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Besides the pain of loss hell inflicts also a pain of
sense. We shall speak here of the existence of this
pain, of what it is according to Scripture, of the
nature of the fire in hell, and of its mode of
action. [276]
The Testimony of Scripture
The pain of loss is clearly affirmed in the Gospel:
"Rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body
in hell." [277] The existence of this pain follows,
as St. Thomas [278] says, from the truth that mortal
sin not only turns man away from God, but turns him
also to a created good preferred to God. Mortal sin,
therefore, deserves a double suffering, first, the
privation of God, secondly, the affliction which
comes from creatures. The body, too, which has taken
part in sin and has found in sin a forbidden joy,
must share the suffering of the soul.
In what does the pain of sense consist? Scripture
[279] tells us by describing hell as a dark prison,
as a place of tears and gnashing of teeth. Further,
it speaks of fire and sulphur. [280]
In these descriptions two connected ideas always
recur; that of imprisonment, and the pain of fire.
Theologians insist as much on the one as on the
other, because each explains the other. We read:
[281] "The king said to the waiters: Bind his hands
and feet and cast him into the exterior darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.... The
hell of unquenchable fire."
[282]
The Fire of Hell: Real or
Metaphorical?
The common doctrine is that the fire of hell is a
real fire. This view is based on the accepted
position in the interpreting of Scripture, that is,
we are to admit metaphorical language only when
comparison with other passages excludes the literal
sense, or when literal sense involves an
impossibility. [283] Neither of these two conditions
is here realized. In this sentence, "Depart from Me,
you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared
for the devil and his angels," [284] the entire
context demands a realistic interpretation. As the
good go to eternal life, so you go to the fire
prepared for the demon and his angels. This fire
punishes, [285] not only souls, but also bodies.
[286] The apostles [287] too speak with the same
realism. St. Peter [288] takes as type of punishment
in hell that fire which fell from heaven on Sodom and
Gomorrah. The metaphorical interpretation, wherein
the fire is a figure of chagrin or remorse, is
contrary to the obvious sense of Scripture and
tradition.
The Fathers generally, with the exception of Origen
and his disciples, speak of a real fire, which they
compare to terrestrial fire, or even to corporeal
fire. Thus St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine,
St. Gregory the Great. [289] A. Michel, [290] after a
long examination of these texts, concludes: "When the
Fathers simply affirm traditional belief, they speak
without hesitation of a hell of fire. But when they
discuss the difficult question of this fire's mode of
action, we can notice some hesitation in their
thought."
This fire, says St. Thomas, [291] is a corporeal
fire, of the same nature as fire on earth, differing
from it only accidentally, since it has no need of
terrestrial fuel. It is dark, without flame, lasts
forever, burns bodies without destroying them. [292]
Its Mode of Action
How can corporeal fire cause pain in a soul separated
from its body, or in pure spirits like the demons?
Theologians answer in general: "It can do this as an
instrument of divine justice, just as the sacraments,
for example, the water of baptism, produce in the
soul that spiritual effect which is grace. Those who
have scorned the sacraments, instruments of God's
mercy, suffer the instruments of divine justice.
Theologians here divide into two camps, as they do
for the sacraments, some maintaining a physical
causality, others only a moral causality. A moral
cause, like prayer, which we address to someone to
persuade him to act, does not produce directly the
effect desired, it only inclines the agent capable of
producing the act to realize it. If it be thus with
the fire of hell, it would not produce effectively
that which is attributed to it. The effect would be
simply and solely produced by God.
Thomists, on the other hand, and with them many other
theologians, maintain here, as in the case of the
sacraments, a physical, instrumental causality,
exercised by the fire of hell on the souls of the
condemned. It is difficult indeed to explain its mode
of action. St. Thomas [293] and his best commentators
hold that the fire of hell receives from God power to
afflict the condemned spirits. The fire ties and
binds them, hinders their activity, somewhat like
paralysis or intoxication. This subjection to a
corporeal element is a great humiliation for
immaterial beings. This explanation is in harmony
with the texts of Scripture [294] which describe hell
as a prison where the damned are retained against
their will.
