THE PUNISHMENT OF JUDAS IN HELL
‘’One of you is a devil…Judas Iscariot.’’ (St. John 6:71,72)
The Following is taken from The Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Agreda:
“The demons at once took possession of the soul of Judas and brought it down to hell. His entrails burst from the body hanging upon the tree. (Acts 1:18). All that saw this stupendous punishment of the perfidious and malicious disciple for his treason, were filled with astonishment and dread. The body remained hanging by the neck for three days, exposed to the view of the public. During that time the Jews attempted to take it down from the tree and bury it in secret, for it was a sight apt to cause great confusion to the Pharisees and priests, who could not refute such a testimony of his wickedness. But no efforts of theirs sufficed to drag or separate the body from its position on the tree until the three days passed, when according to the dispensation of divine justice, the demons themselves snatched the body from the tree and brought it to his soul, in order that both might suffer eternal punishment in the profoundest abyss of hell. Since what I have been made to know of the pains and chastisement of Judas, is worthy of fear inspiring attention, I will according to command reveal what has been shown me concerning it.
Among the obscure caverns of the infernal prisons was a very large one, arranged for more horrible chastisements than others, and which was still unoccupied; for the demons had been unable to cast any soul into it, although their cruelty had induced them to attempt it many times from the time of Cain until that day. All hell had remained astonished at the failure of these attempts, being entirely ignorant of the mystery, until the arrival of the soul of Judas, which they readily succeeded in hurling and burying in this prison never before occupied by any of the damned. The secret of it was that this cavern of greater torments and fiercer fires of hell, from the creation of the world, had been destined for those, who, after having received baptism would damn themselves by the neglect of the Sacraments, the doctrine, the passion and Death of the Saviour, and the intercession of his most holy Mother. *(Bad Catholics and fallen away Catholics). As Judas had been the first one who had so signally participated in these blessings, and as he had so fearfully misused them, he was also the first to suffer the torments of this place, prepared for him and his imitators and followers. (NO doubt Judas had been baptized, along with the other Apostles).
This mystery I was commanded to reveal more particularly for a dreadful warning to all Christians, and especially to priests, prelates and religious, who are accustomed to treat with more familiarity the body and blood of Christ Our Lord, and who, by their office and state are his closer friends. In order to avoid blame I would like to find words and expressions sufficiently strong to make an impression on our unfeeling obduracy, so that we all may take a salutary warning and be filled with the fear of the punishments awaiting all bad Christians according to the state each one of us occupies. The demons tormented Judas with inexpressible cruelty, because he persisted in the betrayal of his Master, by whose Passion and Death they were vanquished and despoiled of the possession of the world. The wrath which they had conceived against the Savior and his Blessed Mother, they wreak, as far as is allowed them, on all those who imitate the traitorous disciple and who follow him in his contempt of the evangelical law, of the Sacraments, and of the fruits of the Redemption. And in this the demons are but executing just punishment on those members of the Mystical Body of Christ, and who have voluntarily drifted away and delivered themselves over to the accursed hate and implacable fury of his enemies. As the instrument of divine justice, they chastise the soul for their ingratitude toward their Redeemer. Let the children of the Church consider well this truth, for it cannot fail to move the hearts and induce them to evade such a lamentable fate.’’ – Thus are the words of Venerable Mary of Agreda, from THE MYSTICAL CITY OF GOD, Book 3, page 518-519.
Let us remember our last end, and act accordingly, that is, by keeping the commandments of God. “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.” Ecclus. 7:40. Drbo.org. The last end for many is , unfortunately, the eternal fires of hell. If you are a Catholic who has fallen away from the Church, you are on that road. You may say, “Oh! I’ve found Jesus now!” But where was He when you were in the Church? He was right there in the Blessed Sacrament. Why couldn’t you find him there? Because you were sinning. Sin leads to blindness, Wisdom 2:21, drbo.org; it leads to coldness of heart and indifference.
Think back, when you were younger, what kind of sins were you committing? Secret sins possibly, that no one else knew about, or maybe manifest sins that many people saw, drunkenness, lewdness, immodesty, profanity, and so forth. If you had made your first Holy Communion, you were taught that if you commit a mortal sin, you could not go to Holy Communion until you had gone to confession. You knew this in your heart. But you continued to sin. You were ashamed to keep going back to confession, telling the priest how bad you were, so you quit going to confession, did you not? And then you began to think, with the devil whispering in your ear, there wasn’t much use going to Mass, I can’t go to Communion. Is that not right? So you start missing Mass, a mortal sin each time, till you eventually give up going completely. Is that not correct?
Then you run into a protestant or a preacher and he says, “You gotta be born again! Have you accepted Jesus in your heart?” But you forgot you were born again in baptism. You forgot all about receiving Jesus in your heart at Holy Communion. Why did you forget? Because of your sin, there was a veil over your heart, as St. Paul told the Corinthians, because of their sin, 2 Cor. 3:13-16. [13] “And not as Moses put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel might not steadfastly look on the face of that which is made void. [14] But their senses were made dull. For, until this present day, the selfsame veil, in the reading of the old testament, remaineth not taken away (because in Christ it is made void). [15] But even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. [16] But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.”
