This meditation is about the long ages of eternity, and our need to always remember our last end, and the possibility of losing our souls in hell for all eternity. St. Jerome said, “One should think often on hell, in order to avoid going there hereafter.” St. Faustina said she was taken by God to hell and saw the various torments of hell, and ordered by God to go back and write down what she had seen. What she said about most of the damned is that they did not really believe in hell. When we do not believe in hell, nor if we do not often think on hell, then we lose the fear of God, we commit sins with impunity, not fearing God and His just punishments. A child who fears his parent’s punishments thinks twice before he goes out and disobeys them again.
Imagine, if you were told that if you committed a serious sin, you would be detained and have a burner turned on, and your hand would be held on the burner for just 5 seconds. Would you do it? Well, maybe the first time, because you didn’t really think they would do it. But what if you did commit a serious sin, and they really did put your hand on a burner for just five seconds, and you would be definitely screaming in pain, would you do it again? Probably not. Now imagine if you could not endure this little hot fire for five seconds, how would you ever endure the everlasting fire in hell? As St. Faustina said, “Many people do not really believe there is a hell, nor everlasting fire there. Yet Jesus Christ declared there was: “Depart from me ye accursed, into everlasting fire.” St. Matthew, 25.
These souls never thought they would end up there. So they never took salvation seriously. Recently a man was driving down the street on his motorcycle. He was going a little too fast, passing one car, and then another to the right, then he proceeded to pass a truck with a trailer on the left. Somehow he lost control in the left lane, hit the grass median, went across the road into the yards, bouncing up and down on his motorcycle, then quickly fell off while the motorcycle wound up in the next yard. He landed by a tree, with a big stone rock by his hip. He was seriously injured, not dead. His face was all bloody; he tried to lift his left leg three or four times and really couldn’t move. The ambulance soon arrived and took him to the hospital. He may have been seriously injured for life.
Now consider this. He was in a hurry, taking chances, and he never suspected around the next curve he was going to meet with an accident; wreck his motorcycle, and become seriously injured where he could not move. Now suppose God showed him in a vision what was going to happen if he went down the street too fast like that. Do you suppose he would have been more careful? This is an example of what happens when we don’t take precautions in life. The very next day on the freeway, two young dudes on motorcycles, with a young girl behind on one motorcycle, started passing cars on the freeway, and in no time they were probably running 80 miles per hour or more, flying by all the other traffic. Were they taking serious risks? Undoubtedly. How many people take risks on motorcycles and end up dead or seriously injured prematurely? Because they don’t fear the highway, and this is what happens to sinners because they don’t fear God.
Because God doesn’t chastise immediately, they think they’re getting away with it. “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin. For he that is without fear, cannot be justified: for the wrath of his high spirits is his ruin.’’ ‘’ The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy, and gladness, and length of days. With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.’’ Ecclesiasticus, chapter 1. (Drbo.org). Notice it says the fear of the Lord brings good days, not bad ones, and also length of days. How many lives have been cut short because of sin. There was a young man in our province who was very evil. He had a reputation for evil. One lady said he came to the church service one night drunk and was mocking the service. Mocking God! And what happened to him a few years later in his twenties? His jeep turned over on him and killed him!
In the fifth chapter of Judith, it relates how a man was explaining to his General how the people of God were protected by God, as long as they served him as they should, but when they gave themselves up to sin, then they were chastised. ‘’ Wheresoever they went in without bow and arrow, and without shield and sword, their God fought for them and overcame. And there was no one that triumphed over this people, but when they departed from the worship of the Lord their God. But as often as beside their own God, they worshipped any other, they were given to spoil, and to the sword, and to reproach.” Judith 5:16-18.
The purpose of this meditation is to put us in mind of our death, and to remember what awaits us on the other side if we do not keep the commandments. ‘’ O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end.” Deut. 32:29. And would remember their last end. “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.” [Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 7:40]. Now, let us move on to the thought of eternity, and how long the everlasting fires of hell will be.
COUNT THE LEAVES IF YOU CAN!