But how can this fire, after the general
resurrection, burn the bodies of the damned without
consuming them? That it does so is affirmed by
tradition and Scripture. [295] St. Thomas [296] holds
that the bodies of the damned, though they are
incorruptible and unalterable, still suffer in some
special fashion, as, for example, the sense of
hearing suffers from hearing a high, strident voice,
or as the taste suffers from a bitter flavor. [297]
Difficulty in explaining how this fire acts, is not a
reason for denying the reality of that action. Even
in the natural order it is difficult to explain how
exterior objects produce in our senses an impression,
a representation in the psychological order, which
surpasses brute matter. Hence it is not surprising
that preternatural effects should be still more
difficult to explain.
The pain of sense, as all tradition affirms, is not
the principal pain. That which is essential in the
state of damnation is the privation of God Himself,
and the immense void which this privation causes in
the soul, a void which manifests by contrast the
plenitude of life everlasting, of which the present
meritorious life is the prelude. [298]
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| 276. |
St. Thomas, IV Sent., dist. 44, q.
3, a. 3; Contra
Gentes, Bk. IV, chap. 90; De anima, q. 2, a. 21; De
veritate, q. 26, a.1; Supplementum, q. 70., a.3; q.
97,
a.5; Tabula aurea (Anima, no. 140); John of St.
Thomas,
De angelis, disp. 24, a. 3. Cf. Gonet, Billuart,
Dict.
theol. cath., "Feu de l'Enfer." |
| 277. |
Matt. 5:29; 10:28; 18:19; Mark 9:42, 46; Luke
12:5. |
| 278. |
Ia IIae, q. 87, a. 4. |
| 279. |
II Pet. 2:4, 6; 3:7. |
| 280. |
Apoc. 20:14. |
| 281. |
Matt. 22:13. |
| 282. |
Ibid., 5:22; 18:9, 40, 50. Further Matt. 18:8;
Mark
9:42. |
| 283. |
Dict. theol. cath., "Feu de l'Enfer". |
| 284. |
Matt. 25:41. |
| 285. |
Ibid., 10:28. |
| 286. |
Mark 9:42-48; Matt. 5:22; 18:9. |
| 287. |
II Thess. 1:8; Jas. 3:6; Jude 7:23. |
| 288. |
II Pet. 2:6; Jude 7. |
| 289. |
Enchir. patrist., Index theologicus, nos. 592 ff. |
| 290. |
Dict. theol. cath., col 2207. |
| 291. |
Supplementum. q. 97, a. 5, 6. |
| 292. |
St. Catherine de Ricci was allowed, in the place
of
one who had died, to suffer the fire of purgatory for
forty days. No one could see this externally, but a
novice, touching her hand, said to her: "But, mother,
you are burning." "Yes, my daughter," she replied. |
| 293. |
Contra Gentes, Bk. IV, chap. 90; Supplementum,
q.70, a.3. |
| 294. |
Jude 6: II Pet. 2:4; Apoc. 20:2. |
| 295. |
Dan. 12:2; Matt. 18:8, 9; Mark 9:29, 49. |
| 296. |
Contra Gentes, Bk. IV, chap. 89; De potentia, q.
5,
a. 8. |
| 297. |
These sufferings arise from their relation to the
object of sense, independent of alteration on the
part
of the subject. |
| 298. |
La vie spirituelle, December, 1941, p. 435. The
author, Father Thomas Dehau, is commenting on the
words
of the rich man, "I am tortured in this flame" (Luke
16:24). "The wicked rich man at the bottom of hell
is,
we may say, crucified to the world of heaven. This
world of beatitude and peace is for him inaccessible.
This idea of crucifixion in hell is found expressed
in
the Divine Comedy. Dante, passing through the shades,
perceives Caiphas, crucified on the ground by three
nails, and enveloped with flames. There you have the
picture of the soul in hell crucified in this flame.
And this fire is at the same time ice, because the
reprobate have no love. Satan, at the very bottom of
hell, is buried in ice. He is the one who has no
love.
At the other pole of the world we find the Sacred
Heart
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Infinitely removed from the
scenes we have been describing, at the height of the
regions there beyond, this heart too appears
enveloped
in flames, crowned with thorns; down below tears of
blood and on high the Hame; always the flame: "I am
crucified in this flame." Our Lord, from the moment
when he entered the world, had this flame in the
midst
of His heart, the flame and the wound of love."Thus this mysterious word, Crucior in hac flamma,
which
resounds at the bottom of hell from the reprobate, is
pronounced in a sense directly opposite by the
adorable
heart of our Lord. He no longer suffers, but all
perfection which His love and His suffering had on
earth continues to exist eminently in heaven. |
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