We will see each other again. One day we are all going to die. One hundred years from now, everyone you now see, with maybe one or two exceptions, everyone you now see and walk around with, and work with, will be dead. At death we will all be judged. Lying in the grave, or being cremated. Cremation in the next life never ends. It will not only be the burning of the body, but also the soul, in everlasting fire, Jesus said. St. Paul says, ‘’It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgement.’’ Hebrews 9:27. Yes, at death, we will all be judged by Jesus Christ. If the judgement is good, we will be saved. If we have expiated all our sins by death, we will go directly to heaven. If there is more atonement to be done, we will go to purgatory. If the judgement is bad, then we go directly and immediately to hell. Scary isn’t it? To think if we die today, and we have not kept the commandments, if we are at enmity with God, that we go immediately into the furnace of fire, or lake of fire, as the scripture calls it, and start burning, screaming for pain. Our eyes are coming out of their sockets the pain is so intense, our hair is standing on its end, our whole body is on fire, there is no relief. No water to quench our thirst. No air-conditioners to cool us off. No water to put the fire out. We cannot die but wish we could. We curse the day we were born. “Let the day perish wherein I was born.’’ said holy Job. If we die today or tomorrow at enmity with God, this is what is waitng for us. There are no atheists in hell.
We see all the graces God offered us, and we rejected them. We see how we should have turned to him in prayer and neglected to do so. We see how his holy death paid the price for our sins, yet we did not take advantage of it. We see how ungrateful we were to him. ‘’If our greatest enemy had done for us what Jesus Christ had done, would we not be grateful? Why is Jesus the unlucky one?’’ says St. Alphonsus. We see how the door we came in by is shut to us forever. We will never get out. “Poor Cain. He has been in hell above 5,000 years. Poor Judas. He has been in hell over 1800 years,’’ says St. Alphonsus in his book, PREPARATION FOR DEATH.
We never thought this would happen. We didn’t actually believe there was a hell. When St. Faustina was shown a vision of hell, and sinners in their torments, she said, “Most souls in hell really didn’t believe there was a hell.’’ Isn’t that true? If you were informed that if you went out and got drunk tonight, or slept with someone who was not your married partner, or dressed immodestly, or used foul language, and that the police would be coming to get you tomorrow and throw you in a red hot boiler like they have in factories, and you were seeing examples on the live news every night, and you knew it was true, would you commit that sin? Would you say it was worth it? I think not.
Why did we think this would never happen? Because we didn’t see how evil our sins really were. The devil takes away our fear. Then when it’s time to go to confession, the devil gives us our shame back. We were blinded by our sins. “Their own malice blinded them.’’ Wisdom 2:21. God allowed this blindness because we chose to be blind, and not learn the truth about our salvation. We allowed our sports, (Sporting themselves to excess’’, as St. Peter said); our carousing, our gluttony, our pride to stand in the way. St. Alphonsus again says, “Why is it that God enlightens every man who comes into the world, why is it that so many are in darkness?’’ And he says, “They wish it. They turn their eyes away from the light.’’
And now, if I lose my soul, I will never have any respite in my burnings. You may say, ‘’God would not ever burn anyone forever in hell. That would be cruel.’’ But did you forget, God created you for heaven, and everlasting happiness? Did you forget, he paid a price for you that no man ever suffered before, or will since, for your sins and mine? Isaias says, ‘’ 1:6: From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.” Jesus was scourged from top to bottom for our sins of the flesh. He was crowned with a terrible crown of thorns for our pride. In the Garden, his grief and sorrow were so great looking at our sins, that he actually sweated blood. He carried that great heavy cross on his torn shoulder through the streets and up the hill, falling many times along the way, some say , a half mile, for our salvation. Then on Calvary they put him on the cross, they stretch his body with ropes after boring the holes too far apart, whereas one man said, “I have made him a foot longer.’’ Then they pierce his hands and feet with nails where all the nerves of the body are. They raise him up and drop him in the hole, and let him hang there three hours before he dies. They give him vinegar to drink to atone for our intemperance. They pierce his heart at death whereas the very last drop of blood is shed for us to wash us from our sins. His mother too, unites her sufferings with his for our salvation throughout the whole Passion. She stands at the foot of the cross for three hours, watching her Son writhe in agony, covered with blood and wounds, watching him gasp for air, one moment standing on those pierced feet, at another, hanging from those pierced hands. And seeing St. Longinus pierce his heart with the lance, her own heart was pierced through and through, according to the prophecy, “Thy own soul too a sword shall pierce.’’ St. Luke 2:35. ‘’Making up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of his body, the church.’’ Col.1:24.
