Byline: Paul Thigpen

6 min read

Salvation

Are You Saved?

Paul Thigpen

July 23, 2021 7:00 am July 23, 2021

6 min read

13416 views

Comments Off

6 min read

“Are you saved?” That’s a question often heard from well-meaning Christians who want to help others know Jesus Christ. As Catholics whose faith is centered in Him, we can appreciate…

“Are you saved?” That’s a question often heard from well-meaning Christians who want to help others know Jesus Christ. As Catholics whose faith is centered in Him, we can appreciate their good intentions and admire their willingness to talk about God.

Even so, we may have trouble understanding what their question is really all about. What exactly do people mean when they talk of being already “saved”?

Most often, Christians with this query view salvation as a past event that took place when they made a confession of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. This act of faith, they believe, now guarantees them a place in heaven, no matter what they may do for the rest of their lives. They will never have to face the punishment of hell for their sins.

A Mistaken Notion

The teaching of the Catholic Church helps us understand that this is actually a mistaken notion of salvation. Jesus Christ came to give us much more than a kind of eternal fire insurance policy. Salvation in the fullest sense is an ongoing process that won’t be complete until after we die. And in the meantime, it’s still possible to turn away again from God.

When someone asks us, then, whether we’re “saved,” perhaps the best short answer is this: “Well, I’m doing what the apostle Paul tells us to do in the Bible: I’m ‘working out’ my salvation day by day” (see Phil 2:12).

If we want to follow up on that statement, we can assure the inquirer that we do in fact have faith in Jesus Christ, that we recognize Him as our Savior and Lord, and that our goal is to be counted one day among the saints in heaven.

But why end the discussion there? If you want to take it a step farther, try this approach. Say: “Now I have a question for you: We both know that Jesus saves us from sin. But what are we saved for?”

This query shifts the focus of the conversation. Exploring the answer together can help the other person grasp more fully and accurately what it actually means to be saved.

What Is Salvation?

According to the Catholic understanding of salvation, rooted in Scripture, we aren’t just saved from sin. We’re saved for eternal life with God.

Why did God create us in the first place? He made us in certain ways like himself, able to think and choose, so we could be sons and daughters who live in friendship with Him. God created us for himself, for nothing less than to know, love, serve and enjoy Him — now and forever.

Through sin, however, we’ve rebelled against God and rejected His friendship. As a result, His likeness in us has been marred, and we’ve separated ourselves from Him. Since He’s the Source of all that’s good, such separation can lead only to misery in both this life and the next.

Because God loved us so much, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from such a terrible fate. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus offer us, through the forgiveness of our sins, escape from eternal punishment.

But that’s not all. He also reconciles us to God, opening the door to a full restoration of our friendship with Him.

In this way, Jesus begins the process of a complete renewal of God’s likeness in us, a healing of the brokenness that comes from sin. So salvation isn’t just a way to avoid hell, nor is it just a past event.

On the contrary: Salvation, in its fullness, is God’s new creation. To save us, He remakes us in His likeness — a lifelong process requiring our cooperation — so that we can once again think and love as He thinks and loves. This process finds its completion only in heaven, where eternal life is enjoyed in perfect harmony with Him.

Those who are joined there with God forever, in the deepest possible communion of love, will achieve their greatest destiny. They will fulfill their deepest longing. They will become what they were made to be.

Shipwreck Survivors

Consider this analogy.

We’re like the survivors of a shipwreck in a storm out in the middle of the ocean. We’ve been rescued from drowning and welcomed onboard the ship we call the Church. That ship is now taking us to a safe harbor — our home in heaven with God.

But we’re not home yet.

You could say, then, that we’ve been “saved” in the sense of being rescued and taken aboard a safe vessel. But we can’t really speak of being “saved” in the full sense until we reach our destination. We must humbly admit that we haven’t yet arrived at final perfection.

Meanwhile, we also must recognize the sobering possibility that — God forbid — we could choose someday to jump overboard again.

Salvation isn’t guaranteed just because of something we’ve done in the past. We continue to have a free will, which is part of God’s likeness in us. So we still have the ability to turn away from God again.

