Today, Bishop Robert Barron reminds us of C.S. Lewis’ novel, The Great Divorce. He recounts passages that paint a vivid picture of both Heaven and Hell:
Lewis’s narrator tells us that the streets and residences of Hell stretch out so far that it requires centuries of travel to get from one end of the city to the other. This immensity is due to the fact that the citizens of that awful place just want to get as far away from one another as possible. Further, when the bus travels from Hell to Heaven, it seems to go far up into the air and to cover an enormous distance.
Lewis’ version of the afterlife is much different than Dante’s The Divine Comedy. His Hell is a vast empty city that would take centuries to traverse, full of souls who want nothing to do with each other and seek solitude, while Dante’s Hell is full of monsters and tortured souls that only a medieval mind could have constructed. Dante also has his main character toil on a journey that perilously leads from the depths of Hell and through Purgatory, whereas Lewis’ just hops in a bus and flies right to Heaven.
Of course, there is always another view to keep in mind:
It is with these starkly contrasting views in mind that we ask our readership:
Just one more:
And today we celebrate...