CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:

• Penance (Continued)
• Extreme Unction
• Order (Holy Orders)
• Matrimony
• The General Resurrection
• The Last Things
  • 87. Knowledge in Risen Man
  • 88. Time and Place of the General Judgment
  • 89. Persons to be Present at the Last Judgment
  • 90. Christ, the Judge
  • 92. Heaven: The Beatific Vision
  • 93. The Happiness of Heaven: Mansions
  • 94. The Saved and the Damned
  • 95. The Endowments of the Blessed
  • 96. Special Heavenly Rewards
  • 97. The Punishment of the Damned
  • 98. The Will and the Intellect of the Damned
  • 99. God's Mercy and Justice Towards the Damned
• Appendix I (The Innocents in Limbo)
• Appendix II (Two Notes on Purgatory)

89. Persons to be Present at the Last Judgment

1. Christ our Lord will come to judge all men. Scripture says(John 5:22): "The Father hath given all judgment to theSon." Yet there will be holy men associated with our Lord, andthese are said to judge, but the active and effectualjudgment will be that of Christ alone. The apostles, for instance,are thus to sit in judgment with our Lord, for scripture says(Matt. 19:28): "You [apostles] also shall sit on twelve seatsjudging the twelve tribes of Israel."

2. Those saints who will be privileged to sit with Christthe judge, and thus to judge with him, will all be saints notablefor the virtue of voluntary poverty. For this virtue makes a manfree from all creatural influence, and therefore disposes him wellfor the office of a judge.

3. The angels, who have not man's nature, will not bejudges of men. But they will minister to the Judge by gathering allmen before his judgment seat (Matt. 13:41).

4. The fallen angels will carry out upon the damned, thesentence of the Judge; for sinners, by their sin, subjectthemselves voluntarily to the devil and his minions, and it isfitting that they should be punished by the same evil spirits.

5. All human beings without exception, will be present atthe general judgment. For we read in scripture (Apoc. 1:7):"Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall seehim."

6. The good who love God perfectly will be submitted to nojudgment beyond being assigned to their reward. The good who areimperfect will be judged as to their imperfections, but will besaved.

7. The evil will be judged and sentenced to eternalpunishment of a degree and intensity determined by the degree oftheir guilt.

8. The angels will not be judged at the general judgmentof mankind. For the judgment of angels has already occurred.Scripture says (John 16:11): "The prince of this world [thatis, the devil, a fallen angel] is already judged."

"God commands not impossibilities, but by commanding he suggests to you to do what you can, to ask for what is beyond your strength; and he helps you, that you may be able."
St Augustine

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"God looks neither at long nor beautiful prayers, but at those that come from the heart."
The Cure D'Ars

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"The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary consists in hearing the word of God and living by it."
R. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP

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