It’s a chilling possibility. But it shouldn’t make us perpetually worried that we’ll be damned despite our best efforts to grow in grace. We can be confident that God desires our salvation, and He’s faithful to help us. If we’re tempted to forsake Him, He’ll grant us the power to resist that temptation.

Even so, the choice is still ours.

In fact, we make choices every day that draw us closer to God or lead us farther away from Him. That’s why simply believing in Jesus isn’t enough. Friendship with God, like friendship of any kind, is more than just getting acquainted. It involves making a series of choices to love, over the long term, so that a committed relationship grows.

Faith is useless, then, without good works. God must have our active cooperation, because both our mind and our will — the full likeness of God — must be renewed if we’re to be saved in the end.

If you talk over these points with Christian friends who ask whether you’re saved, you could open up for them a whole new way of thinking. What if the conversation ends after your first reply? Even then, the time you’ve spent thinking about what salvation really means can deepen your faith and bring you closer to God.

Comments Off

7 min read

Eternal Life

Animals in Heaven?

Paul Thigpen

May 26, 2021 8:19 am May 26, 2021

7 min read

10324 views

Comments Off

7 min read

Many Catholics ask whether animals have souls and go to heaven? The answer to the first question — do animals have souls? — depends, of course, on how we define…

Many Catholics ask whether animals have souls and go to heaven?

The answer to the first question — do animals have souls? — depends, of course, on how we define “soul.” Ancient and medieval writers, both pagan and Christian, often used terms that we translate as “soul” (Greek psyche, Latin anima) to refer in general to that part of an animate (living) creature which sets it apart from inanimate (nonliving) creatures.

In other words, a “soul” was simply a living creature’s “principle of life.”

In fact, some biblical texts in the Old Testament seem to apply certain Hebrew terms in a similar way. For example, the phrase nephesh chayah (literally, “living soul”) can refer both to human beings (see Gn 2:7) and to animals (Gn 1:30).

Ruach, the Hebrew term for “spirit” (and also for “breath,” as the indicator of life), is also applied to both humans and animals in Ecclesiastes 3:21. (It’s translated into English as “spirit” in the Revised Standard Version and as “life-breath” in the New American Bible).

If we think of “soul” in this general sort of way, then, animals and even plants have what could be called a “soul” simply because they are alive. Thus the ancients spoke of animals as having “sensitive souls,” and plants as having “vegetative souls.”

No doubt that sounds strange to our modern ears. How odd to think of the rosemary bush in the garden as having in some sense a “soul” — though, thank goodness, that “soul” would depart once it was harvested and dried to use in the spaghetti!

The Unique Human Soul

Nevertheless, it’s important to note that even if we use the term soul as the ancients did, we must observe (as they did) that plant, animal and human souls are of quite different kinds.

The plant’s “vegetative soul” (its life principle) enables it to reproduce and to assimilate nourishment for growth. That’s something a rock, for example, can’t do.

Animals can do that plus other things. Their “sensitive” souls allow them to move; to sense and respond to external stimuli; and (in some of them) to perform rudimentary mental functions such as learning and even communication.

Even so, the human soul is unique. Of all earthly creatures, only humans are made in the image of God (see Gn 1:26-27). Their soul is actually an immortal spirit, fully rational, able to reason and communicate at high levels, and able to choose good or evil with a free will.

Among earthly creatures, only humans are truly able to love in the full sense of the word: to will the highest good of another. Humans can know and love God and enter into friendship with Him in a way that no other earthly creature can.

Through sanctifying grace, the human soul is capable of the Beatific Vision in heaven — that is, capable of entering so fully into union with God that we can see Him and know Him as He is.

Perhaps our reader should say something like this to her young students: Animals have “souls” in the sense that they are alive; they aren’t just objects like rocks or chairs. That’s why we enjoy them so much!

But their souls aren’t the same as human souls. The human soul is something much higher and greater, and that makes it possible for humans to have a deep friendship with God in a way that other creatures can’t.

