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Lesson 19 - Further Reading

The following articles comprise chapters 33 to 37 of the book, "Biblical Questions" by Rudolph Bandas (St. Anthony Guild Press, New Jersey 1936).

1. "The Particular Judgment"
2. "Purgatory"
3. "The End of the World"
4. "Bodily Resurrection"
5. "The Universal Judgment"

These are in-depth articles provided for those who choose to study the topics more deeply.

1.   The Particular Judgment

It is the accepted doctrine of the Church that the soul is judged by God immediately after death and that its lot is then irrevocably determined. The conviction that on the day of death there is a certain retribution and disclosing of man's works is found in the following Old Testament passage: "For it is easy before God in the day of death to reward every one according to his ways. . . and in the end of a man is the disclosing of his works"! The doctrine is ex­pressed even more clearly in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Immediately after death Lazarus is carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, while the rich man is buried in hell. The judgment in each case is final and irrevocable: "Between us and you there is fixed a great chaos, so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither;" (2). When hanging upon the cross, Christ promised to the penitent thief: "This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise"; (3), these words again suppose that a judgment and decision takes place immediately after death. St. Paul tells us that "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment;" (4). The Apostle affirms that after death we shall receive a reward of justice from a just Judge; (5) the words "justice" and "judge" ─ the determination of a re­ward or of a penalty ─ necessarily presuppose a judgment.

Right reason also demands that a judgment take place immediately after death. If the just were to remain uncertain of their lot they would be in no better condition than the wicked. God's justice cannot permit that His elect should remain in such an anxious state until the end of time. Again, with death the possibility of meriting comes to an end: "The night cometh, when no man can work;" (6). The soul comes to a point when it is ready to receive a reward or a penalty, when it is ready, consequently, to be judged. Finally, man is at once a member of the whole human race and an individ­ual person. In the former capacity, he is subject to the universal judgment; in the latter capacity, he is subject to the particular judgment.

In every human judgment three elements concur: the discussion, the pronouncement of the sentence and the execu­tion of the sentence. Many conceive the particular judgment after this fashion. They picture the soul standing before Christ the Judge, on the one hand accused by the devil and his angels, on the other, defended by the Blessed Virgin, the guardian angel and its patron saint. This view, however, has little basis in theology.

In the first place, God does not need a discussion or the testimony of witnesses, since by His Divine omniscience He in one simple intuition knows all things. Secondly, the sentence is not pronounced vocally but takes the form of an instantaneous mental illumination whereby we see our merits and demerits and whereby our eternal lot is immediately made known to us. The liturgy and Scripture, it is true, speak of a "written book" or of the "book of life." But these expressions are to be understood metaphorically. Each one's book of life will be brought forth when in the clear view of God's light he will see and read the state of his soul. A common occurrence may furnish a helpful analogy. Each one of us has at one time or another watched an approaching storm in the middle of night. It is so dark that not a single object is perceptible. But suddenly lightning flashes through the air, and in an instant we can see all the things about us. And so it will be with the soul. Since the Divine light re­quires no time, the soul will know in one instant its true state, and in that same instant the soul will know God's judgment in its own regard. We shall not have finished the first prayer for the dead when the particular judgment is wholly accomplished. When we have said, "He is dead," we can also add, "He is judged."

Where does the particular judgment take place? Is the soul taken to heaven into the presence of the glorious Christ? No, it would be unbecoming that a soul laden with mortal sin should be received into heaven. Nor does Christ descend from heaven to each dying person. The particular judgment occurs in the place of death, and has the character of an in­stantaneous mental illumination. When the soul is judged it does not see God face to face ─ since this would be the Beatific Vision ─ nor does it see as physically present Christ's glorious humanity which does not leave heaven. But in the strength of that infused light which it receives, the soul recog­nizes that it is being judged by God and by Christ Who became incarnate and died for its salvation.

2.   Purgatory

Purgatory is a state of temporary punishment for those who, departing from this life in the grace of God, are not entirely free from venial sins or have not yet fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions. It is of faith that souls in purgatory are cleansed by expiatory sufferings and are aided by the prayers of the faithful on earth.

