Re: The case for hell

I thought of this earlier and then saw Peter's facebook post about it.

We read this as a family this Easter, (after having just discovered it through a 
Lent email subscription), and I thought it was a marvelous and beautifully 
simple explanation of "11th hour" conversions.  It, for me, inexplicable quells 
my cries of "injustice" that both the long suffering christian and the deathbed 
penitent escape hell/gain heaven.  


Mike F. 


Easter Homily
by St. John Chrysostom 
Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; 
let the     wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those 
who have borne the     burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have 
toiled since the first hour, let     them now receive their due reward; let any 
who came after the third hour be grateful to     join in the feast, and those 
who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of     being too late; 
for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He     
gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has 
toiled since     the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the 
first; He rewards the one and     praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, 
receive     alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober 
and you weaklings,     celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who 
have not, rejoice today. The     table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal 
banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go     away hungry. All of you 
enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his     goodness. 
Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed;     
let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one 
fear death,     for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed 
it by enduring it, He has     despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom, He 
has angered it by allowing it to taste     of his flesh.

When Isaias foresaw all this, he cried out: "O Hades, you have been angered by     
encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is angered because frustrated, it 
is     angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been 
destroyed, it is     angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is 
angered because it is now captive. It     seized a body, and, lo! it encountered 
heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by     the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen 
and you     are abolished. Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ 
is risen and the     angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ 
is risen and the tomb is emptied     of the dead: for Christ, being risen from 
the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of     those who had fallen asleep. 
To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Electronic text (c) Copyright 1996 EWTN. All rights reserved.

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