On hell as a revelation of love
The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost
It’s a hot summer morning in Missouri, so by I thought we might discuss hell.
The priest who mentored me when I lived in Connecticut once preached a homily on this topic and, as he greeted the faithful after Church, a woman said to him, “Thank you, Father, I didn’t know what hell was until I heard your preaching.”
I realize that us Catholics are allegedly obsessed with guilt and hellfire and brimstone but I don’t hear a whole lot of homilies on the topic. Our Lord speaks of hell somewhat regularly, and meditating on the Four Last Things is beneficial for us not because we’re obsessed with eternal punishment but because Catholicism is an optimistic, joyful reconciliation with God. Essentially, we keep death in mind because doing so is a necessary component to living a good life. And we think about hell specifically because doing so creates gratitude and forward-thinking persistence in our journey to Heaven.
The word gehenna, which Our Lord uses, refers to a trash pit outside of Jerusalem where garbage was taken to be burned. It was used as a synonym for hell along with the Greek word hades. There’s a subtle background to those three words, but they’re basically interchangeable in the New Testament. Our Lord makes clear that, whatever we call it, this is a place to be avoided at all costs.
Often, we aren’t prepared to pay that cost. We compromise with our sins and even consider them a part of who we are (Yes, I’m blunt to the point of rudeness, but I just tell it like it is! It’s actually honesty, you see, that made me tell you that everything about you is wrong. Sure, I lost my temper and said some horrible things, but that’s just who I am...) To eliminate vice feels like losing a part of ourselves, a fact Our Lord acknowledges when he teaches that if we need to chop off a hand to avoid hell, then chop off the hand. If the images on the phone cause you to sin, get rid of your phone. If alcohol is the near occasion for other sins, stop drinking alcohol. And so on.
Hell exists. Although we don’t know who ends up there and we take no delight in it, there are souls there right now. Those souls will never leave. This is the perennial teaching of the Church.
It sounds harsh. As Christians we face pressure to deny or downplay the reality of it, to stop judging, to be nicer, or at the very least lie to people and tell them their lifestyle is not a problem. Here’s the Church’s rejoinder;
Believing in hell is nice.
Hell exists because God respects us, because he honors human freedom and the dignity of free choice. People who are in hell have chosen to be there. God doesn’t want them there. We don’t want them there. These souls desire an existence without God. He respects their choice and gives them what they want. If, in order to chase a false type of mercy, we eliminated the doctrine of hell, that would only mean that our decisions ultimately mean nothing. The value of the human soul would mean nothing.
So, if hell exists, should we be afraid of ending up there? Yes and no. Yes of course, we cannot take anything for granted, or think that just because we call ourselves Christian that we cannot fall into mortal sin. But be assured that no one who desires to remain in the hands of God will slip away. If you accept his grace, follow the precepts of the Church, and make use of the sacrament of confession, nothing will tear you from him. No effort of Satan can pry you out of the Church. We each have a guardian angel and saints praying for us. We have the sacramental graces of the Church to strengthen us. A relationship with Christ is not based on fear and what we want to avoid but, rather, from a positive desire to be near him. As the Mass Oration indicates, we’re seeking an appropriation of love that satisfies the deepest desires of the heart.
We may worry that our motives are not yet entirely pure, or that we do still slip up and sin. For those who are in the Church but not yet completely purified, God has granted a mercy that we call Purgatory. Purgatory is a process of refinement and purification, a loosening of the chains that hold us back. In Purgatory, we climb a great mountain, ascend the path to Heaven, and accept the struggle of transformation. We here on earth pray for the souls in Purgatory to assist them on the journey, and when they arrive safely at the side of Christ, they in turn will pray for us.
Do you see the difference between hell and Purgatory? Hell is isolation. The souls there selfishly follow their own stubborn path as they desperately try to create their own definition and meaning. Their efforts are like castles in the sand and as they struggle their efforts lose coherence – the castle won’t last. The souls in Purgatory, on the other hand, are knit together in a mutual creative effort. They have what Dante calls an “intelligence of love,” and are suffering not because of rebellion but out of love as they are lifted beyond isolation into the great communion of saints.
Dante begins his story wandering alone in a dark wood, very much on the wrong path, and he ends it in the Heavenly realm. No matter the starting place, if you’re here today and worry that you aren’t praying enough, or holy enough, or that you have accidentally led others into sin through bad example or gossip, or Our Lord’s words about anger in the Gospel are convicting you, if you feel very far from God, or like you’re just a beginner who doesn’t understand Catholicism yet, or your imperfections are overwhelming…remember it doesn’t matter so much where we start from, it matters where we end up. Ruthlessly cut out the sin in your life that’s holding you back. Keep Our Lord in your heart and you have everything you need, the entire communion of love.
I want to be clear that what I just said isn’t some bland, self-help speech. I’m not just telling you to try harder. I am telling you that (I’m telling me that), but note carefully that our spiritual efforts are not limited to our starting point. We have the end point already within us. Grace is already in us. The Spirit is already active. Our hearts are already on fire. We begin with the end. So know who you are. You are a child of God created in his identity. Your proper home is Heaven and his presence is even know unveiling within you, timeless and wide.
Chesterton reminds us, “the way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.” Friends, we do not deserve Heaven. Don’t take it for granted. And yet Christ wins it for us. Love is the turning point.