The existence of purgatory is clearly affirmed in the Second Book of Machabees. The author of this book, nar­rating the struggle between Judas and Gorgias, relates that after putting Gorgias to flight, Judas returns to remove the bodies of the slain Jews. Judas finds that some of his fol­lowers have under their coats certain little treasures which they had stolen from the idols of Jamnia. The Jews had taken these treasures more out of avarice than idolatrous in­tent. While they transgressed the law, they committed only venial sins. Then Judas, "making a gathering, sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection (for if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead), and because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins;" (1). This important passage contains three principles: first, some die "with godliness," that is, in a state of grace, without being fully cleansed; second, souls can be loosed from sin after death; but souls that go to heaven have nothing to expiate, whereas souls that leave this life with mortal sin are damned to hell forever; hence there is an intermediary place where souls expiate their venial sins and temporal penalties due to sin; third, souls can be aided by the sacrifices and prayers of the living.

Our Lord Himself insinuates that some sins can be for­given in the future world: "Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be for­given him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come;" (2). This passage supposes that some sins can be remitted in the next life; these sins can only be venial sins or temporal penal­ties, because mortal sin is not forgiven in the next life. Hence there must be some intermediary place between heaven and hell- namely, purgatory.

In the first Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul admonishes Christian preachers to perform their labors seriously and with a pure intention because they will have to give an account of their work before the judgment seat of God. Those who in their preaching commit venial sins of levity or vanity will be saved, but only after passing through the cleansing fires of purgatory: "Every man's work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a re­ward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire;" (3).

In recent times certain non-Catholic writers ─ for ex­ample, Canon Farrar ─ are beginning to maintain that some men are surrounded by so many temptations and occasions of sin, live in such unfavorable circumstances and know so little about Christ, that they ought to get a second chance of conversion after death. This theory, however, is absolutely opposed to the teaching of Revelation that the possibility of meriting stops absolutely at the moment of death; where the tree shall fall, there it shall lie. The difficulty of these authors is due to their denial of the existence of purgatory and to their imperfect knowledge of the difference between mortal and venial sin. The Catholic Church teaches that those who willingly and knowingly transgress a grave precept com­mit a mortal sin. Those who commit venial sins or indeliber­ate sins, or who transgress laws without sufficient delibera­tion and advertence, will not be punished by the penalties of hell. The Church also teaches that all men receive sufficient graces of conversion, especially at the moment of death, and that no one will be condemned to hell unless he willingly and obstinately separates himself from God by mortal sin. Of what value would a new opportunity of conversion be? Would it not be putting a premium on a sinful life or on the transgression of laws? What right have we to expect that those who have fed a life of sin would ever be converted? On the other hand, would it not bring anxiety to those who have led a virtuous life if they felt that they could separate themselves from God in the next life?

Right reason demands the existence of purgatory. According to Apocalypse 21: 27, nothing defiled can enter heaven, and according to Habacuc I: 13, God's "eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity." Now, among the departed faithful are some who through neglect or lack of time did not expiate their venial sins or the temporal penalties due to their mortal sins. They cannot enter heaven with these stains. On the other hand, it would be unjust to condemn them to hell, because they have no mortal sin on their soul. Hence the only place to which they can be sentenced is purgatory. Without the existence of purgatory men would be driven to despair, for there is no one ─ no matter how good a life he may lead ─ who is not conscious of many failings, imperfections and venial sins, with which he could not enter into heaven. On the other hand, if men despite these minor faults could enter heaven directly, they would commit venial sins freely and would become negligent in making complete satisfaction.

The souls in purgatory are certain of their salvation and can sin no more. The Canon of the Mass says. "They rest and sleep in the sleep of peace." However, they suffer the pain of loss, that is, they are deprived of or rather retarded from the Beatific Vision of God, and consequently are under­going intense suffering. Shorn of all earthly impediments, placed beyond the world of sense which formerly veiled the things of the spirit, they now concentrate their undivided at­tention on God. But He hides and withdraws from them, so that they are tormented by an agony of love. They clearly see that their venial sins ─ causing this absence of the Beatific Vision ─ could have been expiated by contrition, confession, prayer and other good works which they could have so easily performed in the wayfaring state.

