CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:

• Penance (Continued)
• Extreme Unction
• Order (Holy Orders)
• Matrimony
• The General Resurrection
• The Last Things
  • 87. Knowledge in Risen Man
  • 88. Time and Place of the General Judgment
  • 89. Persons to be Present at the Last Judgment
  • 90. Christ, the Judge
  • 92. Heaven: The Beatific Vision
  • 93. The Happiness of Heaven: Mansions
  • 94. The Saved and the Damned
  • 95. The Endowments of the Blessed
  • 96. Special Heavenly Rewards
  • 97. The Punishment of the Damned
  • 98. The Will and the Intellect of the Damned
  • 99. God's Mercy and Justice Towards the Damned
• Appendix I (The Innocents in Limbo)
• Appendix II (Two Notes on Purgatory)

97. The Punishment of the Damned

1. Those who undergo the punishment of hell are tormentedby fire and also by other afflicting agencies. As the personcondemned to hell has, in earthly life, put various material thingsin the place of God, he is justly punished by a variety ofafflictions.

2. "The worm that dieth not" will afflict thecondemned soul in hell. This means that remorse of conscience (butnot repentance), will incessantly trouble that soul.

3. The "weeping" that will be in hell after thebodily resurrection will not be the shedding of tears (for therewill be no bodily alteration in hell), but will be a steadyaffliction of the head and the eyes.

4. The darkness of hell is a true and material darkness.After the resurrection of bodies, this darkness will afflict thebodily vision of the damned. The fire of hell, as St. Basil says,will have heat but not light for those punished by it.

5. The fire of hell is a bodily fire which now afflictsand detains lost souls; after the resurrection it will torture thebodies of the damned in hell.

6. It seems that the fire of hell is essentially the sameas the fire we know on earth, although it doubtlessly has differentproperties, since it needs no fuel and does not consume what iscast into it.

7. No one can say for certain where hell is located. It seems,however, to be suggested by some passages in scripture that hell is"under the earth," that is, that it is located somewherein the interior of the earth, under the earth's surface.

"Lord, take from me everything that hinders me from going to You. give me all that will lead me to You. Take me from myself and give me to Yourself."
St Nicholas Flue

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"God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray."
St Augustine

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"It is better to be burdened and in company with the strong than to be unburdened and with the weak. When you are burdened you are close to God, your strength, who abides with the afflicted. When you are relieved of the burden you are close to yourself, your own weakness; for virtue and strength of soul grow and are confirmed in the trials of patience."
St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church

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