Sister Faustina's Vision of Hell

Seattle Catholic ^ | St. Faustina

[Land of the Irish]

Sister Faustina's Vision of Hell

"I, Sister Faustina Kowalska, by the order of God, have visited the Abysses of Hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence...the devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God, What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell." (Diary 741)

The Apostle of Divine Mercy St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy

"Today, I was led by an angel to the Chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: The First Torture that constitutes hell is:      The loss of God. The Second is:      Perpetual remorse of conscience. The Third is      That one's condition will never change. The Fourth is:      The fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God's anger. The Fifth Torture is:      Continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own. The Sixth Torture is: The constant company of Satan. The Seventh Torture is: Horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.

These are the Tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. Indescribable Sufferings There are special Tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned. I would have died There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. No One Can Say There is No Hell Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like...how terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O My Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend you by the least sin." (Diary 741)

---

Diary,

[Land of the Irish]

"But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell." (Diary 741)"

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Bump.

[Cap'n Crunch]

Whew, hope I never see that.

I've read the vision of hell that St. John Bosco had.

Gotta keep saying that Divine Mercy Chaplet.

[Desdemona]

Just so we don't forget:

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy (on ordinary rosary beads)

1. Begin with:

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trepasses as we forgive those who trepass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of the sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.

On the large bead before each decade:

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

On the 10 small beads of each decade:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Conclude with (after five decades):

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (3 times)

The hour of Divine Mercy is 3 pm.

[NYer]

Jesus, I Trust In You

I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory. (Diary 48)

Thank you for this post and its timely reminder.

[TotusTuus]

Christos Voskrese!

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (3 times)

Just a note of liturgical interest. This prayer is called the Trisagion and is chanted by the congregation right before the readings in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom used by Eastern Cahtolics and Orthodox. Sort of like the Gloria for Eastern Rites.

[Cap'n Crunch]

This is the second year in a row that my wife, kids and I all made the Novena together.

What a great grace Our Lord has given us.

[Land of the Irish]

Thanks for posting the image of the Divine Mercy.

[dsc]

"That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell." (Diary 741)"

I've recently been quibbling with some of those people on a local site. They made the usual arguments about "a god who would judge and punish is no better than we are," and "I can't believe in a god that would punish us for all eternity because that's so petty" et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I failed to answer them correctly.

While looking at the Divine Mercy image, it came to me: it's not that God is punishing us; it's that He's honoring our own decision to go with Satan instead of with Him.

We have our choice. He wants us to choose Him. But if we don't, if we choose Satan, He allows Satan to take us.

Is that theologically sound?

Still, that leaves the problem of those who are born into societies that routinely practice evil. One could argue that some people were and are not given a "fair" chance to choose God.

Can anybody respond to that one?

[dsc]

Thanks for the reply.

The quibble there is with "although they knew God" and "knowing the righteous judgment of God."

One could ask if, say, a 15 year old born into an all-Hindu village in a remote region of India falls into that category.

Wasn't Paul speaking mainly of Jews when he made those remarks?

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

We have our choice. He wants us to choose Him. But if we don't, if we choose Satan, He allows Satan to take us.

Sounds accurate to me.

[Citizen of the United States]

Ah, invincible ignorance. As I understand it, it is the teaching of the Catholic Church that a person who truly has no knowledge of the Gospel of Christ, but serves God as best as he or she knows how, and strives for the Truth, can be saved by God's infinite mercy.

As I understand the Catholic teaching, sin is the conscious decision to do what one knows is hateful to God. If one genuinely does not know that something is sinful, one is invincibly ignorant.

Invincible ignorance: It's the only thing between you and a Hell of a lot of sin.

[dsc]

I appreciate the information, but I get a sense that you were trying at the same time to be offensive. If that's not the case, I apologize.

"As I understand it, it is the teaching of the Catholic Church that a person who truly has no knowledge of the Gospel of Christ, but serves God as best as he or she knows how, and strives for the Truth, can be saved by God's infinite mercy."

All right. Now, how about my hypothetical Hindu? Is it possible for him to serve God, never having been exposed to any philosophy or theology of the Judeo-Christian tradition?

"As I understand the Catholic teaching, sin is the conscious decision to do what one knows is hateful to God. If one genuinely does not know that something is sinful, one is invincibly ignorant."

So, an Aztec priest offering up human sacrifices was not committing sins? That wasn't offensive to God? I'm not just quibbling here; I'm honestly trying to get this straight in my mind.

