Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

Lectionary: 233

The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment...

When Jesus described the rich man, known as "Dives" [pronounced die-vees], he gave us little encouragement to feel pity or sympathy for the fellow. Not only does he habitually ignore the poor man Lazarus who apparently begged within sight of the rich man's table; he also demanded that Lazarus should leave his secure, comfortable place in the bosom of Abraham, cross a wide, impassable chasm, and suffer the flames of hell to provide a very brief moment of relief to the condemned. 

Denied that request, Dives complains that he was never warned of his impending doom; and, if God were a just god he would send Lazarus to warn his brothers who are still living in luxurious sin. 

Abraham replies that, if you and your brothers never listened to Moses and the prophets, neither will you listen to someone raised from the dead. That is, neither Lazarus nor Jesus. 

Dives, as Jesus describes him, deserves to rot in hell. 

I've known more than a few devout Christians who doubt the existence of Hell. If God is all good and compassionate, he will surely not assign some people to lie in everlasting torment in the fiery pits. They will be given the opportunity to turn back to the Lord and join the communion of saints. 

The controversy went mega when Pope Francis reportedly denied the existence of an everlasting Hell. He might have said the condemned simply cease to exist. They wink out like lights that are turned off. Unloved, unknown, neither missed nor regretted, they don't exist in anyone's mind and simply are not. 

I met a fellow, an unrepentant alcoholic and ex-convict, who said his son and daughter had told their children, "Your grandfather died a long time ago." He told me, "You know, when your grandchildren think you're dead -- you're dead!" 

(The Holy Father's remarks were quickly followed by a Vatican statement.)

Since we have no higher authority than Jesus's words and the Church's official teaching, I think we should consider the possibility of Hell as very real. I'll go further and suggest Hell is a component of the Gospel. 

God is just. We should believe this because the Testaments old and new insist upon it, and the infallible Church teaches it. God does not conform to a higher standard of justice because there is no higher standard than God. Whatever God decides or does is just. 

Furthermore, God does not compromise with evil. He does not overlook it, forget about it, or ignore it. 

The most evil incident in the history of the universe was the crucifixion of Jesus. We can think of many other evil incidents but that one stands far above the others because of Who was crucified. He is the Son of God; he is God. No human being should be mistreated because they are created in God's image and they share in divine dignity; but Jesus should not be crucified because he is God and his dignity is infinite. 

Saint Francis reflected deeply on this mystery and often wept bitterly as he considered both the humiliation of God and the humility of Jesus. 

Given that appreciation of the horror of the crucifixion, we can recognize a supreme irony and paradox: we are saved by the cross of Christ. Out of that evil, God has made good. He did not ignore it, he did not pretend it never happened; he certainly did not excuse it. Rather he transformed it to salvation. 

We are saved by our submission to the cross. That is, by confessing that we too have participated in the evil of Jesus's crucifixion, by our bitterly regretting our history of sin, both personal and communal, and by turning to God for mercy, with faith, hope, and love, we may be granted the consolation of Lazarus. 

In the meanwhile, there are many who refuse. For reasons we need not reflect upon, they prefer and choose to do evil. And furthermore, they refuse the opportunity we offer them. 

The doctrine of Hell reassures those who suffer intractable inequity that justice will come someday. You might never see it in this world. Many truly wicked persons will enjoy splendid grace and favor in this world. They will die in their contented old age on satin sheets without remorse, regret, or discomfort for the horrors they have perpetrated. They might be granted splendid funerals as millions grieve their passing. 

Meanwhile, the just will mutter among themselves, "We should say nothing but good about the dead. And he's dead. And that's good." 

Who are condemned is not for anyone to say. Hell might be empty for all we know; it's not our affair. 

What we cannot say is that nothing in this life really matters because everybody is going to heaven anyway. That offends the principle of justice, and is especially insulting to those who cry to heaven for justice. The Lord hears their cry, as we learn in the story of Cain and Abel, and the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. The Lord will deliver his people as he did 

"when Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore and saw the great power that the LORD had shown against Egypt."

Because there is a hell, we the prophetic Church have a responsibility to warn the wicked to repent, and to encourage the just to persevere. And we should take very seriously the opportunities we are given. It is not too late to forgive, apologize, and atone for our sins. But there will come a day when it is too late.