And now, while our bodies are lying in the grave, sinners in hell are continuously burning till the final judgement at the end of the world. The final judgement when Jesus comes back, and calls all people in the grave to come forth by the angel’s trumpet, to the valley of Josaphat. He will not come as a gentle lamb, but as a roaring lion, the Lion of Juda. Joel, the prophet foretells the terrible day of the Lord; exhorts sinners to a sincere conversion; and comforts God’s people with promises of future blessings under Christ. ‘’ Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the Lord cometh, because it is nigh at hand, A day of darkness, and of gloominess, a day of clouds and whirlwinds: a numerous and strong people as the morning spread upon the mountains: the like to it hath not been from the beginning, nor shall be after it even to the years of generation and generation. Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a burning flame: the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind it a desolate wilderness, neither is there any one that can escape it…1:1-3…I will gather together all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat… Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about. Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied. Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining. And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God…’’ 2:2,12-17. ‘’And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’’ There won’t be any atheists on the day of judgement!
Now, all the dead in the graves will hear the voice of the Lord. The Christians are buried with their feet facing east, because the Son of man will be coming from the east, as lightning cometh from the east to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man will be. Thus, the Christians will be facing the Lord as He comes, whereas sinners, who ‘’turned their backs to him, and not their face,’’ says Jeremias 2:27; because they died rejecting the Lord, will be buried in no such direction, and as they rise will have to turn to the Lord to face His terrible wrath. They will all rise, some to everlasting happiness, some to everlasting condemnation. “And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always.” Daniel 12:2. They will see the angry face of God because of their many sins. The Lion of Juda will be roaring! They will wither with fear. All their friends who laughed at their bad jokes and comments while on earth will not be laughing now. They will all be so afraid that they will say to the mountains, ‘’Fall on us!’’ How scared would a man have to be to say to a mountain, ‘’Fall on him?’’ “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: ‘’Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us.” Luke 23:30.
The judgement at the end of the world will be a very long day. Imagine the trillions of people who have been created since Adam 7200 years ago. Seven billion on the planet now. Imagine every man, woman and child in the Valley of Josaphat, and every soul to the smallest child who has ever sinned to every adult, all will be judged by Jesus Christ. This tremendous crowd that no man can number and no eye can see, and you are in it, waiting your place in line to be judged by your Creator. You look around at your sinful friends and they are trembling with fear, the most unimaginable sadness on their faces. Are they laughing now? Telling bad jokes? Where are the demons who egged them on? You can bet they’re keeping their distance now. Where are all the pervert priests? Where are all the false protestant preachers? Where are all the blasphemers against the holy Catholic Church? And the blasphemers against the Holy Eucharist? Where are all the corrupt politicians? Where are all the corrupt Hollywood actors and producers? Where are all the corrupt Supreme court judges who are responsible for murdering millions of little babies in the womb? Where are all the corrupt fashion designers? Where are all the murderous abortion doctors(?) their staff, and all the evil escorts? Get in line. The judge wants to speak with you. THIS IS YOUR DAY IN COURT!
