General judgment
“And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with much power and majesty.”—Matthew 24:30
At present God is unknown, and therefore is despised by sinners as though he could not avenge, whenever he pleases, the injuries offered to him. The wicked “looketh upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing” (Job 22:17). But the Lord has fixed a day, called in the Scriptures “the day of the Lord,” on which the Eternal Judge will make himself known for the Lord that he is.
“The Lord,” says the Psalmist, “shall be known when he executeth judgment” (Ps. 9:17). On this text St. Bernard writes: “The Lord, who is now unknown while he seeks mercy, shall be known when he executes justice” (On the Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride). Hence this day is called “a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery” (Zeph. 1:15).
Let us now consider, in the first point, the different appearance of the just and the unjust; in the second, the scrutiny of consciences; and in the third, the sentence pronounced on the elect and on the damned.
First Point.—On the different appearance of the just and of sinners in the valley of Jehoshaphat.
1. This day shall begin with fire that will come from Heaven and burn the earth, with all the men then living, and all things upon the earth. “And the earth and the works which are in it shall be burnt up” (2 Pet. 3:10). All shall become one heap of ashes.
2. After all men are dead, “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again” (1 Cor. 15:52). St. Jerome used to say: “As often as I consider the day of judgment, I tremble. Whether I eat or drink, or whatever else I do, that terrible trumpet seems always to sound in my ears: Arise, you dead, and come to judgment.” And St. Augustine confessed that nothing drew him away from earthly thoughts so effectually as the fear of judgment.
3. At the sound of that trumpet the beautiful souls of the blessed shall descend from Heaven to be united again to the bodies with which they served God on Earth; and the unhappy souls of the damned shall come up from Hell to take possession again of those accursed bodies with which they offended God. Oh, how different the appearance of the one will be from that of the other! The damned shall appear deformed and black, like so many firebrands of Hell; but the just shall shine as the sun (Matt. 13:43).
Oh, how great then will be the happiness of those who have mortified their bodies by works of penance! We may judge of their happiness from the words addressed by St. Peter of Alcantara, after his death, to St. Teresa: “O happy penance, which merited for me such glory!”
4. After they have risen, men shall be summoned by the angels to appear in the valley of Jehoshaphat, to be judged there. “Nations, nations, in the valley of destruction; for the day of the Lord is near” (Joel 3:14). Then the angels shall come and separate the damned from the elect, placing the latter on the right, and the former on the left. “The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from the just” (Matt. 13:49).
Oh, how great then will be the confusion which the unhappy damned shall suffer! “What do you think,” writes the author of the Imperfect Work, “must be the confusion of the impious, when, being separated from the just, they shall be left abandoned?” (Hom. liv.) “This punishment alone,” says St. Chrysostom, “would suffice to make their hell.” Et si nihil ulterius paterentur, ista sola verecundia sufficeret eis ad poenam—“And if they suffered nothing further, this shame alone would suffice for their punishment” (in Matt. c. 24). The brother shall be separated from the brother, the husband from the wife, the son from the father, and so on.
5. But behold, the heavens are opened, and the angels come to assist at the general judgment, carrying, as St. Thomas says, the sign of the cross and the other signs of the passion of the Redeemer. Veniente Domino ad judicium signum crucis, et alia passionis indicia demonstrabunt—“When the Lord comes to judgment, the sign of the cross and the other indications of the passion will be shown” (Opusc. ii. 244). The same may be gathered from the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn” (Matt. 24:30).
Sinners shall weep at the sight of the cross; for, as St. Chrysostom says, the nails will complain of them, and the wounds and the cross of Jesus Christ will speak against them. Clavi de te conquerentur, cicatrices contra te loquentur, crux Christi contra te perorabit—“The nails will complain of you, the wounds will speak against you, and the cross of Christ will plead against you” (Hom. xx., in Matt.).
6. Most holy Mary, the queen of saints and of angels, shall also come to assist at the last judgment; and at last the Eternal Judge shall appear upon the clouds, all splendor and majesty. “And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with much power and majesty” (Matt. 24:30). Oh, how great will be the agony of the damned at the sight of the Judge! “At their presence,” says the Prophet Joel, “the people shall be in grievous pains” (Joel 2:6).
According to St. Jerome, the presence of Jesus Christ will give the damned more pain than Hell itself. “It would be easier for the damned,” he says, “to bear the torments of Hell than the presence of the Lord.” Hence, on that day, as St. John foretold, the wicked shall call on the mountains to fall upon them and to hide them from the sight of the angry Judge. “And they shall say to the mountains and the rocks: Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16).
Second Point.—The scrutiny of conscience.
7. “The judgment sat, and the books were opened” (Dan. 7:10). The books of conscience are opened, and the judgment begins. Then nothing will remain hidden; the Apostle says that the Lord “will bring to light the hidden things of darkness” (1 Cor. 4:5). And by the mouth of his prophet, God himself has said: “I will search Jerusalem with lamps” (Zeph. 1:12). The light of the lamp reveals all that is hidden.
8. “A judgment,” says St. Chrysostom, “terrible to sinners, but desirable and sweet to the just” (Hom. iii. de Dav.). The last judgment shall fill sinners with terror, but will bring joy and sweetness to the just; for God will then give to each one the praise he has merited by his good works (1 Cor. 4:5). The Apostle tells us that on that day the elect shall be raised into the air above the clouds, to be with the angels and to swell the train of those who pay homage to the Lord. “We shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air” (1 Thess. 4:16).
