Saturday, April 15, 2006
The Harrowing of Hell
Although the Protestants leave it out of the Creed, we Catholics are often reminded that after Jesus died on the cross, He descended into Hell. The monks in Britain a thousand years ago were fascinated by popular accounts of what Jesus did in Hell both between his death and resurrection and on Judgment day. My favorite account, which I have totally lost, tells of Jesus descending into Hell and winnowing out the few souls who deserved better. Then He locked up the gates of Hell forever using a tremendously heavy 4 foot long key. After the gates were locked, He withdrew the key and, like a hammer toss at the Olympic games, He then threw the key up and over the gates of Hell so that it fell on the Hell side, useless to those inside as the lock only has an outside keyhole. And the clanging sound as the key hit the rocky ground on the other side of the gates rang in the ears of the Damned forever.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 12:29 AM 