Driving down the road look at all the trees that are in the world. How many in one state, in even one county. Count the leaves if you can. Thousands of trees, millions of leaves. Now consider the years of eternity far outweigh this vast number. St. Alphonsus said the thought of eternity made the greatest saints tremble. St. Augustine termed it ‘’the great thought,” because no man can comprehend it. St. Anthony Claret said, “Up till now there has not been any angel who has been able to comprehend it, but to form some idea, consider the following truths: The final judgement will come, the earth will swallow up those that are damned, and they will be cast into hell.” Like the unhappy Core, Abiron, and Dathan, who were swallowed alive into hell, Numbers 16:28:36. “And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet: And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance. And they went down alive into hell the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people. But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also. And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.”
St. Anthony Claret continues: “The, with his Almighty hand, God will shut them up in that most unhappy prison. From then on, as many years will pass as there are leaves on the trees, and plants on the earth, as many thousands of years as there are drops of water in all seas and rivers, as many thousands of years as there atoms in the air, and grains of sand on all the shores of all the seas. Afer this passage of countless years, up to then there will not be half of eternity, not a hundredth or a thousandth part. Even after this has been repeated a 1,000 million times. All this time there is no interruption of the burnings of the damned. Oh! A deep mystery indeed! A terror above all terrors!” Remember what I said about putting your hand on a red hot burner for a few seconds! And yet, the sinner is not afraid to say he is going to hell. He who cannot endure a hot day without a drink or air-conditioning, or even a hot match or the touch of a hot stove. There is not a man alive who would be so foolish as to cast himself into a hot boiler in a factory, yet the sinner is not afraid of the fires of hell! As St. Paul said, “There is no fear of God before his eyes.” Romans 3:18. And yet the more he sins, the greater will be his punishment in hell. “Thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath.” Romans 2:5. But, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Ecclus. 1:16. – Drbo.org.
Suppose you saw a man or a woman taken in adultery or fornication, dragged from their home, carried off to prison, and in the middle of the courtyard , they set a fire and thrust that person into its great blaze. Or a soul who had taken God’s Holy Name in vain; (One hour later he was dead, Tinyurl.com/5ewvs2kk), or one who had broken any of the other Ten Commandments. Or a woman who is immodest, tempting men to lust. Or a person using vulgar and obscene language, so common today, everywhere in public where even little children hear them, and on the airwaves. No one is afraid of corrupting small children anymore. And you were to see these people all being thrown into the big hot blaze for their sins. This is only a glimmer of what we shall see in reality on Judgement Day at the end of the world!
SEE YOU ON THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT: https://motherofGodlibrary.org/2019/09/14. Would we then say sin is not great evil? Scripture says that those who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of heaven, 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21. “If thou wilt enter life, keep the commandments.” St. Matthew 19:17.
St. Alphonsus said, “Our most important affair is our eternal salvation, and it is also the most neglected by Christians.” A good example of this, you will see many Christians at sporting events, but very few at church services. “Sporting themselves to excess,” said St. Peter, 2 Peter 2:13. St. Alphonsus said, “He who prays shall be saved, and 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.” In the story, CRY OF A LOST SOUL, which can be found online, she revealed, “All those in hell did not pray or did not pray enough. Especially to her who is the Mother of Christ… Devotion to her rescues numberless souls whom sin would infallibly give to the devil.” When I lived in sin, I was not praying enough. In this day of constant temptation, one must pray very much, especially the daily rosary in order to resist the many temptations of the devil. One cannot do the will of God without God’s grace, and we get this grace through prayer, and the more we pray, the more grace we receive. Kind of like, basketball players, the more they shoot, the more points they gain. “And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Luke 18:1. The gravity of our sins is much greater than we realize. If they were not so grave, why did Jesus suffer so much to redeem us? So when we look at the millions of trees, let us remember the endless years of eternity, and the everlasting fire, and take the necessary means not to go there.
Prayer
O Lord, I’m living in a wicked world, surrounded by dangers that lead to perdition. I am like a child not knowing how to walk on, or follow the true way. Give therefore, to Thy servant an understanding heart, to discern between good and evil. Make me understand how great an evil sin is, and how great a good it is to love Thee above all things. Give me a great hatred of sin, the gift of devout prayer, and make me love Thee most ardently all the days of my life. Amen.
The Gravity of Sin: Imagine – New Code of Regulations for the 10 Commandments > https://motherofGodlibrary.org/2026/02/01
What Do The Protestants Condemn When They Condemn The Rosary? https://motherofGodlibrary.org/2021/04/04
The Hail Mary of a Protestant – A True Story https://motherofGodlibrary.org/2024/10/17