«Et ibunt hi in supplicium aeternum» — "And these shall go into everlasting punishment" (Matt. 25:46).
Point I
If hell were not eternal, it would not be hell. A pain that does not last long is not a great pain. For one sick man an abscess is lanced, for another a gangrene is cauterized; the pain is great, but because it ends soon, it is not a great torment. But what pain would it be if that cutting or that operation of fire continued for a week, for a whole month? When pain lasts very long, even if it is slight — like a pain in the eyes, a toothache — it becomes unbearable. But why do I say pain? Even a play, a piece of music that lasted too long, even for a whole day, could not be endured for the tedium. And if it lasted a month? A year? What will hell be, where one does not always hear the same play or the same music; where there is not only a pain in the eyes or a toothache; where one feels not only the torment of a cut or of a red-hot iron, but where there are all torments, all pains; and for how long? For all eternity: «Cruciabuntur die ac nocte in saecula saeculorum» — "They shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20:10).
This eternity is a matter of faith; it is not merely some opinion, but a truth attested to us by God in so many Scriptures: «Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum» — "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire" (Matt. 25:41). «Et hi ibunt in supplicium aeternum» — "And these shall go into everlasting punishment" (Ibid. 46). «Poenas dabunt in interitu aeternas» — "They shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction" (2 Thess. 1:9). «Omnis igne salietur» — "Every one shall be salted with fire" (Mark 9:48). Just as salt preserves things, so the fire of hell, at the same time that it torments the damned, performs the office of salt by preserving their life. «Ignis ibi consumit, ut semper reservet» — "The fire there consumes, so as to preserve forever" (says St. Bernard) (Medit. ch. 3).
Now, what madness would it be for someone who, to enjoy a day of pleasure, would condemn himself to remain shut up in a pit for twenty or thirty years? If hell lasted a hundred years — what am I saying, a hundred? — if it lasted no more than two or three years, it would still be a great madness, for a moment of vile pleasure, to condemn oneself to two or three years of fire. But it is not a question of thirty, of a hundred, nor of a thousand, nor of a hundred thousand years; it is a question of eternity, of suffering forever the same torments, which will never end nor be lightened in the least. The saints were right, then, while they were alive — and even when they were in danger of being damned — to weep and tremble. Blessed Isaiah, even while he was in the desert amid fasts and penances, wept, saying: Ah, wretched me, who am not yet free from being damned! «Heu me miserum, quia nondum a gehennae igne sum liber!» — "Alas, wretched me, for I am not yet free from the fire of hell!"
Affections and Prayers
Ah my God, if You had sent me to hell, as I have already deserved so many times, and then by Your mercy had drawn me out of it, how greatly would I have remained obliged to You? And then what a holy life would I have begun to lead? And now that with greater mercy You have preserved me from falling into it, what shall I do? Shall I return to offending You and provoking You to anger, so that You may indeed send me to burn in that prison of Your rebels, where so many already burn for fewer sins than mine? Ah my Redeemer, so I have done in the past; instead of using the time You gave me to weep for my sins, I spent it provoking You still more. I thank Your infinite goodness, which has borne with me so long. If it were not infinite, how could it ever have suffered me? I thank You, then, for having waited for me with such patience until now; and I thank You exceedingly for the light You now give me, with which You make me know my madness and the wrong I have done You in outraging You with so many of my sins. My Jesus, I detest them and repent of them with all my heart; forgive me for the sake of Your Passion; and assist me with Your grace, that I may offend You no more. Justly now must I fear that at another mortal sin You would abandon me. Ah my Lord, I beg You, set this just fear before my eyes when the devil tempts me again to offend You. My God, I love You, and I do not want to lose You any more; help me with Your grace.
Help me, O Mary Most Holy; make me always have recourse to You in my temptations, so that I may no longer lose God. Mary, Mary, You are my hope.