Animals in Heaven?

So what about the second question: Do animals go to heaven?

Some people point to the scriptural account of Elijah’s being taken to heaven by “a flaming chariot and flaming horses” as evidence that animals can be in heaven (see 2 Kgs 2:11-12). But it’s not possible to draw any firm conclusions about the matter from that particular passage.

Given that human beings can have fellowship with God in a way that the animals can’t, it would make sense that life in heaven is a privilege that animals don’t share with us in any form. But Scripture seems to be silent about the matter, and the Church has never pronounced on it authoritatively.

Before we assure children too quickly that only people go to heaven, we should remember that even great Christian thinkers such as C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) have debated this issue and left the possibility open.

St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274) taught that animal “souls” could not by their nature survive death. Unlike human souls, he said, they are perishable when separated from their proper bodies.

Even so, perhaps that leaves open the possibility that God might choose to keep at least some animal “souls” from perishing after death, granting them a privilege beyond their natural capacity.

In any case, we do know that, since animals cannot have sanctifying grace in their souls, they cannot receive the Beatific Vision. So if some animals go to heaven in some sense, it wouldn’t be for the same reason that humans are in heaven.

What other reasons could there be? It just might be that God would allow the animals we’ve loved on earth to take part somehow in our heavenly life as part of our eternal happiness.

In fact, since God himself takes delight in all the good creatures He has made, perhaps He would give animals some sort of life in heaven for the sake of His own pleasure and glory.

As Lewis pointed out, even in this life our pets sometimes become an important part of our lives, almost an extension of who we are. Their association with us elevates them to a higher kind of life than they would have had on their own. (Recent studies of canine behavior actually seem to lend some scientific support to the latter idea.)

“In this way,” Lewis concluded, “it seems to me possible that certain animals may have an immortality, not in themselves, but in the immortality of their masters.”

Might this possibly be one aspect of the final renewal of all creation that Scripture talks about?

St. Paul tells us that other creatures have suffered the consequences of human sin. But through Christ’s redemption of the human race, “creation itself” will be “set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (see Rom 8:20-22).

At the very least, we can say that all we have loved on this earth has shaped who we are. So the effects of those loves on us, including our cherished memories of them, will in some sense live within us forever.

Whatever the case, we probably do well to allow children to leave this particular question open. Perhaps the best answer would be to affirm that if, by God’s help, they go to heaven, they will carry their pets with them in their hearts.

We can also assure children that God loves every creature He makes, that He loves their pets even more than they do, and that when their beloved pets die, we can entrust them to Him.

Mosquitoes in Hell?

Perhaps we should conclude with one final and encouraging note: Since the lower creatures aren’t morally responsible for their behavior on earth, they cannot deserve a reward, but neither can they deserve a punishment. So they cannot suffer in hell.

One of Lewis’ readers once made fun of his speculation that at least some animals might be allowed a heavenly existence. The wag demanded to know: “Where will you put all the mosquitoes?”

Unperturbed, Lewis replied wryly that, “if the worst came to the worst, a heaven for mosquitoes and a hell for men could very conveniently be combined.”

Comments Off

2 min read

Advent

Since Mary was Ever-Virgin, Did She Deliver Her Son in the Normal Way?

Paul Thigpen

December 11, 2020 7:15 am December 11, 2020

2 min read

10116 views

Comments Off

2 min read

One rather delicate question sometimes raised by Catholics concerns the physical nature of Jesus’ birth: Given that Mary was a virgin, did she deliver her Son in the normal way?…

One rather delicate question sometimes raised by Catholics concerns the physical nature of Jesus’ birth: Given that Mary was a virgin, did she deliver her Son in the normal way? Or was it through a miracle that left her body physically intact?

All faithful Catholics are agreed on Mary’s perpetual virginity. The debate centers on what exactly is meant by “virginity.” Does it consist simply in never having had sexual relations? If so, Mary can rightly be called “ever-virgin” without our assuming that Jesus’ birth was miraculous.

