By Father Charles Arminjon (1881)
“If, by way of evil even as by way of good, we unfailingly attain life — life lasting an eternity — the conclusion is inescapable that virtue and crime are two means toward an equal security; that it is optional for man to follow one or the other as he pleases; and that the most sordid lives and the most pure lives are of equal merit and dignity, since both lead to the same perfection and happiness.
Once such a scheme is granted, morality, public order, and all semblance of honesty must disappear from the earth. Justice is stripped of its sanction; conscience is a prejudice; virtue and sacrifice are a stupid exertion.
Remove the fear of eternal punishment from mankind, and the world will be filled with crime; the most execrable misdeeds will become a duty whenever they can be committed without risk of prison or the sword. Hell will simply happen sooner: instead of being proposed until the future life, it will be inaugurated in the midst of humanity, in the present life.”
From The End of the Present World And the Mysteries of the Future Life (Sophia Institute Press), a collection of retreat homilies by Father Charles Arminjon in 1881. St Therese of Lisieux said reading the book “was one of the greatest graces of my life.”
And we are seeing this hell being imposed the past two years. My hope is these signs are an opportunity for conversion to the true ancient faith founded by Jesus Christ and implemented by His apostles.
The following narrative from Saint Vincent Ferrer will show you what you may think about it. He relates that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him, “Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell.”