Alphonsus Liguori

“ Therefore, directly, the soul rushes forward to go and to embrace its Sovereign Good; but remaining in sin, it will be driven away by God. If a dog sees a hare, and the dog is held by a chain, what strength does he not use to break the chain, and to go and seize his prey? The soul, in being separated from the body, is naturally drawn to God; but sin divides it from God, and sends it far away to hell: " Your iniquities have separated between you and your God." ”

“ The punishment was so great to the nobleman, that he is reported to have died of grief. What will it be when God shall intimate to the sinner at the time of death, Depart, for I never wish to see thee more? ”

“ Were the miserable soul at least able to love its God in hell, and to resign itself to His will but no, if it could do that, hell would not be hell. The unhappy one is unable to become resigned to the will of God, because he is become an enemy to the Divine will. Neither can he love his" God any longer, but he hates Him, and will hate Him for ever; and this will be his hell to know that God is a Sovereign Good, and to feel obliged to hate God at the same time that he knows God is worthy of infinite love. ”

“ This is punishment for those who love, not for those who despise." S. Ignatius Loyola also says, "Lord, I can endure every punishment, but I cannot bear to be deprived of Thee." But sinners never conceive of this pain, who are contented to live months and years without God, because the miserable ones are living in the midst of darkness. In death they will know the great good which they are now losing. The soul, in departing from this life, directly understands that it was created for God ”

“ He will also be tormented by the intellect, in thinking of the great good which he has lost paradise and God; and that for this loss there is no longer any remedy. He will be tormented by the will, by seeing that every thing which he may ask for, will be for ever denied to him. "The desire of the ungodly shall perish." ”

“ But since his greatest guilt, in which the sin consists, lies in his turning away from God, so the chief punishment, and that which will make hell, will be the pain of loss; that is, the pain of having lost God.
Let us consider, in the first place, the pain of the senses. It is an article of faith that there is a hell. This prison is reserved in the middle of the earth for the punishment of the rebels against God. What is this hell? It is a place of torments. ”

“ The lost one will be tormented by memory, in remembering the time which he once had during this life in order to become saved, but which he has spent in causing his soul to be lost, and in remembering the graces which he received from God, but which he has never been willing to make use of. ”

“ The lost will have to remain in the midst of so many millions of other lost ones, alive as to pain, but corpses from the odour which they emit.
But some foolish one may say, " If I go to hell, I shall not be alone." Wretched one I By how many the more there are in hell, by so much the more will they suffer. As S. Thomas Aquinas says, " There the society of the wretched will not lessen, but increase the misery;" they will suffer all the more, I say, from the smell, the cry, the confinement; since in hell they will be upon each other like sheep are penned up together in the winter time. ”

“ As a wild beast devours a young kid, even so does the fire of hell devour the lost; it devours them, but without causing them to die. S. Peter Damian, speaking to the incontinent, observes, Continue to please thy flesh, for a day will come, when thy lewdness will become as pitch within thy bowels, which will cause the flame which will burn thee in hell to be more great and more tormenting. S. Jerome adds, that this fire will bring with it all the torments and pains which are suffered in this life pains in the side, in the head, in the bowels, in the nerves. ”

“ I desire to offend Thee no more, but ever to love Thee. Grant that I may obtain the gift of perseverance and of Thy holy love.
Second Point.
The punishment which most torments the senses of the lost, is the fire of hell which torments the touch. " The vengeance of the ungodly is fire and worms." (Ecclus. vii. 17.) Therefore it is, that the Lord makes special mention of it in His description of the judgment. " Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." (S. Matt. xxv. 41.) Even in this life, the pain which is caused by fire is sharper than any other ”

“ The pain of cold will also be felt in this fire. " Drought and heat consume the snow waters." (Job xxiv. 19.) But let it be ever understood, that all the pains which are endured in this life are but as a shadow, as S. Chrysostom remarks, when compared to the pains of hell, " Imagine fire, imagine the knife; what are these things but shadows compared with these torments? "
The powers belonging to the mind will also bring their own torment. ”

“ There are some who cannot endure to walk along a road dried up by the sun, or to remain in a close room with a brasier, neither can they endure a spark that may chance to fly from a candle; and yet they do not fear that fire which devours, as Isaiah inquires, " Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?" ”

“ The wretched one will never have that which he desires, but will ever have that which he abhors, which will be his eternal sufferings. He would wish to escape from the torments, and to find peace; but he will be tormented for ever, and will never more find peace. ”

“ The lost one will hate and will curse God, and cursing God, he will curse even the benefits which God has bestowed upon him creation, redemption, the Sacraments, especially that of baptism, repentance, and above all, the most Holy Eucharist. ”

“ The reason is, that our fire is made for our use; but the fire of hell is created by God on purpose to punish. Tertullian observes that the fire which is for human use, is very different from the fire which serves for the judgment of Cod. The wrath of God kindles that avenging fire. ”

“ Unhappy lost ones, who are condemned to ever hear for all eternity, the groans and cries of those who are tortured.
The appetite will be tormented by hunger; the lost ones will experience a rabid hunger, " grin like a dog, .... ”