The loss of the Beatific Vision in purgatory is different from the loss of God in hell. The former is temporary and is accompanied by hope and by a love of God. The latter is eternal and is accompanied by despair and hatred of God.

It is also the accepted doctrine in the Church that the souls in purgatory will suffer the pain of sense caused by the purgatorial fires. This fire, as St. Thomas says, will hinder both externally and internally the free activity and operations of the soul and cause it internal anguish. The guilt of venial sins will be purged by this purgatorial fire, the pain of which ─ in so far as it is endured voluntarily and is animated with grace ─ can remove any guilt coexisting with grace. We must beware, however, of exaggerating this pain of sense to such an extent as to change purgatory into hell.

*  Nothing certain is known concerning the intensity of purgatorial suffering. St. Thomas says that the slightest pain of purgatory is worse than the greatest suffering of this world. St. Bonaventure writes that the severest pain of purgatory exceeds the known pains on earth. All theologians agree that souls in purgatory suffer patiently ─ both because of their resignation to the just judgment of God and because of their hope of heaven.

* Note:  This paragraph may be puzzling to some readers.  Professor Bandas is systematically dealing with certain details of the subject as understood by writers in past eras of Christian theological development. The teaching authority of the Church has never favoured the specification of time periods for certain categories of sin. The Church allows the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be offered for the repose of the soul of a person. In fact it allows many Masses to be offered over [humanly speaking] a long period of time but Professor Bandas is emphasizing that that period of time should not be interpreted as corresponding to what we call "time" spent by a soul in purgatory. The Mass is the highest possible act of worship by the Church and in the above c ontext it is to be interpreted as the Church ─  the Body of Christ  the offering to the Father the death of His Son for the redemption of mankind, and asking that the merits of Christ our Lord be offered for the sake of the soul or souls named in the celebration. In the following paragraph Professor Bandas lists some of the earliest Christian teachers whose writings reflect this practice from the Church's beginning.

The length of these sufferings is proportioned to the num­ber and nature of the sins and to the unexpiated temporal penalties. Some writers in the Middle Ages held that pur­gatorial sufferings are not prolonged beyond ten years and that legacies for Masses become invalid after this time. This opinion was condemned by Pope Alexander VII. Equally uncertain is the theory, found in some private revelations, that every forgiven mortal sin entails seven years in pur­gatory. On the other hand, the unlimited acceptance of Masses does not necessarily mean that the sufferings of pur­gatory are of extremely long duration. It is possible that God may immediately liberate the soul in view of the Masses to be offered up. It is certain that purgatory will come to an end on the Last Day. The just who will be living at the end of the world will not escape making due satisfaction. The intensity of the sufferings, trials and tribulations which will precede the Last Day will make up for what was lacking in time. St. Thomas compares this suffering to that of the martyrs which though relatively short was very efficacious.

Praying for and aiding the souls in purgatory has always been numbered among the oldest practices of the Church. The writer Tertullian speaks of anniversary offerings for the dead and of a place where minor faults are expiated. St. Cyril of Jerusalem mentions prayers in the liturgy for the deceased fathers. St. Ephrem asks in his will that a memento be made of him on the thirtieth day. In the Apostolic Con­stitutions we find a prayer for those who fell asleep in Christ, asking that all sin be forgiven them and that they be placed in the land of the living. The sepulchral inscriptions in the catacombs contain petitions of the deceased asking for the prayers of their surviving friends, or begging God for a speedy peace and refreshment.

