2nd Prelude. Beg earnestly from your Sovereign Lord for an intense and abiding fear of those awful sufferings and for a firm purpose of never sinning again.
POINT I. Recall to memory what we know of Hell; in particular:
1. That its existence and its dreadful nature are as clearly revealed in Holy Writ as any truth whatever. For instance, Christ said: “If thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. For every one shall be salted with fire” (St. Mark ix, 46, 48). Then there is the parable of Dives and Lazarus (St. Luke, xvi, 19-31).
2. That Hell awaits all those who die in mortal sin, whatever they may have been in life, religious or seculars, bishops or priests.
3. That vast multitudes go there: “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (St. Matth. vii, 13).
Many who were supposed to be holy. See St. Liguori, “Melancholy Examples.”
Many who had begun well, as Judas had.
4. That I am in danger, as long as I live, of sinning mortally, of dying in sin and losing my soul. Perhaps some are in Hell through my fault.
POINT II. What are the sufferings of the body in Hell?
All the senses will be tormented, as for their gratification God has been offended. Chiefly the sense of touch, and that by the horrible torture of fire: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire” (St. Matth. xxv, 41), “Which of you can dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Is. xxiii, 14).