St. Teresa of Avila: “While I was at Prayer one day, I found myself in a moment, without Knowing how, Plunged apparently into Hell"
“While I was at prayer one day, I found myself in a moment, without
knowing how, plunged apparently into Hell. I understood that it was Our
Lord’s will that I should see the place which the devils kept in
readiness for me, and which I had deserved by my sins. It lasted but for
a moment, but it seems to me impossible that I should ever forget it
even if I were to live many years.
“The entrance seemed to be by a
long narrow pass, like a furnace, very low, dark, and close. The ground
seemed to be saturated with water, mere mud, exceedingly foul, sending
forth pestilential odors, and covered with loathsome vermin. At the end
was a hollow place in the wall like a closet, and in that I saw myself
confined. All this was ever pleasant to behold in comparison with what I
felt there. There is no exaggeration in what I am saying.
“But
as to what I then felt, I do not know where to begin if I were to
describe it; it is utterly inexplicable. I felt a fire in my soul but
such that I am still unable to describe it. My bodily sufferings were
unendurable. I have undergone most painful sufferings in this life, and,
as the physicians say, the greatest that can be borne, such as the
contraction of my sinews when I was paralyzed, without speaking of other
ills of different types – yet, even those of which I have spoken,
inflicted on me by Satan; yet all these were as nothing in comparison
with what I then felt, especially when I saw that there would be no
intermission nor any end to them.
“These sufferings were nothing
in comparison with the anguish of my soul, a sense of oppression, of
stifling, and of pain so acute, accompanied by so hopeless and cruel an
infliction, that I know not how to speak of it. If I say that the soul
is continually being torn from the body it would be nothing – for that
implies the destruction of life by the hands of another – but here it is
the soul itself that is tearing itself in pieces. I cannot describe
that inward fire or that despair, surpassing all torments and all pain. I
did not see who it was that tormented me, but I felt myself on fire,
and torn to pieces, as it seemed to me; and I repeat it, this inward
fire and despair are the greatest torments of all.
“Left in that
pestilential place, and utterly without the power to hope for comfort, I
could neither sit nor lie down; there was no room. I was placed as it
were in a hole in the wall; and those walls, terrible to look on of
themselves, hemmed me in on every side. I could not breathe. There was
no light, but all was thick darkness. I do not understand how it is;
though there was no light, yet everything that can give pain by being
seen was visible.
“Our Lord at that time would not let me see
more of Hell. Afterwards I had another most fearful vision, in which I
saw the punishment of certain sins. They were the most horrible to look
at, but because I felt none of the pain, my terror was not so great. In
the former vision Our Lord made me really feel those torments and that
anguish of spirit, just as if I had been suffering them in the body
there. I know not how it was, but I understood distinctly that it was a
great mercy that Our Lord would have me see with my own eyes the very
place from which His compassion saved me. I have listened to people
speaking of these things and I have at other times dwelt on the various
torments of Hell, though not often, because my soul made no progress by
the way of fear; and I have read of the diverse tortures, and how the
devils tear the flesh with red-hot pincers. But all is as nothing before
this: It is a wholly different matter. In short, the one is a reality,
the other a description; and all burning here in this life is as nothing
compared with the fire that is there.
“I was so terrified by
that vision – and that terror is on me even now as I write – that though
it took place nearly six years ago, the natural warmth of my body is
chilled by fear even now when I think of it. And so, amid all the pain
and suffering which I may have had to bear, I remember no time in which I
do not think that all we have to suffer in this world is as nothing. It
seems to me that we complain without reason. I repeat it, this vision
was one of the grandest mercies of God. It has been to me of the
greatest service, because it has destroyed my fear of trouble and of the
contradictions of the world, and because it has made me strong enough
to bear up against them, and to give thanks to Our Lord who has been my
Deliverer, as it now seems to me, from such fearful and everlasting
pains.
“Ever since that time, as I was saying, everything seems
endurable in comparison with one instant of suffering such as those I
had then to bear in Hell. I am filled with fear when I see that, after
frequently reading books which describe in some manner the pains of
Hell, I was not afraid of them, nor made any account of them. Where was
I? How could I possibly take any pleasure in those things which led me
directly to so dreadful a place? Blessed forever be Thou, O my God! And
oh, how manifest is it that Thou didst love me much more than I did love
Thee! How often, O Lord, didst Thou save me from that fearful prison!
And how I used to get back to it contrary to Thy will.
“It was
that vision which filled me with very great distress which I felt at the
sight of so many lost souls, especially of the Lutherans – for they
were once members of the Church by Baptism – and also gave me the most
vehement desires for the salvation of souls; for certainly I believe
that to save even one from those overwhelming torments , I would
willingly endure many deaths. If here on earth we see one whom we
specially love in great trouble or pain, our very nature seems to bid us
compassionate him; and if those pains be great, we are troubled
ourselves. What, then, must it be to see a soul in danger of pain, the
most grievous of all pains, forever? It is a thought no heart can bear
without great anguish. Here we know that pain at last ends with life,
and that there are limits to it, yet the sight of it moves us so greatly
to compassion; that other pain has no ending, and I know not how we can
be calm when we see Satan carry so many souls daily away.
“This
also makes me wish that, in a matter which concerns us so much, we did
not rest satisfied with doing less than we can do on our part – that we
left nothing undone. May Our Lord vouchsafe to give us His grace for
that end.” [http://www.doeshellexist.com/blog/?p=35]
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Mass and the Church as
well as for the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and
the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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