Do the souls in purgatory pray for us and may we invoke them? There is no definition of the Church on this subject. The majority of theologians seem to favor the affirmative view. The Jesuit scholar Suarez says that "the souls in pur­gatory are holy, are dear to God, love us with a true love and are mindful of our wants; they know in a general way our necessities and our dangers, and how great is our need of Divine help and Divine grace." Theologians point to the accepted practice of the faithful of addressing prayers and petitions to those who are still in a place of purgation, and seek to base this practice on the doctrine of the Mystic Body of Christ. St. Alphonsus writes that we may piously believe that God makes our prayers known to the souls in purgatory. He alleges the authority of St. Catherine of Bologna who "whenever she desired any favor had recourse to the souls in purgatory and was immediately heard." According to Cardinal Gasparri's Catholic Catechism, "the affirmative view may be held until the Church decide otherwise."

3.   The End of the World

Sacred Scripture makes it certain that the world will come to an end. Holy Writ frequently speaks of the "consummation of the ages," of the "day of the Lord" and of "Christ's coming." The twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel contains Christ's answer to the ques­tion of the Apostles: "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?" (l). Our Lord says that "immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty; (2). "And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd sepa­rateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand but the goats on His left. . . . And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just into life everlasting;" (3).

St. Peter explicitly affirms the sudden dissolution of this world: "But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dis­solved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat. But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promises, in which justice dwelleth;" (4). The signs pre­dicted by St. Peter and by our Lord seems to coincide with the perturbations which present-day scientists say would ensue if the earth were hit by a comet. There are comets ten thou­sand times larger than the earth. The meteors accompany­ing the comet would produce such enormous masses of cosmic dust that the sun would lose its splendor and glow with a reddish hue. The head of the comet would strike the crust of the earth, cause liquid fire to burst forth, and produce a conflagration which even minerals could not resist and which in a few minutes would convert all organic structure into ashes.

The world, however, will not be completely destroyed but only transformed, as St. Paul also says: "For the fashion of this world passeth away;" (5). Out of the elements dissolved by the refining fire, a new and better world will arise. This renewed world was visioned even by the prophets of old; (6). It is indeed in harmony with the teachings of faith that the earth should be thus transfigured. Since the days of Paradise the earth ─ through no fault of its own ─ has borne the curse which Adam through the Fall brought upon it. Hence, as St. Paul says, "every creature groaneth to be delivered from the servitude of corruption.'" Again, the earth was sanctified by the life, sufferings and death of the God-Man; it was the scene of the greatest manifestation of God's love, the place where Christ accomplished His Redemption. As a con­sequence, it must be pleasing and holy to God Himself, Who will not annihilate it. Finally, the continuation of the earth in a transfigured state is most becoming to man; it is fitting that in his glorified body he should enjoy the reward of virtue there where he lived, fought and conquered against Satan.

As to the precise time of the last day we know nothing certain. In St. Mark's Gospel, 13: 32, we read: "Of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father." Sacred Scripture, however, enumerates certain signs from which we may conjecture the end of the world. They are the following:

1. The preaching of the Gospel throughout the whole world. This does not mean that the whole world will be converted, nor does it mean that the last day will come as soon as the Gospel is preached everywhere; but when the last day comes the Gos­pel will have been preached universally.
2. The great apos­tasy of Catholic nations according to 2 Thessalonians 2: 3.
3. The conversion of the Jews especially through the advent and preaching of the prophets Henoch and Elias.
4. The coming of the anti-Christ, either as an individual or in the person of the enemies of the Church.
   
5. Disturbances in the physical universe such as war, pestilence, darkening of the sun, cessation of the law of gravity. On the basis of these signs some non-Catholic sects periodically announce the exact moment of the Last Day. The Bible, however, describes these signs in only a general manner; it does not indicate the ex­tent, intensity and duration of the events preceding the Last Day. Hence we. cannot conclude with mathematical exact­ness or certainty as to the time of the Last Day but must be ever mindful of the words of St. Paul: "The day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night; " (8).

