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HELL IN THE MIND'S EYE
This book endeavors to give the reader the tools needed to conquer every temptation of our adversary the devil. It should be used both by the individual as well as the preacher in the pulpit, as the topics of hell, death, and judgment are without a doubt the most effective topics to help the sinner come back to his senses and repent in perfect contrition. Our main purpose in presenting such a variety of different revelations, sermons, and texts about hell and death is that they should be visualized and remembered often, as the mind often forgets things unless it is constantly reminded about them. Thus, when one reads and thinks about hell and death often, one can incorporate the meditation on hell and death more easily into one's daily life, and the mind can more easily contemplate or meditate on the different things that terrify the mind concerning the final end of all mortal sinners. In order to teach the reader the manifold pains, tortures, and evils that will befall all mortal sinners, this text presents a compilation of many texts of saints and other holy people that describe the horrifying fact of what hell really is. Just like in the case of the physical body who needs daily food to survive, so too the soul needs spiritual food to be able to stand firm against the daily attacks of the devil. Eating a few times a year is not enough to help a body keep healthy, and so too, the soul needs the thoughts about hell and death in order to be reminded of its final end. In order to alleviate the hunger of the soul for righteousness, this compilation of articles will give the soul seeking for truth a yearly supply of spiritual food until his or her death so that not a too long time will elapse for a person without thinking about their final end.
The most common reason for a person's relapse into sin is undoubtedly a relaxation of his or her consideration, meditation, and reading about the topics of hell, death, and eternal judgment. That is why this book is of a considerable length with many different topics about hell and death, so that one can read about new things yet stay on the main topics of hell and damnation. For most people, the repetition of the same topic makes most things seem boring or tedious, and that is why this text presents more thrilling revelations of damned souls that spur the imagination to see the different events that are depicted to them. The imagination and the power to imagine things that we have been given by Our Lord is a powerful tool to use to attack the devil and his minions, but sadly, most people use this gift of Our Lord for evil and sensual purposes, choosing eternal damnation for a single moment of sensual delights. There can be no doubt that the daily meditation, remembrance of, or thought on hell, death and judgment, serves as the best answer to every temptation that the devil gives us, as no sane person would ever choose sin as long as they remembered what the final end was of this sin.
Our Lord Himself used common events in our lives to describe hell, judgment, and damnation in order to show us that the meditation on hell could be adapted to different settings, places, and living conditions. Thus, a woman standing by the stove could look down into the boiling pot and imagine and see a picture of hell in it, while another person could look into a fire, and imagine seeing the flames encircling the souls of all wretched sinners who choose death before life, while a third who harvested the field could meditate on how the harvest symbolized the final judgment where the good wheat would be harvested but the chaff would be thrown into the eternal fire, and so on.
One should use normal everyday life events to help one recall hell and death, and this is also the example Our Lord gave us for how we are to meditate. Whatever the human mind can conceive about what Hell will be like, it is as nothing to what the reality is in Hell. All the troubles and suffering of this world are as a small foretaste or hint of what Hell will be like, and that is why a great meditation on hell is to imagine the specific punishment in hell of every kind of sin here on earth, so that one imagines seeing either oneself or others burning or being tortured in various ways in accordance to their sins. Thus, a person who sinned with his hands by for example masturbation or lust, should imagine seeing his hands being unceasingly sawed off him in the most painful manner he can imagine, or see his hands or arms hurt in various ways, and a person who used his eyes for looking on women with lust or on pornography, should see his eyes being torn out or being burned in their sockets. TheRevelations of Saint Bridgetuses a similar way of describing how people are punished after death, for example showing that a person who sinned in lust had snakes biting her, or that another person stood and walked on sharp razors that incessantly cut the feet etc. Our Lord tells us about a woman who used to use her arms and other limbs in a lascivious manner, and tells us that in Hell her punishment is most severe.
