161. Hell

Hell

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 161

Ave Maria series

161  What is hell?

Hell is the condition of everlasting separation from God, the absolute absence of love.  [1033-1037]

Jesus’ parable of the Rich man and Lazarus: --depicting the rich man in hell asking Abraham for help.  Abraham and Lazarus are in heaven.  Painting by artist James Tissot. …..161

Someone who consciously and with full consent dies in serious sin, without repenting, and refuses God’s merciful, forgiving love forever, excludes himself from communion with God and the saints.  We do not know whether anyone at the moment of death can look absolute Love in the face and still say No.  But our freedom makes that decision possible.  Jesus warns us again and again not to separate ourselves definitively from him by shutting our hearts against the need of his brothers and sisters:  “Depart from me, you cursed…As you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me” (Matthew 25:41, 45).  53

“And if you hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.”  Matthew 9:43

[1033-1037]

HELL

1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."( 1 John 3:14-15)⁶¹²  Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.( compare Matthew 25:31-46)⁶¹³  To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell." —Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. ( compare Matthew 5:22,29; Mt 10:28; Mt 13:42,50; Mark 9:43-48)⁶¹⁴  Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,"( Matthew 13:41-42)⁶¹⁵ and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"( Matthew 25:41)⁶¹⁶ –CCC

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."( compare Denzinger-Schönmetzer 76; 409; 411; 801; 858; 1002; 1351; 1575; Paul VI, Credo of the People of God § 12)⁶¹⁷  The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.—CCC

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."( Matthew 7:13-14.)⁶¹⁸ –CCC

Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."( Lumen Gentium 48 § 3; Matthew 22:13; compare Hebrews 9:27; Matthew 25:13,26,30,31-46.)⁶¹⁹ –CCC

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell;( Compare Council of Orange II (529):Denzinger-Schonmetzer 397; Council of Trent (1547):1567.)⁶²⁰ for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance"(2 Peter 3:9.)⁶²¹ –CCC

Father, accept this offering
from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen.( Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 88)⁶²² –CCC

JT  Parable of