Creating a Chapel and Preparing for Lent

Dear Friends and Family,

This beautiful old fireplace is in a room which is now being turned into the "presbytery chapel" thanks to the skill and hard work of the sisters. The image over the fire place is St. Cuthbert Mayne, the 16th century martyr who said Mass here at Lanherne the year before he was martyred. On the right is a nice image of Our Lady. The altar will actually be along the wall off to your left. The sisters very generously offered to create a chapel for me and other priests on retreat here because the main chapel is such that it's difficult for the priest to pray facing directly the Blessed Sacrament, and also because it is difficult to chant the office in their, since the sisters are chanting or being quiet in the same space, etc. Really looking forward to having this quiet chapel! The nuns have been resounding the floor, preparing walls for painting, etc. and will then be building a simple altar to compliment the wooden tabernacle that we ordered. May God reward them.

Since we're just a few days from Lent I thought it might be worth sharing my sermon notes with you. I say "sermon notes" because even though it's written out I often adapt the words a bit, or add things, etc. when giving it. I thought the part from Don Bosco might be of interest to you, especially to the young men in your families.

Will be praying for you all this week, asking Our Lady to guide your souls to open to all the graces that God desires to give you this Lent. It really is a beautiful, wonderful season. One full of sacrifice and hope, which often grow together.

In Cordibus Iesu et Marie,
Fr. Tony Pillari

Srm Catechism 004

Quinquagesima: Don Bosco’s vision of Hell

N.B.: In the dream of St. Don Bosco cited below some of the words have been paraphrased and edited for the purpose of brevity.

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“For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death; and on the third day He will rise again.”

“Anyone who does not take up his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:27)

“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, ‘Do Penance for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’” (Mt 4:17)

Anyone who chooses to follow Jesus Christ must do penance, must embrace his own cross, must be willing to “chastise [his own] flesh and subdue it,” to use the words of St. Paul. Are you willing, during this Lent which begins in just three days to “chastise your flesh and subdue it?” Are you willing to do penance, to embrace your own Cross, so that one day you might arrive in Heaven?

Lent is a tremendous time of grace, it is a time when God wishes to bestow immense graces and gifts upon you. But he respects your freedom. He doesn’t force His gifts upon you. And so you need to be willing to take up your cross and follow Him, you need to do penance, to work at that daily, so that—through God’s grace—your soul might be freed from the slavery of sin and you might begin to experience the peace and the joy that comes from following Jesus Christ more fully on this earth. A peace and a joy that, even in the midst of suffering in this valley of tears, are greater than anything this world has to offer.

And so right now is the time to resolve to do penance. What penance will you be doing for the 40 days of Lent? There are many different ways of doing penance, but there is a great wisdom in the Church’s traditional practice of fasting. Up until a few decades ago all Catholics, from age 21 to 65, only ate one full meal a day, and two smaller meals that together did not equal a full meal, throughout all of Lent—on every day except for Sunday. This fast is steady and healthy, and the hunger that we feel is a constant reminder of the need to pray, of the need to turn away from our sins, of the need to sacrifice our lives out of the love of God and for the salvation of souls.

There are many other ways of doing penance, and each of us should ask God, “What penance are you asking me to do this Lent?” and should then try to embrace and implement that penance, of course being prudent with our health, but that is usually not the problem today. Usually today our problem is that we are not generous enough in making sacrifices for God.

Much more could be said about penance, but I want above all today to recall one of the reasons for doing penance, but sharing with you a vision of St. Don Bosco, or rather a portion of a vision that he had as a dream, in which an angel instructed him on the needs of the young men he was working with, at his school called the oratory. Given the importance of our preparation for Lent, I would ask you the sacrifice of listening to a longer sermon than usual. Here then, in Don Bosco’s own words (occasionally paraphrased by me to make this briefer), is his vision:

…We took the road. It was beautiful, wide, and neatly paved. Both sides were lined with magnificent verdant hedges dotted with gorgeous flowers. At first glance, the road was level and comfortable… Though it did not look steep at all, I found myself moving so swiftly that I felt I was effortlessly gliding through the air.