4. Bodily Resurrection

It is of faith that all men, whether good or evil, will rise from the dead in the same bodies which they now pos­sess. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body runs throughout the Old Testament and is explicitly affirmed by several of the sacred writers. Thus Job confidently expects death and feels assured that his lot in the next life will be better: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God;" (l). This pas­sage, whether read in the Vulgate or Hebrew versions, pre­dicts our restoration in our own flesh. The prophet Isaias gives expression to the same faith: "Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again. Awake and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust;" (2). Daniel affirms that both the good and the bad will rise! "Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto eternal reproach;" (3). The seven Machabean brothers and their mother gladly died for the observance of the Mosaic Law, being strengthened by the hope of future resurrection: "Thou indeed, O most wicked man, destroyest us out of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up, who die for His laws, in the resurrection of eternal life" (4). Judas Machabeus "sent twelve thousand drachmas to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection;" (5). From these passages it is clear that the doctrine of bodily resurrection was deeply rooted in the consciousness of the Israelites and of the Semites in general. The doctrine is intentionally some­what vague in the earlier book lest the Jews, who were al­ways prone to idolatry, worship the dead.

In the New Testament Christ presupposes this doctrine as known to all. In the Sermon on the Mount He says: "It is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell"; (6), but bodily punishment in hell presupposes the resurrection of the body. When the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, ask Christ whose wife shall she be in the resurrection who successively had seven husbands, Christ seizes the opportunity to indicate the qualities of the risen life: "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage. But they that shall be accounted worthy of that world, and of the resur­rection from the dead, shall neither be married, nor take wives. Neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection; (7). Christ promised that "he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day;" (8). Not only the good but the evil also will rise: "The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment:'!)

St. Paul preached the resurrection to the Athenians, lo de­fended it against the Sadducees, and recalled it before the governor Felix: "Having hope in God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection of the just and the unjust; (12). He establishes the same truth from the fact of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us: "He that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you;" (13). St. Paul devotes almost the entire fifteenth chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians to the subject of our bodily resurrection. He establishes the doctrine in various ways. Our Lord, writes the Apostle, is the Head of the Mystic Body: if the Head is risen, His mystic members will also rise, since .they have been incorporated into Him and be­come a part of Him. Again, Christ is God: if Christ raised Himself, He will also raise us up; what He did for Himself He can also do for us. He Who made what never was, can reform and transfigure what once was; the same Divine power is always operative within Him. St. Paul adds that the labors and sufferings of the Christian preachers and of the faithful in general would be useless and unintelligible if there were no resurrection. The Apostle illustrates the resurrection of the body by various analogies. He shows the possibility of the resurrection by comparing the body to seed which is not quickened unless it first die.

Right reason shows the resurrection of the body as em­inently fitting. The body is the instrument of the soul in all its deeds; hence the body too should share in the soul's final lot. The body has been sanctified by mortification and self­ denial, by the Holy Eucharist and by the other sacraments; hence it is unbecoming that it should forever remain subject to corruption. Far from being imprisoned in the body, the soul, in a certain sense, attains its full perfection in union with the body, and hence should not remain forever sepa­rated from it.

We shall rise from the dead in the same bodies which we bear now. This does not mean that we shall assume all the bodily matter which we possessed during our whole life­time, for according to science the matter of the body changes completely every seven years. But the risen body shall re­assume that much of its previous matter as is necessary to constitute it in the "perfect age," that is, in that perfection which the body reaches in full maturity between about the years twenty and thirty. Where the body had not reached this full perfection, Divine Power itself will supply. The risen body will not have its former ills, mutilations, defects, and that weakness which belongs to childhood or old age.

That the risen body ─ though incorruptible and glori­fied ─ will be identical with our present one, is clearly the teaching of Scripture and Tradition. St. Paul says that this very body in which the Holy Ghost now dwells will be quickened by Almighty God.14 "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality;" (15). Resurrection is the restoration of that which paid the penalty of original sin through death ─ namely, this our body. God's justice, too, demands that man be rewarded in the body which was an instrument of merit, or punished in the body which was an instrument of sin.

