THE HELL IS THERE! by Don Giuseppe Tomaselli

“If God immediately chastised those who offend him, he certainly would not be offended as he is now. But since the Lord does not immediately chastise, sinners feel encouraged to sin more. It is good to know, however, that God will not bear forever: just as he has set the number of days of his life for each man, so he has set for each the number of sins that he has decided to forgive him: to whom a hundred, to whom ten, to whom one . How many live many years in sin! But when the number of sins set by God ends, they are struck by death and go to hell. "

(Sant'Alfonso M. de Liguori Doctor of the Church)

CHRISTIAN SOUL, DON'T HURT YOURSELF! IF YOU LOVE YOURSELF ... DO NOT ADD SIN TO SIN! YOU SAY: "GOD is MERCIFUL!" OR, WITH ALL THIS MERCY… HOW MANY EVERY DAY THEY GO TO HELL !!

PRESENTATION

“Dear Don Enzo, the booklet I am enclosing is no longer available, I have searched for it a lot, a little everywhere, but I have not been able to find it. I ask you a favor: could you reprint it?

I would like to keep some copies in the confessional, as I have always done, to give it to those superficial penitents who need a strong shock to understand what sin is and what very serious risks we run to live far from God and against Him. "

Don GB

With this short letter I also received the booklet by Don Giuseppe Tomaselli, "HELL IS THERE!", Which I had already met and read with great interest in my adolescence, when priests were not ashamed to offer young readings such as this, to encourage serious reflections and a radical change of life.

Since today, both in catechesis and in preaching, the theme of hell is almost totally ignored ... given that some theologians and pastors of souls, to the already grave fault of silence, add that of denial of hell that ... "or not there is, or if there is it is not eternal or it is empty "... since too many today talk about hell in a sarcastic or at least trivial way ... since it is also and mainly not believing or not thinking about the hell it brings to set one's life in a different way from how God would like it and therefore to risk ending it in eternal ruin ... I thought of accepting the suggestion of that priest from Trent, who spends hours and hours in the confessional to give water back to souls pure and fresh of grace lost through sin.

Don Tomaselli's booklet is a little gem, a classic that made many people think and that certainly helped to save many souls.

Written in simple language and accessible to all, it offers the certainties of faith to the mind and strong emotions to the heart that leave deeply shaken.

Why then leave it among the wrecks of other times, victim of the fashions of thought that no longer believe in what is taught and guaranteed by God? It is worth “resurrecting him“.

And so I thought to reprint it to offer a catechesis on hell to all those who would like to hear about it, but no longer know where to turn ... to all those who have heard of it so far in a distorted and reassuring way ... to all those who do not have they ever thought and ... (why not?) even to those of hell who don't want to hear about it, not to be forced to deal with a reality that cannot leave us indifferent and no longer allows us to live in sin happily and without remorse .

If a student never thought that at the end of the year there would be a different treatment between who studied and who did not, would he not lack a strong stimulus in the fulfillment of his duty? If an employee did not keep in mind that working or absent from work for no reason is not the same thing and that the difference will be seen at the end of the month, where would he find the strength to go to work eight hours a day and maybe in a difficult environment? For the same reason, if a man never thought, or almost never, that living according to God or living against God is profoundly different and that the results will be seen at the end of life, when it will be too late to correct the shot, where would he find the stimulus to do good and avoid evil?

It is clear from here that a pastoral ministry that silences the terrifying reality of hell so as not to pick up smiles of pity and not to lose customers, will also be pleasing to men, but it is certainly unwelcome to God, because it is distorted, because it is false, because it is not Christian, because it is sterile, because it is cowardly, because it is sold, because it is ridiculous and, what is worse, because it is extremely harmful: it fills the "granaries" of Satan and not those of the Lord.

In any case, it is not the pastoral care of the Good Shepherd Jesus ... who spoke of hell many times !!! Let "the dead bury their dead" (cf. Lk 9:60), that the false shepherds continue with their "pastoral care of nothing". We only worry about pleasing God and being faithful to the Gospel, what it wouldn't be ... if we kept silent about hell!

This booklet should be carefully thought out, for one's own spiritual good, and should be spread as much as possible, both by priests and lay people, for the sake of many souls adrift.

it is hoped that reading this book could favor the decisive turning point for some "prodigal son" who does not think about the risk he is running and for some other who despairs of the Lord's mercy.

Why not put it in the mailbox of some bold dude who is walking happily and with great strides towards his eternal ruin?

I thank you for what you will do for the diffusion of this book, but more than me will thank you and reward the Lord.

Verona, 2 February 2001 Don Enzo Boninsegna

INTRODUCTION

Even though he was not a priest eater, Colonel M. laughed at religion. One day he said to the chaplain of the regiment:

You priests are crafty and cheaters: by inventing the bogeyman of hell, you have succeeded in being followed by many people.

Colonel, I would not like to enter into discussion; this, if you believe, we can do it later. I only ask you: what studies have you done to reach the conclusion that hell is not there?

It is not necessary to study to understand these things!

I, however, continued the chaplain, I studied the subject in the books of theology thoroughly and on purpose and I have no doubt about the existence of hell.

Bring me one of these books.

When the colonel reported the text, after reading it carefully, he felt compelled to say:

I see you priests don't cheat people when you talk about hell. The arguments you bring are convincing! I must admit that you are right!

If a colonel, who is thought to have a certain degree of culture, comes to deride a truth as important as the existence of hell, it is no wonder that the common man says, a little joking and a little believing us: "Hell is not there ... but if it were we would be in the company of beautiful women ... and then there it would be warm ..."

Hell! ... Terrible reality! ... I shouldn't be the poor mortal to write about the punishment reserved for the damned in the other life. If a damned man in the infernal abyss did this, how much more effective would his word be!

However, drawing from different sources, but above all from Divine Revelation, I present to the reader a topic worthy of deep meditation.

"We descend to hell as long as we are alive (that is, reflecting on this terrible reality) St. Augustine said so as not to rush after death".

THE AUTHOR

I

THE MAN'S QUESTION AND THE ANSWER OF THE FAITH

A QUIET INTERVIEW

Devilish possession is a dramatic reality that we find widely documented in the writings of the four Evangelists and in the history of the Church.

it is possible, therefore, and there is also today.

The devil, if God allows him, can take possession of a human body, an animal and even a place.

In the Roman Ritual the Church teaches us by what elements true diabolical possession can be recognized.

For more than forty years I have been an exorcist against Satan. I report an episode among the many that I have experienced.

I was commissioned by my Archbishop to chase the devil out of the body of a girl who had been tormented for some time. Having undergone several visits by specialist doctors, she had been found perfectly healthy.

That girl had a rather low education, having only attended elementary school.

Despite this, as soon as the devil entered her, she was able to understand and express herself in classical languages, she read in the minds of those present and various strange phenomena occurred in the room, such as: glass breakage, loud noises at the doors, agitated movement of an isolated table , objects that came out of a basket by themselves and fell on the floor, etc ...

The exorcism was attended by several people, including another priest and a professor of history and philosophy who recorded everything for a possible publication.

The demon, forced, manifested his name and answered several questions.

My name is Melid! ... I am in the body of this girl and I will not abandon her until she agrees to do what I want!

Explain yourself better.

I am the devil of impurity and I will torment this girl until she has become impure as I desire her. "

In the name of God, tell me: are there people in hell because of this sin?

All those who are in there, none excluded, are there with this sin or even just for this sin!

I asked him many more questions: Before you were a devil, who were you?

I was a cherub ... a senior officer of the Heavenly Court. What sin did you angels in Heaven commit?

He didn't have to become a man! ... He, the Most High, humiliated himself ... he didn't have to do it!

But didn't you know that by rebelling against God you would sink into hell?

He told us that he would test us, but not that he would punish us like this ... Hell! ... Hell! ... Hell! ... You can't understand what eternal fire means!

He spoke these words with furious anger and tremendous despair.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF HELL IS THERE?

What is this hell that is too little talked about today (with serious damage to the spiritual life of men) and that instead it would be good, indeed, a duty to know in the right light?

it is the punishment that God has given to rebel angels and which he will also give to men who rebel against him and disobey his law if they die in his enmity.

First of all it is better to show that it is there and then we will try to understand what it is.

In so doing, we can come to practical conclusions. To embrace a truth, our intelligence needs solid arguments.

Since it is a truth that has many and so serious consequences for present and future life, we will examine the proofs of reason, then the proofs of divine Revelation and finally the proofs of history.

THE EVIDENCE OF REASON

Men, even if very often, a little or a lot, behave unfairly, they agree in admitting that to those who do good the prize is up and to those who do bad the punishment is up.

The willing student is entitled to promotion, the listless rejection. The brave soldier is given the medal for military valor, the prisoner is reserved for the deserter. The honest citizen is rewarded with the recognition of his rights, the offender must be hit with a just punishment.

Therefore, our reason is not contrary to admitting punishment for the guilty.

God is righteous, indeed, it is Justice by essence.

The Lord has given men freedom, has imprinted in each one's heart the natural law, which requires us to do good and avoid evil. He also gave the positive law, summarized in the Ten Commandments.

is it possible that the Supreme Legislator gives Commandments and then does not care if they are observed or trampled on?

Voltaire himself, an impious philosopher, in his work "The natural law" had the good sense to write: "If all creation shows us the existence of an infinitely wise body, our reason tells us that it must be infinitely right. But how could it be such if it could neither reward nor punish? The duty of every sovereign is to chastise bad deeds and to reward good ones. Do you want God not to do what human justice itself can do? ”.

THE EVIDENCE OF DIVINE REVELATION

In the truths of faith our poor human intelligence can make only a few small contributions. God, Supreme Truth, wanted to reveal to man mysterious things; man is free to accept or reject them, but in due course he will be accountable to the Creator for his choice.

Divine Revelation is also contained in Sacred Scripture as it has been preserved and is interpreted by the Church. The Bible is divided into two parts: Old Testament and New Testament.

In the Old Testament God spoke to the Prophets and these were his spokesmen for the Jewish people.

The king and prophet David wrote: "Let the wicked be confused, keep silent in the underworld" (Sa 13 0, 18).

Of the men who rebelled against God, the prophet Isaiah said: "Their worm will not die, their fire will not go out" (Is 66,24).

In order to prepare the souls of his contemporaries to welcome the Messiah, Jesus' forerunner, Saint John the Baptist, also spoke of a particular task entrusted to the Redeemer: to give the prize to the good and the punishment to the rebels and he did it using a comparison: " He has the fan in his hand, he will clean his threshing floor and gather his wheat in the barn, but he will burn the chaff with an unquenchable fire "(Mt 3, 12).

