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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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| 129. |
Cf. St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 59, a.4 ad 1; a. 5;
Supplementum, a. 69, a. 2; q. 88, a. l ad 1; Contra
Gentes, Bk. IV, chaps. 9l, 95. |
| 130. |
'Monsignor Auguste Saudreau, L'ldeal de l'ame
fervente, 1920, chap. 3 The Particular Judgment of
the
Perfect Soul, pp. 49-52.
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