Point II
Whoever once enters hell will never come out of it for all eternity. This thought made David tremble, as he said: «Neque absorbeat me profundum, neque urgeat super me puteus os suum» — "Let not the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me" (Ps. 68:16). Once the damned soul has fallen into that pit of torments, its mouth closes and never opens again. In hell there is a door to enter, but there is no door to leave: «Descensus erit, ascensus non erit» — "There will be a descent, but no ascent" (says Eusebius of Emesa). And thus he explains the words of the Psalmist: «Neque urgeat os suum; quia cum susceperit eos, claudetur sursum, et aperietur deorsum» — "Let it not press its mouth upon me; for when it has received them, it will be shut above and opened beneath." As long as the sinner lives, he can always have hope of a remedy; but once he is seized by death in sin, every hope is finished for him. «Mortuo homine impio, nulla erit ultra spes» — "When the wicked man is dead, there shall be no hope any more" (Prov. 11:7). If only the damned could flatter themselves with some false hope, and thus find some relief for their despair. That poor man covered in sores, confined to a bed, has already been given up by the doctors as beyond cure; yet he flatters himself and consoles himself by saying: Who knows whether later some doctor and some remedy may be found to heal me. That wretch condemned to the galleys for life also consoles himself, saying: Who knows what may happen, and I may free myself from these chains. If only, I say, the damned soul could likewise say: Who knows whether one day I shall leave this prison — and could thus deceive himself at least with this false hope. No: in hell there is no hope, neither true nor false; there is no "who knows." «Statuam contra faciem» — "I will set it before your face" (Ps. 49:21). The wretch will see his condemnation always written before his eyes: that he must remain weeping forever in that pit of pains: «Alii in vitam aeternam, et alii in opprobrium, ut videant semper» — "Some to everlasting life, and others to reproach, that they may see it always" (Dan. 12:2). Hence the damned soul not only suffers what he suffers in every moment, but suffers in every moment the pain of eternity, saying: What I now suffer, I must suffer forever. «Pondus aeternitatis sustinet» — "He bears the weight of eternity," says Tertullian.
Let us therefore pray to the Lord, as St. Augustine used to pray: «Hic ure, hic seca, hic non parcas, ut in aeternum parcas» — "Burn here, cut here, do not spare here, that You may spare me for eternity." The punishments of this life pass away. «Sagittae tuae transeunt, vox tonitrui tui in rota» — "Your arrows pass away; the voice of Your thunder is in the wheel" (Ps. 76:18). But the punishments of the other life never pass. Let us fear these; let us fear that thunder («vox tonitrui tui in rota»), by which is meant the thunder of the eternal condemnation that will issue from the mouth of the Judge at the judgment against the reprobate: «Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum» — "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." And it says «in rota» — "in the wheel"; for the wheel is a figure of eternity, which has no end. «Eduxi gladium meum de vagina sua irrevocabilem» — "I have drawn My sword out of its sheath, never to be returned" (Ezek. 21:5). Great will be the punishment of hell, but what should terrify us most is that it will be an irrevocable punishment.
But how, an unbeliever will say, what justice is this — to punish with an eternal penalty a sin that lasts but a moment? Yet how (I answer) can a sinner have the audacity, for a moment's pleasure, to offend a God of infinite majesty? Even in human judgment (says St. Thomas Aquinas, I-II, q. 87, a. 3) the penalty is not measured by the duration of time but by the gravity of the crime: «Non quia homicidium in momento committitur, momentanea poena punitur» — "Murder is not punished with a momentary penalty just because it is committed in a moment." For a single mortal sin, one hell is little; for an offense against an infinite majesty an infinite punishment is due, says St. Bernardine of Siena: «In omni peccato mortali infinita Deo contumelia irrogatur; infinitae autem iniuriae infinita debetur poena» — "In every mortal sin an infinite outrage is inflicted upon God; and to an infinite injury an infinite penalty is due." But because, says St. Thomas Aquinas, the creature is not capable of an infinite pain in intensity, God justly ordains that his pain be infinite in duration.
