Lenten Retreat - (The Narrow Door) - Second Meditation (The Sufferings of the Lost)

FIRST POINT: The pain of sense

PRESENTATION

Permission

You who are the Way to God, the Narrow Way that leads to salvation. You who guide us from the wide road that leads to destruction.

Douay-Rheims Bible Chapter 22

Jesus answering, spoke again in parables to them, saying:

2 The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who made a marriage for his son.

3 And he sent his servants to call them that were invited to the marriage: and they would not come.

4 Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my beeves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come ye to the marriage.

5 But they neglected and went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise.

6 And the rest laid hands on his servants and, having treated them contumeliously, put them to death.

7 But when the king had heard of it, he was angry: and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers and burnt their city.

8 Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy.

9 Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage.

10 And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests.

11 And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment.

12 And he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment? But he was silent.

13 Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This morning, we considered the necessity of remaining on the Narrow Path that leads to our Heavenly reward; now, we will consider the unhappy state of those who abandon the Narrow Door, instead choosing the wide path that leads to destruction.

The damned in Hell are threatened with darkness, indeed two kinds of darkness, interior and exterior.

The exterior darkness is what saints and theologians call the pain of sense, a pain grievous as regard to both its place and its disposition, as well as from its very nature.

Regarding the place, this will, of course, be the furthest possible removed from Heaven, like a sepulchre sealed so tightly even the smallest gleam of light cannot enter.

As Moses wrote concerning Dathan and the other rebels:

Douay-Rheims Bible Chapter 16

31 And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet:

32 And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance.

33 And they went down alive into hell, the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people.

As to its dispositions, the bodies of the damned will abide there heaped and massed up in such a manner that they can never move from that spot, as Isaiah wrote, “I have trampled on them in my indignation, and have trodden them down in my wrath”.

Lastly, as to the nature of this darkness, the bottom of the sepulchre will be a lake of burning sulphur, sending forth great volumes of the most terrible flames mixed with smoke like a hurricane of darkness. As St. John wrote in the Apocalypse:

Douay-Rheims Bible Chapter 19

20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire burning with brimstone.

ILLUSTRATION

There was in the South of France a little girl whose father was a blacksmith. In her father’s forge, there always burned a great fire, which sometimes gave forth so much heat that she could not go near it.

One day, her father had some work to do that required a greater and more intense fire than she had ever seen before. The whole forge seemed to be one mass of fire. Victorine stood at a great distance and gazed on it with terror. “O my God,” she exclaimed, “if this fire which my father has kindled is so terrible to look at, how terrible must be the fire of Hell, which God in His anger has kindled for the punishment of sin!

“Oh, what an awful thing it must be to be condemned to Hell forever! To be forever burning along with the wicked angels, never to see God, our dear Father in Heaven—never, never!

“O my God, from this moment I take the resolution never to commit sin. The thought of Hell will always check me when I am tempted to do evil, and make me accept with resignation every evil that can befall me in this world, rather than break Thy commandments.”

Victorine faithfully kept her resolution, and we must imitate her good example.

APPLICATION

How would you feel to find yourself in such a place, plunged in the most terrible darkness imaginable, massed with the greater part of humanity, in flames so painful that the hottest fire on Earth could never compare? How much better then would it be to live in the strictness of a good life in order that you may never come to fall into such a terrible fate?

SECOND POINT: The pain of loss

PRESENTATION

Having considered the exterior darkness, that is the pain of sense, we must now also consider the interior darkness that fills the souls of the lost. It will proceed first of all from the privation of all divine light; secondly, from the fearful torments endured, which will prevent their minds from ever thinking of anything else; thirdly, from the passions which will oppress the intellect and the will.

A great passion of anger alone is sufficient to overcome even a wise man. What then will be the implacable hatred of the damned against God, Whom they will blaspheme and hate without ever humbling themselves before Him, even though they are reduced to such an abject state?

As Our Lord Himself described it in His parable:

Douay-Rheims Bible Chapter 22

13 Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

ILLUSTRATION

In the days of the early persecutions of Christians, St. James Intercisus was brought before the cruel tyrant, Sapor, was ordered to offer sacrifice to the pagan idols, and was threatened with a most awful death if he refused.

At first he bravely declared that he would not obey the orders of the tyrant, but when the executioners were commanded to torture him and put him to death, he began to be afraid, and in the end consented to do what was asked of him if only they would not kill him.

