Meditation Seventeen, First Week of July 2003

The Last Judgment

Readings: Matt 3: 11 - 12; John 5: 19 - 29 Rev. 20: 11 -21: 8

Since very early times the Church has taught that we are judged at the time of death, and our eternal fate is sealed. There are three possible outcomes: immediate entrance into eternal life, a period of purification, or eternal loss, called damnation. Later on we shall consider each of these possibilities in some depth. Because God is justice itself and mercy itself, accounts must be settled, with regard to every rational soul, all the wrongs of the world righted, and before all who have lived God's justice must be acknowledged and pronounced at the end of the ages. This does not mean that we earned our eternal salvation, although St. Paul does call it a prize. Christ Our Lord won for us all the grace of salvation. However, the wicked have done often much evil and appear by any human calculation to have escaped any sanction. There are also innumerable just and righteous people who have led miserable lives because of injustice and abuse. Just think of all the people in world history who suffered as slaves all their lives. It is the Church's belief, based especially on the Gospels and the mysterious Book of Revelation that Christ Himself, as the resurrected divine person, will come and mete out justice for all to see. Then will the crooked ways be made straight and the rough ways smooth. We hardly even think of that judgment, but we need to do so if we want to follow the commandments and obligations given by Christ to His followers. No one can stand before God in His absolute truth, justice, and goodness without calling on His mercy. We learn that from the confession and repentance of the Good Thief on the cross. We all hope that too we will hear Christ's same words welcoming us to paradise, that is, to eternal life. If life's injustice bothers you, you do not think enough about the Last Judgment. If you find yourself morally drifting, you should to remember that Christ tells us "everyone will be rewarded according to his deeds." When those in public life who are supposed to be leaders of the people are themselves corrupted by the pagan values of our times - like pro-abortion politicians - we must recall that we shall all be judged by God before the whole human race. This future event is very difficult to imagine, but that it will happen is beyond question.

Quotation for Meditation:

It is hardly an exaggeration to say that also among Christians profound consciousness of the Lord's return has become a rarity. Between preoccupation with the last things and present reality stands the wall known as the scientific viewpoint. But doesn't this entail an essential loss to Christian faith? Christianity has long since taken its place as Christian culture in the world, where it has become an integral part of the whole, and where it is only too inclined to share the general conception of a world to be ended by natural phenomena. Thus Christianity today lacks the tension which lent its early centuries their clear-cut decisiveness. The fact that most of the early Christians were converted as adults also did much to increase the earnestness and enlightened clarity of their faith. Nevertheless, faith in Christ's coming is not dead, and all faith has a certain, seed-like dormancy. It can rest for centuries only suddenly to put forth root and leaf. Perhaps before this can happen, Christianity must lose some of its complacency. The term "Christian culture" must be purged of all that is questionable in it. The gulf between Revelation and the world must reopen. Perhaps a new period of persecution and outlawry must come to shake Christians back to a living consciousness of the values for which they stand. Such a period might also enliven belief in Christ's coming. It is difficult to say. Different elements of Christian truth have different seasons. At times they are powerfully felt, at others they recede into the background, seem to lose their importance and lustre, only to reappear in response to some new vital need.

Romano Guardini - The Lord - p.471

Quiet Time and Then Discussion

Questions for Group Meditation and Discussion

1. Do I ever think that there is an injustice in life - that the good suffer and the wicked prosper?

2. Do I recall the Last Judgment at these times?

3. Do I think about this judgment as I make my way through life?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, You have told us of the great judgment and that we should prepare for it every day. Yet we live surrounded by those who seem to be unaware or ignore this judgment. Give us the grace of the Holy Spirit that we shall follow your injunction to "be ready," to walk on the straight path, and to enter by the narrow gate. Amen.