Where are our friends now, who always laughed with us? The Lord God will not come as a little lamb as he did at Bethlehem, but he will come as a roaring lion, the Lion of Juda, with an angry face, to judge all his enemies. Then his unjust judges who made iniquitous laws, who cast him out of every part of society, who cast him out of schools, who allowed all kinds of demonic forces reign in society while persecuting every one who stood up for Christ, then they will be called forward before the whole world, nay, before the whole universe, to stand accused before all angels, demons, and men. These who were so bold on earth will tremble. Then, the wicked clergy who infiltrated his Church, who corrupted so many souls, who allowed so much immodesty in the House of God, and sacrilegious Communions, who desecrated Our Lord so many times with Communion in the hand, Particles and Hosts everywhere, who turned so many away by their sinful lives, will tremble like they’ve never trembled before. “Judgement shall begin first at the House of God.’’ 1 St. Peter 4:17. “That is, with the clergy,’’ says St. Alphonsus. Like the King Baltasar’s and his profane banquet: his sentence is denounced by a handwriting on the wall, which Daniel reads and interprets. ‘’In the same hour there appeared fingers, as it were of the hand of a man, writing over against the candlestick upon the surface of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king beheld the joints of the hand that wrote. Then was the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him: and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees struck one against the other.’’ Daniel 5:5-6. Shaking so bad his knees were knocking against one another. Yes, this is the kind of fear the sinner will experience on the dread day of judgement at the end of the world! And all those you meet today, will someday die, and you will die, and I will die, and we will all see each other again on the day of judgement, some to honor, and some to everlasting disgrace.
And now, after endless hours and hours of judging, sifting, and separating, the sheep on the right, (such a small number), and the goats on the left, (such an immense large number), it’s finally over, and the terrible sentence of the angry Judge roars, “Out of my sight you evildoers. Depart from me in the everlasting fire!” And once again, the earth opens up, and swallows all of them down. They are swallowed alive into hell, and as they gaze up, they see all the just ascending up to heaven to enjoy everlasting happiness with Christ into heaven, and looking down, they see the fires of hell ready to swallow them up and torment them forever. And as their souls came from hell, and now are united with their bodies, they go back to hell, the body to be punished with the soul, what consternation to know they are going back into that incomprehensible punishment to be tormented forever. Forever.
This reflection is to make us think, to prepare, and to get ready to die in God’s grace. ‘’In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.’’ Ecclus. 7:40. Not to make an eternal mistake of losing God for all eternity. For in this life, all sufferings come to an end, either by healing, or by death. But if we die in sin, they will never end. “One day a devil was asked how long he would be in hell, and he answered in a rage, ‘‘Forever! Forever!” And when asked, “When will you get out?” he answered, “Never! Never!’’ – St. Alphonsus, PREPARATION FOR DEATH.
How long is eternity? THE THOUGHT OF ETERNITY: St. Anthony Claret said, “If a sinner goes to hell, he will be in hell a year for every leaf on every tree in the world, a year for every grain of sand, a year for every drop of water in all rivers and sees, a year for every atom in the air, and after all those countless ages, his hell will start all over again. And it will do so a thousand million times. O great mystery indeed!” Think about that the next time you’re driving down the road and looking at all the trees, and, COUNT THE LEAVES IF YOU CAN!
The first and most important step to saving our souls is prayer, but our prayer must be humble and contrite. We must be sorry for our sins for the Lord to hear us. The bad thief on the cross asked Jesus to save them, but he was not saved, nor did he hear words of everlasting life. The good thief acknowledged they deserved what they were getting, asked Jesus’ pardon, and to remember him when he came into his kingdom, and he had the happiness to hear Jesus say, ‘’This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.’’ St. Alphonsus said, “He who prays shall be saved. He who prays not shall be condemned. One of the greatest pains of the damned is that they could have saved themselves so easily by prayer, and neglected to do so.’’ But, the sinner who prays, he must be sorry for his sins, and, he must call upon the Lord in truth, if he wishes to be heard. “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: to all that call upon him in truth.” Psalms 144:18
In the story CRY OF A LOST SOUL, which can be found on the internet, she admitted; “All those in hell either did not pray or did not pray enough. Especially to her who is the Mother of Christ, whose name we never pronounce. Devotion to her rescues numberless souls from the devil which sin would infallibly give to him.” The prayer following is a prayer for salvation. Those who say this little short prayer daily with sincerity will undoubtedly save their soul.