But what if a woman must also be physically intact to be considered a virgin? This understanding, at least with regard to Mary, has probably been the “majority position” throughout much of Church history, represented by many figures who carry considerable weight.

For example, nearly all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church who have addressed the issue seem to believe that Jesus was delivered miraculously, exiting her womb without injuring her flesh in any way. The Lateran Synod of 649, which was a regional rather than an ecumenical council, said specifically that Mary “generated without injury”; several popes spoke in a similar way.

Some have argued that such pronouncements should be considered infallible teachings of the Church’s ordinary and universal Magisterium. But in light of the conditions necessary for infallibility, that is by no means an assured conclusion. Perhaps it’s best to say that in this matter, a solemn clarification or confirmation by a pope or ecumenical council would be most welcome.

In the meantime, let’s pray that pondering these mysteries will deepen our faith.

Paul Thigpen is a former editor of The Catholic Answer.

Comments Off

2 min read

Saints

Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith?

Paul Thigpen

August 21, 2019 7:16 am August 21, 2019

2 min read

5338 views

Comments Off

2 min read

“Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light” (Doubleday) is a collection of St. Teresa’s correspondence over 66 years, the volume was edited by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, a Missionaries of Charity priest…

After it was published, a Time magazine article, “Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith,” focused on a startling revelation in Teresa’s letters: Despite lifelong labors for God, she had struggled for years with the sense that He had abandoned her.

Some were disturbed by this news. But they needn’t have been. Though some reports insisted that Teresa had experienced a lifelong “crisis of belief” — with some commentators even suggesting she was a closet atheist — these writers confused two very different things: belief in God and the feeling that He is near.

Yes, excerpts from the correspondence suggest that on two occasions Teresa doubted, or was tempted to doubt, that God exists. Yet the rest of the correspondence suggests that such doubts didn’t last. What remained for so many years was Teresa’s feeling that God had abandoned her.

She spoke of “silence,” “emptiness,” “loneliness.” That’s very different from saying she had concluded that God doesn’t exist and then remained in that conviction for a lifetime. In fact, despite her feelings, Teresa continued to address her prayers to the God she believed was there, even though she felt He was far away.

The truth is that Teresa stands in good company among saints with similar struggles, and even with Jesus himself, who cried out from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). That cry may well help us understand Teresa’s enduring torment.

After all, she wrote early on that she wanted to share the passion of Christ: “I want to … drink ONLY from His chalice of pain.” Wasn’t it perhaps the deepest dregs of His “chalice” that, while He hung dying in agony, God seemed to Him to be utterly absent? Teresa’s feeling of divine abandonment may well have been a severe grace in answer to that prayer.

Her willingness to struggle so long this way is actually one more indicator of her heroic holiness.

Who among us could dwell half a century among the most desperate people on earth without wondering often, “Where is God in all this?” Yet she never despaired, never let her feelings paralyze her, continuing her sacrificial care for the poor.

It was the mighty, persistent act of a will that had abandoned itself to God, even when it seemed abandoned by Him.

Comments Off

9 min read

Saints

The Communion of Saints

Paul Thigpen

April 1, 2019 9:50 am April 1, 2019

9 min read

7846 views

Comments Off

9 min read

Catholics are often challenged by other Christians to defend the Church’s teaching about the Communion of Saints. “Why designate certain people with the title ‘saint’?” they ask. “Aren’t we all…

Catholics are often challenged by other Christians to defend the Church’s teaching about the Communion of Saints.

“Why designate certain people with the title ‘saint’?” they ask. “Aren’t we all saints? And why should we pray to them and venerate them?”

To answer these questions, we must start with a definition: What exactly is a saint?

“Holy Ones”

The biblical Greek and Hebrew words in Scripture most often translated as “saints” literally mean “holy ones” (Acts 9:13) or “faithful ones” (1 Sm 2:9). In Catholic tradition, the word saints can be used in several ways, which are all reflected in Scripture.

St. Paul sometimes addressed his letters to “the saints” in a particular city (see Eph 1:1; Col 1:2). In this case, he was speaking of all Christians as the “holy ones,” because they have now been made holy by their baptism and are striving to become more holy.