But what about cannibals who eat the flesh of other men? How can each receive back his body at the resurrection? Must not either one or the other rise incomplete? Cannibals derive the substance of their body primarily from vegetable foods and animal flesh, and only accidentally and occasion­ally from human flesh. The risen body will derive its matter from the former and not from the latter. Men such as these will rise with the flesh which they had in other periods of life, for, as we explained above, the matter of the body changes every seven years. In fact, most men could not as­sume all the matter which they possessed during their life­time. A man who lives to be fifty years old would have several times the quantity required for the risen body. Be­ . sides, all theologians are agreed that the identity of the risen body is sufficiently safeguarded if it is made up partly of the same matter it had in life.

It is sometimes pointed out that dead bodies dissolve into their component chemical elements which are assimilated by plants and animals. The latter in turn serve as food for men. Are we not all, then, moderate cannibals? No! Men derive the substance of their bodies only rarely and acciden­tally from elements originating from human bodies. Man does not derive his entire bodily substance during his whole lifetime from such plants and animals nor do the latter derive everything from such chemical elements. The matter derived from human bodies is so insignificant that it is not required for the identity of the risen body.

The dead will rise in integral or complete bodies, that is, in bodies which will have all their powers, members and organs. The Machabean brothers firmly believed that they would rise in complete bodies: "When he was required, he quickly put forth his tongue, and courageously stretched out his hands, and said with confidence. These I have from heaven, but for the laws of God I now despise them, because I hope to receive them again from Him;" (16). After His resur­rection Christ called attention to His hands and feet and to His side to show that He was the same Christ as before His death. Our resurrection would not be the restoration of human nature in its full perfection if our body lacked some of its parts.

St. Thomas teaches that we shall all rise in the "perfect age," that is, in that physical state which the body reaches in its full perfection and maturity - between the years twen­ty and thirty. Christ, the model of our resurrection, rose in this state. Christ came to restore to us whatever we lost in Adam; but God established human nature perfect in Adam and Eve. Human nature, however, falls short of this perfection in two ways: in childhood and in old age. In both instances human nature will be brought to its "perfect age" through the resurrection. All men ─ even the damned, and those in pagan limbo, and those who died in their mother's womb ─ will rise in this state. For in the next life all must be conformed unto Christ in the reparation of their natural life, (17) although not all will be conformed unto Him through glory. This does not mean, however, that all in the next life will be of the same stature. Each one will rise with that bodily quantity which he would have attained if human nature in him had in nowise erred or failed. The bodily quantity required by the "perfect age" varies within certain degrees. This variation together with each one's in­dividual characteristics will safeguard the distinction of risen persons.

The damned will be punished in soul and body with an everlasting punishment: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire;" (18). This presupposes that the bodies of the damned wil,l be incorruptible. St. Paul, in fact, says that
"the dead shall rise incorruptible;" (19). The damned will rise without any bodily deformities. There will be nothing in the damned that might diminish the sense of suffering. Dis­eases often dull the powers of perception, and defective mem­bers prevent suffering from affecting the whole body.

All men, as we already pointed out, will become like un­to Christ in their resurrection through the attainment of the highest perfection in their human nature. Scripture repre­sents the resurrection as a triumph over death and over all the ills that precede and lead to bodily deatht "The dead shall rise again incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is writ­ten: Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" (20) Since the "works of God are perfect," and since our resurrection will be an act of Divine omnipotence, it is fitting that God should restore our bodies in their full natural perfection.

But men are to be conformed unto Christ not only in the perfection of their natural life but also in the ineffable life of glory. "If we have been planted together in the like­ness of His death," says St. Paul, "we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection;" (21). "Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like the body of His glory;" (22). "The first man was of the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven, heavenly. Such as is the earthly, such also are the earthly; and such as is the heavenly, such also are they that are heavenly;" (23). The glory of our risen body is described in the following terms by St. Paul: "It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorrup­tion. It is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power. It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body. If there be a natural body, there is also a spiritual body;" (24).

