Catholic Apologetics Online

Questions and answers on Catholicism and Protestantism

Given from the Catholic Broadcasting Station 2SM Sydney Australia

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Judgment

829. Is not a man judged by his conscience?

He is. But by his true conscience. Many men during this lifewarp their conscience by continual self-deception. They pretendthat what they want to do is right, and gradually lull themselvesinto a sense of security. But when the soul goes from this world,all pressure will be removed, and the true conscience will speak,and the voice of God will not be denied. Conscience warns peoplenow. Then it will judge them.

830. Can you establish the particular judgment ofeach soul at death, proving it from Scripture?

The doctrine is sufficiently established by the fact that it isthe official teaching of the Catholic Church; and it would notreally matter whether the doctrine were contained in Scripture ornot. However there are more than enough indications in Scripture.Christ described the deaths of the rich man and Lazarus the beggaras resulting in an eternally fixed state for each, the one in hell,the other in heaven. And that this was prior to the generaljudgment is clear from the fact that the rich man is made to pleadthat his relatives yet living be warned in time. St. Paul declaresthat the just receive their heavenly reward immediately afterdeath, without waiting for the general judgment, and said that hedesired to die and thus to be with Christ which is far better. St.John declares in the Apocalypse that the souls of the martyrs areliving and reigning with Christ, adding that for them the generaljudgment has no terrors. And in XIV., 13, he says, "Blessedare the dead who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith theSpirit, they rest from their labors, for their works followthem."

831. If the particular judgment is an infallibledoctrine, are not all the references to the last day, and aresurrection, and also a judgment by Christ, just pure fiction?

Not in the least. The particular judgment is in no wayincompatible with those truths. I cannot understand why you shouldthink it so. At the last day the bodies of the dead will be raised from the tomb and from the dust intowhich they have returned. Souls already judged in the particularjudgment will be reunited with their respective bodies, and in thegeneral judgment by Christ in His majesty and glory the sentencesthey have already received will be publicly confirmed andproclaimed. No real difficulty presents itself in this matter. Noris the general judgment useless. The particular judgment is foreach soul in turn; the general judgment is not for us, but for theuniversal vindication and glory of Christ.

832. Will Christ have power in the general judgmentto reverse the results of the previous particular judgment?

No. For God cannot contradict Himself. In each case it is aquestion of the infallible decision of God. In the particularjudgment His decision is given; in the general judgment it ispublicly reaffirmed.

833. Should not people serve God now, instead of stakingall on the state they will be in at the moment of judgment?

The only way of being sure of right dispositions at the momentof judgment is to serve God now. He who is right at every moment isright at any moment. All the same, death is a dramatic moment. Nodrama penned by any playwright has ever had so critical andastonishing an ending as that which every soul will encounter whenit leaves the stage of this world. However familiar we may be withthe idea, the realization that eternity was wrapped up in our fifty or sixty years in this world will prove rather staggering.

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