The Catholic Church affirms, then, that all faithful Christians are “saints” in this sense. The vocation, the calling, to holiness is universal; God is speaking to all Christians when He says in Scripture, “Be holy because I [am] holy” (see 1 Pt 1:14-16).

Nevertheless, the word “saints” appears in some scriptural passages to have a narrower sense. St. Matthew’s Gospel refers to the “saints” who rose from the dead after Christ’s resurrection (see 27:52-53) as faithful departed who were being taken by Christ to heaven. St. Paul speaks of the “saints” who will accompany Christ from heaven when He returns to earth at the end of the world (1 Thes 3:13, RSV). And St. John uses the same term to refer to the “saints” who are now in heaven praying to God (Rv 5:8; 8:3, RSV).

It’s in this latter, narrower sense that the Catholic Church uses the term “saints” to refer to all those who have been perfected and are now face to face with God in heaven and have a share in His divine nature. When the Church celebrates the solemnity, or solemn feast, of All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1, these are the saints being honored that day: all those human beings who have left this life and are now in heaven with God — the ones whose names we know, and the ones whose names we don’t know.

In addition, there’s one more sense in which we use the term “saint,” in a way even narrower than the ways already described. The Catholic Church honors certain departed Christians with the formal title “saint.” This title indicates the Church’s confidence that the individual died in friendship with God and is now with Him in heaven.

Though the Church teaches that we can’t know for sure who may be in hell, the Church also insists that, in some cases, we can know for sure that certain individuals are in heaven. We refer to them by name as “St. So-and-So.”

So how does the Church gain the confidence that a particular person is in heaven? Various kinds of evidence are sought in the process called canonization, which leads to the formal recognition of a person’s sainthood. This evidence includes reliable testimony to the person’s extraordinary holiness in this life; indications that the person’s life has drawn others closer to God; and carefully documented miracles occurring after the person’s intercession has been asked for. Such miracles provide evidence that the person can offer effective assistance because he or she is now with God in heaven.

The Communion of Saints

Why is it important for the Church to designate certain individuals as “saints”? In this case, “saint” is actually much more than just a title of honor. Because the Church is confident that these “holy ones” are now in heaven, Catholics are urged not only to imitate their holiness, but also to ask for their assistance.

Those who have been perfected and are now face to face with God in heaven — that is, the “saints” in the latter sense of that word — have a share, Scripture tells us, in His divine nature (see 2 Pt 1:4). This insight helps us understand the Church’s teaching about what we call the Communion of Saints — that is, the fellowship, the sharing, of the saints.

The perfected saints, having a share in God’s own nature, have a share in His perfect love. They love those of us still on earth as God loves us. They want to help us; they want to see us reach heaven as well. So they have the desire to assist us in any way they can.

The perfected saints also have a share in God’s perfect knowledge. They are able, through His grace, to know what’s taking place on earth. God allows them to see and hear what He sees and hears, so they can hear the requests we may make of them.

The perfected saints have a share in God’s perfect, supernatural power. They are able, through His grace, to act on our behalf, to intervene in earthly affairs, just as He does. They don’t just pray for us; they can act on our behalf in other ways as well.

Scripture tells us, “The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful” (Jas 5:16). If that’s true of righteous people still on earth, think how powerful and effective is the prayer of the saints in heaven, who have been perfected in righteousness!

By His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ has conquered death. Death does not have the power to separate those who are in Christ from one another; in Him, they maintain a deep communion, whether they are in heaven, on earth or in the purgatorial process on their way to heaven.

For this reason, we on earth can help those in purgatory through our prayers and sacrifices. And those in heaven can help us on earth through their prayers and other interventions. As members of one Body, the Body of Christ, we are able to share the spiritual goods that we have through mutual prayer and assistance.

Some may ask why God would be willing to share this power. Why would He want in the first place to grant intercessory roles to the saints, the angels and even those of us still on earth?

