
You’ve heard it said you have to choose heaven or you’ll end up in hell — but what if that choice was never a test you could fail? Fr. Mike Schmitz’s stark either/or on the Catechism in a Year raises a harder question underneath: what if hell was never a sentence handed down, but…

What if hell isn’t somewhere we’re sent, but a room we build and refuse to leave? Karl Rahner names the terror of belonging only to yourself, and Scripture’s oldest stories of narrow gates, golden calves, and bound hands and feet all seem to circle the same tragic choice.

Fyodor Dostoevsky offers a profound reflection on the nature of hell, describing it not as fire or torment, but as the unbearable suffering of being unable to love. This timeless insight challenges us to see love as essential to human existence and spiritual fulfillment, reminding us that separation from love is the greatest tragedy…