What is Our True Home?

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Father Joe

Today there are many who judge traditional soteriology as cruel and indefensible. Those who suggest that many go to hell and only a few to heaven are condemned as mean-spirited sadists who take delight in the pain of others. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, we would save what we can. We are cognizant of the two forms of contrition, perfect and imperfect. The former is a sorrow for sin rooted in love. We regret the dishonor our sins have caused God and the terrible price that was enacted from our Lord on the Cross. The latter finds its incentive in a fear of punishment and the loss of God. While one is better than the other, either might save a soul from the fires of hell. God would pull us into heaven by the hand, but if he must, he would also drag some by the hair. Both require that we cooperate and not fight his effort to rescue us.

It would make no sense for God to invite the damned into heaven as they could not breathe the air, stand the heat or bear the gravity. Like the figures in C. S. Lewis’ GREAT DIVORCE, it would pain them just to walk the grass. They would quickly race back to hell, a poor home for sure, but one where they could turn their faces away from God. The damned have no good prospects. As much as they might try, they will never make a fitting heaven of hell. But they would prefer it to the abode of the saints. They have acclimated themselves to hell by their selfishness, indifference, fears, and lack of charity. The damned forfeit a great prize. Heaven is where we find “the true,” “the beautiful” and “the good.” If heaven is framed by windows to the divine then hell is a place of mirrors, where narcissism reigns and ugliness exposed. Well, yes and no, this may not be entirely true. The devil despises humanity, and it is doubtful that he will allow the damned from earth any rest. They are constant reminders to him of the incarnation and the one he could not tempt. Indeed, Satan refused to bend the knee to the God made man— the one who spurned his temptations and beguiled him by the Cross which should have been his victory instead. If great demons eat the lesser ones, Satan will certainly make a meal of the damned. Here is the tragedy. The saints of heaven share in the eternal banquet of the Lamb. The damned of hell suffer both thirst and hunger as they are made carrion for flies in an eternal and mocking parody of heaven.

There is a logical contradiction to supposing the damned could enter heaven. Such a prospect would signal the end to their freedom and ironically to their dignity. God will not force us to love him. The time of testing for angels and men required a separation or veil. If any should be in full acquisition of the greatest Good (to see God as he is) then the creature, human or angelic, would have to embrace him. God’s presence is overwhelming to any kind of freedom. The angels and saints of heaven live in eternity and can never change their minds. They see God face-to face. The damned of hell also live in eternity although they do not see God. Their freedom is preserved by the absence of God. Of course, this absence is not absolute. If the Almighty were to entirely withdraw himself then the devils and the damned would cease to exist. Even in hell, there must be the smallest spark of the divine to keep them in being. Otherwise, they would be annihilated. It has been argued that this most miserable spark is what constitutes the blazing and tormenting inferno of hell. It is similarly argued that this flame is even more present and real in heaven, but the saints of God dance in the furnace of God’s love. Similarly, this fire is interpreted as the agent of purification for the poor souls in purgatory.