JESUS ​​HAS SPOKEN MANY TIMES OF PARADISE

In the fullness of time, two thousand years ago, while Caesar Octavian Augustus reigned in Rome, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, made his appearance in the world. The New Testament then began.

Who can deny that Jesus really existed? No historical fact is so documented.

The Son of God demonstrated his Divinity with many and amazing miracles and to all those who still doubted he launched a challenge: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up" (Jn 2:19). He also said: "As Jonah remained three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of man will remain three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt 12:40).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is undoubtedly the greatest proof of his divinity.

Jesus performed miracles not only because, moved by charity, he wanted to help the sick poor, but also because everyone, seeing his power and understanding that he came from God, could embrace the truth without any shadow of doubt.

Jesus said: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life "(Jn 8,12:XNUMX). The mission of the Redeemer was to save humanity, redeem it from sin, and to teach the safe way that leads to Heaven.

The good guys listened enthusiastically to his words and practiced his teachings.

To entice them to persevere in the good, he often spoke of the great prize reserved for the righteous in another life.

“Blessed are you when they insult you, persecute you and, lying, say all sorts of evil against you for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great "(Mt 5, 1112).

"When the Son of man comes in his glory with all his angels, he will sit on the throne of his glory ... and say to those who are on his right: Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world "(cf. Mt 25, 31. 34).

He also said: "Rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Lk 10, 20).

“When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed because they don't have to reciprocate you. For you will receive your reward at the resurrection of the righteous "(L c 14, 1314).

"I prepare for you a kingdom, as my Father prepared it for me" (Lk 22, 29).

JESUS ​​ALSO TALKED ABOUT THE ETERNAL CHEST

To obey a good son, to obey, it is enough to know what the father wants: he obeys knowing that he pleases him and enjoys his affection; while punishment is threatened to a rebellious son.

So to the good enough the promise of the eternal prize, Heaven, while to the wicked, voluntary victims of their passions, it is necessary to present the punishment to shake them.

Seeing Jesus with how much wickedness many of his contemporaries and people of future centuries would have closed their ears to his teachings, eager as it was to save every soul, he spoke of the punishment reserved in the other life for obstinate sinners, that is, the punishment of hell.

The strongest proof of the existence of hell is therefore given by the words of Jesus.

To deny or even to doubt the terrible words of the Son of God made Man, would be like destroying the Gospel, erasing history, denying the light of the sun.

it is GOD WHO SPEAKS

The Jews believed that they were entitled to Paradise only because they were descendants of Abraham.

And as many resisted the divine teachings and did not want to recognize him as the Messiah sent by God, Jesus, threatened them with the eternal punishment of hell.

"I tell you that many will come from the east and the west and will sit in the canteen with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom (the Jews) will be driven out into the darkness, where it will be weeping and grinding teeth. "(Mt 8, 1112).

Seeing the scandals of his time and of future generations, in order to make the rebels come to life and preserve the good from evil, Jesus spoke of hell and with very strong tones: “Woe to the world for scandals! scandals are inevitable, but woe to the man for whom the scandal occurs! " (Mt 18, 7).

"If your hand or foot scandalizes you, cut them: it is better for you to enter into life with or without life, than to be thrown with two hands and two feet into hell, into the unquenchable fire" (cf. Mk 9, 4346 . 48).

Jesus therefore teaches us that we must be prepared for any sacrifice, even the most serious, such as the amputation of a member of our body, in order not to end up in the eternal fire.

To urge men to trade the gifts received from God, such as intelligence, the senses of the body, earthly goods ... Jesus told the parable of the talents and concluded it with these words: “The slacker servant throw him out into the darkness; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth ”(Mt 25, 30).

When he announced the end of the world, with the universal resurrection, hinting at his glorious coming and the two hosts, good and bad, he added: "... to those placed on his left: Away, away from me, cursed, in eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels "(Mt 25, 41).

The danger of going to hell is for all men, because during life on earth we all run the risk of sinning seriously.

Even to his own disciples and collaborators, Jesus pointed out the danger that they were running into eternal fire. They had gone around the cities and villages, announcing the kingdom of God, healing the sick and driving out demons from the body of the obsessed. They returned happy for all of this and said, "Lord, demons also submit to us in your name." And Jesus: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Lk 10, 1718). He wanted to advise them not to be proud of what they had done, because pride had caused Lucifer to fall into hell.

A rich young man was moving away from Jesus, saddened, because he had been invited to sell his goods and give them to the poor. The Lord thus commented on the incident: “Truly I say to you: a rich man will hardly enter the kingdom of heaven. I repeat: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. At these words the disciples were dismayed and asked: "Who can be saved then?". And Jesus, staring at them, said: "This is impossible for men, but everything is possible for God". (Mt 19, 2326).

With these words Jesus did not want to condemn the wealth which, in itself, is not bad, but he wanted us to understand that whoever possesses it is in serious danger of attacking your heart in a disorderly way, even losing sight of paradise and concrete risk of eternal damnation.

To the rich who do not exercise charity, Jesus has threatened a greater danger of ending up in hell.

“There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted lavishly every day. A beggar named Lazarus lay at his door, covered with sores, eager to feed himself on what fell from the rich man's table. Even dogs came to lick his sores. One day the poor man died and was brought by the angels into Abraham's womb. The rich man also died and was buried. Being in hell amidst the torments, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham and Lazarus from afar beside him. Then shouting he said: 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of your finger in the water and wet my tongue, because this flame tortures me'. But Abraham replied: “Son, remember that you have received your goods during your life and Lazarus likewise his evils; but now he is consoled and you are in the midst of torments. Moreover, a great abyss has been established between you and us: those who want to go from here cannot, nor can they cross from there to us ". And he replied: 'So, father, please send him to my father's house, because I have five brothers. Admonish them, lest they come to this place of torment too. ' But Abraham replied: 'They have Moses and the Prophets; listen to them. ' And he said: "No, Father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent." Abraham replied: "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, even if one rose from the dead they would be persuaded." (Lk 16, 1931).

THE WICKED SAY ...

This gospel parable, in addition to guaranteeing that hell exists, also suggests the answer to give to those who dare to say foolishly: "I would believe in hell only if someone, from the afterlife, came to tell me!".

Those who express themselves in this way are normally already on the path of evil and would not believe even if they saw a resurrected dead man.

If, by hypothesis, someone came from hell today, many corrupt or indifferent people who, in order to continue living in their sins without remorse, have an interest that hell does not exist, would sarcastically say: “But this is crazy! Don't listen to him! "

THE NUMBER OF THE DAMNED

Note on the theme: "THE NUMBER OF THE DAMNED" treated on p. 15 From the way the Author deals with the subject of the number of the damned, one feels that the situation, from his time to ours, has profoundly changed.

The author wrote in a time when, in Italy, little or a lot, almost everyone had some connection with the faith, if only in the form of distant memories, never completely forgotten, which almost always surfaced on the point of death.

In our time, however, even in this poor Italy, once a Catholic and which the Pope has come to define today as a "mission land", too many, no longer even a pale memory of the faith, live and die without any reference to God and without asking the problem of the afterlife. Many live and "die like dogs", said Cardinal Siri, also because many priests are less and less solicitous in taking care of the dying and in offering them reconciliation with God!

it is clear that nobody can say how many are the damned. But considering the current spread of atheism ... of indifference ... of unconsciousness ... of superficiality ... and of immorality ... I would not be as optimistic as the Author in saying that few are the ones who damage themselves.

Hearing that Jesus often spoke of heaven and hell, the Apostles one day asked him: "Who can be saved then?". Jesus, not wanting man to penetrate in such a delicate truth, replied evasively: “Enter through the narrow door, because the door is wide and the way leading to perdition is wide, and many are those who enter through it; how narrow the door is and narrow the way that leads to life, and how few are those who find it! " (Mt 7, 1314).

What meaning should we give to these words of Jesus?

The way of good is harsh, because it consists in dominating the turbulence of one's passions in order to live in accordance with the will of Jesus: "If anyone wants to come after me, deny himself, take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24 ).

The path of evil, which leads to hell, is comfortable and is beaten by most, because it is much easier to run after the pleasures of life, satisfying pride, sensuality, greed, etc ...

"So, someone can conclude from the words of Jesus you can think that most men will go to hell!". The Holy Fathers and, in general, the moralists, say that the majority will be saved. Here are the arguments they bring.

God wants all men to be saved, he gives everyone the means to achieve eternal happiness; not everyone, however, clings to these gifts and, becoming weak, remain slaves to Satan, in time and for eternity.

However, it seems that the majority go to heaven.

Here are some comforting words that we find in the Bible: "redemption is great with him" (Ps 129: 7). And again: "This is my Blood of the covenant, shed for many, in remission of sins" (Mt 26, 28). Therefore, many are those who benefit from the Redemption of the Son of God.

Taking a quick look at humanity, we see that many die before they reach the use of reason, when they are not yet able to commit serious sins. They certainly will not go to hell.

Many live in complete ignorance of the Catholic religion, but without their own fault, being in countries where the light of the Gospel has not yet come. These, if they observe the natural law, will not go to hell, because God is righteous and does not give undeserved punishment.

Then there are the enemies of religion, the libertines, the corrupt. Not all of these will end up in hell because in old age, by lowering the fire of passions, they will easily return to God.

How many mature people, after the disappointments of life, resume the practice of Christian life!

Many villains return to God's grace because they are tried by pain, or because of a family mourning, or because they are in danger of life. How many die well in hospitals, on the battlefields, in prisons or within the family!

There are not many who reject dying religious comforts, because, in the face of death, eyes are usually opened and so many prejudices and bravadoes disappear.

On the deathbed, the grace of God can be very abundant because it is obtained from the prayer and sacrifices of relatives and other good people who pray every day for the dying.

Although many beat the path of evil, yet a good number return to God before entering eternity.

it is TRUTH OF FAITH

The existence of hell is assured and repeatedly taught by Jesus Christ; it is therefore a certainty, for which it is a serious sin against faith to say that: "Hell is not there!".

And it is a grave sin to even question this truth: "We hope that hell is not there!".

Who sins against this truth of faith? The ignorant in matters of religion who do nothing to educate themselves in the faith, the superficial ones who take lightly an affair of such great importance and the pleasure-seekers engulfed in the illicit pleasures of life.

In general, those who are already on the right track to get into it laugh at hell. Poor blind and unconscious!

it is necessary now to bring the proof of the facts, since God allowed the apparitions of damned souls.

It is no wonder that the Divine Savior almost always has the word "hell" on his lips: there is not another that expresses the meaning of his mission so clearly and so properly.

(J. Staudinger)

II

DOCUMENTED HISTORICAL FACTS THAT REFLECT

A RUSSIAN GENERAL

Gaston De Sègur has published a booklet that talks about the existence of hell, on which the apparitions of some damned souls are narrated.

