Hell

Heaven, Hell and Purgatory have a kind of prelude in this life. Purgatory is in the souls who are not dead to self ; Hell, in the hearts of the impious ; Heaven, in the souls of the perfect which are united to our Lord.

The world conceals from us Heaven and Hell : Heaven, because if its beauty were known, one would seek to go there at any price, the world would be little regarded ; Hell, because if its torments were known, one would wish to avoid them at any cost.

It really seems as if poor sinners do not wish to wait for the sentence which condemns them to the society of demons ; they condemn themselves thereto.

Some lose faith, and see Hell only on entering it.

If a soul in Hell could even but once say, “ My God, I love Thee ! ” there would no longer be any Hell for it. . . . But, alas ! this poor soul ! it has lost that power of loving which God gave it, but which it did not know how to use. Its heart is dry like the grape that has been through the wine-press. There is no more happiness in this soul, no more peace, because there is no more love ! . . .

God's goodness and beauty enkindle the flames of Hell. The damned will say, “ Oh, if God had not loved us so much, our sufferings would be less, Hell would be supportable ! But to have been so loved by Him ! What anguish it gives us now !

What good use would not lost souls make of the time that we lose ! Had they but half an hour, that half-hour were sufficient to empty Hell !

If some one could say to the damned, “ We are going to place a priest at the gates of Hell, and all who wish to confess have but to go thither,” do you believe that even one soul would hesitate to profit by the opportunity ? Oh, how quickly Hell would be emptied and Heaven filled !

Well, now, let us remember that we have the time and means that these poor reprobates have not.

For what do men expose themselves to God’s curse ? ... For a blasphemy, a bad thought, for two minutes of pleasure ! Oh, for two minutes of pleasure to lose God, one’s soul and Heaven forever ! . . .

If you should see a man heaping up faggots to build a pyre and upon asking him what he was doing, he should answer : “I am preparing the fire that is to consume me, ” what would you think ? And if, when the flames were enkindled, this man should cast himself into them, what would you say ? This is what we do when we commit sin.

It is not God who casts us into Hell ; no, it is we who cast ourselves therein by our sins. The damned will say, “ I have lost God, my soul, Heaven, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault ! ” They continually rise up from the furnace, but to fall back therein. They will always feel the irresistible impulse to rise, because created for God, the grandest, the highest of beings, the Most High . . . even as a bird in a room ever seeks the ceiling, but to find the ceiling an impassable barrier . . . God’s justice is the ceiling that opposes the damned.