This site is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox browser.

Religion

2009-12-01 08:24:00

Souls - torment or happiness before Christ?

Question: When people died in the Old Testament, before our Lord came, was crucified and re-opened the gates of Heaven, where did their souls go? Were they in a place of torment or happiness?

Answer: In the context of explaining the Apostles’ Creed, which is the basic statement of faith for most Christians, the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers some insights into that question. The phrase in the Creed, “He descended into hell,” is confusing for many persons. It means: Jesus’ soul descended into the lower parts of the earth, that the crucified One sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This is the first meaning of the apostolic preaching that Jesus, like all men, experienced death, and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, “proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there” (cf 1 Peter 3:18-19). The Holy Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, calls the abode of the dead: “Sheol” in the Hebrew language, “Hades” in Greek, and “Hell” in English, because the souls detained there are deprived of the Vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer. This does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus, who was received into “Abraham’s bosom” (cf Luke 16:22-26). It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell. This descent of the soul of Jesus into hell is called by the poet Milton and other English writers: “the harrowing of hell.” Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the souls of the just persons who had died before him. In his magnificent epic “The Divine Comedy,” the supreme poet Dante` beautifully describes the several circles or degrees of hell, from the lowest prisons of the damned to the upper natural paradise. “The Gospel was preached even to the dead” (1 Peter 4:6). Jesus’ descent into hell fulfills his messianic mission: it signifies the spread of Christ’s redemption to all human beings of all times and all places, to all who are saved through sharing in his redemption. The souls of the damned, of course, have chosen to not share in that redemption, and God respects their free will. The souls of all the just persons, who had been freed from the restraints of the upper parts of hell (deprived of the Beatific Vision of God) shared in Jesus’ resurrection, and accompanied him as he ascended into heaven. Until that happy event they were in a natural paradise, enjoying unending life without suffering or inconvenience. This is the uppermost circle of Dante`’s hell, a state of natural bliss, but without the Vision or companionship of God, which is the summit of human happiness. We can only imagine the joy in heaven on that day, when the Son of God, bearing the marks of the nails on his human body, took his place at the side of the eternal Father, and presented to the Father and to the angels: the millions of souls of good and holy persons, who had been waiting for that glorious destiny. That joy will be even greater at the end of this world, when the general resurrection will happen, and our human bodies will rise in perfect youthful condition: to be reunited with our souls, and will share the happiness of heaven. The bodies of the damned in hell will also be resurrected and reunited to their souls in hell, thus adding to their eternal shame and suffering. At the judgment they will have caught a glimpse of the glory of heaven, and then fully realize what they have rejected and lost through their own foolishness: in preferring their own wills to the Will of their Creator. Their suffering endures through all eternity, testifying to God’s justice and truth. In hell each person is uglier than everyone else, and their sufferings correspond to the grave sins they committed on earth. Those persons, who support and commit murder by abortion of innocent unborn children, have reserved places in the lower regions of hell, and their sufferings will be more intense than the punishments of those who deliberately murdered adult persons, who at least had some opportunity to know and love God while on earth. At the same time the souls of aborted infants are filled with joy in the presence of God, along with the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, who were killed by King Herod (cf Matthew 2:16-18). Before and after Jesus’ death and ascension, the souls of evil persons are confined to the eternal torments of hell, while the souls of those who choose to obey and please God in this life are received into eternal happiness at their death. This happiness increased immensely when Jesus ascended into heaven, opening the gates thereof, which had been closed since the original sin of our first parents.