I report the whole episode in the same words as the author:

“The incident happened in Moscow in 1812, almost in my own family. My maternal grandfather, Count Rostopchine, was then military governor in Moscow and was in close friendship with General Count Orloff, a brave but wicked man.

One evening after dinner, Count Orloff began to joke with his friend from Voltaire, General V., mocking religion and in particular hell.

Will there be something said Orloff after death?

If there is something said General V. who among us will die first will come to warn the other. Do we agree?

Very well! Orloff added, and they shook hands in promise.

About a month later, General V. was ordered to leave Moscow and take an important position with the Russian army to stop Napoleon.

Three weeks later, having left in the morning to explore the enemy's position, General V. was shot in the belly by a bullet and fell dead. Instantly he presented himself to God.

Count Orloff was in Moscow and knew nothing of the end of that friend of his. That same morning, while he was calmly resting, now awake for some time, the curtains of the bed suddenly opened and General V. appeared, a short walk away, recently died, standing on the person, pale, with his right on the chest and so he spoke: 'Hell is there and I am inside it!' and disappeared.

The count got up from the bed and left the house in his dressing gown, with his hair still unkempt, very agitated, his eyes dazed and pale in the face.

He ran into my grandfather's house, upset and panting, to tell what had happened.

My grandfather had just got up and, amazed to see Count Orloff at that hour and dressed like that, he said:

Count what happened to you ?.

I seem to go crazy with fright! I saw General V. a little while ago!

But how? Has the general already arrived in Moscow?

No! the Count replied, throwing himself on the sofa and holding his head in his hands. No, he hasn't come back, and that's exactly what scares me! And immediately, out of breath, he told him about the apparition in every detail.

My grandfather tried to calm him down, telling him that it could be a fantasy, or a hallucination, or a bad dream and added that he should not consider his general friend dead.

Twelve days later, an army messenger announced my general's death to my grandfather; the dates coincided: the death had occurred on the morning of that same day when Count Orloff had seen him appear in the room. "

A WOMAN FROM NAPLES

Everyone knows that the Church, before elevating someone to the honors of the altars and declaring him "Holy", carefully examines his life and especially the strangest and most unusual facts.

The following episode was included in the canonization processes of St. Francis of Jerome, a famous missionary of the Society of Jesus, who lived in the last century.

One day this priest preached to a large crowd in a square in Naples.

A woman of bad morals, named Caterina, who lived in that square, to distract the audience during the sermon, began to make shameless gestures and gestures from the window.

The saint had to stop the sermon because the woman never stopped, but everything was useless.

The next day the Saint returned to preach in the same square and, seeing the window of the disturbing woman closed, asked what had happened. He was told: "she died suddenly last night". The hand of God had struck her.

"Let's go see it," said the Saint. Accompanied by others, he entered the room and saw the body of that poor woman lying down. The Lord, who sometimes glorifies his Saints even with miracles, inspired him to bring the deceased back to life.

St. Francis of Jerome looked with horror at the corpse and then in a solemn voice said: "Catherine, in the presence of these people, in the name of God, tell me where you are!".

By the power of the Lord the eyes of that corpse opened and his lips moved convulsively: "To hell! ... I am forever in hell!".

AN EPISODE HAPPENED IN ROME

In Rome, in 1873, in mid-August, one of the poor girls who sold their bodies in a house of tolerance injured one hand. The evil, which at first sight seemed slight, unexpectedly worsened, so much so that the poor woman was urgently transported to the hospital, where she died shortly thereafter.

At that precise moment, a girl who practiced the same "job" in the same house, and who could not know what was happening to her "colleague" ended up at the hospital, began to scream with desperate cries, so much so that her companions they woke up in fear.

Some of the inhabitants of the neighborhood also woke up to the shouts and such a confusion arose that the police headquarters intervened. What had happened? Her partner who died at the hospital had appeared to her, surrounded by flames, and had said to her: “I am damned! And if you don't want to end up where I ended up, get out of this place of infamy and go back to God! ".

Nothing could calm that girl's agitation, so much so that, as soon as dawn broke, she left leaving all the others in amazement, especially as soon as news of the companion's death occurred a few hours earlier at the hospital.

Shortly afterwards, the mistress of that infamous place, who was an exalted Garibaldi, became seriously ill and, well remembering the apparition of the damned girl, converted and asked for a priest to be able to receive the holy sacraments.

The ecclesiastical authority commissioned a worthy priest, Monsignor Sirolli, who was the parish priest of San Salvatore in Lauro. The latter asked the sick, in the presence of several witnesses, to retract all his blasphemies against the Supreme Pontiff and to express his firm intention to put an end to the infamous work he had done up to then.

That poor woman died, repentant, with religious comforts. All of Rome soon knew the details of this fact. The hardened in evil, predictably, made fun of what had happened; the good, however, took advantage of it to become better.

A NOBLE LADY OF LONDON

A wealthy and very corrupt twenty-nine year old widow lived in London in 1848. Among the men who frequented his home, there was a young lord of notoriously libertine conduct.

One night that woman was in bed and was reading a novel to reconcile sleep.

As soon as he put out the candle to fall asleep, he noticed that a strange light, coming from the door, spread in the room and grew more and more.

Unable to explain the phenomenon, in amazement she opened her eyes wide. The bedroom door opened slowly and the young lord appeared, who had been complicit in his sins many times.

Before she could say a word, the young man was close to her, grabbed her by the wrist and said: "There is hell, where it burns!".

The fear and pain that poor woman felt on her wrist was so strong that she passed out instantly.

After about half an hour, having recovered, he called the maid who, entering the room, smelled a strong burning smell and found that the lady had a burn on her wrist so deep that it allowed to see the bone and with the shape of the hand of a man. He also noticed that, starting from the door, there were footprints of a man on the carpet and that the fabric was burnt from side to side.

The following day the lady learned that the young lord had died the same night.

This episode is narrated by Gaston De Sègur who comments: “I don't know if that woman has converted; I know, however, that he still lives. To cover the traces of his burns to people's eyes, on his left wrist he wears a large gold band in the form of a bracelet that he never takes off and for this particular he is called the lady of the bracelet ".

TELL AN ARCHBISHOP ...

Archbishop Antonio Pierozzi, Archbishop of Florence, famous for his piety and doctrine, in his writings tells a fact, which occurred in his time, in the mid-fifteenth century, which sowed great dismay in northern Italy.

At the age of seventeen, a boy had hidden a serious sin in Confession that he dared not confess out of shame. Despite this he approached Communion, obviously in a sacrilegious way.

Tormented more and more by remorse, instead of placing himself in God's grace, he tried to make up for it by doing great penances. Eventually he decided to become a friar. "There he thought I will confess my sacrileges and I will do penance for all my faults."

Unfortunately, the devil of shame also managed not to make him confess his sins with sincerity and thus spent three years in continuous sacrileges. Not even on his deathbed did he have the courage to confess his grave faults.

His confreres believed that he had died as a saint, therefore the corpse of the young friar was carried in procession to the church of the convent, where he remained exposed until the next day.

In the morning, one of the friars, who had gone to ring the bell, suddenly saw the dead man appear before him, surrounded by hot chains and flames.

The poor friar fell on his knees in fear. The terror reached its climax when he heard: "Do not pray for me, because I am in hell!" ... and told him the sad story of the sacrileges.

Then it disappeared leaving a loathsome smell that spread throughout the convent.

The superiors had the body taken away without the funeral.

A PARIS PROFESSOR

Sant'Alfonso Maria De 'Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, and therefore particularly worthy of faith, reports the following episode.

When the University of Paris was in its heyday, one of its most celebrated professors died suddenly. No one would have imagined his terrible fate, much less the Bishop of Paris, his close friend, who prayed every day in suffrage for that soul.

One night, while praying for the deceased, he saw him appear before him in an incandescent form, with a desperate face. The Bishop, realizing that his friend was damned, asked him some questions; Among other things, he asked him: "In hell do you still remember the sciences for which you were so famous in life?".

"What sciences ... what sciences! In the company of demons we have much more to think about! These evil spirits do not give us a moment of respite and prevent us from thinking of anything else other than our faults and our pains. These are already terrible and frightening, but the demons exacerbate them in order to feed on us a constant desperation! "

THE DESPERATION AND THE PAIN SUFFERED BY THE DAMNED

THE MOST EXCITING PAIN: THE PENALTY OF DAMAGE

Having proved the existence of hell with the arguments of reason, with those of divine Revelation and with documented episodes, let us now consider what the punishment of whoever falls into the infernal abyss consists essentially.

Jesus calls the eternal abysses: "place of torment" (Lk 16:28). Many are the pains suffered by the damned in hell, but the main one is that of the damage, which Saint Thomas Aquinas defines: "deprivation of the Supreme Good", that is, of God.

We are made for God (from Him we come and to Him we go), but as long as we are in this life we ​​can also give no importance to God and buffer, with the presence of creatures, the void left in us by the absence of the Creator.

As long as he is here on earth, man can stun himself with small earthly joys; he can live, as unfortunately many who ignore their Creator do, satiating the heart with love for a person, or enjoying wealth, or indulging other passions, even the most disordered, but in any case, even here on earth, without God man cannot find true and full happiness, because true happiness is only God.

But as soon as a soul enters into eternity, having left everything she had and loved in the world and knowing God as she is, in her infinite beauty and perfection, she feels strongly attracted to join him, more than the iron towards a powerful magnet. He then recognizes that the only object of true love is the Supreme Good, God, the Almighty.

But if a soul unfortunately leaves this earth in a state of enmity towards God, it will feel rejected by the Creator: "Away, away from me, cursed, in the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" (Mt 25, 41).

To have known Supreme Love ... to feel the urgent need to love him and to be loved by Him ... and to feel rejected by him ... for all eternity, this is the first and most atrocious torment for all the damned.

PREVENTED LOVE

Who does not know the power of human love and the excesses it can reach when obstacles arise?

I visited the Santa Marta hospital in Catania; I saw a woman in tears on the threshold of a big room; it was inconsolable.

Poor mother! Her son was dying. I lingered with her to say a word of comfort and I knew ...

That boy sincerely loved a girl and wanted to marry her, but he was not paid by her. Faced with this unsurpassed obstacle, thinking that he could no longer live without the love of that woman and not wanting him to marry someone else, he reached the height of madness: he stabbed the girl several times and then attempted suicide.

Those two boys died in the same hospital a few hours away.

What is human love compared to divine love ...? What wouldn't a damned soul do to get to possess God ...?!?

Thinking that for all eternity she will not be able to love him, she would like to never have existed or sink into nothing, if it were possible, but since this is impossible, she sinks into despair.

