On the Souls of the Damned

ON THE SOULS OF THE DAMNED

Years ago l would wonder how it was possible for the elect in Heaven to experience perfect happiness with the thought that one or more of their dear relatives or friends was eternally condemned to Hell.

Part of the answer l believe is that the damned in Hell are no longer human in the way we understand what it means to be human on earth. They are no longer free to choose good, that is, moral good. They are like the demons. If we encountered them, we would not recognize them as the persons we once knew.

For that matter, the elect are like the angels—they are no longer capable of sinning, and they are perfect beings.

After Aquinas, the will of the damned is forever fixed in its decision to reject God:

“This will is in them always evil: and this because they are completely turned away from the last end of a right will, nor can a will be good except it be directed to that same end.”—Summa Theologica, Question 98, Article 1

The reality of the next world is nothing at all like that of the present one. Our Roman Catholic faith tells us to prepare now for what will entirely exceed our capacity to experience or understand when our time is up.

Because the will of the damned is fixed in its decision to always choose moral evil, the damned can no longer repent:

“A person may repent of sin in two ways: in one way directly, in another way indirectly. He repents of a sin directly who hates sin as such; and he repents indirectly who hates it on account of something connected with it, for instance punishment or something of that kind. Accordingly the wicked will not repent of their sins directly, because consent in the malice of sin will remain in them; but they will repent indirectly, inasmuch as they will suffer from the punishment inflicted on them for sin.”—Summa Theologica, Question 98, Article 2

Since the damned are unable to repent for their sins, their sins cannot be forgiven. As a result, their sins are forever remembered. The souls of the damned are, as it were, eternally “branded” with sins that cannot be forgotten. The sins are eternally punished. They cannot be erased.

The private revelations of some saints have witnessed that the sins of the damned are eternally visible, for example:

“Despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own.”—Saint Faustina Kowalska, Diary of Saint Faustina, 741

Some Near Death Experiences (NDEs) have described how each of the damned is punished according to their specific ineradicable sins.

This YouTube video is especially compelling in its account.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt9xodhZ5KI

—Living for Christ, “Powerful Testimony!! This Man Saw Hitler and Other Evil People during a Near Death Experience,” YouTube video, 20:59 minutes, June 22, 2016

Because we have absolutely no idea what the next world is like, we cannot vouch for the truth or accuracy of this account.

However, we would observe that this account does not theologically contradict what the Roman Catholic Church teaches us about Hell and in fact it is consistent with Roman Catholic doctrine about Hell.

NDEs can be treated as private revelations, it has been argued.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21692327.2014.938098

—Harm Goris, “Near-Death Experiences. A Theological Interpretation,” International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, Volume 75, Issue 1 (July 30, 2014), pages 74-85

If the just cited NDE had been written by a scriptwriter for a horror movie, we would have to compliment him for his notable talent.

No doubt the horrors of Hell exceed anything we can imagine on earth.