The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 6, Chapter 16: “Then the Lord said to the same saint: “Tell my bride here what those persons deserve who care more about the world than about God, who love the creature more than the Creator. Tell her what kind of punishment that woman is now undergoing who spent her entire lifetime in the world in sinful pleasure.” The saint replied: “Her punishment is most severe. For the pride she had in her every limb [through vanity], her head and hands, arms and legs burn horribly in a blazing fire. Her bosom is being pricked as though by the hide of a hedgehog whose quills fasten to her flesh and mercilessly press into her.The arms and other limbs with which she used to lasciviously embrace the loved one so tenderly are now stretched out like two snakes that coil themselves around her, mercilessly devouring and tearing her to pieces without rest. Her belly is terribly twisted, as though a sharp pole were being driven into her private parts and thrust violently inward so as to penetrate ever more deeply.Her thighs and knees are like ice, hard and stiff, with no warmth nor rest. The feet that used to carry her to her pleasures and lead others along with her now stand atop sharp razors slicing them incessantly.”
Essentially, all human events on this earth that are terrifying or calamitous, are perfect to consider as a meditation of Hell, and one can both think about one's own terrifying events that happened in your real life, as well as read about other people's scary events. In truth, the meditations on death and hell that one can conceive are literally endless.
The devil knows very well the might of the meditation on hell, and that is why he labors mightily to get a soul to forget about this topic, but the soul who really fears damnation, will never forget this truth about hell, and will constantly feed and nourish his soul with it, building his spiritual armor every single day in order to not fall prey to the devil again. Not even the greatest saints left of the meditation on hell, death, judgment, and Heaven, which shows us that we who are infinitely inferior to them needs to consider this topic far more often than they did.
“Wherefore do not any longer live so heedlessly, but work out thy salvation with fear and trembling, as the Apostle [Saint Paul] exhorts thee. [Phil. 2:12] The Saints did so at all times, having the fear of God's judgments ever before their eyes. The ungodly, on the contrary, were ever wont to say, as many do at the present day: God is merciful, He will not condemn us so lightly to eternal damnation. But remember what is said in Holy Scripture: "Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin. And say not, The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins. For mercy and wrath come quickly from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners" (Ecclus. v. 5-7).” (Fr. Martin Von Cochem,The Four Last Things)
While the topics of hell and death are many times distressing and sad to consider and think about, in order to be saved, it is better to be a little sad in this life in order to rejoice forever in heaven rather than to be happy for a moment in this life, and then burn forever. In addition, meditating on Heaven can also sometimes help to ward off the temptations of the Devil, because when one thinks upon the greatness of Heaven and what one will lose if one dies in mortal sin, this can also help a person be stronger against the devil's attacks, but the meditation of hell and death is surely more effective.
The preacher who uses this book in the pulpit or when preaching should try to speak about as many topics as possible, (although not too briefly about any single topic as each topic must be dealt with some time in order to be firmly planted in the mind) as the soul can more easily follow a sermon when one visits many topics, since most people are very easily bored. Thus, the preacher should use the most effective topics and parts of this text, rather than just directly reading the text from beginning to end. The text is divided in many sections, which makes it very suitable to be used in sermons by preachers, as the preacher can just read a section or part of the book for his congregation, and then give some commentary if he finds this suitable after the reading. The preacher should also always use descriptive language that paints a picture for the mind to easily understand, such as describing the thoughts, feelings, and torments of the damned.
The meditation on hell, death, and judgment can be made in four good ways. First, by reading texts, sermons, or stories concerning the topic of hell, judgment, and death. Second, by hearing sermons or seeing videos about this topic. Third, by simply thinking about the topic of hell, which as we have said, is more effective after one have read about it. And fourth, by making penances like fasting or other things that chastise the body, in order to help one's body and mind to know what hell will be like in some measure. If we think that the small penances we do on this earth are bothersome or painful, how much more will the pain in hell be unendurable? The fourth way to contemplate hell should of course also be added to the reading of this subject in order to help make the meditation more powerful and effective.
A person's own life experiences are highly effective and make a much greater effect on one's own mind than the sayings, words, or experiences of other people, and so, if a person have been near death, or have been in a situation where death could have happened, or have suffered much either physically or emotionally, such as by illnesses or other troubles, these situations will undoubtedly be highly effective in making a good meditation concerning death, judgment, and hell.
