St. Faustina's vision of hell

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

What a mystery! God’s Mercy and Justice are One in Him. There is no true mercy without true justice and no true justice without true mercy. Reading St. Faustina’s Diary last night, I came to read about her vision of hell:

1. 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…

St. Faustina goes on to describe the seven kinds of torture she saw there. After describing all she saw, she adds:

…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 of sufferings than offend You by the least sin.

St. Faustina, pray for us.
Jesus, I trust in You!

 

[mikekle]

Keep in mind, this more than likely is symbolic or metaphorical.

How many times do people get the ‘wrong message’ by taking things in the bible literally?

 

[Memaw]

Keep in mind, this more than likely is symbolic or metaphorical.

How many times do people get the ‘wrong message’ by taking things in the bible literally?

How many times do people get the “wrong” message by NOT taking to heart, what the Saints tell us and the Church has studied and approved for us. We seem to be good at finding a way to dismiss it. Or by saying, “we’re not under mortal sin to believe it so we can ignore it”. It’s our loss then and we do so at our own peril. God doesn’t send them to us just to be ignored and dismissed as unimportant. How many people today, Catholics included, think “there is NO Hell” or that “everyone is going to Heaven”. That is NOT what Jesus taught us. God Bless, Memaw

 

[GEddie]

Keep in mind, this more than likely is symbolic or metaphorical.

How many times do people get the ‘wrong message’ by taking things in the bible literally?

What makes you so sure this is metaphorical?

 

[jaimeleglise]

This passage was from an actual event in which St. Faustina’s was brought to hell so she could warn unrepentant sinners. Although hell is mentioned in the Bible as a real place, this passage is from the Diary of St. Faustina, not the Bible.

If someone doubts the existence of hell, wouldn’t he be better off believing in it so he could try to avoid going there? He should ask God to help him believe.

 

[callmeChris]

The teachings of the supernatural reveal to us that it’s beyond our human comprehension first and foremost. Hell and Heaven are eternal and everlasting. Our frail imaginations can only grasp so much of the word “eternal” because we only think of “forever and ever” but some still dont get it. Before the foundation of the world and even the universe itself Hell and heaven existed and before creation as we know it Satan and his legion of angels have been there and will continue to be in Hell for all eternity, suffering and hating God without end. The same for Heaven except the good angels and many of the Saints that lived from the foundation of the world to the day of judgement will be in God’s presence walking amongst him, loving him and adoring him forever and ever in the beauty and glorious realm of Heaven. Visions of the afterlife are meant to instill in us not only inspiration and hope but also fear and caution because I know for a fact I do not ever wish to see what evils and torments lies beyond the gates of Hell.

St. Bosco once had a dream where an angel took him to one of the walls of Hell. He told Bosco to touch it and he reluctantly did and it was so hot and so painful beyond words he woke up with burns. The angel also said that *“There are a thousand walls between this and the real fire of hell.”
*
When he said this, Don Bosco instinctively pulled back, but seizing his hand the guide touched it to the last wall of Hell. The size of heaven, Hell and Purgatory are beyond measure we can almost say it’s infinite as the physical universe itself. The number of the Angels in Hell and Heaven are beyond count that even saying a trillion would seem like nothing as well as the number of souls in Purgatory Heaven and Hell from the dawn of creation to the very last day. There is a reason why it’s called ‘SUPERnatural’ my friend.

 

[JosieN]

The teachings of the supernatural reveal to us that it’s beyond our human comprehension first and foremost. Hell and Heaven are eternal and everlasting. Our frail imaginations can only grasp so much of the word “eternal” because we only think of “forever and ever” but some still dont get it. Before the foundation of the world and even the universe itself Hell and heaven existed and before creation as we know it Satan and his legion of angels have been there and will continue to be in Hell for all eternity, suffering and hating God without end. The same for Heaven except the good angels and many of the Saints that lived from the foundation of the world to the day of judgement will be in God’s presence walking amongst him, loving him and adoring him forever and ever in the beauty and glorious realm of Heaven. Visions of the afterlife are meant to instill in us not only inspiration and hope but also fear and caution because I know for a fact I do not ever wish to see what evils and torments lies beyond the gates of Hell.