The answer is simple: It reflects His desire, as St. Paul says, that we “attain to … mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ” (Eph 4:13), who is himself the great Intercessor. The intercession of the saints is simply one way in which Christ’s body, with its members “joined and held together … builds itself up in love” (Eph 4:16). When we help one another, we display the love of God in which we share.

Some Christians think we shouldn’t ask the saints for help because God would somehow be displeased if we went to them for help rather than going directly to Him. But the truth is that all Christians ask other Christians on earth to pray for them and to help them in other ways. Yet when we do that, we don’t worry about not going to God directly for help.

Why not? Because we understand the principle that it pleases God to have His children helping one another. That’s why He commands us in Scripture to “pray for one another” (Jas 5:16).

Veneration of the Saints

Showing honor is a natural human response to the goodness, even the greatness, of another human being. We honor the founders and other leaders of our country from throughout history. We name cities after them, write books about them, make statues of them to erect in public places. We paint pictures of them to display in schools and government buildings. We speak reverently and gratefully of them on patriotic holidays.

We do similar things for great scientists, great leaders of social movements, great artists and musicians. Why? Because it’s a matter of justice to recognize their gifts and contributions to us. Justice means giving to each his due, and we recognize that we owe much to these great human beings, and we want to say so in different ways.

In all these ways, we are venerating these great men and women — we are giving them honor. And so we shouldn’t be surprised that the Catholic Church venerates the great heroes of the Faith, who over the centuries have embodied in an extraordinary manner the way of life to which we’re called as Christians. Now that these men and women have been perfected by God and are saints standing face to face with Him in heaven, we have even more reason to venerate them.

Some may object that if we venerate the saints God will be jealous, because we should give honor to Him alone. But He is a God of justice, so it is His will that honor be given where honor is due. Scripture tells us, “Pay … honor to whom honor is due” (Rom 13:7).

Are we somehow denying God the honor that is due Him when we honor His saints? By no means! They are His perfected handiwork, His masterpiece (see Eph 2:10). When we praise the craftsmanship, all the accolades go to the Craftsman.

Meanwhile, as the old saying goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of praise.” And so the Church urges us to imitate the saints, to follow their example of holiness. In the end, that’s the best way to honor them.

Comments Off

9 min read

Eternal Life

After Death, Two Judgments

Paul Thigpen

March 12, 2019 11:36 am March 12, 2019

9 min read

15131 views

Comments Off

9 min read

Stretching out across the altar wall of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel is Michelangelo’s magnificent fresco “The Last Judgment.” Homilies about Judgment Day are rare these days, so even Catholic visitors to the chapel may sometimes puzzle over the arresting images of the fresco — not to mention the scriptural passages that inspired the work.

In particular, Catholics often wonder why the Church teaches that human beings undergo two judgments: one at the death of the individual, and one at the end of the world. Why would divine justice require a second judgment?

To answer that question, we must understand more fully what takes place in each judgment.

The Church affirms that one day each of us will be called to account for our life, with Christ as our judge. That moment arrives at death. “It is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27).

Death puts an end to the time the individual has been granted for embracing God’s grace or rejecting it. The person’s decision for or against God is ratified, so to speak, by God himself. This first, individual judgment is known as the particular judgment. The soul of the deceased, without its body, goes to hell or to heaven, and for those who are heaven-bound the journey may involve the cleansing preparation process called purgatory (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1022).

What is left, then, for God’s justice to accomplish? Just as the time of reckoning arrives at last for the individual, so it does for the world as a whole. This future day will bring the end of the present age with what the Church calls the general judgment. On that day, as the Creed proclaims, Christ “will return in glory to judge the living and the dead” (see Mt 25:31-46; Rv 20:11-13).

Why is Christ returning to earth? To bring human history to a just conclusion, so that, as the Creed continues, “His kingdom will have no end.” Divine justice in its fullness requires that this world’s wrongs be made right. It demands a definitive end to the power of evil. So the outcome of Christ’s return is the termination of human evildoing on earth, when hell and its human allies will be utterly vanquished, and God will be “all in all” (see 1 Cor 15:23-28).

