What does CS Lewis mean by there will be pains in Heaven?...

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Thomas_Jennings

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He says will embrace them and that the pains we will have we wouldn’t bargain for any pleasure on Earth…so I don’t understand! What sort of a pain could that be!!!
 
Could you cite the work please, and preferably provide a quotation?
 
I am not sure but I think this was in “Letters to Malcolm”.

Anyway, the sentence went,

"Just as there may be pleasures in Hell, (God shield us from them); there **may **be something **not at all unlike **pains in Heaven (God grant us soon to taste them).

Bold added by me.

Not quite the same as stated by the OP.

Remember that CS was Protestant, so did not share the doctrine of Purgatory as a realm of being separate from Heaven. Yet he believed in Purgation. In this context, the sentence makes sense.

ICXC NIKA
 
Might not be exactly what u r looking for, but I remember a saint said once ( and i cant recall the saint or the exact quote) but something along the lines of… a soul would freely want to cast itself into hell or Purgatory, then be in the face of God with its sinfulness. Something like that. Which is a reason why purgatory exists, to cleanse us to see God.
 
Thomas_Jennings said:
He says will embrace them and that the pains we will have we wouldn’t bargain for any pleasure on Earth…so I don’t understand! What sort of a pain could that be!!!
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I am not clear that pain, of itself, is morally objectionable. It would seem that our capacity to endure pain (or not) is largely the issue. Someone who has a low threshold for pain might do anything to avoid it and, therefore, might even commit moral evil to not have to endure it. On the other hand, it might be incumbent on us as moral agents to endure pain at times in order to carry out right action.

It would seem that some kind of transformation akin to the physical "no pain no gain” might be at work regarding spiritual development. What Lewis might be getting at is that an increased tolerance for pain is necessary so that it will have no power over our capacity to love. At times, loving others means to give of self to the point of deprivation (no greater love has a man than to give up his life for another). If whole and complete love is the spiritual goal then, perhaps, overcoming sensitivity to pain might be an aspect of that growth. So, as Lewis seems to insist, the existence or absence of pain in Heaven, is not an important factor regarding absolute joy and our final spiritual state. Pain will likely be transformed into a less than “daunting” emotional state through our spiritual growth and development. To paraphrase St. Paul, there will be no “sting” to pain as there will be no “sting” to death.
 
Another possibility is that because they are united with Christ they will in some manner feel the sorrows/pain He feels when souls reject Him. I can only speculate on how this would be compatible with complete happiness beyond our imagination, but I think it’s a possibility, even if I can’t personally comprehend it.
 
I’m currently reading “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis. It really helped me understand purgatory more clearly but it was also disturbing in ways. For instance, the purification can be a painful process because our human natures may not “want” to let go of our pride, greed, lust, anger,etc., so people ultimately still have free will and may actually choose hell over heaven without even realizing it. In my RCIA class we talked about this last week and the instructor expressed the belief that some of a person’s purgatoy may be before death-such as a chronic debilitating illness, a coma, possibly life support. This made sense to me.
 
Deana83 said:
I’m currently reading “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis. It really helped me understand purgatory more clearly but it was also disturbing in ways. For instance, the purification can be a painful process because our human natures may not “want” to let go of our pride, greed, lust, anger,etc., so people ultimately still have free will and may actually choose hell over heaven without even realizing it. In my RCIA class we talked about this last week and the instructor expressed the belief that some of a person’s purgatoy may be before death-such as a chronic debilitating illness, a coma, possibly life support. This made sense to me.
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My priest-Chaplain always told us…if we die with as “horse’s-*** type person”…we aren’t going to wake up in eternity as a “nice loving person”…which I always think about when C.S. Lewis describes the bus from Purgatory filled with people who are being invited to be admitted into into heaven…and when the bus pulls up and stops…they are met just outside the gate to heaven by many souls already in heaven…a welcoming committee so to speak…but when the bus leaves to go back to Purgatory…many of the to-be-admitted souls…get back on the bus and go back to Purgatory…they just don’t want the new changes in life demanded by entrance into heaven. That episode and the ones about people in Purgatory who can’t stand being around other souls…so they move deeper and farther into the hinterlands of purgatory…and no one sees them anymore.

It is sobering to think that all the “personality disorders of self-centered pride, vanity and subjective idiosyncrasies” that we attach to ourselves in this life will be harder to let go in Purgatory than being purged of what we can more easily define as actual sins we committed and for which we still have to make restitution.

I read* The Great Divorce* every couple of years…its always scary and sobering…once we close our eyes and take that last breath in this life…we are close to being cast into the “cement of eternity”…with who we really have made ourselves to be in this short life.

Also, remember at Fatima…Lucia asked the Blessed Virgin Mary about two of their young girlfriends…by name…who had died not long ago…were they in heaven? Our Lady said that one was…but the other was in Purgatory…and would be there until the end of time. Yikes!

As Catholics we should remember Our Lord’s own words:
**Luke 12:41-48
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSV-CE)
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The Faithful or the Unfaithful Slave**
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41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. 44 Truly, I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish[a] him, and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. 48 But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
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Translation: Hell was made for Catholics…as someone once said.

Pax Christi
 
I know is Lutheran theology, heaven will still give us the opportunity for ‘effort’ given that even God created the world in sex creative steps and rested on the 7th day. We’re not sure what our how, but it frankly comforts me in that we’ll be able to perhaps contribute to our perfect home in Christ.
 
Thomas_Jennings said:
He says will embrace them and that the pains we will have we wouldn’t bargain for any pleasure on Earth…so I don’t understand! What sort of a pain could that be!!!
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CS Lewis’s opinion should not be taken as infallible.

It’s that simple
 
spiderweb said:
Another possibility is that because they are united with Christ they will in some manner feel the sorrows/pain He feels when souls reject Him. I can only speculate on how this would be compatible with complete happiness beyond our imagination, but I think it’s a possibility, even if I can’t personally comprehend it.
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That is an interesting comment. In Mormonism, the only kind of pain or sorrow that God (and other heavenly beings) can experience is sorrow “for the sins of the world”.
 
spiderweb said:
Another possibility is that because they are united with Christ they will in some manner feel the sorrows/pain He feels when souls reject Him. I can only speculate on how this would be compatible with complete happiness beyond our imagination, but I think it’s a possibility, even if I can’t personally comprehend it.
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I have wondered about this too, but St. Thomas seems to say otherwise (S.T. Sup., Q. 94).
 
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