Meditation Thirty-one, First Week of October 2003

I Believe in Life Everlasting - I

The Particular and General Judgments

Begin with prayer to the Holy Spirit

Readings: Luke 16:19-31; Matt. 16:24-28; Heb. 9:27-28; Matt. 25 (all)

Is there any Christian teaching more neglected than Christ's own reaffirmation of the Old Testament teaching that we are judged by God at the end of our lives and that in the next world we live out the results of that judgment in a very real way? The study of what happens after death is called eschatology, or the study of the last things: judgment, heaven, purgatory, and hell. This study, so often neglected or even indirectly denied by being ignored, is a most important part of our faith because it directly pertains to our eternal destiny and that of those we love.

The New Testament readings, some of which we have indicated here, make clear that our eternal destiny-either life with God or the "darkness where there will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth"-will be determined at death. Since no one has the ability to think directly or adequately of the eternal or everlasting, it is in some sense impossible for us to assess the full meaning of life after death, of heaven and hell. Don't feel bad about that, because it is even more impossible for the unbeliever to think of oblivion. Both the Bible and common sense tell us that our eternal destiny must begin when we leave this world. This destiny initially affects only our soul or our spiritual personhood because our bodies return to dust until the end of the ages, as we saw in the previous meditation. Our Lord makes clear in His parables and direct teaching that the soul is judged and assigned its destiny immediately after we leave this world. He says to the good thief, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). He also indicates that there are sins that can be forgiven in the world to come (Matt. 12:32). Yet we know that no one can enter the heavenly Jerusalem with any imperfection (Rev. 22:3-5). Hence we believe that purification necessary for entrance into heaven can occur in the next world.

We also know from both Old and New Testaments that there is eternal punishment. From the earliest times Christians have believed that the saved and the lost are assigned their different destinies at death. Our Lord teaches that He did not come to judge the world but to save the world and that the lost condemn themselves. We need to know that our judgment is not an arbitrary decision of God but that it flows necessarily from the mystery of good and evil and from the freedom of the human will. Finally we must recall that from those to whom much is given, much is expected. This all helps to put this life in a realistic perspective. (Confer The Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1020-1022.)

Quotation for Meditation

[The Lord] ascended into heaven, whence He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, each receiving according to his own merits. Those who have responded to the Love and Mercy of God will go to eternal life; those who have rejected that Love and Mercy to the end will go to the fire that will have no end. (From the Credo of Pope Paul VI, 1968).

Indeed since we know neither the day nor the hour it is necessary to keep vigil constantly, as the Lord warned us, so that having completed the one course of our earthly life, we may merit to enter the marriage banquet with Him and be numbered among the blessed (cf. Mt. 25:31-46) and so that we may not be commanded, like evil and lazy servants, to descend to eternal fire (cf. Mt. 25:41) in the exterior darkness where there will be "weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Mt. 22:13 and 25:30). For before we reign gloriously with Christ, all of us will stand before the "tribunal of Christ, so that each may give an account of what he has done in the body, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10) and at the end of the world "those who have done good will go to the resurrection of life, those indeed who have done evil will go to the resurrection of judgment" (Jn. 5:29; cf. Mt. 25:46). (Lumen Gentium, 48).

Quiet Time and Then Discussion

Questions for Meditation

1. Do I think of the inescapable fact that I shall be judged according to my deeds?

2. Is my life directed by the certainty of God's judgment?

3. Do I ever remind others that they too shall be judged?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, give me always the grace of the Holy Spirit that I may live my days preparing for the last judgment, as You have taught us to do. In my thoughts and prayers help me to move beyond the swirl of sensations, desires, sorrows, and joys of this life and consider the great and awesome destiny to which You call me. Help me recall that this life is a journey and not a destination. And through Your Holy Spirit encourage others to consider the things to come in Your heavenly kingdom. Amen.