Theological Foundations new file

186 Theological Foundations apart one day and heal over the period of a thousand years, only to avoid the flames of hell. 42 Although the punishments suffered by all the condemned are beyond human comprehension and imagination, they are, nonetheless, quite var- ied. For just as the extent of the reward in heaven is balanced by the amount of merits, similarly, the amount and the severity of crimes is bal- anced by the amount and extent of punishment. Therefore, in addition to the general punishments inflicted upon all the condemned, there are also individual punishments imposed according to the kind and extent of the crimes committed, as stated in the book of Revelation: “As she glorified herself and played the wanton, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning” (Rev 18, 7). For whatever man sins by, by the same he will be more severely punished. There will be no fault which does not carry appropriate punishment. 43 In order to evoke true horror in the hearts of his readers in face of the ultimate fate that awaits them, Father Papczynski recalls the essential thesis of Christian teaching regarding this particular aspect, namely that all the punishments of hell put together are exceeded by the punishment of rejection which consists in being deprived of happiness at the oppor- tunity to see God. “For just as all joy, happiness, delight and contentment experienced by the inhabitants of heaven results from having possession of this exalted vision, by the same token, being deprived of it results in wailing, misery, torment and the punishment of each condemned soul. O, what great misery this is! What terrible pain! What unbearable pun- ishment when man becomes stripped of this good for which he was cre- ated and is forever excluded from the Heavenly Kingdom.” 44 In these dramatic words, Father Stanislaus emphasizes this truth of our faith that “the punishments which are inflicted upon the condemned will have no end for as long as God exists, the condemned will be dying but they will not die.” As long as the saints experience the delights of heaven, the condemned will continue to suffer in hell. Therefore, their suffering will never end. One can imagine a large, high and wide moun- tain from which, upon God’s order, a tiny bird picks up one speck of soil