Those in Hell turned away from God

one

We continue to reflect on the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

In Matthew 5: 29 Jesus says: If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell.

Here, Jesus affirms the reality of hell and the possibility of going there by ones own free choice. And if there are things that cause us to sin, we need to remove them from our life.

two

God sends no one to hell. Those in Hell turned away from God by their own free choice and persisted in that choice until the end.

Sin is to turn away from God. When we make sin a habit, it results in an aversion for God and the things of God.  If we have an aversion to God, then we won’t desire God or choose Him. We won’t want to spend time in prayer, or go to Mass or Confession, or learn our faith or live according to the moral teachings of Jesus. Sin and the habit of sin, turn people away from God. This is why sin leads people to pray less, go to Mass less, take care of the poor and defenseless less. Why? Because when we make a habit of turning away from God in sin, it creates an aversion to God and all the things of God.

This is so dangerous because if we live and die with an aversion to God then we will reject Him when we see him after death. I mean, hey, if you had an aversion to prayer and doing God’s will on earth and that becomes second nature to you – that won’t change at death. If you don’t choose Heaven now then you won’t choose heaven then.

three

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. 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.”

four

Jesus said we need to cut off two things, an eye and a hand.

What two things do we need to cut off? Let me suggest two: 

First, complaining will kill us so we have to cut it off.

The most effective way is to replace it with gratitude.

I know you won’t feel like it at first. But you are not controlled by feelings. You control them. Make the choice to just start thanking God for all the good around you. It is endless.

If you constantly thank God for everything you will transform your feelings and you won’t even feel like complaining any longer.

Won’t that be great!

five

The second thing we need to cut off or at least cut back is screen time.

Our mind was meant to be nourished by truth and the emotions by beauty. Most of the time we are garbo dining with what you are feeding ourselves on our screens and that is why you are not satisfied and restless.

Feed your mind the truth and the feelings the beauty they need.

Choose a good book, keep it with you all the time, like you do your phone, and when you are tempted to pick up the phone, instead pick up the book and read and think and ponder the beauty.