Everyone can have a weak idea of ​​the punishment of a damned man who separates himself from God, thinking about what the human heart feels about the loss of a loved one: the bride at the death of the groom, the mother at the death of a son, the children on the death of their parents ...

But these pains, which on earth are the greatest sufferings among all that can tear the human heart, are very little in the face of the desperate punishment of the damned.

THE THOUGHT OF SOME SAINTS

The loss of God, therefore, is the greatest pain that torments the damned.

St. John Chrysostom says: "If you say a thousand hells, you still won't have said anything that can match the loss of God."

St. Augustine teaches: "If the damned enjoyed the sight of God they would not feel their torments and hell itself would change to paradise".

St. Brunone, speaking of the universal judgment, in his book of the "Sermons" writes: "May torments be added to torments; everything is nothing before the privation of God ”.

Sant'Alfonso specifies: "If we heard a damned cry and asked him: 'Why are you crying so much? We would be answered:" I cry because I have lost God! ". At least the damned could love his God and resign himself to his will! But he can't do it. he is forced to hate his Creator at the same time that recognizes him worthy of infinite love ”.

Saint Catherine of Genoa when the devil appeared to her questioned him: "Who are you?" "I am that treacherous one who has deprived himself of the love of God!".

OTHER PRIVACIES

From the privation of God, as Lessio says, other extremely painful privations necessarily derive: the loss of paradise, that is, of the eternal joy for which the soul was created and to which it naturally continues to strive; the deprivation of the company of Angels and Saints, as there is an insurmountable abyss between the Blessed and the damned; the deprivation of the glory of the body after the universal resurrection.

Let's listen to what a damned man said about his atrocious sufferings.

In 1634 in Loudun, in the diocese of Poitiers, a damned soul presented himself to a pious priest. That priest asked, "What are you suffering in hell?" "We suffer a fire that never goes out, a terrible curse and above all an anger impossible to describe, because we cannot see the One who created us and whom we lost forever because of us! ...".

The torment of remorse

Speaking of the damned, Jesus says: "Their worm does not die" (Mk 9, 48). This "worm that does not die", explains St. Thomas, is remorse, from which the damned will be tormented forever.

While the damned is in the place of torments he thinks: “I got lost for nothing, to enjoy just small and false joys in the earthly life that vanished in a flash… I could have saved myself so easily and instead I damned myself for nothing, forever and because of me! "

In the book "Apparatus to death" it is said that a dead man appeared in Sant'Umberto who was in hell; he said: "The terrible pain that continually gnaws at me is the thought of the little I damned myself for and the little I should have done to go to heaven!".

In the same book, Sant'Alfonso also reports the episode of Elizabeth, queen of England, who foolishly came to say: "God, give me forty years of reign and I renounce paradise!". It actually had a forty-year reign, but after death it was seen at night on the banks of the Thames, while, surrounded by flames, it cried: "Forty years of reign and an eternity of pain! ...".

THE SENSE PENALTY

In addition to the punishment for harm which, as we have seen, consists in excruciating pain for the loss of God, the punishment of meaning is reserved for the damned in the other life.

The Bible reads: "With those same things for which one sins, with them he is then chastised" (Wis 11, 10).

The more then one will have offended God with a sense, the more he will be tormented in it.

It is the law of retaliation, which Dante Alighieri also used in his "Divine Comedy"; the poet assigned to the damned different penalties, in relation to their sins.

The most terrible pain of meaning is that of fire, of which Jesus spoke to us several times.

Also on this earth the penalty of fire is the greatest of sensitive pains, but there is a great difference between earthly fire and hellfire.

Saint Augustine says: "Compared to the fire of hell, the fire we know is as if it were painted". The reason is that the earthly fire God wanted it for the good of man, that of hell, instead, created it to punish his sins.

The damned is surrounded by fire, indeed, he is immersed in it more than fish in water; he feels the torment of the flames and how the rich man in the Gospel parable shouts: "This flame tortures me!" (Lk 16:24).

Some cannot bear the inconvenience of walking on the street under a scorching sun and then maybe ... they don't fear that fire that will have to devour them forever!

Speaking to those who live unconsciously in sin, without asking the question of the final showdown, San Pier Damiani writes: “Go on, crazy, to please your flesh; a day will come when your sins will become pitch in your bowels which will make the flame that will devour you forever forever more tormenting! ”.

the episode that San Giovanni Bosco narrates in the biography of Michele Magone, one of his best boys, is illuminating. “Some guys commented on a sermon on hell. One of them dared to say foolishly: 'If we go to hell at least there will be fire to warm up!'. At these words Michele Magone ran to get a candle, lit it and put the flame on the hands of the bold boy. The latter had not noticed the thing and, when he felt the strong heat in the hands that he held behind his back, he immediately sprang and got angry. "As Michele replied, you can't stand the weak flame of a candle for a moment and you come to say that you would be happy in the flames of hell?"

The penalty of fire also involves thirst. What torment the burning thirst in this world!

And how much greater will be the same torment in hell, as the rich epulone testifies in the parable narrated by Jesus! An unquenchable thirst !!!

THE TESTIMONY OF A SANTA

Saint Teresa of Avita, who was one of the main writers of her century, had from God, in vision, the privilege of going down to hell while still alive. Here is how he describes, in his "Autobiography" what he saw and felt in the infernal abysses.

“Finding myself one day in prayer, I was suddenly transported to hell in body and soul. I understood that God wanted to show me the place prepared by the demons and that I would have deserved for the sins in which I would have fallen if I had not changed my life. For how many years I have to live I can never forget the horror of hell.

The entrance to this place of torment seemed to me similar to a kind of oven, low and dark. The soil was nothing but horrible mud, full of poisonous reptiles and there was an unbearable smell.

I felt in my soul a fire, of which there are no words that can describe nature and my body at the same time in the grip of the most atrocious torments. The great pains that I had already suffered in my life are nothing compared to those felt in hell. Furthermore, the idea that the pains would be endless and without any relief completed my terror.

But these tortures of the body are not comparable to those of the soul. I felt an anguish, a close to my heart so sensitive and, at the same time, so desperate and so bitterly sad, that I would try in vain to describe it. Saying that the anguish of death suffers at all times, I would say little.

I will never find a suitable expression to give an idea of ​​this inner fire and this despair, which constitute precisely the worst part of hell.

All hope of consolation is extinguished in that horrible place; you can breathe a pestilential air: you feel suffocated. No ray of light: there is nothing but darkness and yet, oh mystery, without any light that you illuminate, you can see how much more repugnant and painful it can be at sight.

I can assure you that everything that can be said about hell, what we read in the books of tortures and different torments that demons make the damned suffer, is nothing compared to reality; there is the same difference that passes between the portrait of a person and the person himself.

Burning in this world is very little compared to that fire I felt in hell.

About six years have now passed since that frightening visit to hell and I, describing it, still feel taken by such terror that the blood freezes in my veins. In the midst of my trials and pains I often recall this memory and then how much you can suffer in this world seems to me a laughing matter.

So be eternally blessed, O my God, because you have made me experience hell in the most real way, thus inspiring me the most lively fear for all that can lead to it. "

THE DEGREE OF PENALTY

At the end of the chapter on the penalties of the damned, it is good to mention the diversity of the degree of punishment.

God is infinitely righteous; and as in heaven he assigns greater degrees of glory to those who have loved him most during his life, so in hell he gives greater pains to those who have offended him more.

Whoever is in the eternal fire for one mortal sin suffers horribly for this one sin; who is damned a hundred, or a thousand ... mortal sins suffers a hundred, or a thousand times ... more.

The more wood you put in the oven, the more the flame and heat increase. Therefore whoever, plunged into vice, tramples on the law of God by multiplying his sins every day, if he does not return to God's grace and die in sin, will have a more tormenting hell than others.

For those who suffer, it is a relief to think: "One day my sufferings will end".

The damned, however, finds no relief, on the contrary, the thought that his torments will have no end is like a boulder that makes every other pain more excruciating.

Who goes to hell (and who goes there, goes there by his free choice) stays there ... forever !!!

For this reason Dante Alighieri, in his "Inferno", writes: "Leave all hope, or you who enter!".

It is not an opinion, but it is a truth of faith, revealed directly by God, that the punishment of the damned will never end. I only remember what I have already mentioned of the words of Jesus: "Go away, cursed me, into eternal fire" (Mt 25:41).

Sant'Alfonso writes:

"What madness would be that of those who, to enjoy a day of fun, accept the sentence of being locked in a pit for twenty or thirty years! If hell lasted a hundred years, or even just two or three years, it would also be a great madness for a moment of pleasure to condemn yourself to two or three years of fire. But here it is not a question of a hundred or a thousand years, it is about eternity, that is, to suffer forever the same atrocious torments that will never end. "

The unbelievers say: “If eternal hell existed, God would be unjust. Why chastise a sin that lasts a moment with a punishment that lasts forever? ".

One can answer: “And how can a sinner, for the pleasure of a moment, offend a God of infinite majesty? And how can he, with his sins, trample on the passion and death of Jesus? ".

"Even in human judgment says St. Thomas the penalty is not measured according to the duration of the fault, but according to the quality of the crime". The murder, even if it is committed in a moment, is not punished with a momentary penalty.

Saint Bernardino of Siena says: “With every mortal sin an infinite injustice is made to God, being He infinite; and an infinite injury is given an infinite punishment! ".

ALWAYS! ... ALWAYS !! ... ALWAYS !!!

It is said in Father Segneri's "Spiritual Exercises" that in Rome, having been asked to the devil who was in the body of an obsessed man, how long he should be in hell, he replied angrily: "Always! ... Always !! ... Always! !! ".

The fright was so great that many young people from the Roman seminary, present at the exorcism, made a general confession and walked with greater commitment to the path of perfection.

Also for the tone in which they were shouted, those three words of the devil: "Always! ... Always !! ... Always !!! ' they had more effect than a long sermon.

THE RISEN BODY

The damned soul will suffer in hell alone, that is, without its body, until the day of universal judgment; then, for eternity, the body too, having been an instrument of evil during life, will take part in eternal torments.

The resurrection of the bodies will certainly take place.

it is Jesus who assures us of this truth of faith: “The hour will come when all those who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out: those who did good, for a resurrection of life and those who did bad, for a resurrection of condemnation "(Jn 5, 2829).

The Apostle Paul teaches: “We will all be transformed in an instant, in the blink of an eye, to the sound of the last trumpet; in fact the trumpet will sound and the dead will rise again uncorrupted and we will be transformed. it is necessary that this corruptible body is dressed in incorruptibility and this mortal body is dressed in immortality "(1 Cor 15, 5153).

