An Essay By Fr. Schall: 15. The Brighter Side of Hell

"No more important intellectual exercise can be found than that of a right understanding of hell, what it means, how it is to be understood.  Seen for what it is, it is the best help we can imagine to teach us the importance God places on the ongoing drama of our daily lives."

 

From the essay:

Our lives are so ultimately important that we CAN lose them. But this possibility (hell) is placed before us so that we do not lose them...and we are not supposed to lose them. Hell exists to help us to achieve what we are given in the first place: the promise of eternal life.

The road to hell, it is said, is paved with good intentions.  It is also paved with many insights into the very nature of our being that guide us to the truth of things and the importance of our own existence.