St. Alphonsus de Liguori Preparation for Death · Consideration XXVI, First and Third Points, pp. 314, 323 · selected passages
Alphonsus asks us to consider what mortal sin places in danger: the everlasting possession of God. To die in mortal sin without repentance is to lose Him for ever. Do not presume that you can sin now and repent later. God offers mercy now so that you may leave sin and return to Him.
In committing sin, the sinner does two evils. He abandons God, the sovereign good, and turns to creatures. “For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns—broken cisterns—that can hold no water”—Jer., ii. 13. Since, then, by turning to creatures the sinner offends God, he shall be justly tortured in Hell by the same creatures, by fire, and by devils: in this punishment consists the pain of sense. But, because his greatest guilt and the malice of his sin consist in turning his back on God, his principal torment, his Hell, shall be the pain of loss, or the pain arising from having lost God.
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But all these torments are nothing, compared with the pain of loss. Hell does not consist in the darkness, stench, shrieks and fire; the pain which constitutes Hell, is the pain of having lost God. “Let torments,” says St. Bruno, “be added to torments, and let them not be deprived of God”—Serm. de Jud. Fin. And St. John Chrysostom says that a thousand hells are not equal to this pain. “Si mille dixeris gehennas, nihil par dices illius doloris”—Hom. xlix. ad Pop. According to St. Augustine, if the damned enjoyed the vision of God, “they should feel no pain, and Hell should be converted into a Paradise”—Tom. ix. de Trip. Hab. To conceive some notion of this pain, consider that, should a person lose a jewel worth a hundred crowns, the loss would occasion great pain; but, were the jewel worth two hundred crowns, his pain is doubled; and if it were worth four hundred crowns, the pain is still greater. In a word, the pain which he suffers increases in proportion to the value of what he has lost. What has a damned soul lost? She has lost God, who is an infinite good. Hence St. Thomas says that her pain is, in a certain manner, infinite. “Poena damnati est infinita, quia est amissio boni infiniti”—1, 2, qu. 87, art. 4.
Return to God, the supreme good
Ah my God! you then are my supreme and infinite good; and I have so often voluntarily lost you! I knew that in committing sin I gave you great displeasure, and that I lost your grace; and with this knowledge, I have consented to sin! Ah! if I did not see you, O Son of God, nailed to the cross in order to die for me, I should not have courage to ask or hope for pardon from you. Eternal Father, look not on me, but behold your beloved Son, who asks mercy for me; hear him, and pardon me. I ought at this moment to be in Hell, without any hope of being ever more able to love you, or to recover your lost grace. My God, I am sorry above all things for the injury I have done you in renouncing your friendship and despising your love for the miserable pleasures of this world. Oh! that I had died a thousand times, rather than have offered you so great an insult! How could I have been so blind and foolish! I thank you, O my Lord, for giving me time to repair the evil I have done. Since, through your mercy, I am not in Hell, and can love you, O my God, I wish to love you. I will wait no longer to convert myself entirely to you. I love you, O infinite goodness. I love you, my life, my treasure, my love, my all. Remind me always, O Lord, of the love which you have borne to me, and of the Hell which I have deserved, that this thought may continually excite me to make acts of love, and to say always, I love you, I love you, I love you. O Mary, my queen, my hope, and my mother, if I were in Hell, I could never more love you. I love you, O my mother, and in you, after Jesus, I trust that I shall never again cease to love my God and you. Assist me; pray to Jesus for me.
O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Do not presume that you can sin now and repent later. Make an act of contrition, abandon the sin and its avoidable near occasions, and seek sacramental Confession as soon as possible. Ask Christ for the grace to persevere; ask Our Lady to intercede for you.
Dublin: James Duffy, 1843. Translated by A Catholic Clergyman (as credited on the title page). Selected historical passages, not a complete chapter. Wording and spelling follow the 1843 printing; line breaks, quotation marks, spacing, and typographic ligatures are normalized. Ellipses mark omitted material. Scripture references and secondary attributions are retained as printed; the latter are Alphonsus’s attributions. The short reading title and introduction are editorial. Alphonsus’s comparison emphasizes the chief punishment of Hell; it does not deny the other punishments he describes.