Hell and Hope

One

Hope is the virtue whereby the individual strives for Heaven as something which is possible, but not guaranteed. So hope involves three things: First, an active pursuit of God and Heaven. Second, a realization that the attainment of Heaven is possible, (after all, if it wasn’t possible to get to Heaven, why would anyone even try to get there?). Third, a realization that failing to attain Heaven is also possible, (after all, if getting to Heaven was guaranteed, why would you have to try to get there?).  

So a vigorous hope implies an awareness that hell is a live option. But many people think it’s not a good idea to bring up the idea hell. Why do you think people don’t want to think about Hell?

There are probably four primary reasons why people don’t want to talk about hell. First, maybe people think no one but Hitler goes to Hell so why worry about it. Second, they think, “How could a good God keep anyone out of heaven?” Thirdly, they think, “How could a good God design an eternal torture chamber and actually put people there to suffer in agony forever?” Finaly, they think, “Even if there were a hell, how could thinking about it make us better Christians? After all, the Christian life is about love, especially love of God, and it doesn’t work to say, “Love me, or I’ll punish you horribly!”

These are very reasonable concerns. Let’s address them, one by one.

Two

People may think, no one really goes to Hell, so why think about it?

In her memoires Lucia relates the First Part of the Secret of Fatima, “Our Lady opened her hands once more…The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the fire…amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear…The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals...Terrified and as if to plead for help, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly: ‘You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go.”

The first part of the Secret of Fatima confirmed the tragic reality that souls go to Hell as a consequence of their own free choice to reject God and his mercy God through unrepentant sin. 

One month later, on August 19, 1917 Mary said to the children, “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.”

Mary requested that this prayer be said after each decade of the Rosary, “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are in most need of Thy Mercy.”

Our Lady wants us to know that people, loved ones, friends - may go to hell, we may go to hell - if we are not actively striving for union with Jesus and Heaven – and that is the sin of despair. 

Three

How could a good God keep anyone out of Heaven? 

He doesn’t! God sends no one to Hell. If you desire God and Heaven then that is what He will give you. But some people do not desire God. Some people don’t want to spend time with God in prayer or Mass or they don’t want to encounter God in their duties or in the poor. They just don’t like it.

Sin is to turn away from God. When we make turning away from God into a habit, it results in an aversion for God, a real dislike for Him.

Every time they are forced to think about God they don’t like it and don’t want to and they find all kinds of ways to avoid Him because they don’t want Him.

Well, if that becomes a habit, second nature, if it becomes who we are, then when we die and see God, they won’t want Him then just like they don’t want Him now. This is why sin leads people to pray less, go to Mass less, take care of the poor and defenseless less. 

On the flip side, the more we spend time with God the more we like Him, and we make it our nature to like Him, to desire Him, to choose Him. When we die God will give us what we always wanted – Him!

Four

The Pains of Hell

Everybody knows Scripture talks about the “fires” of Hell, and that the children of Fatima saw the “flames” of Hell.

But we know that these fires and flames don’t primarily signify physical pain for the simple reason that fallen angels (demons) and human souls in hell have no physical bodies. And it’s not clear how you could set an angel or a soul on fire any more than you could set a thought or a feeling on fire. How do you set an immaterial thing on fire?

But then, why the familiar imagery of fire?

Well, we all use metaphorical torture language to describe deep emotional, psychological suffering. We might say, “It’s killing me! It’s eating me alive! It’s tearing me apart!”

Now imagine the psychological pain that comes from knowing you’ve ruined everything, that you can never even hope to be happy again, that you’ll never rejoice with another soul, you’ll never love, you’ll never even want to love again.

To capture that kind of pain, you might say something like, “It’s like I’m on fire, it’s like a hideous burning that never stops.”

The point is that Hell isn’t a place where God tortures us. It’s a place where we torture ourselves, where we continuously and eternally resolve never to be happy. It’s awful to think about. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we can think of times we’ve done that before, where we’ve thrown a fit and hurt a relationship and made ourselves miserable out of our own pride and self-will.

Now is our time to curb that impulse. Now is the time to stop ourselves from becoming frightful and permanent monsters of selfishness.

Five

Why it’s so important not to forget Hell

So hell isn’t God kicking us out of heaven. It’s us choosing to live without love. And Hell isn’t God torturing us, it’s us making ourselves miserable. So why even think about it?

The point of talking about hell is not to motivate us to love out of a fear of external punishment, or external suffering. The point of a meditation on Hell is to remind us of the horrific results of selfishness, results that are capable of becoming permanent. That kind of reminder does motivate love. Every so often, it’s good to remember, “If I don’t keep fighting my sins, my vices, my selfishness; if I let them get the best of me, they’ll ruin my life. They’ll ruin me. They’ll turn me into an abomination.” 

Then you think, “I don’t want that.” 

And then you pray, “Dear God, please save me from myself. Dear God, please help me to love better. Please make me into the sort of person who, when this life ends, chooses happiness with you and with everyone else.”

That’s how, surprisingly, meditating on Hell, at least occasionally, can strengthen our resolve to hope.