The author of this text can also testify that he have been close to death at least three times. Once, by being choked by a candy, and the two other times by a broken appendix and another stomach illness that both are lethal illnesses. At the moment when these events took place, I was not particularly scared, but now when I think back on them, I tremble with fear how close I was to die and be damned for all eternity. At that moment in time, I was not a Catholic, and I was living in mortal sin, so I would have been damned for sure. If I would have died then, I would have been forever alone in eternal darkness and excruciating fire now for many years, screaming for help, but getting nothing else but an incessant torture by the demons, but thanks be to God, the immeasurable grace of Our Lord and the prayer and intercession of Our Lady spared me! So, too, you should remember similar distressing events in your own life in order to fear God. People of this world do not know what a gift they have to be able to amend and repent during this short time here on earth, or even to breathe air, or drink water, for after life there is no chance of repentance and amendment in the eternal fire however much one weeps and gnashes one's teeth in anger over one's own sloth and tardiness in serving of Our Lord!
Indeed, thinking of people one knew in this life who died as non-Catholics or mortal sinners, and who are now in hell because of it, also makes a powerful meditation, as the closer one was to the person, the more one is able to picture to oneself their suffering, sadness, and despair; and the sadness for and thought on this person grows the more one have been in contact with the person as one can associate with their current sorrowful position in Hell better and consider how they lived and talked with others in this short life once, just like it will happen with oneself in the future when one dies. As all men die, so we must do so too one day, and when we see death in society, we must always be spurred to remember our own death, and how we must follow them one day.
Meditating on death, and the various ways we as humans may die at any moment, is a strong way to ward of the temptations of the devil. Thus, meditating on how life may end at any moment by for example being killed by a gunman, being in a gruesome car accident, or falling from a high mountain or building etc., places a strong fear of God in a person. When one considers how utterly fickle and unstable our existence on this earth is, and that we may die in all kinds of accidents or events at any moment, only a fool of the highest sort would not try to amend any sort of sin, whatever it is. The meditations one can perform by considering different scary situations where one dies or gets hurt are almost endless.
All our sufferings here on earth are as nothing compared to Hell, and we need to remember this fact in order to be better able to perform penances on this earth, in order to purify our souls from sin. When we suffer in penances, we should always tell ourselves that we deserve eternal fire and torment, so that we can have some perspective why we perform different penances in order to purify our soul. We only have a short time to perform penances, for after death, there is no time to perform any acts of virtue. The Holy Fathers and the Saints did not perform penances and fasting because it was funny, but because they knew that the mortification of the body helped one to see and understand God's Will better than people who were living in a carnal way. In truth, a great reason why the people who commit sexual sins are so “hardened” in their sins, and so hard to be converted according to St. Thomas, is because sensual lusts (both for the married and the unmarried people alike) actually “gives rise to blindness of mind, which excludes almost entirely the knowledge of spiritual things, while dulness of sense arises from gluttony, which makes a man weak in regard to the same [spiritual] intelligible things” and this shows us that penances are highly beneficial in order to attain eternal salvation. (St. Thomas Aquinas,Summa Theologica, II:II, Q. 15, Art. 3)
The meditation on Hell and death do not have to be long or complicated, but one can just quickly recall each day something about hell, death, or suffering that scares the mind, and this will undoubtedly strengthen a soul against the temptations of the devil. Every time you get tempted to commit sinful acts, we advise you to always turn your mind to Our Lord and Our Lady, as well as the topics of hell, death, and judgment. The Rosary is a powerful weapon against temptations, and one should always say Hail Mary prayers when one is tempted, along with considering what Hell will be like if one falls into sin. The most common theme in the Bible is that “The Fear of the Lordis the beginning of wisdom”(Psalm 110:10), and thatHis mercy is only upon those who fear Him(Psalm 102:17; Lk. 1:50; 2 Cor. 5:11; etc.) and this makes it clear to us that only evil people who refuse to fear God or Hell dare to commit sins of various kinds.