Moreover, this punishment must necessarily be eternal, first of all because the damned soul can no longer make satisfaction for his guilt. In this life the penitent sinner can make satisfaction, insofar as the merits of Jesus Christ are applied to him; but from these merits the damned soul is excluded. Hence, since he can no longer appease God, and since his sin is eternal, his punishment too must be eternal. «Non dabit Deo placationem suam, laborabit in aeternum» — "He shall not give God the price of his atonement; he shall labor unto eternity" (Ps. 48:8). Therefore Vincent of Beauvais says (lib. 2, p. 3): «Culpa semper poterit ibi puniri, et nunquam poterit expiari» — "There the guilt can always be punished, but never expiated"; for, as St. Antoninus says, «ibi peccator poenitere non potest» — "there the sinner cannot repent"; and therefore the Lord will remain forever angry with him. «Populus cui iratus est Dominus usque in aeternum» — "The people against whom the Lord is angry forever" (Mal. 1:4). What is more, the damned soul, even if God wished to forgive him, does not wish to be forgiven, because his will is obstinate and confirmed in its hatred of God. Innocent III says: «Non humiliabuntur reprobi, sed malignitas odii in illis excrescet» — "The reprobate will not be humbled, but the malice of hatred will grow in them" (De Contemptu Mundi, bk. 3, ch. 10). And St. Jerome: «Insatiabiles sunt in desiderio peccandi» — "They are insatiable in the desire to sin" (On Prov. 27). Hence the wound of the damned soul is hopeless, since he even refuses to be healed. «Factus est dolor eius perpetuus, et plaga desperabilis renuit curari» — "His sorrow has become perpetual, and his incurable wound refuses to be healed" (Jer. 15:18).
Affections and Prayers
So then, my Redeemer, if at this hour I were damned, as I have deserved, would I be obstinate in hatred against You, my God, who died for me? O God, and what hell would this be — to hate You, who have loved me so much, and who are an infinite beauty, an infinite goodness, worthy of infinite love! So then, if I were now in hell, would I be in so wretched a state that I would not even want the forgiveness You now offer me? My Jesus, I thank You for the pity You have shown me; and since I can now be forgiven and can love You, I wish to be forgiven and I wish to love You. You offer me forgiveness, and I ask it of You, and I hope for it through Your merits. I repent of all the offenses I have committed against You, O infinite goodness; and You — forgive me. I love You with all my soul. Ah, Lord, what evil have You done me, that I should have to hate You as my enemy forever? And what friend have I ever had who did and suffered for me what You have done and suffered, O my Jesus? Ah, do not permit me ever to fall again into Your disfavor and lose Your love; let me die first, rather than have this utter ruin befall me.
O Mary, enclose me beneath Your mantle, and do not permit me ever to come out from under it to rebel against God and against You.
Point III
Death in this life is the thing most feared by sinners, but in hell it will be the most desired. «Quaerent mortem, et non invenient; et desiderabunt mori, et mors fugiet ab eis» — "They shall seek death and shall not find it; and they shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them" (Rev. 9:6). Hence St. Jerome wrote: «O mors quam dulcis esses, quibus tam amara fuisti!» — "O death, how sweet would you be to those to whom you were so bitter!" (in St. Bonaventure, Soliloquy). David says that death will feed on the damned: «Mors depascet eos» — "Death shall feed upon them" (Ps. 48:15). St. Bernard explains that just as the sheep, grazing on the grass, feeds on the leaves but leaves the roots, so death feeds on the damned: it kills them every moment, but leaves them their life in order to go on killing them with torment for all eternity: «Sicut animalia depascunt herbas, sed remanent radices; sic miseri in inferno corrodentur a morte, sed iterum reservabuntur ad poenas» — "As animals feed on the grass while the roots remain, so the wretched in hell will be devoured by death, yet will be kept alive again for further punishments." Thus St. Gregory says that the damned soul dies every moment without ever dying: «Flammis ultricibus traditus semper morietur» — "Delivered over to the avenging flames, he will die forever" (Moralia, ch. 12). If a man dies slain by grief, everyone pities him; if only the damned soul had someone to pity him. No — the wretch dies of grief every moment, but he has no one, and never will have anyone, to pity him. The emperor Zeno, shut up in a tomb, cried out: "Open it for me, for pity's sake!" He was heard by no one, and so he was found dead in despair, for he had eaten the very flesh of his own arms. The reprobate cry out from the pit of hell, says St. Cyril of Alexandria, but no one comes to pull them out, and no one has compassion on them: «Lamentantur, et nullus eripit; plangunt et nemo compatitur» — "They lament, and no one delivers them; they wail, and no one pities them."
