are there already, and many more will go there when they die…The Blessed Mother says that those people who are in hell are there because they chose to go there. They wanted to go to hell…We all know that there are persons on this earth who simply don’t admit that God exists, even though He helps them, gives them life and sun and rain and food. He always tries to nudge them onto the path of holiness. They just say they don’t believe, and they deny Him. They deny Him, even when it is time to die. And they continue to deny Him, after they are dead. It is their choice. It is their will that they go to hell. They choose hell.”
How could someone choose hell? All sin is a turning away from God, charting a course away from God. If we do not turn back, chart a new course, then by our own choice we remain fixed on that course away from God at death. The destination of a course away from God is hell. If we turn away from God in sin we have jumped on the highway to hell. Better find an off-ramp and do a U-turn fast because once we die there are no more exits.
There are no exit ramps after death
FOUR
In the approved apparition of Our Lady in San Nicolas, Argentina from 1983-1990
· Mary said, “God's warning is over the world. Those who stay in the Lord have nothing to fear, but those who deny what comes from him do. Two-thirds of the world is lost and the other part must pray and make reparation for the Lord to take pity. The devil wants to have full domination over the earth. He wants to destroy. The earth is in great danger."
Mary is the Spiritual Mother of every person – she is the New Eve, the mother of all the living. That which causes her the most suffering is the eternal loss of even one of her children.
Therefore She turns us, to Her children who are listening, begging us to help her children who are lost to turn back to God before death, before it is too late for them.
FIVE
Now, it won’t work to tell people they are on the Hwy to Hell – I never did like AC/DC
We can help others to God through friendship.
If you make your home a place where you live genuine friendship – then your kids, grandkids and many others will come closer to Jesus.
Be Apostles of Friendship with Jesus and Friendship with others.
Friends spend time together, they share life together, they just do what they normally do and they do it together and while they those things they have good conversations
Now a simple way that I have found to have good conversations is to pray this Rosary Podcast with others and then simply ask: What caught your attention during the meditation?
Or print out the transcript, you read the 1st point and then pray the decade and do that 5 times.
If you have little kids – bring it to their level in your own words.
Make the Rosary meditations conversational and you will grow in friendship with Jesus and Mary and with one another and through friendship we will help others to Jesus.
What prevents you from helping others to Jesus through Friendship? Fear of rejection? You can’t conquer this fear by thinking. You must go through it to overcome it.
Invite others to share life with you in some way.
If the time is right, invite them into your routine of praying the Rosary
Leave them free to respond any way they wish
Keep living genuine friendship with them