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THE existence of the particular judgment, affirmed by
the ordinary teaching of the Church, is founded on
Scripture and tradition. Theological reasoning confirms
this truth. It is appropriate that there be a
definitive sanction as soon as the soul is capable of
being judged on all its merits and demerits, that is,
at the moment when the time of merit is finished, and
this moment arrives at once after death. Were the case
otherwise, the soul would remain in uncertainty about
the general judgment, and this uncertainty would be
contrary to the wisdom of God, as well as to His mercy
and His Justice. [129]
The Nature of This Particular Judgment
The analogy between divine judgment and that of human
justice brings with it resemblances, but also
differences. Judgment before a human tribunal involves
three steps: examination of the case, pronouncement of
the sentence, and the execution of that sentence.
In the divine judgment the examination of the case is
instantaneous, because it needs neither the testimony
of witnesses, for or against, nor the least discussion.
God knows by immediate intuition, and at the moment of
separation the soul knows itself without medium. It is
enlightened, decisively and inevitably, on all its
merits and demerits. It sees its state without
possibility of error, sees all that it has thought,
desired, said, and done, both in good and in evil. It
sees all the good it has omitted. Memory and conscience
penetrate its entire moral and spiritual life, even to
the minutest details. Only then can it see clearly all
that was involved in its particular vocation, for
instance, that of a mother, of a father, of an apostle.
Secondly, the pronouncement of the sentence is also
instantaneous. It does not come by a voice to be heard
by the ear, but in a manner entirely spiritual.
Intellectual illumination awakes all acquired ideas,
gives additional infused ideas, whereby the soul sees
its entire past in a glance. The soul sees how God
judges, and conscience makes this judgment definitive.
All this takes place at the first instant of
separation. When it is true to say of a person that he
is dead, it is also true to say that he is judged.
Thirdly, the execution of the sentence is also
immediate There is nothing to retard it. On the part of
God, omnipotence accomplishes at once the order of
divine justice, and on the part of the soul merit and
demerit are, as St. Thomas says like lightness and
heaviness in bodies. Where there are no obstacles,
heavy bodies fall, light bodies rise. Thus separated
souls go without delay, either to the recompense due to
their merit (unless perhaps they have to undergo a
temporary punishment in purgatory), or to the eternal
punishment due to their demerits. Charity, like a
living flame, ascends on high, whereas hate always
descends.
Particular judgment, then, takes place at that first
instant when it is true to say that the soul is
separated.
Thus terminates the time of merit and demerit.
Otherwise a soul in purgatory could still be lost, and
a soul condemned could still be saved. But the souls in
purgatory have arrived at the goal of their merit,
though not yet at eternal beatitude. These souls are
still free, but this freedom is not sufficient for
merit, because one of the conditions for merit is that
the person meriting be still in via, be still a viator,
traveler.
At the moment of the particular judgment the soul does
not see God intuitively, otherwise it would already be
beatified. Neither does it, except in occasional cases,
see the humanity of Christ. Rather, by an infused
light, it knows God as sovereign judge, knows the
Redeemer as judge of the living and the dead.
Preachers, following the example of the Fathers,
illustrate this doctrine by image and example. But the
doctrine itself is reduced to the points we have
mentioned.
Blessed are those who take their purgatory on earth, by
generous acceptance of daily trials. The multiple
sacrifices of daily life purify and perfect their love,
and by this love they will be judged.
Love itself has many degrees. St. Peter seemed to make
an act of perfect love when he protested to Jesus his
readiness to die. But mingled with his act was
presumption. To purify him from this presumption,
Providence permitted the threefold denial, whence he
came forth more humble, less trustful in himself, more
trustful in God, until pure love led him to martyrdom
and answered his prayer to be crucified head downward.
How do we attain pure love? Saudreau answers: "Love is
not an effect of headwork, not a pushing forward of
will to give to it greater force. It is the result of
accepting generously all sacrifices, in accepting with
a loving heart all trials." [130]
The Lord augments the infused virtue of charity, the
accepting soul prepares itself for the particular
judgment, where it will find in Jesus rather a friend
than a judge.
While the particular judgment, then, settles for each
soul its place in eternity, the general judgment still
remains necessary. Man is not a mere individual person,
but also a member of human society, on which he has had
an influence, good or bad, of longer or shorter
duration. Let us see what revelation teaches us on this
matter.
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