WHY MENTION HELL? Because our Lady of Fatima herself made special mention of it

"You have seen hell, where the souls of sinners go. It is to save them that God wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart." Our Lady during the Fatima apparitions

THE DOGMA OF HELL, SO OFTEN DISPUTED, AND SO OFTEN IGNORED IN THE TEACHING OF CATECHETICS, WHICH CAN ONLY BRING ABOUT AN INCOMPLETE SPIRITUALITY, TO THE GREAT DETRIMENT OF SOULS AND EVEN WITH DANGER TO THEIR SALVATION, IS BROUGHT OUT WITH A CLARITY THAT ADMITS OF NO DOUBT.

HELL WARNING (The following compiled from MY CATHOLIC FAITH).

WHO ARE PUNISHED IN HELL?

Those are punished in hell who die in mortal sin; they are deprived of hte vision of God and suffer dreadful torments, especially that of fire, for all eternity.

1. Christ Himself, in fifteen places in Holy Scripture, refers to the punishment of hell, the horrible deeds abode of the wicked.

2. All who die in mortal sin, even with only a single unrepented and unforgiven mortal sin, are sent to hell.

God is continually calling sinners to repentance. He instituted a Church to teach them the way to heaven. He instituted the sacrament of penance to cleanse from all sin the sinner. He stands as the loving Father, awaiting with anxiety the return of the prodigal.

3. God does not wish to send anyone to hell. His only desire would be to have all His children with Him in the bliss of heaven. The sinner forces God to punish him in hell, by defying Him and refusing to recognize His authority. When a vile creature defies his infinite Creator, no punishment is too great.

Not one single sinner is sent to hell except by his own fault. No one is sent to hell unless he has wilfully, deliberately and knowingly refused to obey the commands of God.

WHAT PAINS will the condemned suffer in hell?

The condemned in hell will suffer the pain of loss and the pain of sense.

But no one can ever describe or understand adequately the torments of hell, just as no one can realize the bliss of heaven.

1. THE PAIN OF LOSS. The wicked in hell know what they rejected and lost: God. This pain will be the greatest torment of hell, for the human soul is made for God.

(a) They feel despair, remorse, envy, and hopelessness, because they know that they can never obtain the one thing needed for happiness: they can never see God.

(b) Instead of God and the angels and saints, the sinners in hell have devils and loathsome criminals for eternal companions. Hell contains nothing good. St. Paul truly says: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).

There is no love in hell. The damned hate God, hate each other, and hate themselves.

2. THE PAIN OF SENSE. The wicked will suffer from fire and the torments inflicted on all the senses, the sight, the hearing, the smell, the taste, the touch. After the resurrection, the bodies of the damned will suffer with their souls. In this life sinners sin by their senses. In the same way they will be punished in hell. "By what things a man sinneth, by the same he also is tormented."

3. The punishment in hell is not the same for all. Each sinner will be punished according to the measure of his offenses.

So if thy right eye is an occasion of sin to thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish than that thy whole body should be thrown into hell. And if thy right hand is an occasion of sin to thee, cut if off and cast it from thee; for it is better for thee that one of thy members should be lost than that thy whole body should go into hell. (Matt 5:29-30)

4. The pains of hell will last for all eternity. If the punishment of hell were temporary, many sinners might prefer to gratify their passions on earth, no matter at what cost and penalty in hell, if it were to have an end.

IS IT NOT AGAINST GOD'S MERCY to punish the sinner.

1. The sinner is a traitor to God who created him.

God created this world and all creatures. He owns them. They must therefore be absolutely obedient to His will. If a creature revolts and defies God, then he must be treated as an enemy.

2. It is the opinion of Doctors of the Church that no one in hell is punished as much as he deserves. God sent us His own beloved Son, to suffer incredible agonies and death, so that we may be saved from eternal damnation. Can such a God be anything but merciful?

3. We should have no fear of hell if we do our duty. God will not send us to hell, unless we force him.

"I SAY TO ALL, "WATCH'"

MERCY AND JUSTICE

Take Heed, Therefore

"But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be overburdened with self-indulgence and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly as a snare. For come it will upon all who dwell on the face of all the earth.

Watch and Pray

" Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord is to come. But of this be assured, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would certainly have watched, and hot have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, because at an hour that you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

"WATCH, THEN, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to be, and to stand before the Son of Man: just as a man, when he leaves home to journey abroad, puts his servants in charge, to each his work, and gives orders to the porter to keep watch. Watch, therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or early in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all, 'Watch."

"I WILL FORGIVE A MILLION, MILLION TIMES, IF NECESSARY"

Necessity of Preparedness

"Who, dost thou think, is the faithful and prudent servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food in due time? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, shall find so doing. Amen I say to you, he will set him over all his goods.

GENUINE BELIEF IN HELL

"But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master delays his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect, and in an hour he does not know, and will cut him asunder and make him share the lot of the hypocrites. There will be the weeping, and the gnashing of teeth.

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather be afraid of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt 10:28)

And thou, Capharnaum, shalt thou be exalted to heaven? Thou shalt be thrust down to hell! For if the miracles had been worked in thee, it would have remained to this day. (Matt. 11:23)

Then he will say to those on his left hand, 'Depart from me, accused ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels!...And these will go into everlasting punishment, but the just into everlasting life. (Matt. 25:41 & 46)

* A decree issued by the Holy See in 1890 forbids priests to give sacramental absolution to those who deny the reality of the fire of hell.

The view that time would bring a mitigation of the pains of hell was condemned by the Congregation of the Holy Office in 1893.

For if we sin willfully *after receiving the knowledge of truth, there remains no longer a sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgement, and "the fury of a fire which will consume..." (Heb 10:26)




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