Catholic theology affirms the idea of Hell, just as Jesus spoke of it. Hell exists as a closed or eternal cycle, filled only with evil. Those unable to make even the slightest union with Jesus Christ condemn themselves to Hell.
When the angels cast themselves away from God, they did
so with full knowledge of their act. They may not have had perfect knowledge of all consequences, but they knew perfectly that their action was in opposition to God.
Acting against the will of God in itself did not cast the angels into Hell. Hell is an unintended by product of failed final communion. Just as humanity was created for the purpose of divine inclusion into Christ (CCC 398), so too were the angels.
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In making this inclusion into the divine Christ, no sin could be allowed.
What we call judgment, was this communion of Christ and
the angels. Trinitarian Christ (human Jesus did not yet exist), made the communion, taking all goodness into himself. All evil and those owning it were unable to make union into Christ, which now became the larger body of Christ.99
Left behind was evil and those owning the evil…this was
the formation of Hell. Those angels left behind had absolutely no goodness in them, they were unable to reach beyond self, and certainly could not reach out to God. They existed in a self perpetuating cycle of evil. They had truly condemned themselves to existence without God.
From this we see that Hell is a rejection of union with God, rather than God rejecting anyone. In fact Hell exists as a failure of final communion. God cannot make an act that has only an evil outcome, and condemning a person to Hell is an act with no possible final good.
Hell is produced by the condemned themselves and it occurs in two degrees. The first degree of Hell is internal to a soul, and occurs at judgment when that soul rejects and abandons God. The result of this willful separation is total internal corruption as goodness is abandoned. Catholic 99 Christ’s communion with the angels makes Christianity as old as this first communion. The date for Christianity is pushed back thousands of years prior to Jesus. We recall that Christianity at its core is communion into Christ. We are certain that the angels were judged, with some not making their intended union with the divine Christ. This judgment was actually their intended communion into Christ, just like humans are intended for divine communion from the beginning, (CCC 398). The necessary conclusion is that other angels did make their intended union with Christ; this dates the formation of the extended body of Christ to a time earlier than the last supper, with the first communicants being the angels, rather than the apostles. Was St. Michael the archangel the first Pope of Christianity? Such an idea is not impossible if Christ appointed a leader angel.
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terminology for this first degree is the “particular judgment.”
These condemned now share creation with the living on earth, but have no virtue or goodness, and prowl the earth causing evil, (Mt 8:29).
The second degree of Hell is yet to come. This is the general judgment when God unites with all goodness from creation.100 God will take with him all the goodness abandoned by the reprobate, what remains will exist undiluted with goodness, this will be the final Hell. This Hell is what remains after God reclaims all goodness abandoned by angels and humanity.
Again the personal communion planned by God is now corrupted by sin into the personal judgment, and now with Hell as a possibility. The general communion is now the general judgment with Hell as a possibility. This general communion was Christ’s desire to reunite and fulfill all of creation.
Everything comes from Christ, (Jn 1:3), and all is intended to rejoin Christ, even the lion who lies down with the lamb in divine Heaven. It is part of God’s plan for creation that all reunite with him, so as to give the entire universe its highest possible level of existence. In this reunion with all creation
“God will be all in all things” , (1Cor 15:28).
We cannot speak of a “body of the Antichrist”, such as we
speak of a “body of Christ.” Those in Hell are entirely self. It is possible there are many, but there can be no community.
Respect, organization, joy and fulfillment are virtues of Christ, and will not be found in the final assembly of the Antichrist.
There is no master plan for Hell, and its inhabitants will be left to their own devices. From 1John 2:18, we learn that the 100 The general judgment is not a group judgment of a mass of people; it is a large scale judgment of individuals. There is a difference, which God does not ignore.
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Antichrist is not only a singular Devil in the end times, but all who share now in the corrupted spirit of the Antichrist.
As originally planned, all created goodness was to finally share in the very divinity of God. God would incorporate the goodness of creation into his own being. This plan has not changed, all goodness will have its final destiny in the divine life of God. Left behind will be all remaining evil, which will be physical Hell.
The preceding article makes a strong case for eternal damnation, yet the idea of universal salvation does exist within the realm of possibility in the Catholic Church. Pope, now Saint John Paul II states in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, August 4, 1999.
“Eternal damnation remains a real possibility, but we
are not granted, without special divine revelation, the knowledge of whether or which human beings are
effectively involved in it.”
The possibility of universal salvation necessarily remains a possibility because Christ does not assign or retain anyone to Hell. Eternal Hell is an evil with no possible good outcome, and God may neither assign, nor retain anyone in eternal Hell.
Hell is a closed cycle of evil, where the evil wills of the residents would corrupt any incoming goodness. But God is expert at breaking closed, eternal cycles; creation is a breakout of the closed cycle of eternity.
Consider that each individual was a dimension of God before his creation as a human person.101 Recall that in Heaven 101 Within the person of Christ, who is the second person of the Trinity of God, are many individuals who constitute the single person of Christ. We usually think of these individuals (not persons, person = single moral being), as joining Christ after their death. Christ is now all who constitute 130
(which is the person of Christ, before or after incarnation), each potential human was an eternal idea in the mind of God; every current human person, has his origin in the mind of God, as an idea of God. An idea of God is as real as it gets, and in a certain way, even more real than that idea brought to physicality.
Even God, who is eternally complete, must feel a sense of
incompleteness if one of his human or angelic creations fails to rejoin him. It is reasonable to believe that Christ makes every possible effort to rejoin each person into himself. Christ has the authority to ensure this happens, even by extraordinary means.
Christ has the ability, even to force the salvation of a person, even upon a devil.102 Christ has the authority to make any necessary exceptions. Christ has the desire to do this, (1Tm 2:4). In the end, evil is not stronger than good, and God retains authority over the Devil. Ultimate universal salvation cannot the body of Christ.
But at any moment, Christ is always all who are members of the single person of Christ. There is one person and one soul of the single person of Christ, but many individuals. These individuals are former human persons, who now make up human dimensions of Christ. Even prior to their incarnations, these potential persons were ideas of human persons, which we call dimensions of Christ. From Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
From this we see that every human person has preexistence (that is pre-incarnational existence) as a dimension of Christ. All these dimensions were members of the single person and soul of Christ.
102 This is usually done indirectly. The real life example of St. Monica praying for her son St. Augustine brought graces of good action (actual graces) upon Augustine. These were imposed upon Augustine without his consent, but they led to a change in his free will toward God and salvation. We observe that the devil acts within the wil ful boundaries allowed by God. Exorcism of devils is God’s wil enforced over the objections and will of demons. Catholic Bishop Robert Barron gives video lectures on the idea of uninhabited Hell and many other topics on YouTube.com.
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become doctrine, nor can it be excluded from the realm of possibility.
God has the ability and authority to remove people from
a just sentence of Hell, and may do so, if he desires. Therefore, universal salvation necessarily remains a possibility. The Church encourages us to hope and pray for the salvation of all persons, and without regard to time of death.
Practice of Spiritual Advancement,