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GOD 101: On Hell and the Nature of Nothing
It is Lent, so it seems that serious subjects are in order. The subject of hell seems to be everywhere these days. And it amazes me how many people grab such a concept and run with it. Just...
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LENTEN FIRE: February 17
From Becoming Fire: Through the Year with the Desert Fathers and Mothers Remember hell, but also remember the day of resurrection Abba Antony said, “As you sit in your cell, gather your thoughts:...
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SOUL STRUCTURE: Let’s Talk Evil (includes a diagram of hell)
Well, it is Lent, after all. The time to take a most serious look at all things spiritual. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that the lack of understanding about the soul that...
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SATURDAY READING: The Governance of the Kingdom of Darkness — A Philosophical...
From Southern Journal of Philosophy Wherein may be discerned the true essence of moral depravity, or that which really does, like a cesspool, corrupt whatever comes under its influence, as...
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PRAYER: Ten Meditations, by Francis de Sales
From Introduction to the Devout Life (A modern rewriting, making these meditations easier to read and understand, can be found at the website for the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.) The whole Earth...
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SERMON: On The Apostles’ Creed, by Thomas Aquinas
He descended into hell. As we say, the death of Christ lies in the separation of the soul from the body, just as in the death of other human beings. But, the divinity was so indissolubly united to the...
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PRAYER: John The Baptist’s Prayer
The Descent Into Hell From The Exeter Book Before it was day the women of noble birth began to get themselves ready to go; the men who were assembled knew that the prince’s body was shut in the...
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HELL: A Fierce Jesuit, by John Casey
From After Lives A famous exponent of Jesuit eloquence was Jeremias Drexel (or Dresselius), a Bavarian Jesuit who lived from 1581 to 1638. His specialty was eternity. He sought to dramatize for his...
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POETRY: Hell, by Sarah Manguso
The second-hardest thing I have to do is not be longing’s slave. Hell is that. Hell is that, others, having a job, and not having a job. Hell is thinking continually of those who were truly great. Hell...
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HELL, by Franz Wright
But if they were condemned to suffer this unending torment, sooner or later wouldn’t they become the holy?
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HELL: Something Good About Hell, by Jon M. Sweeney
From Almost Catholic Here at least We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure; and in my choice To reign is worth ambition,...
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MYSTICISM: Proverbs Of Hell, by William Blake
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. * Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead. * The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. * Prudence is a rich, ugly old...
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SATURDAY READING: What Happens In Hell, by Charles Baxter
From Ploughshares “Sir, I am wondering – have you considered lately what happens in Hell?” No, I hadn’t, but I liked that lately. We were on our way from the San Francisco Airport to Palo Alto, and...
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SERMON: Heaven And Hell — It Is a Matter of the Heart, by C. S. Song
From And Their Eyes Are Opened On that day, when evening had come, he [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just...
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DIABOLOGY: Encounter With Evil, by Malcolm Godwin
From Angels: An Endangered Species We now turn to what are claimed to be first-hand accounts of meetings with the enemy. During the five centuries after Christ many Christian hermits and monks...
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POETRY: Hell, by Thomas Ken
When, go ye, cursed, God proclaims, And sinners plunge in endless flames, Think, O my soul, what mighty pain, The damned sustain. Self-rage for breach of gracious laws, The worm of conscience which...
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POETRY: A Letter, by Wendell Berry
(to Ed McClanahan) Dear Ed, I dreamed that you and I were sent to Hell. The place we went to was not fiery or cold, was not Dante’s Hell or Milton’s, but was, even so, as true a Hell as any. It was a...
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POETRY: A Purification by Wendell Berry
At start of spring I open a trench in the ground. I put into it the winter’s accumulation of paper, pages I do not want to read again, useless words, fragments, errors. And I put into it the contents...
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HEALING: Perfect Hell
I am not obsessive-compulsive. I have actually been tested. The same test, however, showed that I am a perfectionist. When I saw how high on the scale of perfectionism I tested, I felt an urge to sit...
View ArticlePOETRY: Hell by Thomas Ken
When, go ye, cursed, God proclaims, And sinners plunge in endless flames, Think, O my soul, what mighty pain, The damned sustain. Self-rage for breach of gracious laws, The worm of conscience which...
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