After the resurrection, therefore, all bodies will be immortal and incorruptible. However, not all of us will be transformed in the same way. The transformation of the body will depend on the state and conditions in which the soul will find itself in eternity: the bodies of the saved and the bodies of the damned will be glorious.

Therefore if the soul finds itself in paradise, in the state of glory and bliss, it will reflect in its resurrected body the four characteristics proper to the bodies of the elect: spirituality, agility, splendor and incorruptibility.

If, on the other hand, the soul finds itself in hell, in a state of damnation, it will impress completely opposite characteristics on its body. The only property that the body of the damned will have in common with the body of the blessed is incorruptibility: even the bodies of the damned will no longer be subject to death.

Those who live in the idolatry of their body reflect very and very well and satisfy him in all his sinful desires! The sinful pleasures of the body will be repaid with a heap of torments for all eternity.

has come down from VIVA… IN HELL!

There are some privileged people in the world who are chosen by God for a particular mission.

To them Jesus presents himself sensitively and makes them live in the state of victims, making them also part of the pains of his Passion.

In order that they may suffer more and thus save more sinners, God allows some of these people to be transported, even if they are living, in the supernatural order and that they suffer for some time in hell, with soul and body.

How this phenomenon occurs cannot be explained. It is only known that, when they return from hell, these victim souls are very afflicted.

The privileged souls of which we speak, suddenly disappear from their room, even in the presence of witnesses, and after a certain period, sometimes of several hours, they reappear. They seem impossible, but there are historical records.

We have already said about Santa Teresa d'Avita.

Now let's mention the case of another Servant of God: Josepha Menendez, who lived in this century.

Let us hear from Menendez herself the narration of some of her visits to hell.

“In an instant I found myself in hell, but without being dragged along like the other times, and just like the damned must fall there. The soul rushes into it, throws itself as if it wished to disappear from the sight of God, in order to hate and curse it.

My soul dropped into an abyss whose bottom could not be seen, because it was immense ... I have seen hell as always: caves and fire. Although bodily forms are not seen, torments torment damned souls (who know each other) as if their bodies were present.

I was pushed into a niche of fire and crushed as if between hot plates and as if irons and sharp red-hot points stuck in my body.

I felt as though, even if I didn't succeed, I wanted to tear my tongue, which reduced me to extremes, with excruciating pain. My eyes seemed to come out of orbit, I think because of the fire that burned them horribly.

One can neither move a finger to seek relief, nor change position; the body is as compressed. The ears are stunned by the hideous and confused cries that do not cease for a moment.

A nauseating smell and a repulsive asphyxiation invades everyone, as if it burned rotting meat with pitch and sulfur.

All this I have experienced as on other occasions and, although these torments are terrible, they would be nothing if the soul did not suffer; but it suffers in an unspeakable way for the privation of God.

I saw and felt some of these damned souls roar for the eternal torture they know they have to endure, especially in the hands. I think during their lifetime they stole, because they shouted: 'Damn hands, where is what you have now?' ...

Other souls, screaming, accused their own language, or eyes ... each one that was the cause of his sin: 'Now you pay atrociously the delights that you allowed yourself, o my body! ... And it is you, o body, that you wanted! ... For a moment of pleasure, an eternity of pain!: ..

It seems to me that in hell souls accuse themselves especially of sins of impurity.

While I was in that abyss, I saw impure people fall and one cannot say or understand the horrendous roars that came out of their mouths: 'Eternal curse! ... I am deceived! ... I am lost! ... I will be here forever! ... forever !! ... forever !!! ... and there will be no more remedy ... Damn me!: ..

A young girl screamed desperately, cursing against the bad satisfactions she gave her body alive and cursing her parents who had given her too much freedom to follow fashion and worldly entertainment. She had been damned for three months.

All that I wrote concludes Menendez is only a pale shadow in comparison with what we really suffer in hell. "

The author of this paper, the spiritual director of several privileged souls, knows three of them, still alive, who have made and still make visits of this kind to hell. There is a shudder for what they tell me.

DIABOLIC ENVY

Demons rushed to hell for their hatred of God and their envy of man. And for this hatred and envy they do everything to fill the infernal abysses.

With the desire that they earn the eternal prize, God wanted men on earth to be tested: he gave them two great commandments: to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.

Being endowed with freedom, everyone decides whether to obey the Creator or rebel against him. Freedom is a gift, but woe to abuse it! Demons cannot violate human freedom to the point of suppressing it, but they can strongly condition it.

The writer, in 1934, did the exorcisms of a bony girl. I report a short talk with the devil.

Why are you in this little girl? To torment her.

And before you were here, where were you? I went along the streets.

What do you do when you go around?

I try to make people commit sins. And what do you get out of it?

The satisfaction of making you come to hell with me ... I don't add the rest of the interview.

Therefore, to tempt people to sin, demons go around, invisibly, but real.

St. Peter reminds us of this: “Be temperate, watch out. Your enemy, the devil, like a roaring lion, goes around looking for someone to devour. Stand firm in faith. " (1 Pt 5, 89).

The danger is there, it is real and serious, it should not be underestimated, but there is also the possibility and the duty to defend oneself.

Vigilance, that is, prudence, an intense spiritual life cultivated with prayer, with some renunciation, with good readings, with good friendships, the escape from bad opportunities and bad company. If this strategy is not implemented, we can no longer dominate our thoughts, our looks, our words, our actions and ... inexorably, everything in our spiritual life will collapse.

SPEAK LUCIFER

In the book 'Invitation to love' a conversation is described between the prince of darkness, Lucifer and some demons. So Menendez tells it.

"While I was descending into hell, I heard Lucifer say to his satellites: 'You must try and take men each for his verse: some for pride, some for avarice, some for anger, some for gluttony , who for envy, others for sloth, still others for lust ... Go and work as hard as you can! Push them to love as we understand it! Do your job well, without respite and without mercy. We must ruin the world and make sure that souls do not escape us. '

The listeners replied: `We are your slaves! We will work without rest. Many fight against us, but we will work day and night ... We recognize your power. '

In the distance I heard the sound of cups and glasses. Lucifer shouted: 'Let them revel; after that, everything will be easier. Since they still love to enjoy, end their banquet! That is the door through which they will enter. '

Then he added horrible things that cannot be said or written. Satan angrily shouted for a soul that was eluding him: 'Instigate her for fear! Push her to despair, because if she entrusts herself to the mercy of that ... (and cursed Our Lord) we are lost. Fill it with fear, do not leave it for a moment and above all make it despair '. ”

So say and unfortunately so do demons; their power, although more limited after the coming of Jesus, is still frightening.

IV

THE SINS THAT GIVE MORE CUSTOMERS TO HELL

LIKING TRACKS

It is particularly important to bear in mind the first diabolical pitfall, which holds many souls in Satan's slavery: it is the lack of reflection, which makes one lose sight of the purpose of life.

The devil cries out to his prey: “Life is a pleasure; you must seize all the joys that life gives you ".

Instead Jesus whispers to your heart: 'Blessed are those who weep. " (cf. Mt 5, 4) ... "To enter heaven you have to do violence." (cf. Mt 11, 12) ... "Whoever wants to come after me, deny himself, take up his cross every day and follow me." (Lk 9, 23).

The infernal enemy suggests to us: "Think of the present, because with death everything ends!".

The Lord instead exhorts you: "Remember the very new (death, judgment, hell and paradise) and you will not sin".

The man spends a good part of his time in many business and shows intelligence and shrewdness in acquiring and conserving earthly goods, but then he does not even use the crumbs of his time to reflect on the much more important needs of his soul, for which he lives in an absurd, incomprehensible and extremely dangerous superficiality, which can have frightening consequences.

The devil leads one to think: "Meditating is useless: lost time!". If today many live in sin, it is because they do not seriously reflect and never meditate on the truths revealed by God.

The fish that has already ended up in the fisherman's net, as long as it is still in the water, does not suspect that it has been caught, but when the net exits the sea, it struggles because it feels its end is near; but it's too late now. So sinners ...! As long as they are in this world they have a good time happily and do not even suspect they are in the diabolical net; they will notice when they can no longer remedy you ... as soon as they enter eternity!

If many dead people who lived without thinking about eternity could return to this world, how would their lives change!

WASTE OF GOODS

From what has been said so far and especially from the story of certain facts, it is clear what are the main sins that lead to eternal damnation, but keep in mind that it is not only these sins that send people to hell: there are many others.

For what sin did the rich epulone end up in hell? He had many goods and wasted them on banquets (waste and sin of gluttony); and moreover he remained obstinately insensitive to the needs of the poor (lack of love and avarice). Therefore, some wealthy who do not want to exercise charity tremble: even if they do not change their lives, the fate of the rich man is reserved.

The IMPURITIES '

The sin that most easily leads to hell is impurity. Sant'Alfonso says: "We go to hell even for this sin, or at least not without it".

I remember the words of the devil reported in the first chapter: 'All those who are in there, none excluded, are there with this sin or even just for this sin ”. Sometimes, if forced, even the devil tells the truth!

Jesus said to us: "Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God" (Mt 5: 8). This means that the impure not only will not see God in the other life, but even in this life they cannot feel its charm, so they lose the taste of prayer, gradually they lose the faith even without realizing it and ... without faith and without prayer they perceive more why they should do good and flee evil. So reduced, they are attracted to every sin.

This vice hardens the heart and, without a special grace, drags to final impenitence and ... to hell.

IRREGULAR WEDDINGS

God forgives any guilt, as long as there is true repentance and that is the will to put an end to one's sins and to change one's life.

Among a thousand irregular marriages (divorced and remarried, cohabiting) perhaps only someone will escape from hell, because normally they do not repent even at the point of death; in fact, if they still lived they would continue to live in the same irregular situation.

We have to tremble at the thought that almost everyone today, even those who are not divorced, consider divorce as a normal thing! Unfortunately, many now reason how the world wants and no longer how God wants.

THE SACRILEGIO

A sin that can lead to eternal damnation is sacrilege. Unfortunate one who sets out on this path! Anyone who voluntarily hides some mortal sin in confession, or confesses without the will to leave the sin or flee the next occasions, commits sacrilege. Almost always those who confess in a sacrilegious way also perform the Eucharistic sacrilege, because then they receive Communion in mortal sin.

Tell St John Bosco ...

“I found myself with my guide (the Guardian Angel) at the bottom of a precipice that ended in a dark valley. And here appears an immense building with a very high door that was closed. We touched the bottom of the precipice; a suffocating heat oppressed me; greasy, almost green smoke and flashes of blood flames rose on the walls of the building.

I asked, 'Where are we at?' 'Read the inscription on the door'. the guide replied. I looked and saw written: 'Ubi non est redemptio! In other words: `Where there is no redemption! ', meanwhile I saw that abyss plummet ... first a young man, then another and then others; everyone had written their sin on their foreheads.