Jesus said if we didn’t eat His flesh and blood, we would not have life in us, St. John 6:54. And if we die without life in our soul, we go to hell, but this doesn’t bother the fallen away Catholic. Why? Because he doesn’t believe it anymore. He’s found Jesus in a false church that some man set up, but he couldn’t find Jesus in the true Church in the Blessed Sacrament. And what’s worse, he now denies what Jesus plainly said about Holy Communion, (St. John 6:48-65), and says it’s a symbol. Even though Jesus said he was the ”living bread” come down from heaven. Paul Whitcomb, a former protestant minister, now Catholic convert said, “If it was only a symbol, how could Jesus say it was ”living bread?“ In his blindness, the fallen away now thinks the Catholic church which Christ founded, and which dates back to 33. A.D. is no longer the true Church. Is this not true? If he did, would he not be trying to get back in the true Church, if he really wanted to save his soul? St. Alphonsus said these souls will confess in hell, “Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us.” Wisdom 5:6.
Bruno Cornacchiola was a fallen away Catholic in the 1930’s, in Italy. He became a Socialist, and with the party, he was attacking Catholic beliefs. He was at Tre Fontaine, the Three Fountains, (where St. Paul was beheaded in Rome, and his head bounced three times and three fountains sprang up). Bruno was preparing a speech against the Blessed Mother, while his three children were playing. Suddenly the three children became motionless, he became upset, called them and they wouldn’t come, he became scared and went and tried to get them to come. Suddenly, the Blessed Mother appeared to him as Our Lady of Revelation, ( One of the most amazing stories of an atheist’s conversion to the Catholic Faith must surely be that of Bruno Cornacchiola, a violent man who hated with all his being everything to do with the Catholic Church, and had even vowed to murder the Pope! tinyurl.com/mpvfctw9), and she converted him on the spot. He later went to visit Pope Pius XII and gave him the dagger he was going to try to kill him with. Mary brought him back into the Church, and he said later, “If the Catholic Church wasn’t the right one, why did she bring me back?” The Blessed Mother warned the early Christian convert that she must remain in the true Church, from where the demon had unhappily led her away. Devotion to Mary — A Great Sign of Predestination, https://motherofgodlibrary.org/2019/05/
In part, this is what was said: ”Then she said to the heavenly Mary: “My Lady, a woman came to me, who persuaded me to believe that the disciples of Jesus were deceiving me and that I had better immediately separate myself from them and from Thee; otherwise, if I should accept their way of life, I should fall into great misfortune.” The Queen answered: “My daughter, she, who seemed to thee a woman, was thy enemy, the devil. I come in the name of the Most High to give thee eternal life; return then to His true Faith, which thou hast received, and confess Him with all thy heart as thy God and Redeemer, Who, for thy salvation and that of all the world, has died upon the Cross. Adore and call upon Him for the pardon of thy sins.”
“All this,” the patient answered, “I have believed before; but they told me it was very bad, and that they would punish me if I should ever confess it.” The heavenly Teacher replied, “My friend, do not fear this deceit; but remember that the chastisement and pains which are really to be feared are those of hell, to which the demons wish to bring thee. Thou art now very near death and thou canst avail thyself of the remedy I now offer thee, if thou wilt only believe Me; and thou shalt thus free thyself of the eternal fire, which threatens thee on account of thy mistake.” Through this exhortation and the graces procured for this poor woman by Mary, she was moved to abundant tears of compunction and implored the Blessed Lady further to assist her in this danger, declaring herself ready to obey all Her commands. Then the loving Mother made her openly profess her faith in Jesus Christ and elicit an act of contrition in preparation for Confession. At the same time She sent for the Apostles to administer the Sacraments to her. The sick girl, repeating the acts of contrition and love, and invoking Jesus and Mary, who was directing her, happily expired in the arms of her Protectress. (You see, my dearly beloved separated brethen, they did have confession in the early Church. No, you don’t go straight to God. You go to his minister. Fr. Leslie Rumble, in Radio Replies, said that archaeologists in Rome discovered the monument of St. Peter, which read, “Here lies Blessed Peter, who absolved us, the elect, from sins confessed). There is your proof. “Confess your sins one to another.” St. James, chapter 5.
Judas was one of the twelve Apostles. If he hadn’t fallen into sin, and stayed in the Church, although the Church wasn’t officially set up yet, he would most probably be in heaven today, instead of in hell. Judas, like most Catholics, began to sin, then he added sin to sin. “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin:” Ecclus. 5:5. His heart became hardened, he was greedy, and he sold his Master for 30 pieces of silver. How many men have sold their souls out of an inordinate desire for money? Do you think when he sinned, he thought soon he would be burning in the fires of hell? Surely not! But you see, this was the blindness that the Book of Wisdom spoke of. Was Judas not blind, to think that 30 pieces of silver would make him happy, and that there would be no consequences? St. Paul says Christ is the head, and the church is his body, Ephesians chapter one. So they are one. If you separate from the Church, you are separated from Christ, and you cannot be saved.