St. Bosco once had a dream where an angel took him to one of the walls of Hell. He told Bosco to touch it and he reluctantly did and it was so hot and so painful beyond words he woke up with burns. The angel also said that *“There are a thousand walls between this and the real fire of hell.”
*
When he said this, Don Bosco instinctively pulled back, but seizing his hand the guide touched it to the last wall of Hell. The size of heaven, Hell and Purgatory are beyond measure we can almost say it’s infinite as the physical universe itself. The number of the Angels in Hell and Heaven are beyond count that even saying a trillion would seem like nothing as well as the number of souls in Purgatory Heaven and Hell from the dawn of creation to the very last day. There is a reason why it’s called ‘SUPERnatural’ my friend.

Thank you for this reply. It is well written.

 

[MariaChristi]

Keep in mind, this more than likely is symbolic or metaphorical.

How many times do people get the ‘wrong message’ by taking things in the bible literally?

Dear mikekle,

Private revelation is not the same as Scripture. The Catechism is very clear in helping us to understand the difference:

CCC 67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history

When it comes to understanding Scripture, paragraphs 105 through 119 in the Catechism are important. The “literal sense” of the Bible is explained as:

CCC 115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

CCC 116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.”

People who choose to interpret according to “their own personal interpretation” without any regard to what the words os scripture truly mean can get the wrong ideas. The writings of saints who have written of their experiences are studied by the Church and if there is anything contrary to the faith there is a warning placed on those writings.

St. Faustina’s writings pose no threat to any teaching of the Church. In fact they can help us live the Truth God has revealed in Scripture, especially about His Merciful Love.

 

[MariaChristi]

How many times do people get the “wrong” message by NOT taking to heart, what the Saints tell us and the Church has studied and approved for us. We seem to be good at finding a way to dismiss it. Or by saying, “we’re not under mortal sin to believe it so we can ignore it”. It’s our loss then and we do so at our own peril. God doesn’t send them to us just to be ignored and dismissed as unimportant. How many people today, Catholics included, think “there is NO Hell” or that “everyone is going to Heaven”. That is NOT what Jesus taught us. God Bless, Memaw

Dear Memaw,

Thanks for your reply, which is in accord with what the Catechism teaches in paragraph 67, which I included in my response to mikekle. We do well to pay attention to the wisdom of the saints, in order that we may live more fully God’s revelation.

 

[MariaChristi]

This passage was from an actual event in which St. Faustina’s was brought to hell so she could warn unrepentant sinners. Although hell is mentioned in the Bible as a real place, this passage is from the Diary of St. Faustina, not the Bible.

If someone doubts the existence of hell, wouldn’t he be better off believing in it so he could try to avoid going there? He should ask God to help him believe.

Dear jaimeleglise and GEddie,

Thank you both for your replies. I agree with both of you, in that God allowed this vision to be shared by Sister Faustina for all of us, not only for her, to realize the need for ongoing conversion and our call to holiness. Her writing like all the writings of the saints can help us to grow in faith, hope and above all charity.

Jesus Himself taught us in the “Our Father” to pray: “…deliver us from evil” . The Catechism teaches :

2851 In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. the devil (dia-bolos) is the one who “throws himself across” God’s plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ.

2852 “A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies,” Satan is “the deceiver of the whole world.” Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death."166 Now “we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.”

 

[MariaChristi]

Thank you for this reply. It is well written.

Dear Josie and callmeChris,

Thank you both for your replies. Chris, I too have read some of the dreams of St. John Bosco. The saints are such a gift to us!

 

[GEddie]

The postmodern metaphorizing of Hell no doubt stems in part from a real reluctance to believe that something so nasty could exist.

