Hell is Mercy - Part 3

Hell is Mercy – Part 3

In a previous post, we discussed how hell is not a punishment, but is a "place" for fallen souls and fallen angels when they reject grace and communion with God.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2002 God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created and loves him. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy.

1033  …To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self- exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."

Even though people freely choose to separate themselves from God, eternal separation from Him is a great torment.  

Matthew 22:13

Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'

In this post I’ll discuss why separation from God causes torment. I’ll also discuss the transformative nature of Hell – the only "place" in any dimension where the grace of God is not felt.

Sometimes I hear people speculate about the souls in hell. They wonder what happens if someone in hell repents. What if, once they are in hell, they decide they want to be in Heaven? In this post I hope to explain why once a person is in hell, they don’t desire to be in Heaven.

Grace (which we’ll talk more about below) is required to achieve a level of conduct that is pleasing to God because man is fallen. Man’s fallen nature is a consequence of original sin.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

404 How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man". By this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act.

It is through grace that we can arise above our fallen nature. Man chooses to go to hell when he refuses the grace of God. Grace is an unmerited gift from God and it is the instrument through which He influences us.

Everyone receives sufficient grace. Grace is always being showered upon us. Unfortunately we mostly ignore it and it as a consequence it then has little effect.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

682 When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works, and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.

1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.

We have established that grace is not felt in hell. Therefore there is no instrumentality to encourage remorse or even hope. In hell, the fallen nature of a soul is intensified. Without grace there can be no repentance. Without grace, the discernment of good and evil is blurred.

Perhaps we can get a bit of a glimpse of the mindset of the souls in hell from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.

Luke 16: 22-24

The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.'

Although, one parable is not proof of my contention in itself, we do see that the rich man only wants relief and not redemption. Even though he was separated from God, he showed no remorse or change of heart. His focus was still on himself (and his own family). He still felt the same sense of entitlement that he felt while he was still alive. He still felt that Lazarus’ purpose was only to serve him.

Hell intensifies the base nature of man. Without grace there is no desire to experience good. In fact, they neither understand or even care about good or evil, particularly since they were likely not well-formed in discernment while they were alive.

A case can certainly be made that hell is the opposite of Heaven. However, an even better case can be made that hell is the opposite of Purgatory.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.

1054 Those who die in God's grace and friendship imperfectly purified, although they are assured of their eternal salvation, undergo a purification after death, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God.

Grace exists in Purgatory. It is the instrumentality of the purification of the elect.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

Just as the absence of grace has a negative transformative effect on souls in hell, the presence of grace has a positive transformative effect on souls in Purgatory.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love.

2003 Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us.

Hell is mercy because it involves God granting man the ability to exercise his free will. Purgatory is a great blessing, because everyone in Purgatory knows that once they are purified, they will be in eternal communion with God.

Conclusion

Hell is mercy

Purgatory is a great blessing.