You no longer receive Jesus in Holy Communion, and Jesus said, “NO life without it.” You no longer confess your sins, but St. James says, “Confess your sins one to another.” 5:16. You no longer believe in what Jesus really taught, and Jesus said, “He that believeth not shall be condemned.” St. Mark 16:16. It remains to be seen whether you admit these things are true. A proud man will not admit he’s wrong, even when he sees the facts before him. But, “A contrite and humble heart O God, thou wilt not scorn.”
What does the Bible say about Judas? “None of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scriptures may be fulfilled.” St. John 17:12. What Scripture? Psalm 108: “When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin. May his days be few; and his bishopric let another take… And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones…” verses 7 through 20.
“He indeed possessed a field of iniquity.” Acts 1:18; and “His bishopric let another take.” vs.20.
“Better for that man had he never been born.” St . Matthew 26:24. Woe to those greedy prelates who occupy their positions only for honor and money! Woe to those negligent prelates, who by their silence allow so much immodesty in the churches, and sacrilegious Communions! So many abuses in the liturgy! Judas had lost the faith. The Apostles said, “Is it I , Lord?” fearing they might be the one to betray the Lord, but Judas answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” St. Matthew 26:22, 25.
- One priest noted in his sermon that fallen away Catholics, when they die, will be judged as Catholics, not protestants, because in the Catholic faith they were taught the truth, and turned away from it. They were taught it’s a mortal sin to miss Mass on Sunday, but they did it anyway. And after they have been away so long, they see nothing wrong with it. But even though they forgot the teaching, God does not forget. St. Alphonsus said, “Why is it if God enlightens enlightens every man that comes into the world, there are so many in darkness? Because they wish it. They turn their eyes away from the light.”
- Fr. Shouppe says, “Those who deny hell will be forced to admit is soon; but alas! it will be too late. Father Nieremberg,, in his work, Difference between Time and Eternity, speaks of an unfortunate sinner, who, as the result of his evil ways, had lost the faith. His virtuous wife exhorted him to turn to God, and reminded him of hell, but he would answer obstinately: “There is no hell.” One day his wife found him dead, and, strange circumstance, he held in his hand a mysterious paper, on which in large characters, was traced this terrifying avowal. “I know now there is a hell!” Several of the saints have seen hell, among whom was St. Faustina, and she said, “Most souls in hell did not really believe there was a hell.”
- If you are living away from the Church, pretending to be a Christian in a false Church, refusing to acknowledge that you have made a mistake, justifying your sin, then you should know that your salvation is in very great peril. If you do not repent, your damnation is certain. Jesus Christ only established one Church. There was no need for a any man to come along and establish another. The holy Scriptures tell us that those who were such as should be saved, were united to Christ’s Church: “The Lord added daily to the church, such as should be saved. “Acts 2:47. And Jesus Christ has threatened us, if we will not hear his Church, we will be regarded as the heathen and the publican. “And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.” St. Matthew 18:17.
- What do you need to do to come back? You need to be devoted to the Blessed Mother, start praying her rosary every day and wearing the brown scapular. In doing this she will help you get the graces you need, and the graces you now lack. St. Augustine said, “There are many graces God wants to give us but we’re not worthy. The only way He will give them to us is through the Blessed Virgin.”
- And you must acknowledge your sin: “I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.” Psalms 31:5
- If you are living away from the Church, pretending to be a Christian in a false Church, refusing to acknowledge that you have made a mistake, justifying your sin, then you should know that your salvation is in very great peril. If you do not repent, your damnation is certain. Jesus Christ only established one Church. There was no need for a any man to come along and establish another. The holy Scriptures tell us that those who were such as should be saved, were united to Christ’s Church: “The Lord added daily to the church, such as should be saved. “Acts 2:47. And Jesus Christ has threatened us, if we will not hear his Church, we will be regarded as the heathen and the publican. “And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.” St. Matthew 18:17.
- Fr. Shouppe says, “Those who deny hell will be forced to admit is soon; but alas! it will be too late. Father Nieremberg,, in his work, Difference between Time and Eternity, speaks of an unfortunate sinner, who, as the result of his evil ways, had lost the faith. His virtuous wife exhorted him to turn to God, and reminded him of hell, but he would answer obstinately: “There is no hell.” One day his wife found him dead, and, strange circumstance, he held in his hand a mysterious paper, on which in large characters, was traced this terrifying avowal. “I know now there is a hell!” Several of the saints have seen hell, among whom was St. Faustina, and she said, “Most souls in hell did not really believe there was a hell.”
- How to Destroy the Faith in Five Easy Steps https://tinyurl.com/486nfe9n
- https://motherofgodlibrary.org/2019/04/30/souls-in-hell-what-the-saints-and-scriptures-say-about-it/