But that isn’t how life works. Death exists; it is not metaphorical. Cruelty and destitution exist. Hideous diseases exist. None of them are metaphorical.

We are in no way required to believe in the writings of Saint Faustina or Don Bosco, even as metaphor. They are private revelation. But it behooveth us to reflect that people will like going to Hell a whole lot less than they liked hearing about it!

We should not try to metaphorize it, but rather take it seriously.

ICXC NIKA

 

[jaimeleglise]

Thank you very much, MariaChristi. We must be prepared.

 

[anon67074017]

I wonder if the vision is literal or metaphorical. I don’t want to go to hell to find out.

 

[JosieN]

I wonder if the vision is literal or metaphorical. I don’t want to go to hell to find out.

Here is a real and reliable vision of hell. It was given to the children at Fatima.

At Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary told the three child seers that many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray or make sacrifices for them. In her Memoirs, Sister Lucy describes the vision of hell that Our Lady showed the children at Fatima:

“She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear.”

 

[MariaChristi]

The postmodern metaphorizing of Hell no doubt stems in part from a real reluctance to believe that something so nasty could exist.

But that isn’t how life works. Death exists; it is not metaphorical. Cruelty and destitution exist. Hideous diseases exist. None of them are metaphorical.

We are in no way required to believe in the writings of Saint Faustina or Don Bosco, even as metaphor. They are private revelation. But it behooveth us to reflect that people will like going to Hell a whole lot less than they liked hearing about it!

We should not try to metaphorize it, but rather take it seriously.

ICXC NIKA

Dear GEddie,

Thanks for your reply. While the Church does not “require us to believe” any private revelation, nevertheless, the Church studies the writings of saints in order to assure us that reading them and acceptance of them does not harm our faith. I think this is important. I simply do not think we should take the writings of any saint “lightly” or simply try to explain it away by calling visions merely “metaphor”.

As you pointed out in your reply, “death is real. It is not metaphorical.”

The visions of saints are permitted for a reason, and I believe God is working good through them – they enable us as CCC 67 says: “to help live more fully by it ( i.e. “by it” meaning by Divine Revelation) in a certain period of history”. Today, perhaps as no other time in history we need to look at how we are living so that we may truly die a happy and holy death when our time comes.

 

[Memaw]

The postmodern metaphorizing of Hell no doubt stems in part from a real reluctance to believe that something so nasty could exist.

But that isn’t how life works. Death exists; it is not metaphorical. Cruelty and destitution exist. Hideous diseases exist. None of them are metaphorical.

We are in no way required to believe in the writings of Saint Faustina or Don Bosco, even as metaphor. They are private revelation. But it behooveth us to reflect that people will like going to Hell a whole lot less than they liked hearing about it!

We should not try to metaphorize it, but rather take it seriously.

ICXC NIKA

Originally Posted by Memaw View Post #3

How many times do people get the “wrong” message by NOT taking to heart, what the Saints tell us and the Church has studied and approved for us. We seem to be good at finding a way to dismiss it. Or by saying, “we’re not under mortal sin to believe it so we can ignore it”. It’s our loss then and we do so at our own peril. God doesn’t send them to us just to be ignored and dismissed as unimportant. How many people today, Catholics included, think “there is NO Hell” or that “everyone is going to Heaven”. That is NOT what Jesus taught us. God Bless, Memaw

When the Church says we are not under pain of sin when it comes to Private Revelations, that have been APPROVED by the Church, She is NOT telling us to dismiss them as tho they were NOT important. She is just reminding us that they are not the same as Divine Revelation which we do have to believe! We wouldn’t have devotions to the Sacred Heart, the Miraculous Medal, Lourdes, Fatima, Brown Scapular, etc, if it wasn’t for Private Revelations. They bring us closer to Our Lord and His Holy Mother and deepens our Spiritual life. God Bless, Memaw