The Aggravations of Hell
Here will I dwell for I have chosen it.
(Psalm cxxxi. 14.)
Every thought of the lost will aggravate not
alleviate, their sufferings. Let us review one or two
of the thoughts that will be ever present in their
minds.
They might so easily have been saved! One
act of contrition at the last, one grace accepted
out of the countless graces that were deliberately
set at naught, and they might have been with the
Angels in Heaven instead of with the devils in
Hell. To know that we have just missed some
advantage that we might with a little trouble have
secured for ourselves is always a tormenting
thought. How much the more when it is Heaven
that is lost!
If the advantage is lost purely through our
own fault, this grealy increases our misery. We
fools! We had so many chances, we knew so well
that we were forfeiting our eternal inheritance!
It is this that changes sorrow into remorse, and
adds to suffering the horror and blackness of
despair. All through our own fault! What a thought
to dwell with me through all eternity!
What is it that we have lost? That will be
the bitterest thought of all. We have lost the sweet
music of Heaven, we have lost the company of the
Saints and Angels, we have lost the enchanting
happiness of gazing on the Sacred Humanity of
Jesus in all its glory, and, above all, we have lost
the unspeakable joy of the Beatific Vision. We
fools!
Pray God that the dread of this thought may hereafter keep you from sin.