No- They suffer at God's command and His Justice
The Existence of hell should frighten you, even those of you who are convinced of their own salvation. To know that there are people whom you know and loved and cared for in your life (we are commanded to genuinely love all persons are we not?), would only leave the sociopath unmoved. In my minds eye, I see St. Dominic sobbing uncontrollably for the unbelievers and heretics. I cannot fathom a wrong deserving of unceasing, excruciating torment forever. And yet, we say God is perfectly just, and that the existence of hell is understandable, necessary, and quite simply proven. The existence of sin and God's Justice demand it; it is as simple as 2+2=4!
People admire Kafka's trial as an example of the mysteriousness and unintelligibility of Law, but in Hell we possess an example far more excellent. K. only suffered angst for awhile, the blade only hung over his head for a moment, and the executioner sawed off his head in a flash. However, in the case of the damned, the blade hangs over their head for awhile, and the knife saws off their head forever.
The Flute of the Damned
Wrenching out their eyes with jagged nails,
The sinner in eternal torment flails
Forever shrieking, forever!
Meanwhile,
The singers in the heavenly chorus, enjoy a happy chant.
One beautified soul admires a far-off, but heartfelt, shrill.
It adds a lot to the divine composition.
Indeed, St. Thomas says that the sight of the torment of the damned will afford the blessed an occasion for happiness. How can it be otherwise? When I am perfected at the Resurrection, when God reveals Himself to us in splendor and there is nothing that can come between He and I and my brothers and sisters, maybe then I will understand and be able to love Him perfectly, as He deserves. God is pure actuality, God is simple. Loving Him is to love His will and His commandments. If God wills the existence of hell, and that the damned suffer there eternally, it seems I must learn to love this, even though it seems so monstrous.
It strikes me as exceedingly interesting that the relationship between the Christian and the sinner changes so drastically with just a slip past the veil. It seems to go from care to sadism(?). Can there really be a love that takes pleasure in the pain of another?
On the other hand, there is a prayer written by St. Basil, to be recited during the third kneeling of Pentecost that does offer prayers of mercy for the damned:
"O Christ our God...(who) on this all-perfect and saving Feast, art graciously pleased to accept propitiatory prayers for those who are imprisoned in hades, promising unto us who are held in bondage great hope of release from the vilenes that doth hinder us and did hinder them ... send down Thy consolation... and establish their souls in the mansions of the Just; and graciously vouchsafe unto them peace and pardon; for not the dead shall praise thee, O Lord, neither shall they who are in Hell make bold to offer unto thee confession. But we who are living will bless thee, and will pray, and offer unto thee propitiatory prayers and sacrifices for their souls"
St. Basil was a holier man than I, and perhaps he knows something that I do not. However, as explained above, the damned suffer in Hell in accordance with the divine will. To hope for mercies for the damned, implies hope for what is contrary to God's will. If we hope for what is contrary to God's will, does this not imply either our hope is in vain or that it is a hope for what isn't good?
A possible justification for the efficacy of St. Basil's prayer that immediately comes to my mind is that perhaps it is the case that it is God's will that we pray for the damned. That God stands ready to deliver His mercies to the damned, waiting only for our requests to do so. The idea doesn't strike me as terribly unlikely for I figure that this is God's stance towards any grace he wishes to impart to me. God is always pouring graces onto me, but I do not always accept them out of my own hard-heartedness. And similarly, God is prepared to impart graces to others who live at my prayerful behest. However, in this case, the others who live need not consciously accept the graces I request for them; how could they since I never tell them of my prayers? It might be the case that they accept God's graces implictly through a sort of prayerful attitude that prevades their life, but this perhaps is a topic that requires more investigation...
At any rate, it seems that St. Basil and St. Thomas Aquinas are at odds with one another. One sees the plight of the damned as a cause for pity and sorrow, the other as a cause for pleasure.
We might also mention the erronous opinion that there are none in hell, because God is All Merciful. The opinion holds that Mercy cannot exist unless Justice is abrogated. For instance, it is just to punish those who should be punished, and it is merciful to not punish or lessen the punishment of those who ought to be punished. In any case, mercy can only exist if there is an abrogation of the demands of justice. Now, since God is All-Merciful, He would not damn anybody. We know this argument to falter by the words of the Gospels, in which Jesus confirms multiple times the existence of hell and the actual presence of sinners there.
Oh dear God, please save us all.
Please, do not leave your providence hinging upon me. Let your will be done, because I am unworthy and unequal to the task. Have mercy, and carry me through my life and into your arms in the next.
I just wish I could understand this with my heart.
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