The risen body will be completely subject to the glorified soul, and through this intimate consortship with the soul will enjoy the following qualities:

1. Impassibility: the body will not only be immortal but permanently free from all suffer­ings and afflictions.
2. Subtility *: the body will participate in the higher life of the soul to such an extent as to become spiritualized and completely subject to the soul's commands. By Divine favor a glorified spiritualized body can pass through other bodies without harm to itself or to them.
3. Agility, the power of moving quickly - at the behest of the glorified soul- from one place to another, or the power of moving other bodies with great rapidity.
4. Brightness, caused by the overflow of the soul's glory on the body, and giving the body a certain resplendence and special beauty. "The just," says the Book of Wisdom, "shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds;" (25). And St. Mat­thew writes, "Then shall the just shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father;" (26). Finally, the humanity of our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin, the glorified bodies of the Saints, will bring ineffable delights to the senses of the risen body.

All the operations of animal life ─ such as eating, drinking, sleeping, generation ─ will cease in the risen state. For while the bodies will rise in full integrity they will also be spiritualized. Our Lord says that "in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married, but shall be as the angels of God in heaven;" (27). The procreation of offspring will cease since the number of men predetermined by Divine Providence will have been filled. Eating and drinking will be unneces­sary because the risen body being incorruptible will retain its bodily forces undiminished and hence will stand in no need of repairing its strength.

Christ, it is true, partook of food after His Resurrection.28 Christ ate, not because His body needed food but because He wished to demonstrate to His Apostles that He still had truly the same human nature as when He ate and drank with them. The food which He ate was not converted into the substance of His risen body, which was now immutable and incor­ruptible. Rather it was resolved into its. component pre­existing elements. These elements invisibly left His glorious body which was endowed with the quality of subtility. Just as Christ multiplied the loaves and fishes by converting pre­existing matter, so He could also resolve food into its pre­existing elements in the process of eating.

Christ's glorious body retained the five wounds; (29). These five wounds, like roseate gems, will remain a property of Christ's risen body: the glorious body is incorruptible, im­passible and immortal, and can undergo no alteration or change. St. Thomas assigns the following reasons for Christ's retaining the five stigmata in His risen body:

1. to show that the glory of His body was the merit of His Passion and death, that He ought "to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory;" (30), and that we ourselves shall be glorified with Him only if we first suffer with Him;
2. to confirm the hearts of His disciples in the faith of His Resurrection by showing that the body which rose from the dead is the very body which was pierced by the nails in the crucifixion;
3. to arouse in men sentiments of confidence and hope, and incite them to gratitude for the ineffable benefit of His Redemption;
4. to inspire His followers to forget their own wounds' in beholding His, and to encourage them to be conformed in their sufferings unto their Head;
5. to intercede for us to the Heavenly Father by continually exhibiting His wounds and reminding, as it were, the Blessed Trinity of His Passion and death for us;
   
6. to confound His enemies on the Day of Judgment when He will appear in His glorious body and will seem to say to them: "Behold the Man Whom you have crucified; see the wounds that you have inflicted; behold the side which you pierced, for by you and for you it was opened, and you would not enter in."

5. The Universal Judgment

The Old Testament writers frequently allude to a final judgment which will occur at the end of the world. Thus the prophet Isaias writes: "For behold the Lord will come with fire, and His chariots are like a whirlwind, to render His wrath in indignation, and His re­buke with flames of fire. For the Lord shall judge by fire;" (l). The prophet Daniel announces a resurrection of the body and a solemn judgment for both good and bad: "And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach to see it al­ways. But they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity; (2). The Book of Wisdom gives us a vivid description of the Last Judgment, and at the same time points out the fruitless repentance of the wicked in the next world and the reward of the just: "Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labors. These, seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation. Saying within themselves, re­penting and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they, whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. 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;" (3).

Our Lord frequently refers to His second coming, which will be accompanied with glory and majestyt "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then will He render to every man according to his works"; (4), "And when the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty: And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats, and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left;" (5). St. Paul echoes faithfully this doctrine of the Gospels: "For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil"; (6). "Jesus Christ shall judge the living and the dead by His coming;" (7). These passages incidentally show that man is not saved by faith alone but by his good works.