The guide told me: 'Here is the main cause of these damnations: bad companions, bad books and perverse habits'.

Those poor boys were young people I knew. I asked my guide: “But therefore it is useless to work among young people if so many make this end! How to prevent all this ruin? " “Those you have seen are still alive; but this is the current state of their souls, if they died at this moment they would certainly come here! " said the Angel.

Afterwards we entered the building; it ran with the speed of a flash. We ended up in a vast and gloomy courtyard. I read this inscription: 'Ibunt impii in ignem aetemum! ; that is: `The wicked will go into eternal fire! '.

Come with me added the guide. He took me by the hand and led me to a door that opened. A kind of cave presented itself to my eyes, immense and full of terrifying fire, which far surpassed the fire of the earth. I cannot describe this cavern in human words in all its frightening reality.

Suddenly I began to see young people falling into the burning cave. The guide said to me: 'Impurity is the cause of the eternal ruin of many young people!'.

But if they sinned they also confessed.

They have confessed, but the faults against the virtue of purity have confessed them badly or completely silenced. For example, one had committed four or five of these sins, but said only two or three. There are some who have committed one in childhood and have never confessed or shamed it out of shame. Others did not have the pain and the intention to change. Someone instead of doing the examination of conscience was looking for suitable words to deceive the confessor. And who dies in this state, decides to place himself among the unrepentant culprits and will remain so for all eternity. And now do you want to see why God's mercy brought you here? The guide lifted a veil and I saw a group of young people from this oratory that I knew well: all condemned for this fault. Among these were some who apparently had good conduct.

The guide said to me again: 'Preach always and everywhere against impurity! :. Then we talked for about half an hour on the conditions necessary to make a good confession and concluded: 'You have to change your life ... You have to change your life'.

Now that you have seen the torments of the damned, you too must feel a little hell!

Once out of that horrible building, the guide grabbed my hand and touched the last external wall. I let out a cry of pain. When the vision stopped, I noticed that my hand was really swollen and for a week I wore the bandage. "

Father Giovan Battista Ubanni, a Jesuit, says that a woman for years, confessing, had kept silent a sin of impurity. When two Dominican priests arrived there, she who had been waiting for a foreign confessor for some time, asked one of them to listen to his confession.

After leaving the church, the companion told the confessor that he had observed that, while that woman was confessing, many snakes came out of her mouth, however a bigger snake had come out only with the head, but then had come back again. Then all the snakes that had come out also came back.

Obviously the confessor did not talk about what he had heard in Confession, but suspecting what might have happened he did everything to find that woman. When she arrived at her home, she learned that she had died as soon as she returned home. Upon hearing this, the good priest was saddened and prayed for the deceased. This appeared to him in the midst of the flames and said to him: “I am that woman who confessed this morning; but I made a sacrilege. I had a sin that I didn't feel like confessing to the priest of my country; God sent me to you, but even with you I let myself be overcome by shame and immediately the Divine Justice struck me with death as I entered the house. I am justly condemned to hell! ”. After these words the earth opened and was seen to plummet and disappear.

Father Francesco Rivignez writes (the episode is also reported by Sant'Alfonso) that in England, when there was the Catholic religion, King Anguberto had a daughter of rare beauty who had been asked to marry by several princes.

Questioned by her father if she agreed to marry, she replied that she could not because she had made the vow of perpetual virginity.

Her father obtained the dispensation from the Pope, but she remained firm in her intention not to use it and to live withdrawn at home. Her father satisfied her.

He began to live a holy life: prayers, fasts and various other penances; he received the sacraments and often went to serve the sick in a hospital. In this state of life he fell ill and died.

A woman who had been her educator, finding herself one night in prayer, heard a great noise in the room and immediately afterwards she saw a soul with the appearance of a woman in the midst of a great fire and chained among many demons ...

I am the unhappy daughter of King Anguberto.

But how, you damned with such a holy life?

I am rightly damned ... because of me. As a child I fell into a sin against purity. I went to confession, but shame closed my mouth: instead of humbly accusing my sin, I covered it up so that the confessor did not understand anything. The sacrilege has been repeated many times. On my deathbed I told the confessor vaguely that I had been a great sinner, but the confessor, ignoring the true state of my soul, forced me to dismiss this thought as a temptation. Shortly afterwards I expired and was condemned for all eternity to the flames of hell.

That said, it disappeared, but with so much noise that it seemed to drag the world and leaving in that room a repulsive smell that lasted several days.

Hell is the testimony of the respect that God has for our freedom. Hell cries out the constant danger in which our life finds itself; and shouts in such a way as to exclude any lightness, shouts in a constant way to exclude any hastiness, any superficiality, because we are always in danger. When they announced the episcopate to me, the first word I said was this: "But I'm afraid to go to hell."

(Cardinal Giuseppe Siri)

V

THE MEANS WE HAVE TO NOT END IN HELL

THE NEED TO PERSEVERE

What to recommend to those who already observe the Law of God? Perseverance for good! It is not enough to have walked on the ways of the Lord, it is necessary to continue for life. Jesus says: "Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved" (Mk 13:13).

Many, as long as they are children, live in a Christian way, but when the hot youthful passions begin to be felt, they take the path of vice. How sad was the end of Saul, Solomon, Tertullian and other great characters!

Perseverance is the fruit of prayer, because it is mainly through prayer that the soul receives the help necessary to resist the assaults of the devil. In his book 'Of the great means of prayer' Saint Alphonsus writes: "Those who pray are saved, those who do not pray are damned." Who does not pray, even without the devil pushing him ... he goes to hell with his own feet!

the following prayer that Saint Alfonso has inserted in his meditations on hell is advisable:

'O my Lord, behold at your feet who has taken your grace and your punishments into little account. Poor me if you, my Jesus, had no mercy on me! How many years would I have been in that burning chasm, where so many people like me already burn! O my Redeemer, how can we not burn with love thinking about this? How can I offend you in the future? Never be, my Jesus, rather let me die. While you have started, do your work in me. Let the time you give me spend it all for you. How much the damned would like to be able to have a day or even an hour of the time you allow me! And what will I do with it? Will I continue to spend it on things that disgust you? No, my Jesus, do not allow it for the merits of that Blood which has hitherto prevented me from ending up in hell. And You, Queen and my Mother, Mary, pray to Jesus for me and obtain for me the gift of perseverance. Amen."

THE HELP OF THE MADONNA

True devotion to Our Lady is a pledge of perseverance, because the Queen of Heaven and earth does everything she can to ensure that her devotees are not eternally lost.

May the daily recitation of the Rosary be dear to everyone!

A great painter, depicting the divine Judge in the act of issuing the eternal sentence, painted a soul now close to damnation, not far from the flames, but this soul, holding on to the crown of the Rosary, is saved by the Madonna. How powerful is the recitation of the Rosary!

In 1917 the Most Holy Virgin appeared to Fatima in three children; when he opened his hands a beam of light gushed that seemed to penetrate the earth. The children then saw, at the feet of the Madonna, like a great sea of ​​fire and, immersed in it, black demons and souls in human form like transparent embers that, dragged upwards by the flames, fell down like sparks in the great fires, between despairing cries that horrified.

At this scene the visionaries raised their eyes to the Madonna to ask for help and the Virgin added: “This is hell where the souls of poor sinners end up. Recite the Rosary and add to each post: `My Jesus, forgive our sins, save us from the fire of hell and bring all souls to heaven, especially the most needy of your mercy:".

How eloquent is the heartfelt invitation of Our Lady!

WEAK WILL

The thought of hell benefits above all those who limp in the practice of Christian life and are very weak in will. They easily fall into mortal sin, get up for a few days and then ... return to sin. I am one day of God and the other day of the devil. These brothers remember the words of Jesus: "No servant can serve two masters" Lk 16:13). Normally it is the impure vice that tyrannizes this category of people; they cannot control the gaze, they do not have the strength to dominate the affections of the heart, or to give up illicit fun. Those who live like this live on the edge of hell. What if God cut life when the soul is in sin?

"Hopefully this misfortune won't happen to me," says someone. Others said so too ... but then they ended badly.

Another thinks: "I will put myself in a good will in a month, in a year, or when I am old." Are you sure of tomorrow? Don't you see how the sudden deaths are constantly increasing?

Someone else tries to deceive himself: "Just before death I will fix everything." But how do you expect God to use you deathbed mercy after having abused his mercy all your life? What if you miss the chance?

To those who reason in this way and live in the most serious danger of falling to hell, in addition to attending the Sacraments of Confession and Communion, it is recommended ...

1) Watch carefully, after Confession, not to commit the first serious fault. If you fall ... get up immediately resorting again to Confession. If you do not do this, you will easily fall a second time, a third time ... and who knows how many more!

2) To flee the near opportunities of serious sin. The Lord says: "Whoever loves danger in it will be lost" (Sir 3:25). A weak will, in the face of danger, easily falls.

3) In temptations, think: “Is it worth, for a moment of pleasure, to risk an eternity of suffering? it is Satan who tempts me, to snatch me from God and lead me to hell. I don't want to fall into his trap! ”.

MEDITATION IS NECESSARY

It is useful for everyone to meditate, the world goes wrong because it does not meditate, it no longer reflects!

Visiting a good family I met a sprightly old woman, calm and clear-headed despite over ninety years.

“Father, he told me when you listen to the confessions of the faithful, you recommend them to do some meditation every day. I remember that when I was young, my confessor often urged me to find some time for reflection every day. "

I replied: "In these times it is already difficult to convince them to go to Mass at the party, not to work, not to blaspheme, etc ...". And yet, how right that old lady was! If you do not take the good habit of reflecting a little every day you lose sight of the meaning of life, the desire for a deep relationship with the Lord is extinguished and, lacking this, you can not do anything or almost good and not there is the reason and the strength to avoid what is bad. Whoever meditates assiduously, it is almost impossible for him to live in disgrace of God and end up in hell.

THE THOUGHT OF HELL IS A POWERFUL LEVER

The thought of hell generates the Saints.

Millions of martyrs, having to choose between pleasure, wealth, honors ... and death for Jesus, have preferred the loss of life rather than going to hell, mindful of the words of the Lord: "What is the use of man to earn if the whole world loses its soul? " (cf. Mt 16:26).

Heaps of generous souls leave family and homeland to bring the light of the Gospel to infidels in distant lands. By doing this they better ensure eternal salvation.

How many religious also abandon the licit pleasures of life and give themselves to mortification, to more easily reach eternal life in paradise!

And how many men and women, married or not, although with many sacrifices, observe the Commandments of God and engage in works of apostolate and charity!

Who supports all these people in a loyalty and generosity certainly not easy? it is the thought that they will be judged by God and rewarded with heaven or chastised with eternal hell.

