The idea of death, the ultimate questions about who we are and where we are going, often remain forgotten. Saints and mystics, however, remind us of the realities of the afterlife and also tell us that Hell and Purgatory exist and are not fantasies. Here we report in particular the experience of Saint Faustina Kowalska.

Hell: a place of great torments

We read in the Diary of Saint Faustina: “Today, under the guidance of an angel, I was in the depths of hell. It is a place of great torments extending over its terrifyingly vast expanse. These are the various sufferings I saw: the first suffering, the one that constitutes hell, is the loss of God; the second, the continual remorse of conscience; the third, the awareness that this fate will never change; the fourth suffering is the fire that penetrates the soul but does not destroy it; it is a terrible suffering: a purely spiritual fire kindled by the wrath of God; the fifth suffering is continual darkness, a horrible, suffocating stench, and although it is dark, the demons and damned souls see one another and see all the evil of others and their own; the sixth suffering is the continual companionship of Satan; the seventh suffering is terrible despair, hatred of God, curses, maledictions, and blasphemies.”

These are sufferings that all the damned endure together, but this is not the end of the torments. There are particular torments for the various souls, namely torments of the senses. Each soul is tormented in a terrible and indescribable way according to what it has sinned through.» Continuing, Saint Faustina notes: «One thing I noticed is that most of the souls who are there are souls who did not believe that hell existed».

Purgatory: a foggy place

Saint Faustina also had a vision of Purgatory, which she described in her Diary as follows: «At one moment I found myself in a foggy place, filled with fire and, within it, a huge crowd of suffering souls. These souls pray with great fervor, but without effect for themselves: only we can help them. The flames that burned them did not touch me. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for a single moment. And I asked those souls what their greatest suffering was. And they unanimously replied that their greatest suffering was the burning desire for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call Mary “Star of the Sea.” She brings them relief. I would have liked to speak with them at greater length, but my Guardian Angel motioned for me to leave. And we went out through the door of that prison of pain. I heard an inner voice say: “My Mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.”»

Even though the dominant culture distracts us from thinking about these realities, which are very often censored, it is more urgent than ever to bring them to mind so that we can seriously review our lives and choices in light of the message Christ came to bring us.
Did you know about Saint Faustina’s experience? Write about it in the comments.