Common sense and right reason show the final judgment to be eminently fitting. In the first place, the universal judg­ment will manifest the ways of Divine Providence. In the present life God's ways are often inscrutable to us. We can­not understand why the wicked prosper and why the good suffer. At the Last Judgment God's wisdom and justice will be manifest to all. Secondly, the last assize will manifest the glory of the elect. On earth the just suffer persecution and injuries, on the last day they will be publicly crowned with glory, while the impious will be covered with ignominy and confusion. Finally, the Last Judgment will manifest Christ's majesty. Christ's first coming was in poverty, humility and obedience. His second coming will be in glory, majesty and power. He will condemn all those who spurned Him, and subject all things to Himself.

"The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God;" (8). The "voice of the Son of God" may mean literally the voice of Christ, Who will command the resurrection of the dead in much the same way as He commanded the sea to become calm. Others think that the "voice" will be the evident apparition of Christ in the world Whom like the voice of a commander entire nature will obey and surrender its dead. According to St. Paul. "the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God;" (9). The trumpet was used to assemble the Jews for a war or for a feast. The Last Judgment is the beginning of the eternal heavenly feast, and Christ's com­mand to assemble for it is designated as a "trumpet." The command of Christ will be promulgated by the Archangel and echoed forth by the other angels; (10).

Although all judgment belongs to God, the actual sen­tence will be pronounced by Christ as God-Man. It is becom­ing that He Who merited eternal life for us should usher us into it. His glorious coming will be accompanied by a sign in the heavens; (11), which according to tradition and the liturgy will be the sign of the cross. The Apostles will judge with Christ as His assessors and coadjutors: with authority and power they will point out to the judged the punishments which they once threatened to sinners and the rewards which they held out to the good. The saints and angels will judge with Christ only in the sense that they will praise and ratify the sentence of the Judge.

The impious will behold the humanity of Christ in a direct and clear manner. His Divinity, however, they will not know by an intuitive vision: the intuition of what is by essence good cannot but cause happiness and joy, and thus the damned would be blessed. They will know Christ's Di­vinity only by certain manifest signs.

It is certain that all adults will be judged. The complete life of every man ─ his thoughts, words and deeds ─ will constitute the matter of the judgment: "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it on the day of judgment;" (12). The sins of the just will be revealed in order that their repentance and the mercy of God may be better known; such a manifestation, however, will cause the saints no pain or sorrow. Baptized infants, who have done neither good nor evil, will appear not to be judged but to see the glory of Christ. But what about unbaptized infants? Some theologians maintain that they will appear in order to be convinced of God's justice in denying them the Beatific Vision; others hold with equal probability that they will not appear at all, or that, if they do appear, they will not under­stand the full meaning of the Last Judgment. Angels and demons will receive accidental* rewards or punishments; the former will receive additional rewards for leading men to salvation, the latter will receive additional punishments for inciting men to evil.

How will the judgment be pronounced? Theologians make a distinction between the judgment of each individual, and the general sentence which will assign a reward to the elect and a place of punishment to the reprobate. The first will be a mental illumination by which every one will know his own merits and demerits, and those of others. If each were to be judged separately by a verbal vocal dis­cussion, and if the "book of life" containing a record of every one's deeds were to be taken in a material sense, the last judgment of the entire human race would last over an endless period; besides, such a process would be unbecoming God's omniscience and the perfection of His works. The general sentences, "Come, ye blessed of My Father," "Depart from Me, ye cursed," will be pronounced by Christ's voice and will be audible to all.

*Note:   "Accidental" means here, created for the individual ─ not existing in their own right.

According to Joel 3: 2 the place of the last judgment will be the valley Josaphat. But since in the Chaldaic lan­guage the term Josaphat means "God is Judge," the place of the last judgment cannot be determined with certainty from this word alone. It is probable, however, that Christ will descend near Mount Olivet which overlooks the Josaphat valley: "This Jesus Who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen Him going into heaven;" (13). And St. Paul adds: "The dead who are in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air, and so shall we be always with the Lord;" (14).

End of Lesson 19: Further Reading

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