In last week’s bulletin I wrote about the first judgment which is called a “particular judgement.” The second Judg- ment that the Church teaches us about is the one in which Christ will Judge the world at the end of time called the“last judgement”. If this sounds familiar to you it is probably because it is the name of the famous fresco in the Sis- tine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. In todays time the Last Judgement has taken on more of a “Dystopian” view of the world between movies such as The Terminator, The Day after, or Planet of the Apes, referring to an“Armageddon”. With all these views and movies about this subject about the end of the world, we must ask, what does the Church teach about this?

The Church’s answer is based on or has a connection to scripture. There are many scripture passages referring to the Last Judgement and perhaps that the two passages that can best characterize this teaching is Isaiah 66:16 with states “For the LORD will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by the LORD will be many.” And Matthew 25:31-33 which states “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

When we first hear this, we may think to ours elves that it is cruel of Jesus to do this and it is not fair. But, if we remember what was written last week regarding the “particular judgment” that true fairness is the justice that God gives out to those who do evil against the innocent and good people and don’t repent. For again what justice would there be for the victim of a crime if this was no accountability to that crime. For we are all judged in com- parison to Christ. The difference in this “second judgement” is that ALL creation will be judge by Jesus and sen- tenced. Perhaps a comparison to better understand the difference is if one would look at a criminal trial. For ex- ample, is if the “particular judgment” is represented best by the jury who finds the defendant guilty for the partic- ular crime they committed. The last Judgement is exemplified by the Judge “Jesus” who sentences the defendant“us” at the last judgment as a result of the crime they committed. For the last judgment is where ALL will receive their “sentencing” of the crime they committed. But this also means all who are good receive their reward. In this manner the evil person who is not forgiven will find this judgment horrifying since their reward would be eternal punishment “hell” but the person who repents will find the opposite since they will receive their reward which will be eternal bliss “Heaven”.

But why will God do this? Why can’t God just snap His fingers and make everyone good? ANSWER - FREE WILL! For free will is the fundamental bases of love for love can only be expressed by freedom. You can’t force someone to love you, therefore with freedom of choosing good comes the price of not being good, since what is free- dom if there is no consequences to our choices. What we have to remember is we were created in the garden of Edan as free beings in the grace of God to love Him and obey Him. We chose not to obey Him and where kicked out of the garden. God will not give up on us and will have His will fulfilled, which is to have His people living in His presence freely loving Him on Earth like He intended Body and Soul. And it is through this Last Judgement that this will Happen. Please note that the next few weeks we hear about what happens as a result of that judgment and what can be waiting for us. All rights reserved Catechism of the Catholic Church pp1021-1041/ christianity.com:What is final Judgement/Diary of Faustina.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Jeffrey W. Couture

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