And how long will this misery of theirs last? Forever, forever. It is related in the Spiritual Exercises of Father Paul Segneri the Younger (recorded by Muratori) that in Rome, when the devil dwelling in the body of a possessed man was asked how long he was to remain in hell, he answered in a rage, striking his hand upon a chair: "Forever, forever!" The terror was so great that many young men of the Roman Seminary who were present there made a general confession and changed their lives at this great sermon of two words: "Forever, forever!" Poor Judas! Seventeen hundred years have already passed while he has been in hell, and his hell is still at its beginning. Poor Cain! He has been in the fire for five thousand seven hundred years, and his hell is at its beginning. Another devil was asked how long ago he had gone to hell, and he answered: "Yesterday." "How, yesterday?" he was asked, "when you have been damned for five thousand years and more?" He answered again: "Oh, if only you knew what eternity means, you would well understand that five thousand years are not even a moment in comparison." If an angel were to say to a damned soul, "You will come out of hell, but only when as many centuries have passed as there are drops of water, leaves on the trees, and grains of sand in the sea," the damned soul would rejoice more than a beggar receiving the news that he had been made a king. Yes, for all those centuries will pass, they will be multiplied an infinite number of times, and hell will always be at its beginning. Every damned soul would make this pact with God: "Lord, increase my punishment as much as You wish; make it last as long as You please; only set an end to it, and I am content." But no — that end will never come. The trumpet of divine justice will sound nothing else in hell but "forever, forever; never, never."
The damned will ask the devils: "How stands the night?" «Custos, quid de nocte?» — "Watchman, what of the night?" (Isa. 21:11). When does it end? When will this darkness end, these cries, this stench, these flames, these torments? And the answer given them is: "Never, never!" And how long will they last? "Forever, forever!" Ah, Lord, give light to so many blind men who, when begged not to damn themselves, answer: "After all, if I go to hell — patience!" O God, they have no patience to feel a little cold, to stay in a room that is too warm, to suffer a single blow — and then they would have patience to remain in a sea of fire, trampled by devils, abandoned by God and by everyone for all eternity!
Affections and Prayers
Ah, Father of mercies, You do not abandon those who seek You. «Non dereliquisti quaerentes te, Domine» — "You have not forsaken those who seek You, O Lord" (Ps. 9:11). In the past I turned my back on You so many times, and You did not abandon me: do not abandon me now that I seek You. I repent, O supreme Good, of having held Your grace in so little account that I exchanged it for nothing. Look upon the wounds of Your Son; hear His cries, which plead with You to forgive me, and forgive me. And You, my Redeemer, always remind me of the pains You suffered for me, of the love You bore me, and of my ingratitude, by which I so often deserved hell — so that I may ever weep over the wrong I have done You, and live ever burning with Your love. Ah, my Jesus, how can I not burn with Your love, when I think that for so many years I should have been burning in hell, and would have gone on burning for all eternity, and that You died to free me from it, and with such pity have freed me? If I were in hell, I would now hate You, and I would have to hate You forever; but now I love You, and I wish to love You forever. So I hope, through Your blood. You love me, and I too love You. You will love me always, if I do not leave You. Ah, my Savior, save me from this misfortune — that I should ever leave You — and then do with me whatever You will. I deserve every punishment, and I accept it, provided that You free me from the punishment of being deprived of Your love.
O Mary, my refuge, how many times have I myself condemned myself to hell, and You have delivered me from it? Ah, deliver me now from sin, which alone can deprive me of the grace of God and carry me to hell.