I have lived twelve, fifteen, twenty, or more years; if that judgment came today, on which side should I be?  Probably on the side of the wicked.  If then I spend the rest of my life as I have lived in the past, on the last day I shall surely be with the wicked.  If my good deeds and bad deeds were counted today, which would be more numerous?  What, then, must I do?  It will not be enough for me simply to be better for the future—­I must try also to make amends for the past.  If a man wishing to complete a journey on a certain time, by walking a fixed number of miles each day, falls behind a great deal on one day, he must not only walk the usual number of miles the next, but must make up for the distance lost on the previous day.  So in our journey through this life we must do our duty each day for the future, and, as far as we can, make up for what we have neglected in the past.

411 Q. Why does Christ judge men immediately after death?  A. Christ judges men immediately after death to reward or punish them according to their deeds.

412 Q. What are the rewards or punishments appointed for men’s souls after the Particular Judgment?  A. The rewards or punishments appointed for men’s souls after the Particular Judgment are Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell.

413 Q. What is Hell?  A. Hell is a state to which the wicked are condemned, and in which they are deprived of the sight of God for all eternity, and are in dreadful torments.

“Deprived of the sight of God.”  This is called the pain of loss, while the other sufferings the damned endure are called the pain of sense—­that is, of the senses.  The pain of loss causes the unfortunate souls more torment than all their other sufferings; for as we are created for God alone, the loss of Him—­our last end—­is the most dreadful evil that can befall us.  This the damned realize, and know that their souls will be tortured by a perpetual yearning never to be satisfied.  This is aggravated by the thought of how easily they might have been saved, and how foolishly they threw away their happiness and lost all for some miserable pleasure or gratification, so quickly ended.

Besides this remorse, they suffer most frightful torments in all their senses.  The worst sufferings you could imagine would not be as bad as the sufferings of the damned really are; for Hell must be the opposite of Heaven, and since we cannot, as St. Paul says, imagine the happiness of Heaven, neither can we imagine the misery of Hell.  Sometimes you will find frightful descriptions of Hell in religious books that tell of the horrible sights, awful sounds, disgusting stenches, and excruciating pains the lost souls endure.  Now, all these descriptions are given rather to make people think of the torments of Hell than as an accurate account of them.  No matter how terrible the description may be, it is never as bad as the reality.  We know that the damned are continually tormented in all their senses, but just in what way we do not know.