The soul in Hell is condemned there forever. It will be tortured eternally, for each of its sins, by a punishment fitting each sin. It will be tormented interiorly and exteriorly. It will be tormented by fire, devils, and in every sense and faculty, and this torture will never, ever, end.
There’re some
good sermons on Hell.
For now, the souls there do not have bodies. After the resurrection, they will have them.
Hell is a place deep under the earth. (“He will turn the wicked into the bowels of the earth.” Eccus. xvii)
. . .
It is very important to love God, to enter into the Church, and find salvation. We are not born on the road to Heaven. And too few find the way. It is
the most important thing.
. . .
'For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment: And spared not the original world, but preserved Noe, the eighth person, the preacher of justice, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.
And reducing the cities of the Sodomites, and of the Gomorrhites, into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that should after act wickedly. And delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injustice and lewd conversation of the wicked. For in sight and hearing he was just: dwelling among them, who from day to day vexed the just soul with unjust works.
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented. And especially them who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, audacious, self willed, they fear not to bring in sects, blaspheming.’
2 Peter 2:4-10
'Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.
And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.’
Matthew 25:41-46
‘There are many who say there are no future punishments for sins nor any torments extrinsically applied, but that sin itself and the consciousness of guilt serve as punishment, while the worm in the heart does not die, and a fire is kindled in the mind, much like a fever, which does not torment the ailing person externally but punishes, even bodies by its seizures, without the application of any torments that might be brought to bear from without. These arguments and fraudulent fancies are but inane and empty words having the semblance of eloquence of speech but serving only to delude sinners; and if they give them credence they only add to the burden of eternal punishment which they will carry with them.’
St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church, (Commentary on Ephesians 3.5.6)
‘Why can we not say that even incorporeal spirits are able to be afflicted in some real ways, however, remarkable, with the punishment of corporeal fire, if the spirits of men, certainly themselves incorporeal, are able now to be contained in corporeal members, and in the future will be able to be bound indissolubly to the bonds of their own bodies? … Gehenna, the which is called also a slough of fire and brimstone, will be a corporeal fire and it will torture the bodies of the damned, either of both men and of demons, the solid bodies of men and the ethereal bodies of demons; or the bodies of men only, with their spirits, while of the demons, their spirits without bodies shall so cleave to the corporeal fires as to feel their punishment but not so as to give them life. But there will be one fire for both, as Truth itself has declared.’
St. Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church
‘Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved.’
St. Benedict Joseph Labre
‘Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.’
1 John 2:15