But there’s much more. At death, the body and soul of the individual are separated. At Christ’s return, before the general judgment, the souls of the dead will be reunited with the bodies they had in their life on earth (see Jn 5:28-29; 1 Cor 15:12-23,51-57). Because of this general resurrection, the bodies of the blessed will be able to take part in the joys of heaven, while the bodies of the damned will have to endure their share of the torments of hell.

Once souls and bodies are joined again, Christ, our judge, will call all people to account in the most public of judgments. “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Lk 12:2-3), Jesus warned. When the Lord comes again, St. Paul declared, “He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts” (1 Cor 4:5).

Why Must It Be Public?

Why must this reckoning be public? When we confess all the details of our lives before Christ and the rest of the human race, and when others do the same in our presence, we will all be forced to recognize and admit the full effects on others of what we have done and what we have failed to do. Justice requires such recognition and admission.

Yet mercy plays a role here as well. To face the truth and confess it, drinking the cup of shame all the way to its dregs before a watching world, will be a painful reckoning. But for the friends of God, it can serve as part of the purging process necessary to prepare them for heaven.

At the same time, on that day God’s friends will find it easier to forgive. As the full picture of their lives is unveiled, they will finally come to appreciate the struggles of those who offended them: the burdens they had to carry, the wounds they suffered from the sins of others and the limitations placed on them by circumstances hidden to view.

Another important consequence of this public judgment is that it will reveal to everyone the love and wisdom of God’s providence in all things. How many times in this life, when adversity tests us, are we tempted to wonder whether God really cares for us, or whether He truly knows what He’s doing? In the Last Judgment, we will be able to see all the factors in God’s determinations, all the aspects of His plan.

On that day we will be able to say to Him: “At last I understand; Your dealings with me finally make sense to me. When bad things happened, I needed faith to trust that You had not abandoned me. But now my faith has become sight.”

Justice demands that divine Providence be vindicated. The general judgment provides such vindication.

Justice and Truth

When Christ came to earth the first time, an essential aspect of His mission was revelation — to show us the truth about God, ourselves and our world. His mission is not complete, then, until the truth is fully revealed to every human being and fully acknowledged by every human being and every angel, fallen or unfallen, as well.

In this present life, throughout human history, those who have rejected God and His truth typically resist admitting their errors and deceit. But on that last day, they will have no choice but to do so.

“We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,” insisted St. Paul, quoting the prophet Isaiah: “‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise [or confess] to God.’ So [then] each of us shall give an account of himself [to God]” (Rom 14:10-12).

To praise God is to speak the truth about who He is, to declare His wonderful attributes. To confess (an alternate translation) means literally to agree with, to “say the same thing as,” God. Both translations point to the same reality: In the end, every one of us will have to recognize God as the Almighty Lord of all things; every one of us will have to concede the truth about God, ourselves and our world — whether we like it or not.

This, too, is a part of justice. We owe it to ourselves and others to think and say what corresponds to reality.

Consider how many people throughout history have been terribly wronged, but the wrongdoing has been covered up or denied. They wait for Judgment Day because they want the truth to be told, to be shouted from one end of the cosmos to another.

And so they should. Could God be truly just if, in the end, He allowed the terrible truth to remain hidden forever and permitted the world to maintain its malicious lies?

Those who have done wrong may go to hell adamantly refusing God’s forgiveness. But before they go to their damnation, they will be required to admit to God and to the world the truth about their wrongdoing. The general judgment must happen because truth must triumph.

The general judgment will be a day of divine wrath revealed against wickedness. On that day, the friends of God as well as those who have made themselves His enemies will have ample cause to tremble.

Nevertheless, it will also be a day of joyous celebration for those who love justice, who love truth and who love the Lord Jesus. We, too, should look to the day when the divine Judge will return to set the world aright. Longing for His appearance, we can join the ancient Christians in their fervent prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rv 22:20).

God’s Justice

We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which [God’s] Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by His creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.

— Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1040

The Son of Man

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

— Matthew 25:31-34

Comments Off