And how many examples of heroism we find in the history of the Church! A twelve-year-old girl, Santa Maria Goretti, let herself be killed rather than offended by God and damned. He tried to stop his rapist and murderer by saying, "No, Alexander, if you do this, go to hell!"

Saint Thomas Moro, the Great Chancellor of England, to his wife who urged him to yield to the order of the king, signing a decision against the Church, replied: "What are twenty, thirty, or forty years of comfortable life compared to 'hell?". He did not subscribe and was sentenced to death. Today he is holy.

POOR GAUDENT!

In earthly life, good and bad live together like wheat and weeds are in the same field, but at the end of the world humanity will be divided into two hosts, that of the saved and that of the damned. The Divine Judge will then solemnly confirm the sentence given to each one immediately after death.

With a little imagination, let's try to imagine the appearance before God of a bad soul, who will feel the sentence of condemnation on him. In a flash it will be judged.

Joyful life ... freedom of the senses ... sinful amusements ... total or almost indifference towards God ... derision of eternal life and especially of hell ... In a flash, death truncates the thread of his existence when he least expects it.

Freed from the bonds of earthly life, that soul is immediately in front of Christ the Judge and fully understands that she deceived herself during life ...

So there is another life! ... How foolish I was! If I could go back and fix the past! ...

Realize, o my creature, what you have done in life. But I didn't know I had to submit to a moral law.

I, your Creator and High Legislator, ask you: What have you done with my Commandments?

I was convinced that there was no other life or that, in any case, everyone would be saved.

If everything ended with death, I, your God, would have made myself Man unnecessarily and I would have died on a cross unnecessarily!

Yes, I heard about this, but I didn't give it any weight; for me it was superficial news.

Didn't I give you the intelligence to know me and love me? But you preferred to live like beasts ... without a head. Why didn't you imitate the conduct of my good disciples? Why didn't you love me as long as you were on earth? You have consumed the time that I have given you to hunt for pleasures ... Why have you never thought about hell? If you had, you would have honored and served me, if not out of love, at least for fear!

So, is there hell for me? ...

Yes, and for all eternity. Even the rich epulone I told you about in the Gospel didn't believe in hell ... yet he ended up in it. To you the same fate! ... Go, cursed soul, into the eternal fire!

In a moment the soul is at the bottom of the abyss, while his corpse is still warm and the funeral is being prepared ... "Damn me! For the joy of a moment, which has vanished like lightning, I will have to burn in this fire, far from God, forever! If I hadn't cultivated those dangerous friendships ... If I had prayed more, if I had received the Sacraments more often ... I wouldn't be in this place of extreme torments! Damn pleasures! Cursed goods! I trampled on justice and charity to get some wealth ... Now others enjoy it and I have to pay here for all eternity. I acted crazy!

I was hoping to save myself, but I didn't have time to put myself back in favor. The fault was mine. I knew I could be damned, but I preferred to keep on sinning. The curse falls on those who gave me the first scandal. If I could come back to life ... how would my behavior change! "

Words ... words ... words ... Too late now ... !!!

Hell is a death without death, an endless end.

(St. Gregory the Great)

VI

OUR SALVATION IS IN THE MISERICORINE OF JESUS

DIVINE MERCY

Talking only about hell and divine justice could make us fall into despair of being able to save ourselves.

Since we are so weak, we also need to hear about divine mercy (but not only of this, because otherwise we would risk falling into the presumption of saving ourselves without merit).

So ... justice and mercy: not one without the other! Jesus wishes to convert sinners and remove them from the way of perdition. He came into the world to procure eternal life for everyone and wants nobody to harm himself.

In the booklet "Merciful Jesus", containing the confidences made by Jesus to Blessed Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, from 1931 to 1938, we read among other things: "I have all eternal life to use justice and I have only earthly life in which I can use mercy; now I want to use mercy! ".

Therefore, Jesus wants to forgive; there is not so great a fault that He cannot destroy in the flames of his divine Heart. The only absolutely necessary condition for obtaining his mercy is hatred of sin.

A MESSAGE FROM THE SKY

In recent times, when evil is spreading in the world in an impressive way, the Redeemer has shown his mercy with more intensity, to the point of wanting to give a message to sinful humanity.

For this, that is, to implement his designs of love, he made use of a privileged creature: Josepha Menendez.

On June 10, 1923, Jesus appeared at the Menendez. He had a celestial beauty marked by sovereign majesty. His power was manifested in the tone of his voice. These are his words: 'Josepha, write for souls. I want the world to know my heart. I want men to know my love. Do they know what I have done for them? Men seek happiness away from me, but to no avail: they will not find it.

I appeal to everyone, to simple men as to the powerful. I will show everyone that if they seek happiness, they are Happiness; if they seek peace, they are peace; Mercy and Love are. I want this Love to be the sun that illuminates and warms souls.

I want the whole world to know me as the God of mercy and love! I want men to know my ardent desire to forgive them and save them from the fire of hell. Sinners do not fear, the most guilty do not escape me. I await them as a Father, with open arms, to give them the kiss of peace and true happiness.

The world listen to these words. A father had only one son. Rich and powerful, they lived in great comfort, surrounded by servants. Fully happy, they did not need anyone to increase their happiness. The father was the joy of the son and the son the joy of the father. They had noble hearts and charitable feelings: the least misery of others moved them with compassion. One of the servants of this good lord became seriously ill and would certainly have died if he had lacked the proper assistance and remedies. That servant was poor and lived alone. What to do? Let him die? That gentleman didn't want to. To cure him, will he send any of his other servants? He would not be calm because, taking care of these more for interest than for love, he would not have given him all the attention that the sick need. That father, in anguish, confided to his son his concern for that poor servant. The son, who loved his father and shared his feelings, offered to take care of that servant himself, with care, without paying attention to sacrifices and tiredness, in order to obtain the desired recovery. The father accepted and sacrificed the company of his son; the latter in turn renounced his father's affection and companionship and, making himself his servant's servant, devoted himself entirely to his assistance. He lavished a thousand attentions on him, provided what was necessary and did so much, with infinite sacrifices of his, that in a short time that infirm servant was healed.

Full of admiration for what the master had done for him, the servant asked how he could show his gratitude. The son suggested that he introduce himself to his father and, since he was now healed, to offer himself again to his service, remaining in that house as one of the most faithful servants. The servant obeyed and, returning to his ancient task, to show his gratitude, he did his duty with the greatest availability, indeed, he offered to serve his master without being paid, knowing full well that he does not need to be paid as dependent who in that house is already treated like a child.

This parable is but a faint image of my love for men and the response I expect from them.

I will explain it gradually, because I want my feelings, my love, my Heart to be known. "

EXPLANATION OF THE PARABLE

“God created man out of love and placed him in such a condition that nothing could be lacking in his well-being on earth, until he reached eternal happiness in the other life. But, to achieve this, he had to submit to the divine will, observing the wise and non-burdensome laws imposed on him by the Creator.

The man, however, unfaithful to the law of God, committed the first sin and thus contracted that serious infirmity which was to lead him to eternal death. Because of the sin of the first man and the first woman, all their descendants were burdened by the most bitter consequences: all mankind lost the right that God had granted them, to possess perfect happiness in Heaven and from then on had to tribulate, to suffer and die.

To be happy, God needs neither man nor his services, because it is enough for himself. Its glory is infinite and nobody can diminish it. But God, who is infinitely powerful and infinitely good and created man only out of love, how can he let him suffer and then die in that way? No! He will give him another proof of love and, in the face of infinite evil, offers him a remedy of infinite value. One of the three Divine Persons will take human nature and repair the evil caused by sin.

From the Gospel you know his earthly life. You know how from the first moment of his Incarnation he submitted to all the miseries of human nature. As a child he suffered from cold, hunger, poverty and persecution. As a worker he was often humiliated and despised as the poor carpenter's son. How many times, after bearing the weight of a long day of work, he and his putative Father found themselves in the evening having just gained the minimum to survive. And so he lived for thirty years.

At that age he abandoned the sweet company of his Mother and consecrated himself to make his Father in Heaven known, teaching everyone that God is Love. He passed by doing only good to the bodies and souls; to the sick he gave health, to the dead life and to souls ... to souls he gave freedom lost with sin and opened the doors of the true homeland to them: paradise.

Then came the time when, in order to obtain their eternal salvation, the Son of God wanted to give his own life. And how did he die? Surrounded by friends? ... Acclaimed by the crowd as a benefactor? ... Dear souls, you know that the Son of God did not want to die like this. He, who had sown nothing but love, was a victim of hatred. He who brought peace to the world was the victim of fierce cruelty. He who made freedom for men, was bound, imprisoned, mistreated, cursed, slandered and finally died on a cross between two thieves, despised, abandoned, poor and stripped of everything!

So he sacrificed himself to save men. So he did the work for which he had left the glory of his Father. The man was seriously ill and the Son of God came to him. Not only did he give him life, but he got the strength and the means to buy the treasure of eternal happiness down here.

How did man respond to this immense love? Did he offer himself as the good servant of the parable in the service of his Lord with no other interest than the interests of God? Here we must distinguish the different responses given by man to his Lord.

Some truly knew me and, driven by love, felt the lively desire to devote themselves completely and without interest to my service, which is that of my Father. They asked him what they could have done more for him and my Father replied to them: 'Leave your home, your goods and yourself and come after me to do what I will tell you'.

Others felt their hearts moved by the sight of what the Son of God did to save them. Full of goodwill, they presented themselves to him asking him how they could correspond to his goodness and work for his interests, without however abandoning his own. To them my Father replied: 'Observe the law that I, your God, have given you. Keep my Commandments without deviating either to the right or to the left; live in the peace of faithful servants'.

Others then understood very little how much God loves them. However some goodwill have it and live under his law, more for the natural inclination to good than for love. These, however, are not voluntary and willing servants, because they did not offer themselves joyfully to the orders of their God; but since there is no bad will in them, in many cases an invitation is enough for them to lend themselves to his service.

Still others submit to God more out of interest than out of love and only to the strict extent necessary for the final reward promised to those who keep his law.

And then there are those who do not submit to their God, either out of love or out of fear. Many have known and despised him ... many do not even know who he is ... I will say a word of love to everyone!

I will speak first to those who do not know me. Yes, to you dear children, I speak to you who since childhood have lived far from the Father. Come! I will tell you why you don't know him and when you understand who he is and what loving and tender Heart he has for you, you will not be able to resist his love. It often happens that those who grow up away from their paternal home do not feel any affection for their parents. But if one day they experience the tenderness of the father and the mother, they no longer detach themselves from them and love them more than they have always been with their parents.

