Hell as the absence of the Father and his only Son

The God of Fear in the Old Testament is the God of Punishment. If you are sinful and don't repent you are punished with hell. The people at the time needed this message. The Father was the God of tough love because we needed it.

I bounce back and forth between the Old and the New. Lately, I've been thinking more New Testament. God is Love, as embodied by Jesus. Jesus shows us the mind of God and I think we can take our cue from him. He does not force us to follow. Quite the contrary, he tells how tough it will be. It is our choice to conform ourselves to his will and, in so doing, loving one another.

In this plane of existence, we are surrounded by God, we choose how much of his grace penetrates into our life. Either a little or a lot.

To that end, I think of hell as the complete absence of God and his Grace. No beauty. No truth. No love. Nothing. Yet, it is our choice to make that happen.

Yet the catechism tells us that Hell is a very real place. So there must be a place where all the souls who choose to shut the Father out of their existence go. So what are we to make of the torment we are told we face? I would think that not being within the presence of the Father, Son, and their grace would be enough. What is the torment then?

Is the source of torment from souls that have shut the Father out tormenting the weaker ones due to the their frustration and helplessness that they feel from being shut out from the Father based upon their own decisions. Retribution because they have no one else to blame?

Just wondering. Based upon a comment exchange on this post.

Blessings

tim