I became aware that the Oratory boys and very many others whom I did not know were following me. … now one, now another [would] fall to the ground and instantly be dragged by an unseen force toward a frightful drop, distantly visible, which sloped into a furnace. … Traps were everywhere, ….but … well concealed. Unaware of their danger, many boys got caught, [would trip, and sprawl to the ground,].. Then, when they managed to get back on their feet, they would run headlong down the road toward the abyss….. The ground traps, fine as spiders' webs and hardly visible, seemed very flimsy and harmless; yet, to my surprise, every boy they snared fell to the ground.

[My] guide remarked, "Do you know what this is?"

"Just some filmy fiber," I answered.

"A mere nothing," he said, "just plain human respect."[explain meaning of human respect]

[each trap] bore an inscription: Pride, Disobedience, Envy, Sixth Commandment, Theft, Gluttony, Sloth, Anger and so on. [The most dangerous traps, those that snared the greatest number of boys] were those of impurity, disobedience, and pride. In fact, these three were linked to together.

Looking even more closely, I spotted knives among the traps… …for cutting oneself free. The bigger ones, symbolizing meditation [explain type of prayer], were for use against the trap of pride; others, not quite as big, symbolized spiritual reading well made. There were also two swords representing devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, especially through frequent Holy Communion, and to the Blessed Virgin. There was also a hammer symbolizing confession, and other knives signifying devotion to Saint Joseph, to Saint Aloysius, and to other Saints. By these means quite a few boys were able to free themselves or evade capture.

….

We continued our descent, the road now becoming so frightfully steep that it was almost impossible to stand erect. And then, at the bottom of this precipice, at the entrance of a dark valley, an enormous building loomed into sight, its towering portal, tightly locked, facing our road.

I realized that we were at the gates of Hell.

Over its gates were inscriptions from the Gospel such as: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25: 41) "Every tree that yielded not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire." (Matthew 7: 19)

I tried to write them down, but my guide restrained me: "There is no need. You have them all in Holy Scripture. …”

I looked up in terror and saw in the distance someone racing down the path at an uncontrollable speed. … I recognized him as one of my boys. His disheveled hair was partly standing upright on his head and partly tossed back by the wind. His arms were outstretched as though he were thrashing the water in an attempt to stay afloat.

As the boy crashed into the [gate], it sprang open with a roar, and instantly a thousand inner portals opened with a deafening clamor. I saw far into the distance something like furnace jaws sprouting fiery balls the moment the youth hurtled into it. As swiftly as they had opened, the portals then clanged shut again.

Three other boys of ours, screaming in terror and with arms outstretched, were rolling down one behind the other like massive rocks, I recognized them as they too crashed against the portal. In that split second, it sprang open and so did the other thousand. The three lads were sucked into that endless corridor amid a long-drawn, fading, infernal echo, and then the portals clanged shut again. At intervals, many other lads came tumbling down after them. I saw one unlucky boy being pushed down the slope by an evil companion. Others fell singly or with others, arm in arm or side by side. Each of them bore the name of his sin on his forehead.

"Bad companions, bad books, and bad habits," my guide exclaimed, "are mainly responsible for so many eternally lost."

"Then is there no way to save these unfortunate lads?” [I asked] “Please, tell me what I can do for them."

"They have superiors; let them obey them. They have rules; let them observe them. They have the Sacraments; let them receive them."

[His guide then brought him past the 1,000 gates and into Hell, whose walls were inscribed with passages of Scripture, such as]

"These shall go into everlasting punishment." (Matthew 25: 46)

"The pool of fire where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Apocalypse 20: 9-10)

"And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up forever and ever." (Apocalypse 14: 11)

"There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12)

Ahead of me I could see something like an immense cave which gradually disappeared into recesses sunk far into the bowels of the mountains. They were all ablaze, but theirs was not an earthly fire with leaping tongues of flames. The entire cave --walls, ceiling, floor, iron, stones, wood, and coal -- everything was a glowing white at temperatures of thousands of degrees. Yet the fire did not incinerate, did not consume. I simply can't find words to describe the cavern's horror.

More frightened than ever, I asked my guide, "When these boys come dashing into this cave, don't they know where they are going?"

"They surely do. They have been warned a thousand times, but they still choose to rush into the fire because they do not detest sin and are loath to forsake it. Furthermore, they despise and reject God's incessant, merciful invitations to do penance..."

"If you really want to know their innermost frenzy and fury, go a little closer," my guide remarked.