His wife and his son-in-law, who were present at his trial, were filled with the most bitter grief at his apostasy and, bidding him an eternal adieu, fled from the place.

James, who had a deep and ardent love for them, was struck with intense dismay as he saw them depart, and full of sorrow for his sinful weakness, cried out, “O vile wretch that I am! If to be forsaken by my wife and those who are dear to me on earth fills me with so much sadness, how intensely greater will be my grief when God, my Heavenly Father, casts me forever from His sight? For has not Jesus Christ said, ‘He who denies me before men, him will I deny before My Father Who is in Heaven’?”

Saying these words, he returned to the tribunal of the Prince, and boldly offered himself to die, saying, “I will never deny my God.”

He was at once seized by the executioners and put to death, and is now in possession of the martyr’s crown in Heaven.

APPLICATION

St. John gives us a good example. How often do we experience fear over losing what is important to us in this life, not just people, but even our possessions? Yet how little we fear losing God and our Heavenly homeland that we easily give in to sin, thinking that it is only a trifling matter.

Yet every sin puts us on the wide road that leads to damnation. We must humble ourselves now before God so that we may never find ourselves in such a pitiable condition as that of those souls who, in their pride, will curse God from the depths of Hell for all eternity.

THIRD POINT:

PRESENTATION

Even the most violent storms on Earth are short in duration, but that of the damned will be eternal. As the Psalmist says:

Douay-Rheims Bible Psalm 48

20 He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light.

Even during one sleepless night, in the darkness, we cannot bear to remain in one and the same position. How, then, will you endure staying bound down amidst the fire and horrible darkness without any hope of escaping from it or of seeing light again for all eternity?

If you think I am exaggerating this point, listen to the testimony of St. Teresa of Avila:

I found myself, as I thought, plunged right into Hell. I realized that it was the Lord’s will that I should see the place which the devils had prepared for me there and which I had merited for my sins. This happened in the briefest space of time, but, even if I were to live for many years, I believe it would be impossible for me to forget it. The entrance, I thought, resembled a very long, narrow passage, like a furnace, very low, dark and closely confined; the ground seemed to be full of water which looked like filthy, evil-smelling mud, and in it were many wicked-looking reptiles. At the end there was a hollow place scooped out of a wall, like a cupboard, and it was here that I found myself in close confinement. But the sight of all this was pleasant by comparison with what I felt there … My feelings, I think, could not possibly be exaggerated, nor can anyone understand them. I felt a fire within my soul the nature of which I am utterly incapable of describing … I had been put in this place which looked like a hole in the wall, and those very walls, so terrible to the sight, bore down upon me and completely stifled me. There was no light and everything was in the blackest darkness.

This experience haunted St. Teresa for the rest of her days on Earth.

ILLUSTRATION

An ancient Father, who had for a long lifetime led a solitary life in the midst of a vast wilderness in the practice of extraordinary penances and continual labours, was one day visited by some of his brethren. After admiring his patience and perseverance, they said to him, “O Father, how are you able to endure the many sufferings and privations of this frightful solitude?”

“My brethren,” he said, “all the labours and sufferings of the many years I have been here are as nothing compared to one hour of sufferings in Hell. Therefore, in order to escape them, I cheerfully undergo the hardships and labours of the short time of my mortal life.”

It is impossible for anyone in this world to imagine the greatness of the punishments God has prepared for those who do not love Him during their trial on Earth.

APPLICATION

If you would not find yourself hereafter in that darkness, do not now close your eyes to the light of the inspirations of God and of the Gospel truth. If you are a friend of darkness now, you are a cooperator in you own damnation, having chosen the wide and easy road.

How many are there, who have professed themselves to be Christians, who are now buried in the eternal darkness. As Our Lord Himself said to Nicodemus:

Douay-Rheims Bible Chapter 3

19 And this is the judgment: Because the light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil.

20 For every one that doth evil hateth the light and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved.

CONCLUSION

The choice is up to us; we can seek to follow the Narrow Way despite the hardships that it entails, or we can take the wide and easy road that leads to destruction. If we choose the easy path, however, we cannot ever say that we have not been forewarned about the destination and the infinitely harsher sufferings that await us there.

Bound forever in the darkness, where no light can penetrate, even from the fire that will pierce our souls. If we desire to avoid this horrible fate, then the only choice open to us is the Narrow Gate.