St. Robert Bellarmine on hell

The following quotes I am pulling straight from Fr. Carota’s site.  I don’t know about y0u, but I find it salutary to hear reminders of what hell is like to help me focus on my need to convert and perform better examinations of conscience.

So many today want to pretend that hell does not exist, or, at the least, that it is essentially unpopulated, but this incredibly widespread and pernicious error is completely counter to both Scripture and Tradition, and it is but a testimony to man’s sinful nature and constant willingness to prefer happy lies to the truth.

Indeed, the punishment of sinners in Hell will be many and complete, that is, unmixed with any consolations, and, what infinitely increases their misery, they will be everlasting. 

They will be many, I say, because each of the faculties of the soul and each of the five senses of the body will have its torments. 

Weigh the words of this sentence of the Supreme Judge that is found in the Gospel, “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire” (Mt 25:41).

“Depart from Me,” he says, that is, move away from the fellowship of the blessed, remain deprived forever of the vision of God, which is the highest and essential happiness and ultimate end for which you were created. 

“Accursed ones,” that is, cherish no further hope for any kind of blessing; you are deprived of any life of grace, any hope of salvation; the water of wisdom will no more rain upon you, nor the dew of good inspirations. No longer will the ray of celestial light enlighten you, nor will the grace of repentance sprout in you, nor the flower of charity nor the fruit of good works. He who comes from on High (Lk 1:78) will never again visit you from that moment on; you will lack, not only spiritual goods but also material ones, not only eternal benefits but also temporal ones. For you there will be no riches, no pleasures, no consolation, but you will be like the fig tree that I cursed, which immediately dried up, roots and all (Mt 21:19). 

He says, “Into the fire,” that is, into the furnace of blazing and inextinguishable fire which will take hold not of one member, but of all your members at the same time and burn them with the sharpest pain. 

“Everlasting,” that is, into the fire which does not need to be fed with wood to keep burning forever, but is whipped up by the breath of Almighty God so that as your guilt will never be destroyed, so there will never be an end to your punishment. 

Rightly then does the prophet Isaiah exclaim, “Which of you can dwell inside a devouring fire? Which of you can dwell amidst the eternal flames?” (Is 33:14) By this he says that absolutely no one can support that fire patiently, but the damned will be forced against their will to bear it in impatience, anger and despair. 

These words are repeated more than once by Our Lord in St. Mark’s Gospel (Mk 9:43, 45, 47). Their remorse of the conscience will increase with the memory of the times when the sinners, had they wanted, could have escaped those punishments with a little effort and enjoyed the everlasting joys of Paradise. 

No one should think that the damned ones can find a little relief by walking about and changing their places. Hear what the Lord Himself says: “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him forth into the darkness outside where there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Mt 22:13). 

Therefore, those wretches, bound hand and foot by eternal chains, will lie forever in the same place, deprived of the light of the sun, moon and stars, scorched by burning fire, weeping and lamenting and gnashing their teeth in their fury and despair.  [Indeed, in total darkness, utterly alone, with no comfort of any kind, experiencing unimaginable tortures, forever.  And it is a prison of their own making, of our own making if we are not saved]

Those who will be thrust down into that place full of horror will suffer not only the most terrible pain in the eternal fire, but also the absolute privation of all things, as well as shame and disgrace full of acute embarrassment and confusion. Indeed, in a flash they will lose their palaces, fields, vineyards, flocks, oxen, clothing, as well as their gold, silver and precious gems, and will be reduced to such destitution that the rich banqueter will desire and beg for a drop of cold water, but will not be heard (Lk 16:24-26). … 

If what we have said about the loss of all goods, both heavenly and earthly, and about the bitter pains, ignominy and shame, were to have an end or at least were mixed with some sort of consolation or relief, as it happens with all the miseries of this life, then they might be considered tolerable in some way. However, it is absolutely certain and beyond any doubt that, just as the happiness of the blessed will be perpetual and without any afflictions, so the unhappiness of the damned will last forever without any relief. 

Those who do not make every effort to attain to the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal happiness, regardless of any trials and dangers and shame and death, which the Apostle calls light and passing (2 Cor 4”17), must indeed be blind men and fools.

————–End Quote———–

We hear people say, possibly jokingly in a profoundly stupid way, that they would prefer hell, because that’s where their friends will be.  No one has any friends in hell.  For the most part souls are totally alone there, but in places I have read that there are parts of hell where souls are jammed tight together, constantly fighting and hating each other in their misery.  But there is absolutely nothing pleasant about any of this, it is a place of unmitigated suffering.

Another factor not mentioned above is the stench. One whiff of the horrible stench of hell is enough to kill a mortal man, according to many Saints.  It is the smell of burning sulfur, rotting flesh, choking fumes…….the smell alone is enough to drive a man mad. Then there is the constant, horrific noise, the shrieks of the sufferings and the maniacal laughter and howls of the demons.

Hell is very real.  Many Saints have attested to this.  Many have seen visions of hell.  So beg God’s mercy that you may be converted and live, and not suffer the eternal torments of the damned.