changed into a hell? Yes, my dear brethren, so it is. The more joyous and blissful the dwelling of the saints, the more painful shall hell be for the damned souls who are confined in that abyss. First, on account of the constant yearning for the eternal happiness that the damned have lost by their own fault, and can never hope to gain during eternity. The greater and more desirable the good that one longs for, the more intense is the bitterness and disappointment caused by being deprived of it. If you wish to torture a human being, or even a brute beast, in a most cruel manner, chain him up in a prison and place beside him the most costly food and drink that he cannot reach, so that he has to die of hunger and thirst with food and drink before his greedy eyes. Death itself is not so painful as to be thus tantalized. Poor Moses! how was it with thee when God brought thee to the top of the mountain and showed thee from afar the promised land, flowing with milk and honey, and at the same time announced to thee that as a punishment for thy doubting thou wert to have no part therein? Hear, my dear brethren, what the Sacred Scriptures say of this: “And the Lord said to him: This is the land for which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to thy seed.” Consider it well, Moses! But know that it is not for thee! “Thou hast seen it with thy eyes, and shalt not pass over to it.”[1] How great must have been the affliction of Moses at hearing those words! But in that affliction you have a mere shadow of the torture caused the damned in hell by heaven itself.
Of which they have a clear knowledge. According to the teaching of theologians, following St. Thomas of Aquin, God will impress the souls of the damned with a lively perception of the divine majesty, beauty, and other perfections, in the contemplation of which consists man’s perfect happiness; He will also give them a clear knowledge of the ineffable joys and delights which are the lot of His chosen friends and servants in heaven for all eternity. This twofold knowledge shall become much clearer on the day of general judgment, when the reprobate shall see Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in His majesty and glory, and shall behold the happiness of the elect, as I have said already on a former occasion. That knowledge shall remain impressed on their minds for all eternity, nor shall they be
- ↑ Dixitque Dominus ad eum: hæc est terra pro qua juravi Abraham, Isaac et Jacob, dicens: semini tuo dabo eam. Vidisti eam oculis tuis, et non transibus ad illam.—Deut. xxxiv. 4.