I took a few steps forward and saw that many of those poor wretches were savagely striking at each other like mad dogs. Others were clawing their own faces and hands, tearing their own flesh and spitefully throwing it about. Just then the entire ceiling of the cave became as transparent as crystal and revealed a patch of Heaven and their radiant companions safe for all eternity.

The poor wretches, fuming and panting with envy, burned with rage because they had once ridiculed the just. ..

 I heard screams and sobs, blasphemies and imprecations against the Saints. It was a tumult of voices and cries, shrill and confused.

"Here time is no more. Here is only eternity."

While I viewed the condition of many of my boys in utter terror, a thought suddenly struck me. "How can these boys be damned?" I asked. "Last night they were still alive at the Oratory!"

"The boys you see here," he answered, "are all dead to God's grace. Were they to die now or persist in their evil ways, they would be damned. But we are wasting time. Let us go on."

…in a lower cavern, at whose entrance I read: "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched." (Isaias 66: 24) I saw more of our boys. Here one could see how atrocious was the remorse of those who had been pupils in our schools. What a torment was their, to remember each unforgiven sin and its just punishment, the countless, even extraordinary means they had had to mend their ways, persevere in virtue, and earn paradise, and their lack of response to the many favors promised and bestowed by the Virgin Mary. What a torture to think that they could have been saved so easily, yet now are irredeemably lost, and to remember the many good resolutions made and never kept. Hell is indeed paved with good intentions!

In this lower cavern I again saw those Oratory boys who had fallen into the fiery furnace. Some are listening to me right now; others are former pupils or even strangers to me. I drew closer to them and noticed that they were all covered with worms and vermin which gnawed at their vitals, hearts, eyes, hands, legs, and entire bodies so ferociously as to defy description. Helpless and motionless, they were a prey to every kind of torment.

"Come inside then," my friend went on, "and see how our good, almighty God lovingly provides a thousand means for guiding your boys to penance and saving them from everlasting death."

Taking my hand, he led me into the cave. As I stepped in, I found myself suddenly transported into a magnificent hall whose curtained glass doors concealed more entrances.

Above one [door] I read this inscription: The Sixth Commandment. Pointing to it, my guide exclaimed, "Transgressions of this commandment caused the eternal ruin of many boys."

"Didn't they go to confession?"

"They did, but they either omitted or insufficiently confessed the sins against the beautiful virtue of purity… …Others were not truly sorry or sincere in their resolve to avoid it in the future... … For a firm resolution, one needs God's grace which will not be denied to your boys if they pray.

Afterward, my guide several times exclaimed in a loud voice, "Avertere! Avertere!"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Change life! "

[In a further cavern my guide explained:] Disobedience is the root of all evil."

"Listen carefully: the boys you see here are those who prepare such a tragic end for themselves by being disobedient. So-and-so and so-and-so, who you think went to bed, leave the dormitory later in the night to roam about the playground… Others, during the day, go to church, but, ignoring recommendations, they misbehave; instead of praying, they daydream or cause a disturbance. There are also those who make themselves comfortable so as to doze off during church services, and those who only make believe they are going to church. Woe to those who neglect prayer! He who does not pray dooms himself to perdition.”

"What advice shall I give [my boys] to safeguard them from such a tragedy?"

"Keep telling them that by obeying God, the Church, their parents, and their superiors, even in little things, they will be saved."

"Warn them against idleness. Because of idleness David fell into sin. Tell them to keep busy at all times, because the devil will not then have a chance to tempt them."

[I was then lead out through the horrible courtyard and the long corridor.] But as soon as we stepped across the last bronze portal, my guide turned to me and said,

"Now that you have seen what others suffer, you too must experience a touch of Hell."

"No, no!" I cried in terror.

“Touch this wall. He said.

[He] seized my hand, forced it open, and pressed it against the first of the thousand walls, [millions of miles away from hell’s real fire]. The sensation was so utterly excruciating that I leaped back with a scream and found myself sitting up in bed. When I got up this morning I noticed that [my hand] was swollen… the skin of my palm peeled off.

Bear in mind that I have tried not to frighten you very much, and so I have not described these things in all their horror as I saw them and as they impressed me. We know that Our Lord always portrayed Hell in symbols because, had He described it as it really is, we would not have understood Him. [END]

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