I also speak to my enemies ... To you who not only do not love me, but persecute me with your hatred, I only ask: 'Why is this hatred so fierce? What harm have I done to you because you mistreat me like this? Many have never asked themselves this question and now that I myself address it to them, perhaps they will answer: 'I feel this hatred inside me, but I don't know how to explain it'.

Well, I will answer for you.

If you didn't know me in your childhood it was because nobody taught you to know me. As you grew older, natural inclinations, attractiveness for pleasure, the desire for wealth and freedom grew with you. Then one day you heard of me; you have heard that to live according to my will, it was necessary to endure and love one's neighbor, respect his rights and his goods, submit and chain his own nature, in short, live under a law.

And you who, from the first years, lived only following the whim of your will and the impulses of your passions, you who did not know which law it was, protested strongly: I want no other law than my desires; I want to enjoy and be free !: That's why you started to hate me and persecute me.

But I, who am your Father, loved you and, while you worked so hard against me, my Heart was filled with tenderness for you more than ever. So too many years of your life went by ...

Today I cannot contain my love for you any longer and, seeing you in open war against the One who loves you so much, I come to tell you who I am anyway. Beloved children, I am Jesus. My name means: Savior; this is why I have my hands pierced by the nails which held me on the cross, on which I died for your love; my feet bear the marks of the same sores and my Heart was opened by the spear that pierced it after my death.

So I introduce myself to you, to teach you who I am and what my law is; do not be intimidated: it is the law of love. If and when you get to know me, you will find peace and happiness. Living as an orphan is very sad. Come, children, come to your Father. I am your God and your Father, your Creator and your Savior; you are my creatures, my children and also my redeemed, because at the price of my blood and my life I redeemed you from the slavery of sin.

You have an immortal soul, endowed with the faculties necessary to do good and capable of enjoying eternal happiness. Perhaps, upon hearing my words you will say: We have no faith, we do not believe in future life! ... '. Have you no faith? Don't you believe in me? Why then do you persecute me? Why do you want freedom for you, but then you don't leave it to those who love me? Don't believe in eternal life? Tell me: are you happy like this? You well know that you need something that you do not find and cannot find on earth. The pleasure you seek does not satisfy you ...

Believe in my love and my mercy. Did you offend me? I forgive you. Did you haunt me? i love you. Did you hurt me with words and deeds? I want to do you good and offer you my treasures. Do not believe that you ignore it as you have lived up to now. I know that you have despised my graces and that sometimes you have profaned my sacraments. It doesn't matter, I forgive you!

Yes, I want to forgive you! I am Wisdom, Happiness, Peace, I am Mercy and Love! "

I have reported only some passages, the most significant, of the message of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the world.

From this message, the great desire that Jesus has to convert sinners to save them from eternal fire shines continuously.

Unhappy those who deaf to his voice! If they do not leave sin, if they do not give themselves to God's love, for all eternity they will be victims of their hatred of the Creator.

If as long as they are on this earth they do not welcome divine mercy, in the other life they will have to undergo the power of divine justice. it is a horrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

WE DO NOT THINK ABOUT OUR SALVATION

Perhaps this writing will be read by some who live in sin; maybe someone will convert; someone else, on the other hand, with a pitying smile, will exclaim: "Nonsense, these are stories that are good for old ladies!".

To those who will read these pages with interest and with some trepidation, I say ...

You live in a Christian family, but perhaps not all of your loved ones are in friendship with God. Perhaps your husband, or son, or dad, or sister, or brother has not received the holy sacraments for years, because they are slaves of indifference, hatred, lust, blasphemy, greed, or other faults ... How will these loved ones find themselves in the other life if they do not repent? You love them because I am your neighbor and your blood. Never say: "What do I care? Everyone thinks of his soul! "

Spiritual charity, that is, taking care of the good of the soul and the salvation of the brothers, is the most pleasing thing to God. Do something for the eternal salvation of those you love.

Otherwise, you will be with them in the few years of this earthly life and then you will be separated from them forever. You among the saved ... and the father, or the mother, or a son or brother among the damned ...! You to enjoy eternal joy ... and some of your loved ones in eternal torment ...! Can you resign yourself to this possible perspective? Pray, pray much for these needy!

Jesus said to Sister Maria of the Trinity: "Unhappy the sinner who has no one to pray for him!".

Jesus himself suggested to Menendez the prayer to do to convert the traviati: to turn to his divine wounds. Jesus said: "My wounds are open for the salvation of souls ... When praying for a sinner, Satan's strength decreases in him and the strength that comes from my grace increases. Mostly the prayer for a sinner gets his conversion, if not immediately, at least on the point of death ”.

It is therefore recommended to recite, every day, five times the "Our Father 'five times the" Hail Mary "and five times the" Glory "to the five wounds of Jesus. And since prayer combined with sacrifice is more powerful, to whom want some conversion it is advisable to offer God five small sacrifices every day in honor of the same five Divine Wounds. Very useful is the celebration of some Holy Mass to recall the travertines to good.

How many, despite having lived badly, have had the grace from God to die well for the prayers and sacrifices or of the bride, or of the mother, or of a son…!

CRUSADE FOR THE DYING

There are many sinners in the world, but the most at risk, those who need help most are the dying; they only have a few hours or maybe a few moments to put themselves in God's grace before going to the divine tribunal. God's mercy is infinite and even at the last moment it can save the greatest sinners: the good thief on the cross has given us proof.

There are dying every day and every hour. If anyone who says he loves Jesus cares, how many would escape hell! In some cases, a small act of virtue may be enough to snatch prey from Satan.

Very significant is the episode narrated in "The invitation to love". One morning the Menendez, tired of the pains suffered in hell, felt the need to rest; however, remembering what Jesus had said to her: "Write what you see in the afterlife"; with no small effort he sat down at the table. In the afternoon the Madonna appeared to her and said to her: “You, my daughter, this morning before the Mass did a good work with sacrifice and with love at that moment there was a soul already close to hell. My Son Jesus used your sacrifice and that soul was saved. See, my daughter, how many souls can be saved with small acts of love! "

The crusade recommended to good souls is this:

1) Do not forget the agonizing souls of the day in daily prayers. Say, possibly morning and evening, the ejaculation: “Saint Joseph, putative Father of Jesus and true Spouse of the Virgin Mary, pray for us and for the agonizers of this day.

2) Offer the sufferings of the day and other good works for sinners in general and especially for the dying.

3) At Consecration in the Holy Mass and during Communion invoke the divine mercy on the agonizers of the day.

4) Upon learning of seriously ill people, do everything possible to receive religious comfort. If someone refuses, intensify the prayers and sacrifices, ask God for some particular suffering, up to putting himself in the victim state, but this only with the permission of his spiritual father. it is almost impossible, or at least very difficult, for a sinner to harm himself when there are those who pray and suffer for him.

FINAL THINKING

The Gospel speaks clearly:

Jesus said over and over again that hell exists. So, if hell wasn't there, Jesus ...

he would be a slanderer of his Father ... because he would present him not as a father of mercy, but as a merciless executioner;

he would be a terrorist towards us ... because he would threaten us with the possibility of suffering an eternal sentence that in fact would not exist for anyone;

he would be a liar, an arrogant, a poor man: .. because he would trample on the truth, threatening non-existent punishments, just to bend men to his unhealthy cravings;

would be a torturer of our consciences, because, inoculating the fear of hell, it would make us lose the desire to enjoy in peace certain "spicy" joys of life.

According to you, can JESUS ​​BE ALL THIS? AND THIS WOULD BE IF THE HELL WERE THERE! CHRISTIAN, DO NOT FALL IN CERTAIN TRABOCCHETTI! IT COULD CONSTITUTE YOU TOO EXPENSIVE ... !!!

If I were the devil I would do one thing; exactly what is happening: convincing people that hell does not exist, or at least that, if there is, it cannot be eternal.

Once this is done, everything else would come by itself: everyone would conclude that any other truth can be denied and any sin committed that ... sooner or later, sooner or later, everyone will be saved!

The denial of hell is Satan's trump card: it opens the door to any moral disorder.

(Don Enzo Boninsegna)

THEY SAID

Between us on one side and hell or heaven on the other there is nothing but life: the most fragile thing that exists.

(Blaise Pascal)

Life was given to us to seek God, death to find him, eternity to possess him.

(Nouet)

A only merciful God would be a nice piece of cake for everyone; a just righteous God would be terror; and God is neither a godsend nor a terror to us. he is a Father, as Jesus says, who, as long as we are alive, is always willing to welcome the prodigal son who returns home, but he is also the master who, at the end of the day, gives everyone the right wages.

(Gennaro Auletta)

Two things kill the soul: presumption and despair. Hopefully too much with the former, too little with the latter. (St. Augustine)

To save oneself it is necessary to believe, to be damned not! Hell is not proof that God does not love, but that there are men who do not want to love God or be loved by Him. Nothing else. (Giovanni Pastorino)

One thing disturbs me deeply and is that priests no longer speak of hell. It is passed modestly in silence. It is understood that everyone will go to heaven without any effort, without any precise conviction. Nor do they doubt that hell is the basis of Christianity, that it was this danger that snatched the Second Person from the Trinity and that half the Gospel is full of it. If I were a preacher and went to the chair, I would firstly feel the need to warn the sleeping flock of the terrifying danger that is running.

(Paul Claudel)

We, proud to have eliminated hell, are now spreading it everywhere.

(Elias Canetti)

Man can always say to God ...: "Thy will not be done!". it is this freedom that gives rise to hell.

(Pavel Evdokimov)

Since man no longer believes in hell, he has transformed his life into something that looks a lot like hell. Obviously he cannot do without it!

(Ennio Flaiano)

Each sinner ignites the flame of his own fire; not that he is immersed in a fire lit by others and existing before him. The matter that feeds this fire is our sins. (Origen)

Hell is the suffering of not being able to love anymore. (Fédor Dostoevskij)

it has been said, with profound intuition, that heaven itself would be hell for the damned, in their now incurable spiritual distortion. If they could, absurdly, get out of their hell, they would find him in paradise, having considered the law and the grace of love to be enemies. (Giovanni Casoli)

The Church in her teaching affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. The souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin immediately descend into hell, where they suffer the pains of hell, "the eternal fire" ... (1035). Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, like love itself ... If it is not redeemed by God's repentance and forgiveness, it causes exclusion from the Kingdom of Christ and eternal death in hell; in fact our freedom has the power to make definitive, irreversible choices ... (1861).

(Catechism of the Catholic Church) ** Hell is paved with good intentions.

"Hell is paved with good intentions."

(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux)

NIHIL OBSTAT QUOMINUS IMPRIMATUR

Catania 18111954 Priest Innocent Licciardello

IMPRIM

Catania 22111954 Sac. N. Ciancio Vic. January

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