PRAYER FOR SALVATION: MY LORD JESUS CHRIST, FOR THE SAKE OF THY SUFFERINGS, GRANT US SUCH FAITH HOPE CHARITY, SORROW FOR OUR SINS, LOVE FOR PRAYER AND GOOD SPIRITUAL READING, AND A SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE, AS WILL SAVE AND SANCTIFY OUR SOULS. AMEN.
It is also good to pray the Hail Mary often, to ask her prayers for us now and at the hour of our death. Because when we die, we are going to have to appear before the very Judge whom we have offended countless times. Consider going to an earthly judge whom you had offended many times. How do you think you would fare without a very good lawyer? Mary is our advocate with her Son Jesus. She can obtain for us graces from him that we cannot obtain ourselves. St. Augustine said, “There are many graces that God wants to give to us but we are not worthy. The only way he will give them to us is through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary.’’ Our Blessed Mother prophesied to St. Elizabeth, “From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed, because he that is mighty hath done great things to me.” St. Luke 1:48. In every Hail Mary we bless her, and are part of that prophecy.
THE HAIL MARY: 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.
Blessed Alan de la Roche said: “At the words, Hail Mary! Satan flies and hell trembles.” Why? Because Mary was given by God the power to crush his proud head, in punishment for his pride, and because, as the devil overcame a woman in the Garden, a woman will overcome him. ‘’She shall crush thy head.’’ Gen. 3:15. As man is punished by the things by which he offends God, so likewise the devil. “By what things a man sinneth, by the same also is he tormented.’’ Wisdom 11:17. For example, Sister Josepha Menendez saw thieves in hell cursing their hands, by which they had used to steal. She saw clergy in hell cursing their hands by which they had consecrated the bread and wine into Christ’s real Body and Blood, and yet, they did not live according to their state in life. She saw the demons encouraging people to gorge themselves with food, (gluttony), to greed, (unlawful riches), to sins of the flesh, immodesty in women, to lust and fornication, and adultery with married partners and so on; filthy talk, profanity, cursing and blasphemy, and how the tongue was horribly tormented with fire, and their corresponding punishments, and so forth. In the life of Fr. Paul of Moll, there was a man who cursed all the time, and developed a canker of the tongue. He went to Fr. Paul for healing. Fr. Paul told him he could be healed if he ceased to blaspheme. He did so for a while and did improve. However, he fell back into the sin of blaspheming and died. Another man who often took God’s Holy Name in vain lost his son in a car accident at age 16. Likewise another man who did the same lost his little girl at only the age of 12. An evil tongue brings a scourge on a man’s home. ‘’He that sweareth much, shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house.’’ Ecclus. 23:12. These stories bear this out. And what he does not realize, he brings many evils upon his own head. ‘’He that hath no guard over his speech, shall meet with evils.” Prov. 13:3.
THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT IS COMING. WHICH SIDE WILL YOU BE ON? If you are a Christian, you cannot keep company with evil men if you do not want to be involved in their sins. ‘’Separate yourselves from these evil men, lest you be involved in their sins,’’ said Moses to the people, Numbers 16. And the evil men were cast alive into hell. They didn’t even die. They were swallowed alive into hell, down in the earth.
Brother, save yourself, “He that made you without your help, will not save you without your help,’’ Says St. Augustine. Do not follow the majority. St. Augustine also said, ‘’Wrong is wrong even if the whole world is doing it. Right is right even if nobody is doing it.’’ You must not receive the grace of God in vain, says St. Paul. All those in heaven corresponded with God’s grace. All those in hell didn’t.
Act of Contrition: O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. But most of all because they offend Thee my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of they grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.
If you have found this reflection to be helpful, please consider sharing it with others, especially someone who is not keeping the commandments. MotherofGodlibrary.org