9. Those worldlings who now call the saints fools, because they live mortified and humble lives, shall then confess their own folly, and say: “We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honor. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints” (Wis. 5:4–5). In this world the rich and the honored are called fortunate; but true fortune is to become a saint. Rejoice, you souls who lead a life of tribulation on this earth; “your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). In the valley of Jehoshaphat you shall be seated on thrones of glory.
10. But the damned, like so many goats destined for the slaughter, shall be placed on the left, to await their last condemnation. Judicii tempus misericordiam non recipit—“The time of judgment does not receive mercy,” says St. Chrysostom. At the time of judgment there is no hope of mercy for poor sinners. Magna jam est poena peccati, metum et memoriam divini perdidisse judicii—“It is already a great punishment of sin to have lost the fear and memory of the divine judgment,” says St. Augustine (Sermon xx on Time).
The greatest punishment of sin, in those who live in enmity with God, is to lose the fear and remembrance of the divine judgment. Go on, go on living in sin, you obstinate sinner, says the Apostle; but in proportion to your obstinacy you will find treasured up for the day of judgment a store of the wrath of God. “But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath” (Rom. 2:5).
11. Then, says St. Anselm, sinners will not be able to hide themselves, but shall be compelled to appear at the judgment with insufferable pain. “To lie hidden will be impossible; to appear, intolerable.” The devils will perform their office of accusers, and, as St. Augustine says, will say to the Judge: “Most just God, declare him to be mine, who was unwilling to be yours.”
The witnesses against the wicked shall be, first, their own conscience—“Their conscience bearing witness to them” (Rom. 2:15); secondly, the creatures, and even the very walls of the house in which they sinned, shall cry out against them—“The stone shall cry out of the wall” (Hab. 2:11); thirdly, the Judge himself will say—“I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord” (Jer. 29:23). Hence St. Augustine wrote: “He who is now the witness of your life shall be the judge of your cause” (On the Ten Strings, ch. 2).
To damned Christians in particular he will say, according to St. Matthew: “Woe to thee, Chorazin; woe to thee, Bethsaida; for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes” (Matt. 11:21). Christians, he will say, if the graces I bestowed on you had been given to the Turks or to the idolaters, they would have done penance for their sins; but you put an end to your sins only with your death. And then he will make manifest to all men their most hidden crimes. “I will discover thy shame to thy face” (Nah. 3:5). He will expose to view all their secret impurities, injustices, and cruelties. “I will set all thy abominations against thee” (Ezek. 7:3). Each of the damned shall carry his sins written on his forehead.
12. What just excuses can then deliver the wicked? But what excuses? “All iniquity shall stop her mouth” (Ps. 106:42). Their very sins shall close the mouth of the damned, so that they will not even have the courage to excuse themselves, and they will condemn themselves by their own mouths.
Third Point.—Sentence of the elect, and of the damned.
13. St. Bernard says that the sentence of the elect shall be pronounced first, destining them to the glory of Paradise, so that the damned may feel greater pain in seeing what they have lost. Prius pronunciabitur sententia electis ut acrius (reprobi) doleant videntes quid amiserint—“The sentence will be pronounced first to the elect, so that the damned may grieve more sharply in seeing what they have lost” (Sermon viii on Psalm 90). Jesus Christ, then, shall first turn to the elect, and with a serene countenance shall say: “Come, you blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). He will then bless for them all the tears they shed in sorrow for their sins, and all their good works, their prayers, mortifications, and communions; above all, he will bless for them the pains of his passion and the blood he shed for their salvation. And with this benediction the elect, singing alleluia, alleluia, shall enter Paradise to praise and love God for eternity.
14. The Judge shall then turn to the damned, and shall pronounce their condemnation in these words: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matt. 25:41). They shall then be accursed, and, separated from God, shall be sent to burn forever in the fire of hell. “And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just into life everlasting” (Matt. 25:46).
15. After this sentence, says St. Ephrem, the unhappy souls shall be compelled to take their leave forever of their kindred, of Paradise, of the saints, and of Mary the divine Mother. “Farewell, you just! Farewell, O cross! Farewell, Paradise! Farewell, fathers and children: we shall never see you again! Farewell, O Mary, Mother of God!” (St. Eph. de variis serm. inf.). Then a great pit shall open in the middle of the valley; the unhappy damned shall be cast into it, and shall hear behind them those doors close which shall never again be opened for all eternity. O accursed sin, to what a miserable end will you one day bring so many souls redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ! O unhappy souls, for whom such a deplorable end is reserved!
But take heart, my brethren; for now Jesus Christ is a Father, and not a judge. He is ready to pardon all who repent. Let us, then, quickly ask his pardon.
[Let the preacher here propose for the people an act of sorrow, a purpose of amendment, and a prayer to Jesus and to Mary for the gift of holy perseverance. Let him repeat the same at the end of every sermon.]
Points for Reflection
1. “Nothing drew him away from earthly thoughts so effectually as the fear of judgment” (§2)
2. “The greatest punishment of sin, in those who live in enmity with God, is to lose the fear and remembrance of the divine judgment” (§10)
3. “Now Jesus Christ is a Father, and not a judge. He is ready to pardon all who repent” (§15)