Chapter 13. Meditation for Friday Night, on the Pains of Hell

1.—Having made the sign of the cross, with the preparation mentioned in the second chapter, take for the subject of thy meditation the pains of hell, in order by means of this and the last meditation to fortify the soul in the fear of God and detestation of sin.

2.—According to St. Bonaventure, the sufferings of the damned should be viewed as bodily pains, and they have been so described by the saints. For this reason, according to the same Saint, we should imagine the infernal regions situate in a dark and gloomy lake in the bowels of the earth, or as a bottomless pit of fire, or as a city buried in the profoundest obscurity enveloped in lurid flames, whence no sounds issue but the mingled cries and groans of the tormentors and the tormented with never ending wailing and gnashing of teeth.

3.—In this unfortunate place the chief pains suffered by the damned are the pains of the senses and the pain of loss. ~ As regards the first, consider that every one of the senses will be afflicted with its own peculiar torments. For as the wicked have sinned against God with all their members and senses, and have availed themselves of all for the commission of sin, so will he ordain that all shall be there tormented and each shall suffer its peculiar punishment according to its deserts. There the lecherous and carnal eyes shall be tortured with the horrible sight of demons; the ears with confused yells and howlings ringing around them ; the nose with the abominable

• stench of that filthy region; the taste with ravenous hunger and thirst; the feeling and all the members of the body with insufferable heat and cold; the imagination with. the dread of

| | | present suffering; the memory with the recollection of past pleasures; the understanding with the consciousness of happiness lost for ever and of miseries to come.

4.—There in fine will be found combined every conceivablo misery and torment. Because, as St. Gregory observes, there the intensity of cold will be intolerable, the fire will be unquenchable, the worm nevér dying, the smell unbearable, darkness palpable, the blows of the tormentors, the sight of demons, the confusion of sins and universal despair will be there. Tell me now, if the very least of all these evils endured in this world for ever so short a time, would be so dreadful to bear, what must it be to suffer at one and the same time every one of them in every member and in every sense internal and external, and that not for the space of one night only, nor for a thousand, but for an eternity? What human words can describe or intellect of man can appreciate the full meaning of this ?

5.—These however are not the worst of the pains there to be endured, there remains another greater beyond all comparison, called by divines the pain of loss, which means the loss for ever of the vision of God and of the companionship of his glory. And though this pain will be common to all the

• damned, it will fall with greater severity on those who enjoyed in life more opportunities of enjoying those blessings: for example on all Christians, who have had preached to them the tidings of the Gospel, then on all bad members of religious orders and priests, who as they had these blessings nearer within their grasp, will feel the greater anguish at the loss of them.

6.—These are the pains common to all the damned, but in addition to these there will be others specially inflicted on each individual, according to the particular character of his offences. There will be a special punishment for pride, one — for envy, another for avarice, another for luxury, and so on. In all these will most clearly be shewn the wisdom and justice of God, who amidst the infinite number of sins and sinners, oe. will distinguish the crimes of each one, and measure as with scales the penalty for every transgression, as the wise man said, ‘‘ The judgments of the Lord are weight and measure.” Oh what a terrible thing for the wicked to find the Almighty cognizant of every point, and what a subject of delight to the good to see the marvellous accuracy of the proportions of punishment amidst such a multitude of faults! There will sorrow be weighed out exact against the pleasure indulged in, confusior will be proportioned to pride and presumption, nakedness to abundance and excess, hunger and thirst to past revelry and gluttony. In this manner God awarded the chastisement of the harlot mentioned in the Apocalypse, who was seated over the waters of the sea, with a chalice in her hand filled with poisonous pleasures. Against whom he fulminated that sentence from heaven, saying— “Punish her with torments and sufferings proportioned to her pride and sensuality.”

7.—All these evils will last for eternity—this is the key to all and the seal affixed to all; for every finite thing is endurable, and nothing is infinite to which there is an end; but punishment without end, without abatement, without cessation or change, hopeless of termination either of itself, or from Him who inflicts it or him who endures it, is like an eternal banishment, an irrevocable interdict never to be taken off, enough to deprive of reason any one seriously considering it.

8.—Hence arises the raving hatred which the damned entertain against God, and their blasphemous renunciation of him. Because as all hope of his friendship is lost, and they know they can never be restored to his favour, that not an atom of their punishment will be remitted, and because they see in God their scourge, and him who from on high holds them bound prisoners in chains, they lash themselves into such fury against him and never cease by night or day to vomit forth their blasphemies.

9.—At the conclusion of the meditation, make an act of - thanksgiving an oblation and petition as directed in the second chapter.