We know that God is infinitely merciful, loving, and just; so what's the status of a South Sea cannibal? What's the status of a Baal worshiper whose honest and sincere attempts to serve God as best as he knows how led him to cast his living infant into a fire in the idol's belly?

"Invincible ignorance: It's the only thing between you and a Hell of a lot of sin."

This would seem to imply that you think me invincibly ignorant. I'll admit to ignorance, but I think you're unnecessarily harsh in presuming my ignorance to be invincible.

[Salvation]

Divine Mercy Novena

A message of Mercy and Trust (Actress Portrays Diary of Divine Mercy Through One Woman Show)

The Message of Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

(Divine) Mercy Blossoms in Asia: American leaders are amazed by growth of Divine Mercy in Far East

Miracle Cure Brings Sainthood to Polish Nun (Divine Mercy)

Movement (Divine Mercy) once banned becomes guiding force in Pope's life

Text of John Paul II's Homily at the Dedication Mass of the Shrine of the Divine Mercy

Pope Consecrates Basilica of Divine Mercy

Sister Faustina's Vision of Hell

[ELS]

I attended a Polish parish on Divine Mercy Sunday and heard the chaplet in Polish and English.

[Citizen of the United States]

"I appreciate the information, but I get a sense that you were trying at the same time to be offensive. If that's not the case, I apologize."

I certainly was not trying to be offensive, no (I expect being deliberately offensive during a theological discussion would qualify as what the Russians call nekulturniy, to say the least). I apologize if I gave that impression.

"All right. Now, how about my hypothetical Hindu? Is it possible for him to serve God, never having been exposed to any philosophy or theology of the Judeo-Christian tradition?"

First, I want to make clear that I'm far from an expert on this subject. In order to make sure we're both on the same page, I'll quote from the two relevant sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

-------

"1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery." Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his [sic] Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity."

-------

and

-------

"1281 Those who die for the faith, those who are catachumens, and all those who, without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his [sic] will, are saved even if they have not been baptized."

-------

Based on this, I would say that yes, it is possible -- I say again for emphasis, possible -- for our hypothetical Hindu friend to serve God without any knowledge of philosophy or Judeo-Christian Theology, in a way known to God, and under the inspiration of grace. But this possibility exists only so long as he does not know of the Gospel of Christ or of His Church.

"So, an Aztec priest offering up human sacrifices was not committing sins? That wasn't offensive to God? I'm not just quibbling here; I'm honestly trying to get this straight in my mind.

We know that God is infinitely merciful, loving, and just; so what's the status of a South Sea cannibal? What's the status of a Baal worshiper whose honest and sincere attempts to serve God as best as he knows how led him to cast his living infant into a fire in the idol's belly?"

Well, sin is defined as "an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience" (CCC 1849) and "an utterence, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law" (id.). Mortal sin requires "full knowledge and complete consent" (CCC 1859), but "no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man" (CCC 1860).

So, judging by this, I would have to say that no, the Aztec priests and child-sacrificing Baal worshippers are not invincibly ignorant, and are committing sinful acts. The cannibal, I'm not sure: is the act of eating human flesh contrary to the natural moral law? Obviously, killing a man for the purpose of eating him is probably sinful, but what about cannibalism itself? I couldn't tell you.

Human sacrifice fails on its face as far as qualifying for the baptism of desire goes. The Catechism is very specific (CCC 1281) that a person thus saved is acting under the inspiration of grace; God would never inspire one to do something so wicked as to sacrifice another human life to some false idol (be that idol Quetzalcoatl or Baal or "reproductive rights").

I should remind you that I'm not an expert on sin. I suppose I am on sinning, but not especially moreso than the average Rightist, conservative, Catholic citizen of the United States. I actually had a mediocre education in the Faith (at best), and it's quite possible that I'm wrong or otherwise mistaken.

"This would seem to imply that you think me invincibly ignorant. I'll admit to ignorance, but I think you're unnecessarily harsh in presuming my ignorance to be invincible."

No, I was being facetious. I didn't mean you specifically, but more as a general remark (in the sense of "y'all," one might say). I'm sorry, I should have clarified that, but rest assured, I didn't mean to suggest you to be invincibly ignorant.

[rwfromkansas]

Number 6 leads me to believe this is a false vision quite clearly.

The idea that Satan is some sort of "leader" of Hell having a good jolly old time poking people with pitchforks is the stuff of cartoons, not the Bible. If this person saw Satan not being punished, but doing the punishing, she saw a false vision. She saw something planted in her not by God, but by the devil himself.

[rwfromkansas]

Actually, we are predestined. If God left the choice up to us, truly we would all reject the Son of God.