In this heat, can we speak of the fires of hell? And also in the winter cold? And in the other seasons? Good and evil are present in one way or another in most cultures, if not all, because it is the universal experience of both happy events and evil in its many forms of harming humanity. Every religion has provided some explanation for evil, and also seeks to comfort those who suffer it, in small doses and especially in terrible and momentous times, as has just happened with the earthquakes in Venezuela.

Heaven and Hell

Christian anthropology has always emphasized the personal nature of humankind and its status as a free interlocutor with God, without trivializing our freedom or the sad reality of evil, which is present in the world and opposes God’s plans and the dignity of the human person. The Catholic faith knows that God, like the best of fathers, created us to be happy on earth and, above all, in eternity. Heaven, with a capital H, is God himself lived in ultimate love, always giving himself and always growing. That is why we write it with a capital H, Heaven, which surpasses all imagination, as Saint Paul writes: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no human mind has conceived—what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9), because now we see as in a mirror, dimly, while then we will see face to face. (13:12)

On the other hand, it seems better to write hell with a lowercase “h,” hell, because it is not the work of God’s Love but of Satan’s great rebellion as inexplicable hatred; and it can be written with a capital “h” because this diabolical being is real and personal, not just an idea to personify evil.

The topic of hell, Satan, and demons is periodically revisited, with diverse opinions and a tendency to view them as not truly real. This is because we are all concerned with evil in order to avoid it, and conversely, with good in order to enjoy it, and we sense that it has much to do with true human freedom—certainly conditioned, but real in practical life, and accessible to philosophical and religious reflection.

In this context, the existence of hell, established by the devil and his rebellious angels, is understood, but also as a real possibility for humanity that abuses its freedom to reject God. Conversely, being scandalized by hell or denying its eternity amounts to not believing in human freedom or in the consistency of history as a mysterious interplay of grace and freedom.

The exhortations of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Church concerning Hell are a call to responsibility and conversion: “Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). [1]

Deliver us from evil

The novel, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” tells the story of young Bruno, who moves with his parents and teenage sister, Gretel, from the city to the countryside because of his father’s military job. He struggles with the move and is bored, confined to the large house where they live, until he meets a boy—wearing strange striped pajamas—and befriends him. Bruno is unaware that his father is the commandant of a concentration camp for Jews, who are treated like cattle and are being murdered in the gas chambers.

This work is a hymn to friendship, to respect for those who are different, a tribute to innocence. But it is a tale that ends badly and invites reflection on the dynamics of evil, the spiral of sin that overwhelms everything. Hence the profound meaning of the petition we make every day in the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

We Christians often pray the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus Christ himself taught us, because it responds to our need for God’s grace to overcome sin and life’s difficulties. He is not a distant God, indifferent to the fate of humankind, because we are his creation, made by the thrice-personal God in his image and likeness; that is, called to share in the intimacy of the divine family, for our God is one but not solitary. Each person can glimpse this by reflecting on their need for love, a need that is only satisfied in family and friendship, in interpersonal relationships, where each person is loved for who they are and not for what they possess.

Jesus teaches that prayer is speaking to God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—with the humility of one who understands that life is a gift and knows how to be at ease in their place, far removed from the pride of self-sufficiency. Therefore, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus shows us that we are children of God and speak with simplicity, honoring Him as our common Father who destines us for eternal happiness in Heaven. Then we make our petitions—seven in particular—which contain everything essential for living on earth as good children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and of all humanity.

Therefore, it is worthwhile to frequently reflect on the Heaven of God in His Personal presence and its radical contrast with the equally personal Hell, whether in a scorching summer or a freezing winter. For each day has the dimension of eternity, as each person freely chooses to embrace good things, a reflection of Absolute Good, or to personally choose evil.

There are, then, passions that scorch and destroy, in contrast to other fervors of love that build and bring happiness. The wise and holy Augustine of Hippo knew something of this when he said: “Bad times, difficult times! say men. Let us live well, and the times will be good. We are the times: as we are, so are the times. What, then, to do? Perhaps we cannot convert all men; let them strive to live well, at least the few who are listening to me, and let that small number of the good bear the multitude of the bad. These good ones are like grain: now they are on the threshing floor, mixed with the chaff; but in the granary there will be no such mixture. Tolerate what you do not want, in order to reach where you want; why grieve and censure what God has permitted? (…) Let us not censure the Father of the household, who is so good. He carries us upon himself; we do not carry him. He knows how to govern his work.” As for you, do what he commands and wait for the fulfillment of his promises.

[1]  For more information, see J.Ortiz López,  Luces largas para el Cielo. BibliotecaOnline, 2020 .