Hell is the empire of hatred is a meditation from the book by Léon Dehon, The Retreat of the Sacred Heart, where he has Jesus Christ speak from his meditations.
The Holy Spirit certainly assisted Blessed Léon Dehon, but this is not a mystical vision or a grace from God, simply an essay; therefore, the words of the "Savior" come solely from the hand of the Blessed and not at all from God.
Léon Dehon calls us to meditate as well, providing us with lines of reflection, paths, and directions so as not to become scattered, but to guide our prayer/meditation in the proper Catholic direction.
This was a common practice at the time, as for the author of "The Imitation of Christ and other spiritual writers have done."
Reading from the Holy Gospel
Matthew 25:
31 When the Son of Man comes in his majesty, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'
41 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
Summary
It is good to meditate on hell. Hell is certain in its existence. There is no truth more firmly established. It has the testimony of Scripture, of the Church, of mystics, of the universal belief of mankind, and of reason itself.
Hell is horrible in its sufferings. It shatters the soul, it tortures the body with a powerful, intelligent, and penetrating fire.
The fear of hell should not be foreign to Christians, nor even to religious and priests. They are all exposed to it.
Meditation
Reading from the Holy Gospel.
Meditation.
The Disciple. — Master, inspire in me the fear of hell, to compel me thereby to love you, since I do not yet know how to love you selflessly.
Hell is certain in its existence.
The Savior:
Yes, it is to compel you to love me that I invite you to meditate on hell. This is how I began to instill a fervent charity in the hearts of my greatest saints, like Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Teresa. I showed them the abyss into which they would fall if they did not love me or if they gave me only a divided heart. Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, Saint Bernard, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, all the saints loved to meditate on hell, to keep themselves in fear of sin. This is what Saint Augustine expressed thus: *Timens esse volo, ignem æternum metuo* (I wish to be fearful, I dread the eternal fire). Remember, therefore, how certain hell is in its existence.
Could I have painted it more clearly than I did when I said: The wicked will go into eternal punishment where the gnawing worm (of remorse) does not die and the fire is not quenched (Matt. 25).
The Church does not hesitate in its creed.
The good, it says, will go to eternal life, the wicked to eternal fire. He who does not firmly believe this cannot be saved. The Church has never tolerated the denial of the torment of fire in hell.
Have I not shown hell itself to several saints to put them on guard against it? To Saint Francis of Assisi, to Saint Teresa, to Blessed Margaret Mary, I showed the abyss into which they would be hurled if they were not faithful to my grace, and this vision made an impression on them that never faded. Moreover, the belief in an eternal hell is of all times; it dates from the primitive revelation.
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You will find it in pagan theologies. It is also consistent with the data of reason: Sin has something infinite about it, since it attacks the divine Majesty. It therefore deserves a punishment that does not end, if my blood is not applied to it. The reprobate in hell does not make amends; he blasphemes, he gives himself over to hatred of God; how would he obtain His pardon? Finally, the fear of a temporal punishment would not stop the sinner. It was good that my Father threatened sinners with an eternal punishment to halt men on the slope of sin and save them.
Hell is horrible in its sufferings. It shatters the soul; it tortures the body with a powerful and penetrating fire.
Fear, I have told you, him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. To be far from me is the torment of the soul; the eternal fire is the torment of the body.
The supreme suffering of the soul is to be deprived of the Sovereign Good, which it glimpsed at the moment of judgment. It saw the just welcomed into the bosom of God and into the delights of heaven, and it saw itself hurled into the horrors of hell. It then suffers in all its faculties. In the imagination, there are desolate representations related to future sufferings, to the indefinite succession of ages.
In the memory, it is the recollection of faults committed and opportunities for salvation lost forever.
In the will, it is despair, it is an impotent rage, a hopeless anger against oneself, against the demons, against accomplices.
In the intellect, it is an implacable conviction of one's own folly and of divine justice.
For the body, it is the suffering of fire, a powerful fire, kindled by divine wrath: Did not Nebuchadnezzar, wishing to punish severely one day when he believed himself gravely offended, order a fire to be lit seven times greater than usual? (Daniel 3:19)
The fire of hell is even more powerful. It acts on souls as on bodies, sensitivity having its source in the soul. It is an intelligent fire: it distinguishes between sinners, between the senses and the faculties, as Saint Chrysostom points out.
It is a penetrating fire, as I myself have said (Mark 9). It penetrates its victim as salt penetrates flesh. It seeks out every nerve. It makes the blood boil in the veins and the marrow in the bones.
Along with this fire, there are diverse torments, corresponding to the faults of the damned, as I once showed Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, revealing to her the punishments of the afterlife. The proud and disobedient are trampled and crushed under a winepress. Liars have their mouths filled with molten lead. Impure souls are in a foul dungeon that sickens their hearts. The slothful lie on sharp, burning points. Slanderers have their tongues torn and eaten by worms. At the sight of these torments, what have you to do but return to my love so as never to stray from it again?
The Christian Has Reason to Fear Hell
But, you will say, are practicing Christians, religious, and priests then exposed to hell? Yes, have not the holiest priests dreaded it?
Saint Paul said: I discipline my body, for fear of hell: *Castigo corpus meum, ne reprobus efficiar* (I chastise my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway). (1 Cor 9:27)
Saint Jerome said: It is from fear of hell that I came to take refuge in the grotto of Bethlehem. When Saint Peter Damian thought of hell, his hair stood on end. Is the priest not exposed to it? He is in contact with a corrupt world. The devil is bent on his ruin: *Expetivit ut cribaret vos* (Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat). (Luke 22.) He has delicate functions, where negligence, omissions, and imprudence quickly constitute a grave fault. He must give an account of the souls entrusted to him as of his own.
Listen to Saint Augustine and Saint Isidore of Seville: *Nos et de nobis et de vobis rationem reddituri sumus. Pro populorum iniquitate damnantur* (We will render an account both for ourselves and for you. They are condemned for the iniquity of the people.) Hell is even incomparably more terrible for souls who have abused great graces.
Holy Scripture tells you this: *Judicium durissimum his qui præsunt* (A most severe judgment for those in high places). (Wisdom 6:6); *Potentes potenter tormenta patientur* (The mighty shall be mightily tormented). (Wisdom 6:7); *Cui multum datum est, multum requiretur ab eo* (To whom much is given, much will be required). (Luke 12:48.)
Saint Jerome tells you that consecrated souls are more tempting morsels for the devil. Saint Chrysostom tells you that a thousand hells are not too many for the transgressing priest: *Si quis ponat mille gehennas, nihil est dicturus* (If a man makes a thousand hells, he will say nothing). Saint Alphonsus Liguori tells you that it is a feast for the demons and that all hell stirs to go out to meet the falling priest. Saint Bridget saw these wretches sunk deeper in hell than the demons themselves.
Affections and Resolutions
Good Master, I thank you for this severe lesson. Penetrate my soul with the fear of hell, so that I may love you out of necessity, since I do not yet know how to love you for the pure motive of your lovableness.
I wish to renew more faithfully today the oblation of my actions out of love and to make some sacrifices to help you preserve some souls from hell.
Source: The Retreat of the Sacred Heart by the Reverend Father Dehon – 1896